Friday, October 31, 2003
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Driving and raving
Just to keep things fair, I suppose I should rant about me for a change. Surprisingly enough, I'm not perfect. Now that you've recovered from that, let me continue. (BTW, mister insurance man, police man, and other authorities around here) the following is full of hyperbole and what-not)
Driving - yep, I'm not that good of a driver. I'm not dangerous or stuff, but I could do much better. I mean, I haven't had an accident since some guy ran into me at a stop sign about 6 years ago (he claimed he wasn't expecting me to stop). I can't remember the last ticket I got. However, about 8 years ago, I did total my pickup truck at an intersection. Supposedly, they said it was my fault, but I was never ticketed.
Anyway, my biggest problem is lack of patience. Put me behind somebody doing 43 mph in a 45 mph zone, and I start to go crazy. Another thing is there are times when I really don't plan on yielding. Usually when you see the sign that says "Right Lane Closed - 2 miles" and there's that idiot who decides to cut in front of you about 1.99999 miles further down. Now that really pisses me off.
I also tend to let my mind wander on long trips. I try to stay focused, but don't always have a lot of luck. I start thinking about stuff and before I know it, I'm 30 miles further down the highway with no recollection of where I've been. I do try not to tailgate, and do pretty good except when there's some bozo driving 10 mph under the speed limit. In that case I can't wait to get around their sorry butt.
I don't do well driving long distances either. I have to stop often. At least every couple of hours or less. I just like to stop, take a walk, maybe read a little and stretch and then get back on the road. I can sometimes feel myself getting tired. I'll massage myself, slap my thighs some until I finally have to stop and take a break. Usually a few minutes or so off the road and I'm fine again. I can also tell when it's time to stop because I loose the ability to focus my eyes.
I'm also paranoid about getting lost. I have to know where I am. I've always got a couple of maps out and around. I'm always worried I'm going to miss the exit. I need to know what the exit number is I have to take and where I'm at in relation to it. The nice thing about Michigan is the exit numbers are the mile signs on the road. So if I'm passing mile marker 87, I know it's another 100 miles to exit 187.
Back on the road again....
2fers: Michigan map and A good time waster
Monday, October 20, 2003
The new Empire
Isn't life in the new empire grand? Have you noticed many of the headlines the last couple of months? It almost seems like we've slipped into some strange Twilight Zonian alternate history track. The Russians have just docked with the "International" space station and the Peoples Republic of China have given a whole new orbital meaning to Chinese Take-out. Oh yeah, and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has just launched another ground missile while the Islamic Republic of Pakistan recently tested yet another nuclear capable missile. And all the while, our space program is locked up in a hanger someplace while people try to figure out how to glue foam so it doesn't fall off.
The sabers rattle daily. India and Pakistan glower at each other over a northern chunk of land that each desires. Jerusalem and Israel, are doing, well, what they are always doing; blowing each other up on a daily basis. The two Korean armies are hunched around a three mile width of untouched wilderness called the DMZ waiting to unleash mayhem. Meanwhile, the US's most wanted, Osama and Saddam, are still roaming around loose, and if Osama's past year or two is any reflection, Saddam has quite a bit of time to hang around yet.
Meanwhile, back in the empire, there is a new Gulag in place. This one is southern instead of northern, but it still echoes of early Siberian policies. There are unidentified human beings being held for unconvicted crimes, over undefined prison terms, in barely human conditions. Universities and industrial labs are having problems because international students and scientists can't get visas to visit. Foreign traders are complaining because the Office of Homeland Security is giving their sales force fits when they to visit the US and sell us their inexpensive products that have pulled the bottom out of our employment picture.
The Holy Roman Empire tells us on one hand that condoms don't stop disease, while with with the other hand they pay hundreds of millions to kids their priests have molested. We've got single moms who go to jail and leave their kids to starve, while the churches are up in arms over two guys or two gals wanting to have a family and raise a kid. I guess it's better for some drug-hazed, abandoned mom to let her kid starve than it is for two guys who want to hold hands raise one.
The environment is also going to hell in a handbasket. Lumber companies are being given the keys to the forests, while the petroleum industry gets to watch over the ptarmigan and caribou. We're pushing for a pollution free car that runs on hydrogen, all the while keeping quiet that fossil fuels are to be the basis for that hydrogen. And while no one wants any nuclear power plants built, nobody is too crazy about burning coal and natural gas either -- which by the way is going to cost us about 30% this winter.
And oh yeah, while $87 billion dollars goes to help rebuild Iraq, our electrical system is holding on by a fingernail. In my state bridges are crumbling, water mains break, and power outages last days instead of minutes. We've got national tax cuts to brag about, but the cost of park visits, driver's licenses, car registrations, schools, and just about every other service is going up while at the same time other services like police, fire, trash pickup and ambulances are being curtailed or even dropped.
Yes indeed, life is certainly grand right now.
2fers: Whitehouse and Gulag
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Routines - new and old
I have a fairly regular routine I follow every Saturday morning. There's a few stores I go to and usually one of two restaurants that I stop in for either a muffin or lunch, depending on how late I get there. This Saturday was a little different. I got up early to get my haircut. I use an old-fashioned barbershop called Al's. Just one chair and the haircuts are $7.50. I then had to go clear across town to the post office. I had my mailed held while I was away and they didn't resume delivery when I asked. I then headed out to find a lumberyard a guy at work had mentioned. After navigating several one-way and closed streets and detours, I finally found the place -- closed for a year. As I headed back towards town, I managed to get stopped by the same train at 4 different crossings. I was on my usual prowl for parts for gadgets I was making and found most, but not all of what I needed. I had to revisit a couple of places to get stuff to make-do for the missing hardware.
There was one thing I noticed today that probably reflects pretty badly on the state of human affairs and employment. One of the things I did this morning was to use the ATM to grab some cash. I then went to the gas station (remember when they were service stations and sold car parts and repairs instead of Twinkies), slipped my credit card into the pump and filled up my car. My New Beetle uses premium (remember ethyl?) by the way. On the way back home I bought some groceries and fed my cash into the (what's the opposite of an ATM?) automated checkout counter at the grocery store. That was cash, transportation, and food all without the benefit of human intervention.
OK. Granted a bank teller, grocery clerk and pump jockey weren't the highest paying of jobs, but they were jobs. People raised families on those jobs. You could stop at the local service station and the attendant would check your oil and put air in your tires and sell and change a headlight. You didn't have to worry about identity theft because all those folks probably knew you by sight.
Yes, I know the old days had their problems, but so do the new days. You sometimes have to wonder just how much progress we've actually made.
2fers: BBSpot and Helen
Lowes Part 4
I was wasn't home over the last weekend - went up to Toronto for the weekend. It turns out that Canada's Thanksgiving has just the same kind of traffic fun as the US version does. It's usually a five hour trip and this time it took seven hours. The whole two hour delay was in Canada this time. Usually I get delayed crossing the border, but this time that wasn't the problem.
So anyway, this week I finally put the drill press (Delta DP400) together. It's actually not the drill press I ordered. I think this is the updated replacement of the one I ordered, so I don't think it's a bad deal. It only took a night to put together. It's is pretty simple. All you do is mount the support post to the floor plate with four bolts, slide the table onto its support and lift the motor/belt assembly and slip it over the top. The biggest hassle was cleaning the preservative grease off and waxing all the bare metal.
Overall, it seems to be pretty solid and accurate. I drilled one hole to make sure it works and it was quiet with very little vibration. I'll check the runout this weekend with my dial indicator and see how accurate it actually is. I made a quick check of the spindle being perpendicular to the drill table and my machinist square showed spot on, so I'm hoping the rest is just as close.
The one negative thing I've seen on the drill press is the rack for the table height adjustment. It only seems to be attached to a ring at the top and then it's tucked into the base support. The three or four feet inbetween is loose and it seems rather flimsy. The rack on the floor model at Lowes was bent and I can see why. We'll see how it holds together.
This and a bunch of other tools I've been buying is helping fulfill a lifetime ambition of having a nice workshop where I can do some serious wood and metal working. My basement shop is nothing fancy, bare concrete walls and floor and open floor joists for the ceiling, but it's mine. After spending 22 years in the military - 16 of which were barracks life - this is great. It's so cool to be able to putter around in the basement and when I need a tool or spare part, to be able to reach to a shelf or toolbox and grab it. I've got a ways to go yet, but it's getting close.
I've basically given up on TV. I get home from work, do a little Internet surfing and make something quick to eat and then head to the basement to "fiddle." I have a radio down there and listen to NPR and classical music and just fiddle the night away. I might make a stool, or repair and refinish an old tool, or build a little box or other gadget. What a great way to waste time.
2fers: Craftsman Tools and Lee Valley Tools
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Dare I say it?
Got into work this morning and there was a message on my phone from Lowes saying my drill press was in. Whoopee. 7pm finally comes around and I drive out to Lowes. It's only a couple of minutes from where I work, so I get there around 7:05. I go to the pickup counter, ask about my drill press and they send me to Customer Service (remember them?). I give the clerk my receipt and naturally she doesn't quite know what to do with it. She calls another who in turns calls another who calls someone else on the phone.
What a surprise - a bunch of totally clueless workers at Lowes. Someone finally figures out who to call and get the drill press to the front of the store -- I wait, and I wait, and I wait some more. About a half-hour passes and I'm am really getting steamed. Finally they tell me it's down where I asked about it in the first place. Now they have the gall to ask me to sign a paper saying I've received the item - sight unseen. Not a chance. So, they piss off another clerk by making her carry the form down to the pickup area with me tagging along.
We get there and there's the box - finally. I sign the form and go out to get my car. I found out that they told the earlier mentioned poor old gnome to get the drill press. Sheesh. There are a bunch of hunky muscular young guys around and they pick on this poor old 80 year wizened senior citizen to drag a 200 pound drill press down the aisles. They said, he found it in one of aisles and had to drag it to the front of the store. I'm really surprised (and more than a little relieved) that he didn't have a heart attack along the way.
So finally there this guy who looks like an NFL lineman to help me put the box in my car. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was reluctant, but he sure wasn't overly helpful putting this 200 pound box in my little Beetle. I can't believe it. I actually have the drill press in hand (so to speak, it's actually in the back of my bug). And guess what, it's only 7:45. That's what I call quick service, only 40 minutes to take find a large box and get it to the front of the store. Thank god I didn't order two items -- I'd still be there.
2fers: Barndoor Lumber and Timberwolf Band Saw Blades
Lowes Part 3!
Got into work this morning and there was a message on my phone from Lowes saying my drill press was in. Whoopee. 7pm finally comes around and I drive out to Lowes. It's only a couple of minutes from where I work, so I get there around 7:05. I go to the pickup counter, ask about my drill press and they send me to Customer Service (remember them?). I give the clerk my receipt and naturally she doesn't quite know what to do with it. She calls another who in turns calls another who calls someone else on the phone.
What a surprise - a bunch of totally clueless workers at Lowes. Someone finally figures out who to call and get the drill press to the front of the store -- I wait, and I wait, and I wait some more. About a half-hour passes and I'm am really getting steamed. Finally they tell me it's down where I asked about it in the first place. Now they have the gall to ask me to sign a paper saying I've received the item - sight unseen. Not a chance. So, they piss off another clerk by making her carry the form down to the pickup area with me tagging along.
We get there and there's the box - finally. I sign the form and go out to get my car. I found out that they told the earlier mentioned poor old gnome to get the drill press. Sheesh. There are a bunch of hunky muscular young guys around and they pick on this poor old 80 year wizened senior citizen to drag a 200 pound drill press down the aisles. They said, he found it in one of aisles and had to drag it to the front of the store. I'm really surprised (and more than a little relieved) that he didn't have a heart attack along the way.
So finally there this guy who looks like an NFL lineman to help me put the box in my car. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was reluctant, but he sure wasn't overly helpful putting this 200 pound box in my little Beetle. I can't believe it. I actually have the drill press in hand (so to speak, it's actually in the back of my bug). And guess what, it's only 7:45. That's what I call quick service, only 40 minutes to take find a large box and get it to the front of the store. Thank god I didn't order two items -- I'd still be there.
2fers: Barndoor Lumber and Timberwolf Band Saw Blades
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
The Lowes' Saga continues
I guess I am a glutton. If you are my 1/2 fan who reads this, you know I've had a couple of irritating times with Lowes. Friday, I went through the ordeal of attempting to order a drill press. Well, last night I went to pick it up, since it was promised for Monday at 10a.m.
First I called and got someone who wasn't too sure about where to look or what was going on. Big surprise there. She said she didn't think it was in, but didn't seem too sure - boy talk about deja vue all over again.
OK, so I get off work at 7p.m. and head over to Lowes to confirm thier incompetence. I go to the infamous Customer Service counter and ask the person behind the counter about my drill press. I tell her I was told on the phone it wasn't in, but wanted to check to make sure. She said no problem and that all she had to do was print out the ticket and I could pick it up. I told her, I didn't think the person earlier was telling me the truth about it NOT being there. She said, "Oh, I thought you said it was here." How should I know that. That's why I was standing in line in Customer Service - to get some service as a customer and find out if my drill press was in or not. I spent the next 35 minutes standing around the Customer Service counter.
It turns out that they have no way of tracking an inter-store request like mine!!! Their computer will tell them if they've sent one out or maybe if it's in, but they have no idea if it's been sent. One lady came up and wandered out someplace (a holding area I think - at least that what she said). Obviously she didn't find it. At one time I think there were five different people spinning their wheels trying to find out the status of this item. What drives me crazy is that it's the blind leading the blind. No one in the store seems to have a clue about what is going on. They didn't know of any way to track the delivery, couldn't find the phone number of the guy in Midland who picks this stuff up, didn't really know where the item would or should be, and weren't really too sure about any part of the process. I can only imagine that they all must grab one end of the package tie-down string in front and hold on while they go home. The next morning they then follow the string back to the store -- I don't imagine they could find their way to work any other way.
And if it isn't the incompetence of the workers -- and there shouldn't be any way they are all intellectually challenged, it must be the management that lets them all be that way. How about training your workers so they all don't end up mentioned in ranting blogs like this one.
Oh, by the way, the guy who supposedly ordered the item for me on Friday? He was a manager and is now on vacation. Poop head!
2fers: Grizzley Tools and Rockler Tools
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Lowes Again!
Yes, it seems like I'm a glutton for punishment. Unfortunately, Lowes often has what I need even if it's such a pain to find it. The good news? Today after stopping at three hardware stores, one tractor supply store and Home Depot in a quest for some flat headed, slotted #14 wood screws, 1 3/4" long, I finally found them at Lowes. So much for $3 purchase. The day before I was trying to spend $300 on a Delta floor model drill press.
I knew from their web site that they were out of stock, so I went to the tools section and asked a guy taking inverntory how long it would take to get one. He said "let me check" and the chase began. I followed him to his terminal and he queried the system that told him they didn't have any. His response, "We should have one in a few days." That's what they always say when they are out of stock. (I've since found out that the item has been discontinued by Delta so I doubt his statement was really true.)
I asked if I ordered one would it get here quicker - he said, it would probably take longer! He did some more checking and found out a neighboring store (about 25 miles away) had three on hand and would be able to ship one for Monday. He told me you'd have to pay for it though, and I said fine. He wrote the stock number and some cryptic notes on a piece of paper, handed it to me and told me to take it to any cashier, tell her it was a shipment from Midland, and they would be able to help me.
As I think I've mentioned before the checkout lanes in Lowes suck big time. As usual, there was only one open with a line of folks standing in it. I get in line and finally get to the cashier. I hand her the note and tell her what I'm ordering. She rings it up and I ask her if she added the Midland shipping note - she said no, and that she didn't know how to. I canceled this credit card and she tried again and told me "this is probably the right way." I told her I didn't want probably, I wanted to know for sure. She called another cashier over for help and that one didn't know anything either. By this time there were about 10 people piled up in line behind me. I told her to forget it, cancel it again and I'll take it to Customer Service.
I went to Customer Service -- they'd should know right? Of course not. The cashier there said she didn't have any idea how to do what I needed and got on the phone to call someone. Several minutes later (did I mention I was on a lunch break?) this poor old guy* about 80 comes tottering up to the counter. I show him the note, he glances at it, points at each word with his finger, does it again, and finally tells me he used to know, but since they got that new system in, he doesn't anymore. I probably said something to the effect that, "Isn't there anyone in this store who knows what's going on?" and wandered off to find the guy who gave me the note.
I noticed he was a "zone supervisor" whatever that is and he was still at his terminal. I explained, probably being rather short, what had happened. He took back the note and said, "follow me and I'll do it for you." We wandered to the checkout lanes, he grabbed a cash register, fiddled with a few keys and about after me signing the credit card window, he handed me a reciept and said it would be ready for pickup on Monday.
What really set me off to log this was I just watched a Lowes commercial where the actor who plays a clerk, covers his heart and promises low prices. Crap, how about touching your head and promising service! I really wouldn't mind paying a couple of percent points more if there was someone is the stupid store who could answer a simple question.
2fers: Delta Tools and Hardware
Oldies but Goodies
A friend gave me a few old Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines that date from the early to mid 1950s. They are great to look at. What is amazing is how much things have and haven't changed in the last 50 years.
Some of the ads could have been taken from last month's issue. There was stuff about learning at home and getting a easy home job that would earn $1000s per month. Great ways to improve your mind, your waistline, your mileage, and your sex appeal. Other ads are a little more dated; hair tonics and lotions, shorthand, clock repair, mail-order pistols.
The prices can be fun and surprising as well. From what I could tell, back in the early 50s, $4,000 annual salary was pretty darn good. With that in mind, car tires could be had for $7 or $9 but a skill 1/4" drill was $30. A Porter-Cable circular saw was $95 and a Dremel electric sander would cost you $25. It seems Dremel was really pushing sanders, I haven't seen any ads for the small rotor grinder they're known for now. And oh yeah, you could get Lincoln convertible for just over $4000.
Some of the news articles were cool too. One editorial wondered about the staying power of GM's new Corvette and one scientist was virtually promising cheap fusion power by 1975. Radiation was big back then in the hot cold war. Several plans for Geiger counters and lots of articles about atomic powered ships and planes. There was even a picture of a B-29 with a reactor on board that wasn't used for power, but "was used to test the effects on the crew." One big deal was made of the fact that cars were going to low, wide profile 14" tires.
Letters to the editor are pretty much as they are now. Folks complaining about big clumsy American cars versus small nimble European cars or about big safe strong American cars versus small death trap European cars. One guy was ranting about those new fangled electronic turn signals that no one seemed to turn off which was followed closely by an ad for a modern plug-in cigarette lighter that was guaranteed to fit most 6 volt cars. Mileage was a surprisingly common thread in letters and articles. How to improve it and what this car got compared to that car.
The OSHA folks would have a fit looking at some of the pictures. There was a photo of a GM automobile paint booth in operation with an operator near by with nary a mask or respirator. Harley was pushing their new 1953 bike with a guy and his girl friend cruising down the road with out a hint of safety gear. One author talked about how well his Zippo lighter worked in one of the new turbo prop airliners and of course just about any how-to article involving heat made good use of asbestos cloth.
The first magazine I looked at had a small steam engine how-to-build article that I want to try out and some of the hints and tips are just as good now as they were 50 years ago. How to make a fence post puller or set up a plane or scraper is still handy, however typewriter hints and how to test a $900!! color television by switching tubes have pretty much passed their prime.
All in all, looking these over is a great way to spend a few hours.
2fers Popular Science and Popular Mechanics
A friend gave me a few old Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines that date from the early to mid 1950s. They are great to look at. What is amazing is how much things have and haven't changed in the last 50 years.
Some of the ads could have been taken from last month's issue. There was stuff about learning at home and getting a easy home job that would earn $1000s per month. Great ways to improve your mind, your waistline, your mileage, and your sex appeal. Other ads are a little more dated; hair tonics and lotions, shorthand, clock repair, mail-order pistols.
The prices can be fun and surprising as well. From what I could tell, back in the early 50s, $4,000 annual salary was pretty darn good. With that in mind, car tires could be had for $7 or $9 but a skill 1/4" drill was $30. A Porter-Cable circular saw was $95 and a Dremel electric sander would cost you $25. It seems Dremel was really pushing sanders, I haven't seen any ads for the small rotor grinder they're known for now. And oh yeah, you could get Lincoln convertible for just over $4000.
Some of the news articles were cool too. One editorial wondered about the staying power of GM's new Corvette and one scientist was virtually promising cheap fusion power by 1975. Radiation was big back then in the hot cold war. Several plans for Geiger counters and lots of articles about atomic powered ships and planes. There was even a picture of a B-29 with a reactor on board that wasn't used for power, but "was used to test the effects on the crew." One big deal was made of the fact that cars were going to low, wide profile 14" tires.
Letters to the editor are pretty much as they are now. Folks complaining about big clumsy American cars versus small nimble European cars or about big safe strong American cars versus small death trap European cars. One guy was ranting about those new fangled electronic turn signals that no one seemed to turn off which was followed closely by an ad for a modern plug-in cigarette lighter that was guaranteed to fit most 6 volt cars. Mileage was a surprisingly common thread in letters and articles. How to improve it and what this car got compared to that car.
The OSHA folks would have a fit looking at some of the pictures. There was a photo of a GM automobile paint booth in operation with an operator near by with nary a mask or respirator. Harley was pushing their new 1953 bike with a guy and his girl friend cruising down the road with out a hint of safety gear. One author talked about how well his Zippo lighter worked in one of the new turbo prop airliners and of course just about any how-to article involving heat made good use of asbestos cloth.
The first magazine I looked at had a small steam engine how-to-build article that I want to try out and some of the hints and tips are just as good now as they were 50 years ago. How to make a fence post puller or set up a plane or scraper is still handy, however typewriter hints and how to test a $900!! color television by switching tubes have pretty much passed their prime.
All in all, looking these over is a great way to spend a few hours.
2fers Popular Science and Popular Mechanics
Friday, October 03, 2003
Here's another spooky tale from the news:
Think for a minute what that means -- what that really means. In the 5 months since "major combat has ended" almost 1100 G.I.s a month are wounded bad enough to be airlifted out of Iraq to Germany. They say only "10 to 12 per cent of whom are classified as 'battle injuries.'" Does it really matter to poor Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine (SSAM) that they were wounded by a collapsing building or traffic accident instead of being blown up or shot? They're in Iraq fighting a war -- any injury is combat related. If they weren't in combat, they wouldn't be in Iraq. I think this is one method the government is using to keep from spending more on medical care for vets. If your wound isn't directly combat related, you are a lower priority in the system.
I don't understand - it's a war. Do the powers to be really think that you have to be shot to be "honored" with a battle decoration? That sucks. The same thing happened to Korean vets who were wounded in their war - er, police action. The Veterans of foreign Wars (VFW) wouldn't even let them join when the returned to the states after spending a year or so freezing and steaming in the bleak mountains of Korea.
I guess being an ex-GI has something to do with. I have to admit that my 22 years in the USAF were spent in pretty benign places. Places like Cape Romanzof, AK; Saudi Arabia; Thule, Greenland; Shemya, AK; Osan, ROK; as well as places like Colorado Springs, CO; Dover, DE; Biloxi, MS; and Rimini, IT to name just a few. It was just the luck of the draw. I enlisted right about the time Vietnam was winding down, and retired a little after Desert Storm/Southern Watch. I was there if I was needed though. And to think of the poor folks, gals and guys, roasting in the sand pit of Iraq, getting shot at, blown up, run over, poisoned, and diseased and not being considered combat casualties just really pisses me off.
Think about this. If we're losing 3-6 folks a week, that's 200 a year killed and 12,000 a year wounded bad enough to evacuate. That's about the entire population of Traverse City, Michigan. That sucks just doesn't begin to express my feelings.
2fers: http://www.cem.va.gov/ and http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php
General [Lt.-Gen. Ricardo Sanchez]:
3-6 GIs Die Each Week in Iraq
Soldiers whose wounds are not severe are treated in field hospitals in Iraq. Those with more serious wounds are sent to the American military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, after their conditions are stabilized. Some of the most seriously wounded are being sent to the United States. The military would not give a breakdown.
Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre has been getting an average of 40 to 44 patients a day from Iraq, about 10 to 12 per cent of whom are classified as "battle injuries," said spokeswoman Marie Shaw.
Since the start of the conflict, the hospital has seen 6,684 patients, with 5,377 coming after May 1, Shaw said. "What we don't see a lot of, though we see some, is gunshot wounds," Shaw said. "We see a lot of shrapnel wounds, some amputations, some burns, mostly from individual explosive devices."
CBC News
Think for a minute what that means -- what that really means. In the 5 months since "major combat has ended" almost 1100 G.I.s a month are wounded bad enough to be airlifted out of Iraq to Germany. They say only "10 to 12 per cent of whom are classified as 'battle injuries.'" Does it really matter to poor Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine (SSAM) that they were wounded by a collapsing building or traffic accident instead of being blown up or shot? They're in Iraq fighting a war -- any injury is combat related. If they weren't in combat, they wouldn't be in Iraq. I think this is one method the government is using to keep from spending more on medical care for vets. If your wound isn't directly combat related, you are a lower priority in the system.
I don't understand - it's a war. Do the powers to be really think that you have to be shot to be "honored" with a battle decoration? That sucks. The same thing happened to Korean vets who were wounded in their war - er, police action. The Veterans of foreign Wars (VFW) wouldn't even let them join when the returned to the states after spending a year or so freezing and steaming in the bleak mountains of Korea.
I guess being an ex-GI has something to do with. I have to admit that my 22 years in the USAF were spent in pretty benign places. Places like Cape Romanzof, AK; Saudi Arabia; Thule, Greenland; Shemya, AK; Osan, ROK; as well as places like Colorado Springs, CO; Dover, DE; Biloxi, MS; and Rimini, IT to name just a few. It was just the luck of the draw. I enlisted right about the time Vietnam was winding down, and retired a little after Desert Storm/Southern Watch. I was there if I was needed though. And to think of the poor folks, gals and guys, roasting in the sand pit of Iraq, getting shot at, blown up, run over, poisoned, and diseased and not being considered combat casualties just really pisses me off.
Think about this. If we're losing 3-6 folks a week, that's 200 a year killed and 12,000 a year wounded bad enough to evacuate. That's about the entire population of Traverse City, Michigan. That sucks just doesn't begin to express my feelings.
2fers: http://www.cem.va.gov/ and http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php
