My nephew Corporal Joe K. USMC whom I take the honored name of Uncle Doug from, is an active duty Helicopter mechanic stationed in NOLA. His unit just returned from Iraq earlier this year. I don’t know if Joe has experienced the same things as Pete as far as “Support Personnel”. If so as a Marine he would never say anything about it other than kick as to the trash talker. He knows first hand the long hours put in under conditions most of us here in the USA would refuse to report to work under. Pulling long shifts only to be too tired to take the long hike to the chow hall. Instead returning to their “Can” to eat MRE’s or something sent from home. This is repeated every day, 7 days a week for months on end. We encouraged Joe to select a career that would give him a job skill he could use when he returns to the civilian world. There is not much of a job market for well trained combat assault personnel unless you stay in that line of work with the CIA.

WE give thanks to all our Military personnel regardless of their rank or position that they proudly serve.

Audio books are a grand idea. I use them all the time and loaded my MP4 with many before we boarded the Freedom last summer. A really neat idea would be to have “eye pod thingy” downloads available-for a fee, of course. Not only could you have books, but also some of your port talks and ship information-maybe even a self guided tour of the ship. Better yet, you could rent the devices like many museums…
Also, as far as your family-friendly debate, I think you are fine. My youngest did not get any of the adult humor, but loved the rest of it, and did not even notice the few adult things. He was more cued in on your facial expressions and body language. My oldest (14) was able to figure out most of the humor. We loved it all and did not find anything inappropriate. Seeing my very serious teenager laugh out loud at your show was the best.
Don’t change a thing!

The Flying Dutchman

Is there anything we can send to Pete’s unit to help make life a little easier? Please ask him and let us blogger’s know.

I am a Democrat and a proud Liberal who is totally disgusted with “dubya” and all his cronies. But I have nothing but respect, admiration, and sympathy for our men and women in the military. Especially for Pete, since he is working in such miserable conditions. And extra especially since he is doing his job in Afghanistan with a pittance of the support and attention that those in Iraq are getting. Afghanistan is the war that should have had 100% of our attention, investment, and concern for the last seven years.

I hope that Pete is not really as conflicted about the war as you seem to indicate. It is true that the CIA gave a small bit of support to the Mujahedeen during the Soviet invasion, on the theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, a very risky foreign policy. (We also did the same with Saddam Hussein, and look how well THAT worked out). But we were NOT fighting against the Afghan people back then, and we are NOT fighting against them now.

Imagine you lived in England back during the Blitz. If the USA had said, “well, we can’t afford to give you more than a little bit of money. Good luck!”, you’d be pretty desperate for help. Now, if Tom Cruise and a bunch of other Scientologists came and said, “We have always admired the English people and we want to help. Here’s 10 Billion dollars and enough arms for every soldier you have!”, you’d welcome them with open arms. Unfortunately, once the Germans had been defeated Tom then says, “We’re all staying in England permanently. Plus, every person is now a Scientologist. The queue for your e-meter audits forms over here.” That’s what the Afghan people have been through in the past 25 years.

So, I hope Pete understands that he is not fighting the ordinary people of Afghanistan. He is fighting religious nutjobs, many of whom aren’t even Afghani.

my family and I are in London waiting anxiously for this Wednesday 6th August to get on board the Splendor and to your bag of laughs.

Looking forward to spending 12 great memorable days on the Splendor …..our third carnival cruise.

Cheers mate
Norman from Malta

Roger T
USAF Retired