The last day of July.  Where the heck has the time gone?  The XXX Olympiad is underway in London.  BORING!  At least because of the time delay and NBC's poor handling of the events and scheduling.

Day after tomorrow, Barbara and her family with 2 of our 3 grandchildren will be here for their annual visit.  We are certainly looking forward to seeing them and learning about what they are doing and seeing how they are growing.

Less than 100 days until the Most Important Election of my lifetime....when the American voters determine if we are to continue on this disastrous trajectory toward a totalitarian government which controls all of our activities.  And, in case you think it is just at the Federal level, I refer you to Mayor Bloomberg of NYC.  This unbelievable tyrant is imposing his own sense of how we should live on all New Yorkers.  The latest is his decree that new mothers must breast-feed and that the hospitals cannot allow them to introduce formula to their newborns without "counseling" and that bottles of formula are to be controlled just like medications.  Of course, they are against counseling young women who are about to take the life of their unborn child when they seek an abortion.  Unbelievable.  And unbelievable that the citizens of NYC put up with this nonsense.

I am attaching a rather long e-mail which I received a couple of weeks ago and which I think might be of interest. 

I received this from a friend who is a retired Master Chief Petty Officer of the USN.  He was also a volunteer with me and others at the Medal of Honor Convention held in Charleston a couple of years ago.  Ken is a true patriot and, like many of us former military, deeply concerned with what is taking place in our country.  This is not as far-fetched as one might hope.  Read it and think......

"The Obama agents, through the DHS and other assorted colluders, are plotting a major ‘Reichstag’ event to generate racial riots and produce the justification for martial law, delaying the November 2012 elections, possibly indefinitely, a DHS whistleblower informed the Canada Free Press.

The ‘Reichstag Event’ would take the form of a staged assassination attempt against Barack Obama, “carefully choreographed” and manufactured by Obama operatives. It would subsequently be blamed on “white supremacists” and used to enrage the black community to rioting and looting, the DHS source warned.
The Obama administration would then use the violence and chaos they created as justification for the imposition of martial law in major urban cities in America , the creation of DHS checkpoints, restriction of travel, and the indefinite delay of the November 2012 elections.
The Reichstag event refers to a fire started during Hitler’s rise to power. The fire allowed him to grab emergency powers and murder his opposition. Historians have long believed that Hitler started the fire himself, while he blamed it on the Communists.

The anonymous whistleblower elaborated on how the Obama administration is using the Occupy movement, labor unions, and other assorted subversive groups to create massive chaos within the nation.
“Using untracked campaign funds, they are paying people to infiltrate the various movements to cause physical destruction of property and disrupt commerce. That began last year, but has increased ten-fold already this year,” the DHS source shared.
“Obama is using some high profile people as pawns to foment the revolution. I heard several times through very credible sources that [Louis] Farrakhan is on the CIA payroll. Other have been named as well, but I’m not prepared to identify them yet. Farrakhan is to coordinate the Blacks and the Muslims to prepare for riots this summer, using any means necessary.”

The recent revelations appeared to complement warnings given by other government insiders, who alleged that Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson were all agent provocateurs whose mission was to inflame racial tensions and spark open conflict in the streets of America .
According to the DHS source, a global economic collapse is coming, which the Obama administration is well aware of. They wish to build a system of global governance from the ashes of the previous financial system. In order for this mission to be completed, the Obama administration needs more time at the helm of power. Their reasons for concern are justified; as recently as May 8, influential political prognosticator Dick Morris predicted a Romney landslide if the election were held today.

 
The shocking news also seemed to confirm recent actions taken by the DHS, such as their purchase of 450 million rounds of ammunition and their recent BlackHawk helicopters operation in Chicago , which looked frighteningly similar to a civil unrest exercise, but was described as “routine training”.
The concept of a staged assassination attempt against Barack Obama is not new as well and was first voiced by a knowledgeable White House insider known only as “WHI”.

 
Ulsterman: So what is it? Pull what off?
Insider: A manufactured threat against the President of the United States . Something easily digested by the media and the American public. Not a real threat – something totally of their own making. They will use it if they need to – got no doubt whatsoever about that. Jarrett has approved the idea…and did so a long time ago. There were whispers of it during the 2008 campaign. McCain was so god-awful it never reached a serious consideration…but the plan was discussed. If needed – they were willing to go that route. It would be the ultimate use of the race card in the history of American politics. And…it would likely work if they got away with it.
Ulsterman: They would go that far? Risk something like that?
Insider: You don’t need to ask that question. Not after what we’ve discussed this past year. Not after what I’ve told you has proven out over and over again. So stop asking the fu—ing question. You need to accept the fact…if you haven’t done so yet – you need to accept the fact these people are playing for keeps. I told you – how many times? How many times have I said it? These are not Democrats. These folks are something else entirely. And they are willing to push the country – all of us, right against the fu—ing wall. Hard. I’m pushing back. Others are too. All of this is part of that effort. A small part, but an important one.
As with the Occupy movement, it appears as if the Obama administration executed a test-run of the plot, with a “shot being fired” at the White House. This would lend credibility when they choreographed the attempt for the masses.
As early as August 2011, WHI also predicted race riots coming in the summer of 2012. The use of the Trayvon Martin death and the subsequent incitements to violence by the media, Obama operatives, and useful idiots, followed by the subsequent threats by the NBPP of a coming “race war” appear to have been merely a sign of what’s to come.

 
Middle-class American citizens were shocked and appalled at the allegations, with many hoping they were not true. Some said they had harbored similar suspicions for quite some time, due to the many anomalies and inaccuracies emanating from the current operatives inhabiting the White House.
The DHS source claimed that campaign funds were being directly used to fund the incitements to violence and rioting that the Obama administration was seeking to spark.

“Using untracked campaign funds, they are paying people to infiltrate the various movements to cause physical destruction of property and disrupt commerce. That began last year, but has increased ten-fold already this year,” stated this source.
“He added that they are using some lower level DHS agents to make the payments under the context of tracking subversives, but they are the unwitting subversives.”
The use of campaign funds, funneled through DHS agents to street-level agitators for the purpose of fomenting violence, would be extremely legally questionable, if not outright illegal, certain legal experts shared.
Intelligence officials said that if the allegations were true, the degree to which extremists had penetrated the upper echelons of the American government, finance, and security structure was unparalleled.

“Let’s just say that we are not taking these accusations lightly,” one official remarked on condition of anonymity. “Certain figures will be placed under a microscope, along with their associates.”
Valerie Jarrett, the shadowy figure always at Obama’s side, has been accused by some of “manipulating” or “controlling’ the President. Just who does she work for? Who does she take orders from?
The possibility that Barack Obama’s operatives, under the direction of Valerie Jarrett, was actively involved in the facilitation of street violence and mob chaos disturbed citizens, with many deeming it unpatriotic, subversive, and possibly seditious.
“Isn’t this why HUAC was created?”, one middle-class citizen angrily questioned. “Congress must re-instate HUAC, hold hearings, and find out if there is any truth to this.”
The intensely close co-ordination of seemingly separate entities confirmed the suspicions of many that communist agents had infiltrated major institutions, organizations, and trade unions, and were working together to sabotage America.

Who is Valerie Jarrett?
“Their apparatus can be seen as a type of octupus, having many tentacles,” one intelligence source confided on condition of anonymity. “Occupy is one tentacle, the unions are another, the Black Panthers are another, the radical black/islamic supremacists(Wright, Farrakhan, Van Jones, Sharpton) are another, DHS and its’ umbrella agencies are another, the mainstream press is another,” the source explained. “These tentacles are all working together, seemingly separate, but eventually they are controlled by the same small group of people. They receive their directives and marching orders and mindlessly execute them.”
The intelligence official predicted that in the very near future, all of the seemingly separate entities would be clearly exposed as working together, co-ordinating their activities together, and driving for the same goal – the destruction of America as a constitutional republic, the destruction of its capitalist system, and the dethroning of the U.S. as a superpower."


Far-fetched? Maybe.... I'm not too sure, though.

I'm just sayin'

14 July 2012
Today is my dad's birthday.  He was born in 1905 and he would be 107 years old today.  Dad died in 1983 at the age of 78 years and 4 months.  He has been gone for 29 years and I still miss him.
Julian H. Carnes, Sr. was born on this date in Oneonta, Alabama, a small farm community north of Birmingham.  His grandfather, Green Berry Carnes, served in the Civil War and was a 1st Sergeant in an Alabama infantry regiment.  Dad was the third of 4 boys born to John Green Carnes and Donnie (Trammel) Carnes.  The oldest son, Dewey, was killed in a steel mill accident in 1915 (he was 17 years old).  The second son, Porter, died of a ruptured appendix in 1927 (he was 27 years old).  Julian and John moved, with their parents, to Florida in the great boom of the late 1920's.  They settled in the small town of Ojus, about 25 miles north of Miami where Papa Carnes tried to ply his trade as a carpenter.  Unfortunately, the boom was followed by the Great Depression and Papa was unsuccessful.  I remember him as a nursery man, raising plants and flowers for sale.  They lived in a small three room shack with no indoor plumbing or electricity.  Mama Carnes cooked with kerosene and they had a "2-holer" privy out back.  Dad had tried his hand at the steel industry prior to moving to Florida. He had traveled the "hillbilly highway" north to Pittsburgh where he found work in one of the steel mills.  He didn't stay long as he was overcome with homesickness.  When they got to Florida, dad worked in a number of jobs until he was able to get a position with the US Post Office.  He worked for the USPO for over 42 years before retiring as the Superintendent of Mails in Miami.  After he retired, he became a toll collector in the Florida Turnpike Authority and soon became a supervisor.  He worked there another 10 years retiring finally to a well-earned rest.  In the 1970's, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He underwent all the then-current surgeries and treatment until he finally succombed in November 1983.

Dad was a very serious, no-nonsense man. He didn't laugh much and I never remember him telling a joke or kidding around. While I know he loved me, I don't ever remember him saying it to me.  But he supported me in everything I did or tried to do.  His mantra was work and I don't know of any time he just kicked back and loafed.  He was firm but fair and he was, to me, the most important and influential male figure in my life.  He is gone and I still miss him.

Yesterday I mentioned the duty of senior NCO's to teach young officers the way of the Army.  Let me tell you of my own experience.

I was in my first duty assignment as a platoon leader in B Co, 10th Engineer Battalion, 3d Infantry Division (the Rock of the Marne Division) at Ft. Benning, GA.  Our company first sergeant was MSG (E-7) Ludwig Kraus (E-7 was the top enlisted grade at the time and the senior E-7 in a company became its first sergeant).  1SG Kraus was tall, broad shouldered, blond crew cut and blue eyes.  He looked like he should have been in the French Foreign Legion after WW2 after escaping from Germany with the fall of the 3d Reich.  But I digress.
As a hot-shot (in my own mind) lieutenant, I was full of ideas.  Every time I had one I thought had merit and which would make the Army much more efficient, I would go to the first sergeant and explain the idea and try to get him to help implement the idea.  Now the Army's divisions in those days (1956) were organized into the Pentomic Division, organized to fight on the nuclear battlefield, and there were no administrative functions beyond the daily Morning Report or any Army Regulations (AR) at the company level; they were all at battalion headquarters. 
Anyway.  When I would present an idea to the first sergeant, he would listen carefully and, when I was finished, he would usually say that it was a terrific idea, BUT....and he would cite some AR which he said specifically forbade what I was proposing.  I would mutter some mild obscenity and leave.  MSG Kraus would stick my idea in his desk drawer and life would go on.  Naturally, a few days later I would have another inspired (ha!) idea that I would work up and show to the first sergeant.  Again, he would listen, tell me why it could not be done and the same scenario would follow. 

Finally, I had an idea regarding training and I thought this idea was the best of the lot.  I went to Kraus and when he said that AR such-and-such forbade it, I said, "Bullshit, Top.  What was that AR you cited?  I am going to battalion and see for myself what it says."  He leaned back in his chair and said, "Finally.  It's about time you challenged my so-called reasons why you couldn't do something.  Lieutenant, you have to learn that there is ALWAYS someone who will try to block anything that upsets their routine or the status quo.  ALWAYS check for yourself.  Now, let's look at those idea again."  With that, he pulled out all of the ideas I had previously suggested and we went over them again.  A couple were good enough to try out and they worked.  But, more importantly, I learned that there are always obstructionists who will block any progress or change.  It is up to me (you) to decide how important is what you are suggesting.  Remember, it is often easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.
I'm just sayin'.

July 11, 2012
 
On this date in 1955 (57 years ago) I was sworn into the US Army as a Regular Army Second Lieutenant.  I was so proud.  I proceeded from Atlanta, GA (I was sworn in at the HQ, Third US Army, Fort McPherson) to the US Army Engineer School, Fort Belvoir, Va to attend the EOBC (Engineer Officers Basic Course). From there I went on to have a truly wonderful and satisfying career until I retired on the 31st of July, 1975, 20 years and 20 days of active federal commissioned service.  The rank I held longest was 0-5, Lieutenant Colonel, the rank at which I retired.  I regretted the decision to retire at 20 just about the day after I had actually done so.  I missed it so much then and I miss it more even today.  Military service gave me the pride in knowing I was contributing to the security of this country and that I was accomplishing something good.

I never had a bad assignment.  Some were more rewarding than others, but all were good and I enjoyed them.  I did them to the best of my ability and I hope I did them well.  There were a couple of highlights, though.

The best assignment I ever had was as a company commander in Korea in 1962-63.  I was CO of A Co., 8th Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, in the Spoonbill of South Korea.  We were just a few hundred yards south of the DMZ and north of the Imjin River.  No unescorted civilians were allowed in the Spoonbill and our mission was a) support of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (:Gary Owen", Custer's old unit at the Little Bighorn.), b) Support of UN personnel in Panmunjom, and c) maintenance of the tank trails, bridges, and minefields in the DMZ.  The unit was outstanding with great officers and truly superior NCO's and soldiers. In fact, A/8E was awarded the Itschner Award, given each year for the outstanding company sized unit in the Army.  At that time, only one award was given, to active units, and 1963 was just the third year of the award.  I received a nice notice suitable for framing from the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) which hangs on my wall today.

The next best job was as CO, 24th Engineer Battalion, 4th Armored Division, in Nuernberg/Fuerth, Germany in 1968-71.  That was also the toughest assignment.  There was much turmoil in the Army then.  Vietnam was in full force and we were short handed and supplies were short and replacement of men and supplies was sporadic.  In fact, we received replacement soldiers who were draftees, who had completed a full tour in Vietnam and, because they were single, were transshipped to Germany to fill the vacancies.  Usually these men had only 3-5 months remaining on their terms of service and they sure as hell didn't want to be there in Germany just to keep the numbers up.  As a result there were a few more disciplinary problems than normal and racial tensions were high at times.

The saving grace at that time was my cadre of officers.  They were almost all young and inexperienced.  A couple had Vietnam experience (including myself and my XO), one was a National Guard officer on extended active duty and the rest were mostly fresh out of EOBC.  But, in the tradition of a citizen army, they certainly rose to the occasion and performed magnificently (well, maybe magnificently is a bit too much, but they did a helluva job). In fact, now, over 40 years later, I still consider most of them my friend and former comrades-in-arms.  I cannot overstate how much they all mean to me.  And the key NCO's were also outstanding, teaching these young lieutenants the ways of the Army while running their squads, platoons and companies on a day-to-day basis.  At the time, I was 35 years old and fresh out of Command and General Staff College (CGSC). I know I made just about every mistake in the book, but somehow, we managed to remain operational, pass the ORT's, the CMMI's and AGI's.  That is a testament to the tenacity and initiative of the officers and men of that battalion.  When I relinquished command in May 1971, the 4th Armored Division was deactivated and redesignated the 2d Armored Division.  The 24th Engineer Battalion was reflagged as the 16th Engineer Battalion.  They are serving in Iraq/Afghanistan today.

To any of my old comrades-in-arms who may read this, I say thanks and "Press On!"

Yesterday we went to the Isle of Palms beach (at The Citadel Beach House) to see the USAF fly-by.  There were 4 F-18's with a 5th flying outside the formation for photography/video taping.  They were scheduled to pass the IOP at 1318 hrs and, lo and behold, they passed IOP at 1318.  And if you weren't looking for them, you almost missed them.   They were a few hundred yards off shore and about 500' and going I would guess in excess of 450 knots.  As I watched I remembered why we called them "fast movers" in Vietnam.  Wow.  Great show.
The holiday was fine.  Hot, as it is supposed to be in  July, and slightly overcast.  But on the beach there was a nice breeze so it wasn't unbearable.  Whenever I am inclined to complain about the heat, I remember how it was growing up in Miami without AC or fans.  My brother and I learned the secret of lying on the cool spot on your sheet and, when that is hot and wet with sweat, moving over to another cool, dry spot.  Doing this all night allowed us to get some sleep. 

I also thought of the troops in Iraq and A'ghan.  They are in the middle of summer, too, with ambient temps in excess of 98-100 degrees.  They have full battle-rattle, including armored vests, kevlar pots, weapons and ammo, canteens with water, and all the other things one carries to survive and fight.  It's no comparison and I refuse to complain when I consider those guys.  Hooah!

The day before Independence Day.  A day to reflect on one's country and one's relationship to it.  First, a statement of my personal philosophy:

The American's Creed is the national creed of the United States of America. It was written in 1917 by William Tyler Page as an entry into a patriotic contest. It was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives April 3, 1918.

	I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
	— William Tyler Page, The American's Creed When I was in grade school, many many decades ago, we memorized this little statement, much as I memorized the Apostle's Creed in Sunday School.  In addition, when I entered active duty as a commissioned officer in the United States Army, I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic:  "I, Julian Hobert Carnes, Jr., do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God"   I renewed that oath on several occasions.  Today I belong to an organization called Oath Keepers, which is comprised of former (and some active) members of the US military, Law Enforcement, and others who took a similar oath (see www.oathkeepers.org). OATH KEEPERS: ORDERS WE WILL NOT OBEY 1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people. 2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people 3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal. 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state. 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty. 6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. 7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext. 8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control." 9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies. 10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances. God Bless America and Happy Independence Day.