TRON Legacy and Afghanistan - " The Game has Changed"

I have always been a big movie person and have found a lot of enjoyment from the artistic work of those who create good stories.  Movies run the gambit from those that are masterpieces ( Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Star Wars, etc.) to those that are the middle of the pack and those that are a complete waste of time (anything that has Vampires or the word “Saw” in its title.)

For a movie to be worth watching, I really have to identify with the characters and especially the protagonist.  The Harry Potter Movies are very good but I could never really jump into them like others as I couldn’t identify with any of the characters.  The stories were good but I wasn’t able to see myself in there.  Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark was one story where I jumped in with both feet.  When it came out in the early 80s, I went to see it 7 times in the theatre.  This was before disc players and the like so if you wanted to watch it, you had to go back to the theatre.  I did.  Again and again…. I couldn’t get enough of it.  Likely why I chose “ Middleboro Jones” for my Nom de plume.

Which takes me to the most recent movie that has grabbed my attention and has held it for quite a bit.

TRON Legacy.

The original TRON movie came out when I was in college and was a technical achievement for Disney when it debuted.  The style and the way it portrayed the world inside the computer was revolutionary and many like me were hooked by all that it offered.  Kevin Flynn was an arcade guy and a computer geek who discovered there was a lot more than 1’s and O’s going on inside the hard drive of the early computers.  There were good guys and bad guys. In the original, our man Flynn triumphs over the corporate villain and the computer program MCP (Master Control Program).  He escapes the computer world and returns to take back the company that he helped build in the real world. 

The story ended there and for over 30 years, the story of TRON was relegated to cable and an occasional screening on the Disney Channel.  Then the guys at Disney decided to revisit the world of TRON with the newest CGI enhancements to see where things went after 30 yrs.

In the updated story, Kevin Flynn has become a missing man as he disappears and no one knows what happened to him sometime in the late 1980s.  His son misses him and then we meet his son who has grown into a rebellious young man with issues about the loss of his Dad.  Sam Flynn goes looking for answers and finds himself in the arcade where his Dad has an office no one knows about which allows him (accidentally) to be uploaded into the world of TRON inside the computer.

By now, you might be saying what the heck does any of this have to do with Afghanistan?

I’m getting to that.

Sam finds his Dad and they meet up again after being separated for almost 20 years.  Sam has trouble as he needs answers on why his Dad was away for so long.  The first exchange is interesting as the now older Kevin Flynn looks at Sam.  He can’t believe he is really there inside the world inside the computer. 

Sam says, “ Long time…” to which his Dad replies, “ You have no idea..”

This was one of the first lines of dialogue that really caught my attention as I can identify with Kevin Flynn.

While I have been here in Afghanistan over the last 4 years, time has gone forward for me and all at home.  In many ways, I feel just like Kevin Flynn as I have been in another world from reality and separated from all at home.  Being in Afghanistan is definitely not TRON but the idea of me getting older while my son(s) grow into men(like we see with Kevin Flynn) is very much how I have felt.

Sam’s response is also somewhat telling as he says to his dad, “ You’re….” and Kevin Flynn says “ Old “ filling in the truth of the way Kevin Flynn looks and feels.  Kevin Flynn needs time to ponder having his son there again and he tells Sam, “ Dinner will be soon….we’ll talk.” and leaves him to spend time with Quorra, a student of all that Kevin Flynn knows and someone Flynn has been helping.  Kevin Flynn steps outside and looks off into the distance trying to take in all that has happened and looks out to the distance for a answer….something I have done quite often here.  I have spent hours looking at the horizon hoping to gain an answer to my own separation from my family.

Quorra tries to help Sam with all the emotions and says “ He never thought he would see you again…”  Her assessment of the reunion between Father & Son is very accurate and also describes what it is like when you are here on long term assignment.  There are times when you are here and you “feel” like you may never get to see home & family again…..I can really identify with the emotions here and it is likely why the movie has such an emotional pull on me.

Some of the music is also what makes the story come to life.  I went to a concert where Maestro John Williams showed his music with movie scenes in the background.  Then he showed the same scenes without any music at all….. the story was dead and lifeless without the great soundtrack.  This bears true in this movie.

His son asks about why his Dad never came home and Kevin Flynn fills him in on all that has gone on.  The story is one of his efforts to make a better world and how his good intentions went terribly wrong.

My life doesn’t follow that aspect of the story but the basic interactions between Kevin Flynn and his son Sam has some parallels to my own interactions with my children.  They are grown and are set out on their own lives, some of which I have missed out on during the better part of the last 4 years that I have been coming here.

Kevin Flynn’s personal world view is somewhat different than mine but he has a spirituality that hold some commanality to mine.  Mine is more traditional and his focuses on things like Zen, meditation, etc. Sam Flynn heads off on his own to figure things out and when his Dad discovers this, Father & Son are set on a path to their own battle with the troubles in TRON.  Quorra tries to persuade Kevin Flynn that Sam will be OK but Flynn sees the game change as the catalyst needed to fix things.  “ I won’t lose him again. Chaos. Good News.”

Sam takes actions that get him, his Dad and Quorra in trouble.  In his anger, Flynn tells Sam, “You’ve done enough already…..Sam.... You’re really messing with my Zen thing.”  

In a short while, they figure out that they need to work together and solve the issues that threaten them and the entire TRON world.

I have also discovered in life that my kids will come up with their own ideas and you have to let them try things out.  Skinning their knees is part of life and protecting them from that lesson is one of the biggest mistakes all these “new age” helicopter parents make.  Allowing kids to make mistakes and recover from them helps make them better people and better at handling life issues.

Kevin Flynn sacrifices himself in the end to save Sam and Quorra…. It is something all parents would do and hopefully will never have to face.  The movie is one that didn’t get a lot of box office play but has become one of my new favorites.

As with many other situations, I am evaluating what is there in front of me for Leadership Learning opportunities  and making sure I keep lessons in mind when I run into situations…Too many don’t understand this simple aspect of making the most of your daily experiences and by doing so, improving your ability to deal with life.

The mission here will end soon for me when I demob and I look forward to not being away from home and the real world.  It will be nice to be part of my real life instead of what occurs here in Afghanistan.

In the end, Kevin Flynn doesn't get to go home.  In my world, that is not a worry as I will get home very soon.

" The Game has changed."  Indeed.

“It’s not about ribbons or medals out here, it’s about being a part of a team.." - Marine Sgt. Maj. & Son Serve Together

Fathers & sons.....together and dedicated to selfless service to their country and the USMC that they both love.

My son & I were in the US Navy at the same time but he was on a carrier and I wound up spending all my time out in the Middle East, having too much fun in the "sand box".

SEMPER FI to the Sgt. Major and his Son. You make us proud.


Marine Sgt. Maj., Son Serve Together
July 29, 2011
Marine Corps News by Cpl. Rashaun X. James

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- Upon hearing the news that his son would be deploying to Afghanistan, Sgt. Maj. Robert Allen of Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 began making the arrangements to join the fight.

“After I came off of recruiting duty I started trying to get into a unit that was deploying so I would be here with him during his first deployment,” said Allen. “I wanted him to have someone to talk to and vent to.”

The elder Allen works in the support squadron’s compound on Camp Leatherneck and spends most of his days literally across the street from his son, also Robert Allen, a Marine lance corporal and motor transport operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 8.


“This experience has been helpful for both of us,” the sergeant major said. “We talk all the time. We laugh and we kid around with each other, and it makes the days go by a bit quicker.”

But knowing all too well the pitfalls young Marines encounter, the senior Allen said he works in earnest to steer his son away from them.

“In my experience, young Marines are so eager to come out here and do great things that they forget about the need to have a balance between work and taking time to call their spouses to see how they are doing back home,” said the sergeant major.

Lance Cpl. Allen and his wife, D’Lee, were married Jan. 2, just 22 days before he deployed.

“He definitely keeps me in check,” the younger Allen said about his father. “There was one time when I hadn’t called my wife in about a week and a half and he came and got me out of bed and made me call her at 11 o’clock at night.”

Among other lessons he has imparted on his son, Allen said he has stressed the need to stay physically fit, keep a positive attitude and remain humble.

“It’s not about ribbons or medals out here, it’s about being a part of a team and doing the best job you can do,” said the elder Allen. “It’s not about the recognition.”

While the experience of deploying together has further bonded the two Marines, both agree the person who has faced the brunt of heartache and stress has been Leslie Allen, the wife of the elder Allen, and mother of the younger.

“This whole thing has driven my mother crazy,” said the younger Allen. “Growing up, my dad’s deployments really weren’t that bad because after a while we just got used to them, but this is all completely different with us both being here.”

Leslie said her feelings about the deployment fluctuate daily, but her heart bursts with pride knowing two generations of the Allen family are fighting side-by-side.

But the sergeant major, with 26 years of Marine Corps service, said he knows never before has his wife faced the possibility of such a devastating loss as during this deployment.

“My son and I went on a convoy together, and it was one of the worst convoys they’d had in a long time, with four improvised explosive devices hitting and three [medical evacuations],” said Allen. “I’d say she’s probably aged ten years since we’ve both been out here. She deserves all the credit in the world. She’s been taking care of everything on the home front, all while continuing to be a great wife to me and a wonderful mother for him.”

“I’ve been seeing my husband off for 25 years now, that I got used to, but this is my first time sending my son off as well,” said Leslie. Both Leslie and her husband are natives of Portland, Maine, and the family claims the New England state as their home outside of the Marine Corps.

“I now understand the feelings of a mother as opposed to a wife,” Leslie Allen said. “While many of the feelings are the same, it’s somehow different with a child.”

In the near future, the younger Allen will head back to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. Leslie Allen said she and her daughter-in-law, D’Lee, have been busy in North Carolina, preparing for the young Marine’s return.

“D’Lee just signed the contract to move into base housing, so that’s been keeping us busy getting their first home ready for when Robert gets back,” Leslie Allen explained.

A few months after the lance corporal’s return, his father will join him in the Jacksonville, N.C., area, bringing their time serving in Afghanistan together to a close.

“This has been great,” said the younger Allen. “Having someone in your family in the same branch of service deployed overseas with you is something that everyone in the Marine Corps dreams of while they’re here. I never thought this would happen.”

Both men share a common belief in the importance of loyalty. It is something that has been passed down from father to son and has evolved into a creed between the two.

“My son’s got a tattoo on his arm that says, ‘Family and Loyalty,’ and it’s something we live by,” said the elder Allen. “He’s finally seeing what I’ve talking about for all these years, that while he and I are a family, the Marine Corps is our family, too.

“To see my son put on a uniform and help defend his country with such zeal and honor has proven to be the culminating feature of my career,” said the sergeant major. “I feel even better going home to retire now that my son is a Marine. I know he’s got it, and everything is good to go.”

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the DADS out there....especially those who are away from home & family serving our Country

All -

I am overseas and this is not the first Father's Day I have had to spend away from home. I send along best wishes to all other Dads from my station here at Bagram Airfield...It is a wistful place to be on Father's day but the reasons to be here are all easily apparent.

As Men and Fathers, we do what we must to ensure that our families receive the things they need spiritually, mentally, morally and monetarily. It is our task in life and we take it on eagerly as we made the decision to be the " Dad ".

A few words from the past that ring true today :

"None of you can ever be proud enough of being the child of such a Father who has not his equal in this world - so great, so good, so faultless. Try, all of you, to follow in his footsteps and don't be discouraged, for to be really in everything like him none of you, I am sure, will ever be. Try, therefore, to be like him in some points, and you will have acquired a great deal."

- Queen Victoria of England

Enclosed is a copy of an article by a 13 year old girl who tells about her military Dad and her wishes of a Happy Father's day to him...very well done by the young lady.

HAPPY DAD's DAY to all DADS out there....especially those who are away from home & family serving our great Country.

A teen's thank-you to her military father
By Sophie Roth-Douquet - USA Today

This Father's Day, I imagine I'll pile store-bought food on paper plates and serve it to my Dad on a big cardboard moving box. That's because we've just arrived in Germany, in the latest of seven moves we've had since I was born.

This makeshift Father's Day is still better than last year, when my Dad and I celebrated via Skype. He was on the other side of the globe, deployed to Afghanistan. That was the fourth Father's Day I've celebrated without him.

So I have to ask: What kind of a father is a man who chooses to be in the military?

I'm a 13-year-old girl. My father is in the Marine Corps, and so I've gone to eight schools since kindergarten. This past move has been especially hard because I had to leave behind such good friends in South Carolina.

My Dad chose to live this life — moving every other year and getting deployed every three years. This is a great choice for him — he's an amazing Marine — but what about his family? Is it a good choice for us?

I've had to make new friends every one to three years. Sometimes I don't even make friends for the first six months, and then much of my time in the new location is already gone by then. I have to adjust to new school systems, sometimes even having to learn a new language.

I have to live without my father for months, or even a year at a time. I worry whether he's safe.

There are easier lives. Ours is challenging. Is it right to choose to raise your child this way?

Another question: Is it a parent's job to make their child's life as easy as possible, or do other lessons matter, too?

As I sit here typing, the idea of an easy life sounds good. On the other hand, as science fiction writer Robert Heinlein advised, "Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy."

I can see Heinlein's point. Have I been handicapped by ease? No. But I haven't been handicapped by military life either, if I reflect on the entire experience.

I've gotten to live all over the world. I've lived on three different continents —North America, Europe and Asia. I've learned new languages, which I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. I have friends around the world. I've gone to a bunch of schools and learned that there are different ways to teach, and to learn. All in all, I've been opened up to the world.

My Dad's work and encouragement has made it impossible for me to be close-minded. I've lived in places with people of every color under the sun and millions of different ideas in their heads. I've also lived in places with single-minded people and little ethnic diversity.

I've had richer experiences than most adults, and I still have my whole life ahead of me. But most importantly, I feel that I help people through my Dad's service. Sure I sacrifice, but I get the sense that Americans appreciate the sacrifices of military families like mine. I like that feeling.

I understand that when things are tough, my family is struggling for something greater than ourselves.

Finally, my Dad has helped me grow and given me plenty of reasons to be proud.

And with that, Happy Father's Day, Dad!


Sophie's family is still getting settled in Germany. Her mother, Kathy Roth-Douquet, is the co-founder of Blue Star Families.

BRILLIANT - Maryland father uses robocall to get revenge on clueless school officials

AWESOME !!! - JUST BRILLIANT !!!

This guy is my Hero !!!! He used technology to drive the point home to a bunch of idiots who act like they can do whatever they want to the citizens and that people have to sit back and take it.....Too often, School Administrators and those in local government think they have all the answers and that the citizens must do what they say, regardless of what the citizens think...arrogant bureaucrats.

This is an example of the arrogance that has been the hallmark of local school systems of the last 10-15 years....insolent and full of themselves.......Kudos to you sir !! You have my admiration and I would like to buy this guy a beer!!


Maryland. father uses robocall to get revenge on school officials
By Donna St. GeorgeWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2011; 12:00 AM

Perhaps the idea of revenge came from his sleep deprivation.

Awakened at 4:33 a.m. Wednesday by a ringing phone, Aaron Titus jumped out of bed in a panic. Maybe something terrible had happened, he thought. Even if nothing was wrong, his heart raced with other considerations: His five children, ages 5 and under, including his week-old daughter, were mercifully still asleep, and he wanted to keep it that way.

In a blurry rush, Titus answered the phone halfway into the second ring, listening in disbelief to an automated caller tell him what he already knew: It was a snow day. School would open two hours late. In other words, he and his family could sleep.

But now he couldn't.

"I thought, 'C'mon, people. Really?" he recalls.

Sometime later in the day, the 31-year-old father from Fort Washington, a lawyer who knows a thing or two about technology, made a decision that might well bring amused satisfaction to like-minded parents everywhere.

Titus arranged for an automated message of his own.

He found a robocall company online, taped a message and listed every phone number he could find for nine school board members (sparing the student member), Superintendent William R. Hite and General Counsel Roger C. Thomas.

At 4:30 a.m. Thursday, phones began ringing with 29 seconds of automated, mocking objection:

"This is a Prince George's County School District parent, calling to thank you for the robocall yesterday at 4:30 in the morning. I decided to return the favor. While I know the school district wanted to ensure I drop my child off two hours late on a snow day, I already knew that before I went to bed. I hope this call demonstrates why a 4:30 a.m. call does more to annoy than to inform.''
It ended: "Quit robocalling parents at 4:30 in the morning or at least allow us to opt out of these intrusive calls."

Titus says the automated calling service reported back that, of the 19 phone numbers he supplied for school officials, "eight live people picked up" when the predawn call was made.

In Upper Marlboro, school board member Donna Hathaway Beck was among those rousted from bed.

Beck says she had fallen asleep about 3 a.m. after poring over the school system's proposed 2012 budget and contemplating a multimillion-dollar shortfall. At 4:30 a.m., her phone rang with a caller ID that made reference to the board of education.
She thought: "Oh, this is not good. Something's happened." Then she listened to the message, and "immediately I knew, it's a prank," she said.

Only hours later did she realize that the message came from a parent with a grievance about a snow-day robocall. She had not been aware of the 4:30 a.m. announcement a day earlier. "I wholeheartedly agree that calls at that hour of the morning are a bad idea," she said.

Still, Beck says the caller ID misrepresentation is a problem. "To me, it's false advertising. It should have said, 'Prince George's County Angry Dad.' ''

Titus says he in fact labeled his call "Prince George's County Parent" and does not know why the caller ID would refer to the school board.

Robocalls are a widely accepted fact of family life for those with children in school - an efficient way for school districts to spread the word about emergency closings and for schools to announce everything from state testing days to back-to-school night.

In Prince George's, the early-morning robocall went out to all households in the 127,000-student district because "the wrong time was put in," said spokesman Darrell Pressley. The delay had already been announced on the system's Web site and by e-mail - just after 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Usually such calls are placed "in the 6 o'clock hour, and sometimes the 5 o'clock hour," Pressley said - with a concern for safety and a recognition that not all families have easy online access. This robocall was pegged for the 4 o'clock hour. It was a rolling series of calls that took about 75 minutes to complete, he said.
"It's the first time - and the last time," he said of the timing.

Pressley said most schools start in the 7 o'clock hour, with school-based child-care opening earlier in some cases.

Unaware of any glitch - and already annoyed that other calls were placed during hours he considered overly early - Titus says he was thinking of the golden rule when he landed on the concept of automated retaliation: School officials would wish to be treated as they had treated him.

"I thought I would share the pain," said Titus, whose eldest is in kindergarten at Indian Queen Elementary School, where classes start at 8:15 a.m. Having a newborn in the house, sleep is less predictable these days, he said, but the family's older children often sleep until 7 a.m. or so.

Policies on robocalls vary across the region. Montgomery County does not use robocalls for countywide snow-day announcements. In Fairfax County, robocalls are used, in addition to e-mail and Web postings, but only in daylight hours, not late at night or early in the morning.

School board member Edward Burroughs III said he had not personally gotten one of Titus's robocall rebukes, but considered it "very clever."

"I definitely appreciate his creativity," he said.

On a more serious note, Burroughs said that "I think, in the future, if we know the night before, we need to make the call the night before." Ten o'clock or so may seem late, he said, "but 4:30 in the morning?"

The robocall, he concluded, made a point. "It's certainly something that I welcome all parents to do - communicate with us, by any means necessary," he said.
Staff writer Nick Anderson contributed to this report.

MILITARY FATHER & SON REUNITE AND CATCH UP AT KAF - " Like any dad, I worry about my son. I just wish we served in closer proximity to each other”

Army Staff Sgt. Robert W. Pharris, left, greets his son, Marine Cpl. Benjamin J. Pharris, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Nov. 17, 2010. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Andrew B. Adcock

SEMPER FI to this Father & Son Duo.....Glad that we can find good news stories coming out of the warzone....

Face of Defense: Father, Son Reunite in Afghanistan
By Army 1st Lt. Andrew B. Adcock - ISAF 12/06/10
Joint Sustainment Command Afghanistan

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 6, 2010 – It’s not often that a father and son meet in a combat zone, but that’s what happened when Missouri Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Robert W. Pharris reunited with his son, Marine Corps Cpl. Benjamin J. Pharris here Nov. 17.

The last time the two had seen each other was Christmas 2009, when Cpl. Pharris was home on leave.

Staff Sgt. Pharris now is serving in Afghanistan on his first deployment as a member of the Nangarhar Agri-Business Development Team IV, with Task Force Bastogne.

“We’re one component of rebuilding the Afghan infrastructure. We take graduates from Nangarhar University and work with them as they improve their agricultural and farming skills,” the staff sergeant said.

First enlisting in the Army in 1981, and later in the Army National Guard, Pharris has more than 14 years of service in a variety of assignments. Primarily serving as an infantryman, he also has served as a drill sergeant and recruiter. After leaving military service in 1997 and experiencing an 11-year break, Pharris re-joined the Missouri Army National Guard in 2008 after he learned that an infantry unit was being formed.

“I surprised my son by having him show up at my re-enlistment ceremony. He had no idea I was re-enlisting,” Pharris said.

Pharris’ Marine son, also on his first deployment, is serving at Kandahar Airfield as an individual augmentee supply specialist with the 184th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, a Mississippi Army National Guard unit that assumed the responsibilities of Joint Sustainment Command-Afghanistan, Oct. 17.

“As a Marine individual augmentee, I had no idea I was coming to a National Guard unit. It’s been a great experience so far and I want to continue to learn and do well,” the Marine said.

Military tradition runs deep in the Pharris family. In addition to Cpl. Pharris’ father, his mother, grandfather, and great-grandfather served in the military. His great grandfather served in the South Pacific during World War II.

The Marine recounted one of his childhood memories that buoyed his decision to join the military.

“When my mom received an award on the parade field,” he said, “I knew that I would serve. The only question that was left unanswered for quite some time was which service I would join.” Pharris enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2007 after completing high school early.

Pharris said he’s fully supportive of his son’s decision to serve in the military.

“He has done very well and I’m looking forward to his promotion to sergeant,” the father said of his son. “He has continued the family’s military tradition with the same pride in service.”

While deployment is never easy on families, the father and son agree that being together is one of the best things about deploying to a combat zone.

“Like any dad, I worry about my son. I just wish we served in closer proximity to each other,” Pharris said.

“I love it that my dad is over here the same time as I am,” the son said.

The father and son have found effective ways to deal with stress while serving in a combat zone. Both like to exercise during their “down” time, and honing their video-game and card-playing skills.

“I came to Afghanistan to make a tangible difference,” the father said. “Hopefully, 20 years from now, someone will remember an American who was here and be thankful their life is better.”