Father's Day / Afghanistan

"My daddy worked hard, and so have I.....paid our taxes and gave our lives to serve this great country....so what are they complaining about??  We love our families and love our kids...it's love that makes all so rich....that's where we are at."
Lynyrd Skynyrd - RED, WHITE AND BLUE


Today is Father's Day.  It is the day when we honor our Dads and all they have done for us.

My Dad worked hard to make sure we had the things he did without as a child who grew up during the depression, the 1940's and World War 2.  My Dad served in the Army during the Korean conflict in Alaska keeping the phone lines open between Korea and the US.  No combat duty but two years in the cold and isolation of the frozen wilderness.  Like the men of his era, he did what was required and did not complain about what he had to do, he just did what was needed.  He earned the rewards of his hard work and was able to retire to a small town on Cape Cod, residing there today at the ripe age of 83 years young. His generation were likely the last ones who will get what all should expect after a life's work - security and the ability to enjoy retirement.

My Dad is the man I would some day hope to be - patient, understanding and above all, a good man who made sure he was always there for all of us.  I have modeled my fatherhood skills after his and it is still something I strive to do each day - be more like my Dad. He is the "rock" that made all the rest of our lives possible.

Today, Dads face the same issues our Dads dealt with - trying to be the best Dad and providing what is needed. Moms face some of the same issues as our economy has made it necessary for both parents to become wage earners.  Dads still bear the larger part of being the wage earners the same way as Moms still deal with the majority of the household chores.  It is a bit of a stereotype, but this is the norm for most. 

This will be the third Father's Day I have spent in Afghanistan.  I have been working contract work over here since 2009 with a few short breaks.  One way or the other, I have been here for the Spring and Summer months and that places me away from home on Father's Day.  My wife sends along cards and small gifts via care packages and her gesture is deeply appreciated.  She has also had to deal with me being away on Mother's Day, so she understands what we both recognize - life is truly different for Fathers and Mothers in this day and age.  She works hard keeping the homefront going and I work hard here earning what is needed. It is a Faustian deal that we have been forced to take as the alternative ( failure or loss of our home) is untenable on all levels.

We are not working here to buy shiny new convertibles or to amass a big new home - our goals are much more simple as we look to take care of our humble house and make sure that we can live there for the remainder of our lives....a simple desire to do our best, take care of each other and do the work the good Lord has given us.

Our oldest child will turn 30 this year and we have 3 out of 4 kids out of the house living their own lives.  The task of raising them into adults has been completed but as a Dad, my influence and mentoring continues throughout the rest of their lives.  I hope that they each make good choices and that the life they choose will be a good one.  I can only offer advice and make sure that I am there when they need me, even if it is sometimes via Skype and an email or two.

Today is a work day for me and like many other Dads, I will do what is needed to make sure the homefront gets what is needed. Dads all over the world will spend today enjoying time with their kids celebrating the day at home.  Many others in uniform and those like me working here in Afghanistan will be away from home and the celebration of Father's Day.  At the same time, what we do shows that we are focusing on what is truly important as Dads....we are forgoing the accolades and day off to ensure the homefront gets the much needed support our work provides.  There will be Father's Days in the future where we will be able to spend the day relaxing on the back deck and/or BBQing some tasty food.  The work we do today ensures that those future Dad's Days will be there and that we will be able to share that day with our family.

To Dad's everywhere - Happy Father's Day and many more to come !!  I salute each of you for your efforts and the efforts of our Dads who gave us their best each and every day.

Don't believe the hype - Facts point to a disappointingly slow" economic recovery....big surprise

If you listened to the Governor of Massachusetts Deval " Spend-it-all" Patrick and his buddy in the Oval Office, things are going great for Americans.....Hey, unemployment is down according to these two idjits. In REALITY, (something neither of them want to talk about), people are still hurting and the reason why unemployment is down is that people have fallen off the "official" numbers. If you aren't getting benefits, you're not counted. The Official count in Massachusetts is 8.8%.....the REAL number is closer to 15%.

Then we get to those who have a job...they are doing more as the last three years have been horrific.....Companies have eliminated raises, benefits costs are up, inflation is eating away at what income they are getting and the POLS like Obama says, "Get used to it." That was the official statement from the Administration yesterday....The President said he has little ability to control prices or help the average American family...." Get used to it"....And this feckless idiot wants another 4 years ???? If an employee at your company performed as poorly as the fool in the White House or his buddy Deval, they would have been canned long ago.

So that brings me to the point......I'll be heading overseas for work and many asked me "why?" The number one reason is that it is a good job and I'll be supporting the military. The other side is that I will be getting paid what I am worth. That is something that would likely not happen in Massachusetts as most companies don't want to pay for the experience & knowledge of a seasoned professional. They want the cheapest person they can land & work them like a dog. I'll be working long hours but I'll be making what I am worth. I know there will be people back home working the same hours but at half the pay.

That brings me back to the point....the economy is mortibund and recovering much slower than the POLS will admit....If they were honest with people, then they would have to take responsibility for the mess, something they do not want to do. I'm heading overseas to insure the economic safety that the home front cannot provide. It is a trade-off as time away from home is tough but so would slowly losing ground on all the things my wife & I have worked for over the years because others won't handle their tasks in Washington, DC or on Beacon Hill in Boston. I'll do what is needed as it is the only way forward.

I hope that people wake up and throw out the POLS who won't do their jobs or are incapable, starting with the "Empty Suit" sitting in the Oval office.


State faces 'disappointingly slow' recovery
April 7, 2011
By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Massachusetts faces a "disappointingly slow" economic recovery, a prediction that economists from several local universities and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston called the "best-case scenario."

These economists, who constitute the editorial board of MassBenchmarks, a University of Massachusetts journal, made the bleak assessment during a recent meeting in advance of the publication of a quarterly economic snapshot off the state. The snapshot, which estimates the growth rate of the Massachusetts economy, is scheduled for release at the end of this month.

The board warned that even a slow recovery could be derailed by a variety of factors, from spreading turmoil in the Middle East, to a worsening of the European debt crisis, to sharp spending cuts and layoffs in state and local government, according to minutes of the meeting released today.

"Any of these factors, or some combination of them, could alter the course of the national and state economic recovery," the board said at its April 1 meeting. "If we are lucky and these risks remain at bay, the state is in store for a steady, but disappointingly slow recovery."

Massachusetts economy has been growing at the same pace as the nation's, which has also been disappointingly slow, the board said. The downturn in Massachusetts was softened by the state's technology industry, which did not experience the same declines as other sectors during the recession.

The board also said earlier views that Massachusetts' economy was rebounding from the recent recession faster than the nation were incorrect. The board said annually revised US Labor Department data showed that the state's economic downturn was less severe than first thought, but the state's recovery has been less vigorous than previously thought.

"The net impact of the revisions places the Commonwealth in the same place," the board said.

Military Families man the watch on the Homefront....sometimes the most difficult job in the Military

As readers of this Milblog might have witnessed, I am not uncomfortable at highlighting the words of others who write about Military topics and especially from distinct points of view. Enclosed is one such post from a Military Mom in Winston-Salem, NC.

Military families are the unsung heroes in our country's defense as they fight an unseen battle to keep the homefront going while they await their deployed Son, Daughter, or Parent's return. I salute them and hold them in high regard for their service in support of our military.

Read the words and " walk a mile in her shoes". Her and the other military families keep the watch on the homefront which in many respects is the hardest job in the military.


Riding the roller-coaster
BY ANNE CIVITANO Guest columnist
Published: January 15, 2011

A few years ago I started to think of life as a series of roller-coaster rides. I noticed that white-knuckled anticipation makes up the bulk of it, punctuated by thrilling highs and dramatic lows, and they usually end in wide-eyed, breathless relief. When my son John (Mount Tabor High School, Class of 2009) joined the Army Infantry (101st Airborne Division) days after his 18th birthday, it became evident that he had bought each of us a 12-month pass to the roller-coaster theme park called Deployment to Afghanistan.

Immediately after John arrived in Kandahar I read frightening news that, along with the arrival of the added troops, casualty numbers were soaring. While I waited to hear from John, I threw myself into research, learning terminology, reading books and blogs, bookmarking sites. After a few months, I discovered a group of moms whose sons are also at John’s forward operating base, Howz E Madad, and they have become my steadfast seatmates on this deployment roller-coaster (my “Howzy Moms”). Our motto is, “So far, so good.” From different backgrounds and areas of the country, we have a shared experience; our concern increases until we hear from our child, and then we relax a little. Too soon the process begins again. Anxiety and relief follow each other like the tides.

The worst day so far of John’s deployment began a few days before Christmas. I was awakened by a series of Google alerts exploding in my inbox. The messages described a suicide bombing attack, hours earlier, at a combat outpost occupied by soldiers from Howz E Madad. There were six American soldiers killed, along with a number of wounded. The reports might have been describing John’s platoon, or one of several others — it was unclear. In the first few moments, as I read the words on my computer screen and my heart raced, the sound of blood pumping in my ears overwhelmed everything else. I was hanging on with all my strength as the roller-coaster raced downhill.

With the news of the bombing ringing in my ears, I logged on to the Internet, heart in my throat. Keeping one eye on the driveway (a strange car pulling in might mean the worst), my far-flung group of panicked mothers exchanged every piece of information we could find while we dug in to wait. One mom discovered photos of the blast cloud and the aftermath of the attack. The soldiers in the photos were digging in the rubble of a collapsed building, trying to rescue their friends. They had our boys’ black heart insignia on their helmets.

That was the worst moment of a brutal day. How long, we wondered, until notifications are complete and we can be certain about the fate of our sons? How long until the communications blackout is lifted and we can speak to them?

Next came the inevitable Facebook leak. These thoughtless (and common) breaches of protocol occur when someone posts the name of a deceased soldier ahead of the official release of information, sometimes before all the family members are notified. In this case, knowing which company the deceased soldier was in provided my Howzy Moms and me with hope for our sons (while at the same time increasing the fears of countless other families, no doubt). By late night, it was clear that the platoon that was hit was not my son’s and that he and my friends’ sons were safe.

There were no celebrations, however. Joy is not possible when you are so acutely aware of the pain of the six families whose sons died. There is no unambiguous good news from a war zone. It is enough to say, “So far, so good,” and collapse into bed.

I heard from John five days after the attack. He was back on base. He was surprised and sorry that I had heard about it. He told me that one of his good friends from Fort Campbell had been among the six who died, and one of the wounded is a buddy who will be receiving an impressive third Purple Heart. (Impressive to all but his mother, I bet. I imagine she finds it very difficult to maintain her composure in the circumstances.)

My worst day of John’s deployment was followed about 10 days later by the best. It, too, began with a wake-up call, this one at 4 a.m. on Christmas Eve. John said he had the best present ever for me that it was just made official, the papers were signed, and he is coming home on leave at the end of January for 15 days. He was exactly right; my roller-coaster ride continues, and this time I was catapulted to the top of the world.

Anne Civitano lives in Winston-Salem. Her blog is actorsoldiermom.blogspot.com