7-13-2022

Circling the Drain

Everybody knows someone who’s just trying to find their way, their own path, or making their own statement in life. Maybe you’re one too?

A military term is “marching in place” or marking time, where in all actuality you are moving your arms, legs and feet but staying stationary. It’s also referred to as “retired on active duty”. In the workplace they say if you want to see workers come alive, stop in at quitting time.

Back in the good old days people sought work wherever they could find it, doing whatever they needed to in order to earn a paycheck so they could buy the necessities in life (food and clothing) or pay the rent.

Getting hired into an entry level position meant having your foot in the door, the possibilities were endless and you could rise to your level of incompetence (the Peter Principle). Entire organizations were capped only by the level of competence at the top, so it wasn’t uncommon for someone to strike out on their own and become a fierce competitor.

In today’s world parents want their kids to go to the top Ivy League schools so they can become doctors or lawyers, but not everyone is cut out for that sort of life, unless they have political aspirations.  We often overlook the trade schools or apprenticeships that teach real world skills with actual job placement after graduation.

What are some of the most needed job skills you can think of? Is it electrician, HVAC, carpentry, welding, auto repair, diesel engine repair, aviation mechanic? What about fire, nursing, police, EMT, or a thousand other jobs that we can’t do without like grave digger, undertaker, embalmer, funeral home worker, director or casket maker? Don’t forget about national defense – state and federal army, navy, air force, marines or space force. The Defense Department offers a variety of job skill building occupations, many of which transfer over to the civilian market quite easily. National Guard or reserve units allow someone to bag groceries at Walmart and drive tanks, trucks or operate drones during weekend drills or summer training exercises.

What good is having the fastest race car but never taking it out of the garage? Or going to the gym every day, building up your biceps or honing in your boxing skills but never using them? Your God-given potential was not meant to be kept hidden in a box. When you find yourself circling the bowl, maybe it’s time for a change in attitude or location? –

RTM

7-11-2022

Youth of Today

I have a hard time understanding today’s young people. They play video games like there’s no tomorrow and work…..WORK what is that? Take my grandkids – really take em.

GK #1 – Said no to HS JROTC and yes to the easy life raising 2 kids (I love em all) as a single parent while searching for that easy job paying big time but doing nothing.

GK #2 – Said yes (had no choice) to CAP but only to hob knob with the big wigs (higher ups) and basically wasted his time and mine just going through the motions.

GK #3 – Said yes (big brother was doing it) to CAP but didn’t grasp the basics, went off to Job Corps and then got a job and worked his way up to manager of a car wash.

GK #4 – Said yes to HS JROTC, if for only a week before dropping out, but ignored my plea to join the newly created Space Force so he could be the first Defender to be stationed on Mars to use his videogame skills to keep our country safe.

1 out of 4 gainfully employed, other 3 working at getting ready to be if the pay is good, hours are short and work isn’t that hard.  

I have told all GK# 1 – 4 that going into the military will teach them more about themselves than anything else and besides it pays better than flipping burgers or standing on the corner with a sign (well maybe almost as much).

To paraphrase Carlie Simon, “If you think this is about you, about you, about you – YES IT IS.”

What happened to the days of working hard to prove yourself to your employer, co-workers, family and friends that you are the hardest working guy (gal) on the block and your word means something, in fact it means everything and is the measure of who you are.  

I think I’ll go down to the local Wallymart to see if I can get away with corralling shopping carts and bringing them back to the store because as near as I can figure nobody else cares enough to do it!

Sorry if I’m being a little bit sarcastic, but it’s late in the day, my cup o Jo is empty and I haven’t taken my meds yet. Guess I better get off this here internet and so something constructive. –

RTM

7-10-2022

American Prisoners of Vietnam War Left Behind – UPDATED

Every member of the U.S. armed forces has this drilled into his subconscious beginning in basic training that the United States will leave no man behind.

After battle soldiers will pick up and carry our dead off the field of battle.

It is rumored that air crew are given a secret series of numbers, an identification code that can be seen from the satellites and aerial photographs and enable rescue behind enemy lines in the event that aircraft are shot down so that we can send rescue teams who specialize in recovering American airmen.

Recovered airmen are celebrated back at their bases or their remains are processed to be sent home for burial.

Those who are captured and subsequently released are the subject of media released reports, video clips and even ticker tape parades as we are joyous and proud at their return, and that’s how it should be.

The code of the military is “No Man Will Be Left Behind” and that’s exactly how I have felt up until I watched 30 minutes of this 44 minute documentary The Documented Cases: POWs Left Behind.

I struggled to watch the entire video but was overcome with disbelief, extreme sadness followed by anger and rage at what our U.S. government has done, failed to do and hidden from the public when it comes to the POW/MIA (Prisoners of War / Missing In Action) issue following the Vietnam War, although it didn’t start there.

What I’m seeing is that from World War II, The Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War and quite possibly every engagement this nation has fought there have been U.S. Military personnel AND civilians who have been shot down, captured, killed or outright abandoned and left at the hands of our enemies, many of whom have been at one time or another subsequently considered our allies.

I am reminded that not everyone who says they are your friend is.

In fact it’s been said that “in life you can’t always pick your friends, but you can never fail to recognize your enemy”- DJT.

I ask – what if it was your father, brother, uncle, grandparent or close family friend who became lost or unaccounted for on the field of battle, wouldn’t you want them found and brought home preferably alive?

It has been the nature of a great many politicians to lie through their teeth while keeping a straight face as they tell you “the full might of the US government is doing everything possible to bring your loved one home”, when the exact opposite is happening.

We have been witness to recent events where recovered remains from WWII, Korea and Vietnam have been identified at the laboratory in Hawaii before being returned home for burial in some cases after more than 80 years. The family and the nation are saddened by the loss, yet happy to have some level of closure. That too is how it should be, fallen on the field of battle – given a hero’s welcome with full military honors.

Yet this documentary The Documented Cases: POWs Left Behind tells an entirely different story, one of betrayal, conspiracy, undisclosed facts that cost a great many their very lives.

I won’t go into the details, at this point they are way too much to deal with. Let me suffice to say that the men and women of our intelligence community, our defense establishment, congress and the oval office of the president have all been a part of this charade, lying to families about their loved ones and apparently all in the pretense of not wanting to offend a former enemy state that is not considered an ally. As early as 1972 U.S. officials knew there were more POWs than was reported by Laos or N. Vietnam but did not pursue it for reasons I do not fully understand.

It is so much worse that abandoning an ally during their time of need and turning the keys to the city over to their sworn enemy, and all because of convenience or any other ulterior motive.

I’m broken. My faith in this government’s ability to care for our citizens, let alone our military men and women is less than zero.

My faith is in God alone – all others have no credit! –

RTM

7-9-2022

Something Out of Nothing

Now somebody explain to me how it’s not feasible to hook up an alternator/generator to an electric car to charge the battery as you are driving? How is there any difference than with an internal combustion engine? I’ve been told that it would be against the law of physics.

If that’s the case change the law – politicians do it all the time.

Seriously a Tesla owner explained that driving drains the battery, but letting off the accelerator (braking) charges the battery. I said to him that is only possible for a short distance before forward motion ceases as does charging the battery.

While talking to my brother (he’s a master inventor by necessity), he said (and I agree) hooking up a generator from each wheel and through a voltage regulator could easily send electricity back into the battery. Since electric cars are somewhere around 400 volts, 4 each 100 watt generators or 2 each 200 watt generators properly connected should do the trick.

To add a little insurance, take the car to a body shop to have it “wrapped” in solar panel skin that also goes through the voltage regulator and that’s icing on the cake, right?

When the battery is 80% – 90 % charged the regulator breaks the contacts preventing the battery from overcharging.

I’m no scientific genius but if Elon Musk wants, I could draw him a neat little picture so his engineers could eagerly bark up that tree. And you don’t have to thank me now, but my bank account number ends in #5551212….. –

RTM

7-9-2022

Wrinkles Warts and All

How many times do we look over on the other side of the fence and think perfect, if I only had that I could live like a millionaire? Whether it’s a field of horses, cows, pigs or ears of corn, everything looks better when somebody else has it.

I have to remind myself what the good book says – covet not ANYTHING that is your neighbor’s.

We get that way with people sometimes don’t we? I don’t mind OPK (other people’s kids) so long as I don’t have to babysit. Some of us used to joke about when we get that age I’ll trade her in for a couple of 25 year old fillies. But hold that thought one minute. Have you seen what 25 year olds are doing now days?  Many can’t cook, clean or count change. That goes for guys too.

Being around the service industry and I see all sorts of people,  men and women of all ages, nationalities, physical abilities and disabilities, on their good days and their bad days too. They can be demanding, mean or condescending and a whole lot of vindictiveness sometimes all rolled into one.

The good book tells us to honor your father AND your mother that your days might be long. What must be hidden between the lines is what comes around, goes around. It’s YOUR kids who will be picking out where you could end up spending your days….long days at best.

I read recently that old man Clifton Clowers lived to be 102, farmed his land on “Wolverton Mountain”, even after a country song was written about him, he simply plowed his own field and lived in peace with the world around him. We tend to think it’s up to us to fix other people’s problems. We can’t and it’s not our job to try either.

The best we can do is extend God’s love to everyone we meet, by our conduct, our body language and by our talk. Runners and swimmers are told to stay in their own lane so they are not disqualified.

Maybe we should as well?  We can tell others that God loves them and let God sort out those who receptive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. After all God created everything and I’m pretty sure he’s up to the task of fixing people and things that are broken.

I think I’ll keep what God has given me wrinkles, warts and all. Besides my body is a roadmap of where I’ve been and why I look the way that I do! –

RTM

7-8-2022

Somebody Ought to Do Something

How many times have you heard someone say somebody ought to do something to right a wrong or to fix an obvious problem? Maybe you’ve said it yourself?

If it’s a bridge, you want an engineer to re-engineer the structure so that it won’t collapse. If it’s a highway, you want the potholes fixed and how do they happen anyway? If it’s a government project, you’d expect a supervisor or project manager to see that it’s done right the first time. It’s obvious that someone with experience, determination and resources can turn lemons into lemonade.

Not so with politicians. The old adage of when you find yourself digging a hole and it’s over your head – STOP DIGGING doesn’t apply.

Years ago someone asked an up and coming New York real estate developer if he had aspirations of becoming President. His answer seemed flippant at the time, “If my country needs me to” DJT (loosely paraphrased).

So what changed by the year 2015 to make this elderly businessman turned entertainer come down that golden escalator and announce to the world his hat was in the ring for President of the United States and as a Republican no less? I’ve read quite a bit about Trump having been a long time Democrat who hob-knobbed with politicians who wanted their picture taken with him because they wanted his money in their coffers.

I suspect he said to himself over and over “I could fix that” every time politicians let pork overtake common sense. He probably thought as president he could turn things around, but it just wasn’t his time yet.

What he had that politicians didn’t have was a vision of what America had been and could be once again. Not only that but he knew how to make things happen. He could take an idea, transfer it on paper and mold it into brick and mortar, laced with exotic gold trim that wealthy people wanted to buy.

I’m not saying that everything he touched was a golden egg, because he certainly had his share of business failures during his lifetime, yet he picked himself up, dusted himself off and started over or continued in a slightly different direction.

Politicians have a fear of not getting enough votes or having a skeleton in the closet that could sink their political ambitions. He had none. Oh there were blunders. He even bought an airline that cost a small fortune and failed miserably, but there was an incident where he used his airline as a means to rescue servicemen who were stranded and needed to get home for the holiday and he did it at his own expense. It’s sad that with all the military might available it took a private citizen to come to the rescue.

There was also an incident where he pulled his limo over to stop a mugger and held him until law enforcement arrived. Who else would have done that? There are many other examples I could site, but I’ve already written about them in earlier blog posts. Like first responders rushing toward danger, when somebody had to do something, he did.

And no he wasn’t then nor is he now perfect, not by a long shot. However while battling immense pressure from political opposition over his entire term as the #45^th POTUS, he stood his ground when others blinked. He got things done, even while being politically stabbed in the back.

There is a time and a place for every season and there is nothing new under the sun. DJT’s time and place was to be available and obedient when called. I’ve often asked myself why would a self-made man who had everything – money, women and power – why would he put himself in the position of ridicule unless it was for the greater good.

Americans have forgotten the struggle for which freedom has been fought. As a nation we have turned our backs on the God of our ancestors, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have embraced the gods of pleasure, money and power so that he who has the most toys wins.

The single most comment I have heard was “he was a mean tweeter” and it was justifiable to ban him from that platform.

He said something to the effect that in life you can’t always choose your friends, but you can never afford NOT to recognize your enemies. I heard someone else say that not everyone who tells you they are is your friend.

There never is a right time to do wrong. –

RTM

7-8-2022

Hate the Sin Love the Sinner

In the eyes of God we are all created equally. Nobody is above anyone else. Nobody is below anyone else. We are all born into this world of sin. We are all sinners.

Get this straight – God hates sin, not the sinner.

God loves you!

You can’t do enough good works, earn enough merit or change the fact that the payment of sin is death (eternal separation from God).

Only a sinner can receive salvation by the grace of God after accepting the gift made possible through the blood of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus said he is the way, the truth and the life and nobody comes to the Father but through him.

Everyone who asks for forgiveness will be saved.

It is then up to Christ’s followers to go to the entire world and tell them the good news = GOD LOVES YOU!

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1

Questions – there will be an end of life exam. Are you ready? –

RTM

7-7-2022

He Came Into the World

The most powerful empire the world had ever known controlled most of the known world. Men were fighting for dominance and control while a woman’s controlled was all powerful. There was corruption, slavery, death, imprisonment and executions while marriages and giving birth was normal. Life went on as it had since the fall of Adam and Eve. Everyone had an opinion on what the coming Messiah would do when he came. He was expected to smite down the Roman Empire and free the people of Israel because surely the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would not condone or let stand the grave injustices dealt out God’s chosen people.

Doesn’t that look like the world we live in today? Instead of a single powerful empire we have multiple empires that see themselves at the top of the heap. The world as we knew it has been turned upside down and toppled on its head. Selfishness, greed and power are the driving factions today.  

The only constant in life is change.

When Jesus came on the scene in that manger in Bethlehem nobody noticed, except the shepherds and the wise men. The religious leaders preached his coming as foretold in the Holy Scriptures but were unaware of his coming. The king knew of his impending arrival and attempted to prevent him by sleighing every possible newborn male.

As a child he spoke the scriptures as someone with authority and knowledge and those who heard him marveled. As he grew and learned as a man he did not seek to make himself noticed for his time was not yet.

His desire was to do the will of the Father and when his time had come his message was clear – God Loves You.

As he traveled he spoke to his audiences where they were at and he brought love. He taught of the love of the everlasting God because he was the love of God and those who saw him saw God.

Jesus came not to overthrow the Roman Empire or encourage revolts or sedition, he came to point the way to salvation. He made it clear that he came not to condemn the world, but that through him the world could be saved. He said he was the way, the truth and the life and he also said that nobody comes to the Father but through him.

Jesus laid down his life to pay the penalty for the sin of mankind and he is coming back again. Are you ready? We shouldn’t be overly concerned with the way the world is going or what’s happening around us because for the modern day believer the message is the same – Go unto the entire world and tell them “God Loves You”. –

RTM

6-24-2022

Sacrificing on the Altar of Choice

The very recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe vs Wade has launched radical Democrats into orbit.

Let me paraphrase NY Rep AOC when she said the Court has endangered women and men and taken away the right to form our own families. Might I ask, what about the basic “right to life” being taken away from living human beings in the name of convenience and on the altar of “Choice”.

What if the Court simply overruled Roe vs Wade in order to return to the individual states the right to regulate abortion within each respective state, because quite frankly that is exactly what happened? It is now up to you and I to shut it down in our state – once and for all!

I think the bigger question is why nobody is asking what God meant when he said “You shall not kill!” After all it doesn’t matter at all what the court of man says, if God has declared it sin. In the final analysis standing before the judgement seat of God will render both an accounting and justice – what we each deserve!

We can see that politicians are on the wrong side of right and lives are on the line!

RTM

6-24-2022

Fair-Weather Friends

Everyone has them even reading this blog you can picture in your mind the friend(s) who are closer than a brother. Until the time you’re going through hard times and you need a shoulder to cry on, but find yourself all alone. Then there’s the high school buddy who’d face off the bully in your stead because that’s what friends do.

It’s been said that in life you can’t always pick your friends, but you can’t afford to not recognize your enemies (DJT – 2017). The song “Smiling Faces” (The Temptations – 1971) comes to mind when I think about those claiming to be your friends all the while stabbing you in the back – and with a smile.

During my military service there were times when difficult deployments or training exercises brought together those who suffered through it and survived. We were on top of the world, at least until the next one. When your focus is outside yourself it brings people together like a band of brothers.

Without those moments the infighting can tear apart even the closest of friends. In light of the political climate we experience today it doesn’t take much of a spark to cause a devastating forest fire.

Someone once coined the phrase “Brothers Forever” which sounds and makes you feel good but when the storms come (and they will) – these fair-weather friends are often nowhere to be found.

Just to be clear – right, wrong or indifferent Every Veteran is my brother-in-arms by virtue of swearing the oath, putting on the uniform and placing our country ahead of self. That doesn’t mean I condone or support them when they “Go Rogue” or act in a disgraceful manner. But in a pinch there is no one I’d rather have with me in a foxhole or facing down a rowdy crowd – than a fellow Veteran.

Every cloud has a silver lining – and I’ve got your six!

RTM