A Present for Bob

Bob, Thought you might want to see the Regimental Song from a REAL Cav unit. Not like those other ones that I could name, but won't. :-)

Allons – The 11th ACR Song

We are the Blackhorse Troopers, the finest in the land,
We fight for right and use our might to free our fellow man.

Our girls wear yellow ribbons, as pretty as can be,
They’re troopers too, and loyal through: We’re in the Cavalry.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

In Nineteen Hundred Zero One, the regiment was born,
Our destiny to serve and fight on far-off foreign shores.

The Philippines and Cuba, our troopers won their spurs,
Then chased the bandit Villa, Southern borders to secure.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

Parading our black horses on the beach at Monterey,
Then sadly trading chargers in for mounts that don’t eat hay.

The great crusade in Europe, now iron cavalry,
We rolled across fields of France to win the victory.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

In Vietnam, once more we fought, in monsoon and in mud,
Long years of war, though others quit, no Blackhorse troopers would.

The Blackhorse patch meant courage: we piled on fast and hard and left unbowed for Germany to stand freedom’s guard.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

Patrols along the lonely trace of freedom’s far frontier,
Our vigilance rewarded after years of sweat and tears.

November 11th, in Eighty-Nine, the Iron Curtain falls
With the Blackhorse Troopers there to witness liberty for all.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

The Philippines to Al-Kuwait, in jungle or in sand,
The Regiment will be there when our country makes a stand.

Our guidons raised in honor, our glasses held on high,
Allons and on toward victory, in glory, live and die.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

Once the protector of Europe, now we train the world,
Down Langford Lake though Whale Gap, our victory is assured.

Masters of maneuver, we know the desert sand,
The Bluefor comes 12 times a year, to make a futile stand.

Allons, Allons, The Pride Of Cavalry,
The Best Damn Regiment That You Will Ever See.

For those who are interested, Allons translates as "Let's Go". There will be more stanzas added soon, as this unit recently redeployed from Iraq.

A Quick Thank You

I recently received several packages from the good people at Operation: Military Pride. Now, the responsible thing to do would be to send a thank you to each and every person who was kind enough to send things to me and other Soldiers. Unfortunately, I simply don’t have the gumption to do that. What can I say, folks? I don’t write thank you letters to my own family (sorry, family!), so getting up the motivation to write these people is beyond me. That being said, this is an open letter to all of them and you.

Thanks for the items you have sent to me and my fellow Soldiers. I/We appreciate everything you have sent to us. I personally get the most enjoyment out of the food items and socks. The Post Exchange doesn’t always stock good food, and getting to the chow hall on a regular basis is often difficult. And, I can always use more socks! You’d be surprised how quickly socks wear out or get uncomfortable.

Thanks for the DVDs, magazines, puzzle books, card games, hand held video games, cookies, letters, cards, candy, and everything else that has been sent. I speak for all of us when I say getting a box when you’re not expecting it and seeing the time and effort that you all have put into it brings a feeling of pride, and knowing that you all care enough to support us is great!

So, in conclusion, Thanks!

(See why I don’t write letters very often?)

:- )

Stupidity in Action...

My wife brought this to my attention today while we were chatting.

Anti-gay activists to picket service at Post

Now, after reading the article, I found myself confused as hell. I read the related articles also, just to get a better feel of this idiot's message, and I still cannot grasp it.

Let me see if I can get this straight…this reverend, a Christian preacher, supported by his family, is protesting gays "taking over the government" (I think the phrase that stood out in my mind is "They turned America over to fags; they're coming home in body bags.") by saying that God, the Christian God, is instructing insurgents to kill Soldiers using IEDs ("God's weapon of choice is IEDs"?!?). And he/they is/are doing this at Soldier's funerals and memorial services?

There are so many things wrong with this situation that I'm not even sure where to begin, but let's try, shall we?

1) A preacher, that, ostensibly, should be teaching a message of Christ's love and living his life as an example of that love, picketing funerals and memorials of Soldiers, a time when the Soldier's family has enough to deal with.

2) Gays are taking over the government? News to me. Seems to me I remember a short time ago that the government got into a fracas with the Gay Rights movement over gay marriages. Did that ever get resolved? Did Soldiers get involved and tell people that they had to allow Bill and Steve to get married and if they didn't like it, too bad? How about this? According to Yourcongress.com, there are NO openly gay members of the Senate, and 0.7% (that's right, percent) of the House of Representatives (leaving, for the class at large, 99.3% as "Straight"). How about that? The "Gays" are taking over government with their less than one percent of the votes.

3) Let's keep this one short; Christian God – predominately Islamic insurgency. 'Nuff said.

4) I would figure God, as all powerful and all knowing as he is, would have a better weapon of choice than IEDs. Let's think about that for a second; IEDs, which randomly kill innocent civilians, women and children, are the "weapon of choice" of a loving God? I'm leaving this one alone, I would go off on a tangent and produce nothing.

5) Backtracking a little…Why is he protesting the military, specifically, in this case, the 101st Airborne Division? Hasn't he done any research before he plans theses things? Does he not realize that 1) the Army discourages homosexual behavior (we separate openly gay Soldiers from the military) and 2) the 101 st has the one of the highest rate of homosexual discharges in the Army? Logically, he should think that we are on the same side. The military does not seek out homosexuals to persecute and prosecute, but the military does not condone homosexual behavior ( Don't Ask, Don't Tell, anyone?).

Me, personally? I don't have a problem with a Soldier being homosexual, as long as they do their job and don't let their sex life get in the way of the job. Oh, wait, that's what I expect of all Soldiers, no matter what their sexual orientation is.

I think if I ran into this guy on my way to a memorial, I think I'd have to accidentally kick his ass. Not too much, just enough that he might re-think the whole hitting the military family below the belt while they're in a delicate state of mind just so he can get a little airtime in the news. Let's hope, oh gosh I hope, that this guy is still doing his little act when I get home and I get a chance to meet him, with a baseball bat, preferably.

Have a good one, folks.