Monday, December 2, 2013

the guerrilla job search

well they say the economy's kicking up.
say jobs are back on the upturn.
unfortunately, i just don't buy it.
dealing with college-bound kids nearly everyday -- young Veterans included, it seems there's alota living with mom and pop.
granny's garage.
buddy's couch.
alota survival via Financial Aid.
and Student Loans.
but i gotta wonder -- what the hell are they gonna do once the cash cow peeters out?
that post-9/11 GI Bill runs it's course and you're left with an Associates Degree in Communications…
or heck, left with a few credits and whole bunch of student loans.
$80,000 hanging over your head and a Craigslist job search.
scary stuff.
i know...
made me think of an article i wrote for www.militarywallet.com awhile back.
by any means necessary.

http://themilitarywallet.com/guerrilla-job-search/


Sunday, December 1, 2013

the DRAFT

insightful piece from the Washington Post regarding that dirty little American word -- the Draft.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-restore-conscription-restore-america/2013/11/29/8d5f7ef8-5935-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop


Home Defense – Basic Shooting Principles | SurvivalStrategies.net

on the eve of a gun show visit -- and the tattooed "Affliction" wearing zombie hunters who seem to have infiltrated the world of firearms via Sandy Hook and Big Brother Bloomberg -- a lesson in home defense. wrote this one a few months back and nearly forgot to post it on the ol' blog.

Home Defense – Basic Shooting Principles | SurvivalStrategies.net

p.s. don't try this @ home. you'll shoot your eye out…

Afghanistan -- the Wild Wild East

the Beautiful desolation that is Afghanistan. some stunning pix worth your perusal.  





Monday, November 25, 2013

Charles Waterhouse, Famed Marine Artist, Dies

always liked Mr. Waterhouse's work.
first time i laid eyes on it -- the museum @ Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego.
with the Old Timers minding the halls.
wrinkled and gray. 
sporting red and gold. 
an eagle, globe and anchor ball cap.
some green tattoo blurred by the sun on their forearm.
looking @ us kids…like we had it all.
it wasn't the best of times -- the DIs just around the corner ready snatch us back.
but it gave you hope. 
a little @ least...







November 10th and the #VA

A year has passed. And not much has changed. 

Some sources claim 18 Veterans commit suicide a day. Nearly 30 percent of returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Despite a slight uptick in the economy, Veteran unemployment rates remain higher than the general population. These sobering statistics are compounded by the very organization that is supposed to help our returning soldiers -- the VA.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been unable to handle the needs of our new generation of warriors — so much so, nearly 600,000 former service-members are currently awaiting their healthcare benefits to be approved by the VA.

http://www.guns.com/2013/05/27/the-disjointed-veterans-administration/


Sunday, November 24, 2013

a belated Veterans Day 2013

nearly let it pass for the first time in a decade without a nod.
a thanks.


Semper Fi.

creases on camouflage

I took out my old camouflaged uniform and the creases were still there. 
Hadn't ironed them. 
Or starched them. 
Just took them right out the dryer and there they were -- the creases. So I placed them on a shelf, folded and neat.
I tried to write, but the words weren't there.
But the cammi's were.
Faded.
The dark greens were now pastels. The browns and blacks muted. 
Tattered fabric mapping field operations.
The running. The jumping. The hating. The sweat and the blood.
These were very old uniforms. Bootcamp issue.
I bring my cammi's to my face. Inhale deep -- crisp canvas and a hint of starch.
And the creases. White lines running the length of my thigh. Sharp and smoothed by the iron.
We'd starch them in garrison. The iron steaming, sizzling as it slid past the greens and blacks and browns.
I walk to the mirror and look at myself now. 
In my cammi's.
Like some Vietnam Vet marching against the war. Unshaven. Un-Sat. 
Like a GI atop some float, gray-haired, sporting his VFW colors, waving to the crowd on November 10th.
But my uniform doesn't fit well. It hangs off my frame, two sizes too big.
Like a different man wore this uniform.
Not me. Not me with sideburns and soul patch.
That's the funny thing. 
It was.

I take off my old uniform and fold it nicely -- remembering the kids who wore them too.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

sundown @ old Fort MacArthur

once upon a time the West Coast was armed with 14-inch rail-guns.
firing explosive shells.
firing clear past Catalina.
but now, years later,  red-tailed hawks and brown-billed pelicans patrol the bunkers overlooking the sea.
and now, the mobile cannons are stripped bare.
just concrete and steel.
just sagebrush slowing creeping.
slowly taking back what's theirs.
the sunsets are dramatic. beautiful.
sit and watch the sun dip down past the horizon.
take in that moment.
because it is a very good one.




Monday, October 21, 2013

a year before the war


it's 102 degrees.
humid.
mosquito bites pepper the skin.
a sociopath -- who doubles as a US Marine, yells orders off-camera.
he's hung like a light switch (i assume).
can't be more than 5'4".
and wants me as his gunner -- because gunners' get it first. 
cobra attack helicopters circle the adjacent savannah.
baboon brains betwixt the Humvee's grill.
it's Kenya 2002.
near Mombassa.
about a year before the War.
marking a target with my ma deuce.
-- the .50 caliber browning machine-gun.
incendiary rounds standby for deployment.
the gun is lubed thick and sticky.
CHUNG-CHUNG-CHUNG
firing like a champ.
a salty dog honed smooth since the Gulf.
the hellfire missiles sail in, go...KA-BOOM!
the choppers egress.
all is quiet on the African front.

later, we drank warm dark beer amongst the African grass.
just dumb kids talking Thai whores and war.
neither a reality...yet.




Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Everyone Looks Sad in Koreatown


and they do not look up, usually.
but if they do, it is past you.
with hard eyes or lust...for who knows what? heron? meth? some...body?
it's diverse for sure. there's a Mosque down the street -- biggest one in Los Angeles. and Koreans, of course. many, many Koreans. Asians of all sorts. Phillipinos. African Americans. Mexicans, El Salvadorians...Hispanics from every nook and cranny -- descendants of Aztecs and the ancient Maya. "Made" white folks -- suppose we can just lump them into one nebulous doughy ball.
cruising by in air-conditioned cars, shuffling past the concrete and pigeons...hoping to reach their doors without incident.
and white folks or lesser means.
homeless. many, many homeless.
there are the angry homeless -- they wander the streets yelling profanities. arguing with long lost lovers or mothers who never cared...fathers who maybe cared a bit too much.
the mentally disabled homeless -- with their shopping carts turned gypsy vardos. armed with grocery bag bombs filled with god-knows-what. tarps to keep the wet out.
i give them change when they ask. sometimes even a buck.
once, a man came up to me and said: "gimme a buck."
"why?" i said.
"i'm hungry."
"i have a granola bar," i said.
"i want a buck."
"well, what's your story?" i said.
his eyes were bloodshot and his face hard. this man was not to be fucked with.
"i just got outa prison," he said.
so i gave him a buck, he walked off.
most of the time the homeless don't really look at you -- just like everyone else in Koreatown.
but the mentally disabled homeless, they're in a different world.
they can't be concerned with you...or the 10-ton metro-link buses speeding by. the posturing glances from 18th Street gang-members. or anything.
they've got a a secret plan and they're keeping it all to themselves.
goodbye Koreatown, farewell and good luck... 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

19th Annual Latino Behavioral Health Institute Conference 2013 - Psychology & the Artist

Just a short - but ultimately interesting examination of mental health and artist endeavor...penned, care of my current gig @ the Department of Mental Health. Definitely something to explore in the future. Further information regarding the LBHI can be found here

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Sovereign Citizen Movement | SurvivalStrategies.net

Interested in government insurrection?
Have a deep-seated urge to blow things up?
Don't wanna pay taxes?
Well then you oughta read my newest one from SuvivialStrategies.net
It's a doozie.
Kinda...

The Sovereign Citizen Movement | SurvivalStrategies.net


Friday, June 28, 2013

Safe Guard Body Armor Review – full ballistic testing!

Check out my new review on a pretty amazing ballistic vest. Made by SafeGuard.
We shot it.
And we shot it again.
(btw, I actually wrote the article. fellow Jarhead and photog Joe Mielich filmed it - see below)

Safe Guard Body Armor Review – full ballistic testing!


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

With or Without Her...

As cliche as this song can get, I still like it. And I miss her.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Battle of San Pedro; the Reckoning

1 Gopher
3 Rats

and an Ellroy. He's learned to wait. To pounce. To thrash like a croc attacking a wayward gazelle.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Check Out My New Review! Bug Out Bag Review Maxpedtion Condor II | SurvivalStrategies.net

Did a nifty review of my favorite little pack that's followed me through the belly of the beast in Fallujah, to icy streets of NYC, Washington DC, the seedy side alleys of New Orleans and ultimately the beautiful coast of sunny So-Cal.


Bug Out Bag Review Maxpedtion Condor II | SurvivalStrategies.net


Monday, April 29, 2013

VA acknowledges DISGRACEFUL Behavior: "Executives" won't be getting bonuses

In what shoulda been done ten years ago, the civil servants dubbed "executives," by the VA, won't be snagging bonuses this year. It's obviously a half-assed attempt to placate Veterans and the general population, in regards to outrage they've faced over the gargantuan disability claims backlog.



SNAFU!: Adding teeth to the Combined Anti-Armor Team.

CAAT Team's sure have changed.
Riding in a open turret.
Clinging to a Ma Duece.
Benelli shotgun wedged close.
AT4 missile closer.
A caged pigeon for company.
And a fleshy torso exposed to the wind.

The Invasion 2003

Afghanistan 2013


SNAFU!: Adding teeth to the Combined Anti-Armor Team.: An event went under everyone's radar a couple of weeks ago because we were all focused on the DAGR missile being fired from a ...


Bad Dick

Bad Lieutenant: Cop has sex with prostitute, then arrests her (PHOTOS+VIDEO)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

we were soldiers once and young

Well, actually I was a US Marine, he's the soldier. But you get the picture. Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego 2000. Just a few months before they flew the planes into the Towers. Never saw it coming...

Monday, April 22, 2013

goddamn, i still love this commerical

cheesy as it is, it helped send me to that recruiting station in Redondo Beach...

Sunday, April 21, 2013

America's Reactive Spirit

Been noticing a trend with the tragedies we've experienced as a country lately. There have been calls from politicians (big surprise), celebs and just general folk, who make note of the "American Spirit." That call to arms, that unyielding drive to help. To support and give back in the face of evil. This is America, they say. But then there's that annoying fact - this spirit, this goodness, seems to rarely present itself sans tragedy. Sans American troops blown to hell, burnt and bugged out. Sans boys bred on Wonderbread and Fourth of July, who visit schools and gatherings -- and marathons, brutally murdering fellow Americans. So what is our American Spirit? Is it purely reactive? Send the boys over the berm and when they get chewed up by the Maxim's, the toe-poppers, IEDs, then - THEN - we'll come together and help out. Once the kids have ceased to twitch in pools of their own blood, then we will step in. It's a strange dichotomy, for sure. Kinda like supporting the troops, but not the mission. I guess I shouldn't complain. But I still do...

Friday, April 19, 2013

Ellroy - gopher slayer

Ellroy takes offense to unruly pocket gophers that dig up his dad's lawn...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

New Gig with Guns.com

Well hey there! Wanted to pass on some great news -- I just landed a swank gig with www.guns.com as a content manager of sorts. I'll be responsible for their BAZAAR section. Essentially quirky quick stories buzzing across the globe in an easily digestible format. And even if you're not exactly an NRA standard-bearer, it'd be awesome if you could check it out, comment, share, etc., etc. to support this salty old Jarhead writer...


police-say-obama-and-bloomberg-are-wrong-video.jpg

gi-joe-infiltrated-by-the-illuminati-video.jpg


gay-gun-owners-not-happy-with-newly-proposed-democratic-firearms-legislation.jpg