Target Centermass

Day: July 27, 2004

  • A Few Brief Points About Teresa’s Speech

    Per the text of the potential First Lady’s convention speech,

    My name is Teresa Heinz Kerry.

    Is it? Is it, really? Apparently, it’s still Teresa Heinz, but she’ll pretend and claim otherwise for political expediency.

    To me, one of the best faces America has ever projected is the face of a Peace Corps volunteer. That face symbolizes this country: young, curious, brimming with idealism and hope, and a real, honest compassion. Those young people convey an idea of America that is all about heart and creativity, generosity and confidence, a practical, can-do sense and a big, big smile.

    For many generations of people around the globe, that is what America has represented. A symbol of hope, a beacon brightly lit by the optimism of its people — people coming from all over the world.

    I would counter that, for many generations in Europe, northern Africa, southeast Asia and a great many islands in the Pacific, a better face of America would be a soldier, bravely struggling to bring freedom while generously handing out a chocolate bar.

    John believes in a bright future. He believes we can, and we will, invent the technologies, new materials, and conservation methods of the future. He believes that alternative fuels will guarantee that not only will no American boy or girl go to war because of our dependence on foreign oil, but also that our economy will forever become independent of this need.

    Translation: no blood for oil.

    Also, it seems rather naive to say that reducing America’s need for foreign oil will automatically reduce oil’s importance on the geopolitical stage to the extent that our military can be guaranteed it will never be embroiled in the conflicts of oil-producing states.

    John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line for his country.

    Did you know Kerry was in Viet Nam?

    But he also knows the importance of getting it right. For him, the names of too many friends inscribed in the cold stone of the Vietnam Memorial testify to the awful toll exacted by leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength.

    Did you know Kerry was in Viet Nam?

    No one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will — and he will always be first in the line of fire.

    For four months.

  • Kerry Wants to Extend the 9/11 Commission

    Back in the early 90’s, I lived in Washington, D.C. for a little over a year, including interning for a fall on Capitol Hill. One thing I learned while there was that there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government agency. This was brought back to mind when I read this:

    Kerry said the (9/11) commission should issue progress reports every six months, beginning in December. Among the questions they should address, Kerry said, are whether we are doing enough to strengthen homeland security, reorganize intelligence agencies, build global alliances and make America as safe as it can be.

    In Boston, Kerry foreign policy adviser Jamie Ruben told reporters that keeping the commission intact would be an effective way to “bird-dog the bureaucracy” on implementing the panel’s recommendations.

    So, Kerry wants to bureaucratize the 9/11 Commission and have its bureaucrats oversee the rest of the government’s bureaucrats. Does Kerry anticipate changes in the panel or any checks on the commission, or is he wanting a Supreme Court of Security whose edicts must be enforced?

    Ah, but who will guard the guards?

  • Army National Guard Recruiting Falling Short

    Despite the active Army meeting or closing in on recruiting and retention goals, it seems the call-ups and rotations are beginning to take their toll on National Guard recruiting.

    The U.S. Army is lagging about 12 percent behind its recruiting goal for the Army National Guard amid the Pentagon’s heavy reliance on such troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

    Amid predictions by critics that the difficult duty in Iraq and Afghanistan may harm the all-volunteer U.S. military’s ability to attract and keep troops, Gen. Peter Shoomaker, Army chief of staff, told a Pentagon briefing he was watching the situation closely.

    National Guard recruiting was at only 88 percent of its goal, Shoomaker said. “However, we remain cautiously optimistic that we will make our goal,” he added.

    But the National Guard was slightly exceeding its target for retention — soldiers opting to remain in the service — while the active-duty Army and part-time Army Reserve both were generally meeting retention and recruitment goals, Shoomaker said.

    Maybe the days are drawing near when the answer to my personal debate about re-enlisting will be forced upon me by my often-hyperactive sense of duty. Maybe it’s about time the guy on the left in the picture below (me, from Ft. Hood in May 1993) goes back in the Guard. Adding to the pressure: I recently found out the guy on the far right, a close buddy of mine, has gone back in the Guard.
    On an M1 at Hood in May 93

    Besides, if I go back in, I’ll finally get the black beret that the tankers should’ve always had.

    Note: Yeah, we slipped off post to Wal-Mart and bought some sidewalk chalk. If you can’t read it in the pic, for those three weeks of transition training from the M60-A3 to the M1, we dubbed ourselves the Bonedickers, slang for goof-offs, of a military sort.