Willow's Pace

I think Stephen is disapointed that Willow hasn't hopped to his fist yet. In some ways the time we had with Zoie flew by so fast that looking back we some times tend to think that she was completly trained the day we trapped her. I think with the situation that Zoie was in she was a little more willing to do what Stephen ask of her, however when we take a closer look at the logs that Stephen kept with Zoie she was only a couple of days quicker to do the things Stephen wanted her to do. 

Zoie was most likely desparately hungary and probably in some pain from the first day we had her, this made Zoie more willing because she needed to be. I don't think there will ever be a day when Katie can walk right up to Willow on the perch, Willow isn't going to put her head down to be petted, however Willow is a different bird in a different health situation than Zoie was. I know that every bird is different, but with that in mind I also think that having a sick hawk from the start ment that Stephen didn't really get the true experiance if a wild hawk on his fist. Not to say that Zoie was not an amazing hawk, she was and if either of us could have saved her we would have moved mountains to make it happen. However animals like people tend to be less agressive and have less spunk when they are suffering.

Even though Stephen seems to be letting this slower pace of training get to him, I am thinking this is probably the correct pace, the pace a wild healthy hawk learns to trust a human.

Tonight Stephen was attempting to put Willow on the perch, I wanted to take a few photos of her but she deffinately has her own ideas and attitude, instead of sitting on her perch she flew at Stephen then straight for me. I was trying to focus the camera and take a photo but it all happened so fast that she was about to step on the perch then she was suddenly banging me in the head with her wings and back on Stephen's arm. I had to stop and think to even realize that she had flown at him first, then me then circled and headed toward Stephen about the time he had pulled in the leash enough to force her to go to his fist. She didn't hurt me or even scare me, mostly I was upset I missed capturing her attitude with my camera.

Once she had her hissy fit and let us know she wasn't pleased she settled down and got on the perch. Then she was at least willing to give a good stretch to get sme bits of food. She may not be training up as fast as Zoie but I think she is getting there at her own pace and time. The hard part is working in the time for Stephen to spend with her. It is diffictult to manage our time to include all the things that we need to accomplish in a day, but I think if Stephen can learn to live with a couple hours less sleep he will manage it fine. I on the other hand may not deal so well, a sleep deprived Stephen means a grouchy Stephen lol..

Catching up...

I sort of feel like I have been running behind for weeks now. Between Stephen trying to trap a hawk, looking for a car, Halloween creeping up on us, overtime at work, school and the VA I just can't seem to keep up.

Recently I posted a blog about banks and how I was just fed up in general with them. Well we opened an account with a new bank and Stephen moved his paycheck there, I for one haven't had time to move mine and for two we have stuff like a house payment and auto insurance that is auto drafted from our old bank. Moving my pay would mean moving my pay from my full time job, moving my drill pay, moving my GI Bill pay and a couple of other direct deposits, plus contacting the drafters to have them move their drafts to the new bank. I first of all don't have time to be bothered, and second its a tricky deal to move it all. For instance today was Stephen's second payday since he moved his pay to the new bank, and for the second time we woke up on payday and couldn't find his paycheck. It wasn't showing in the bank, I hadn't checked before leaving for work, imagine my embarrassment when I swiped the bank card at the local Love's  and it was declined! So here is the tricky part, once I move the direct deposits, I have to worry that if I move the drafts the drafts may come out before my deposits start hitting the bank, apparently it takes a while to move the deposits and I may even get a paper check between the last deposit in the old account and the first deposit in the new account. It is to much hassle for me to worry if my payments will go through.

I have had the old bank account for years and it never fails, my deposits hit the bank at midnight and I never for a moment considered that a direct deposit wouldn't hit the bank at midnight. Last payday his employer mailed a paper check to our house, we opened the account on this policy that if you sign up for direct deposit you can open an account with out putting any money in.We did this because we where to lazy to go to the old bank and get the funds out to open a new account. Last payday when Stephen finally located his check he just deposited it into the old account because the new bank is a 20 minute drive and the old bank is a couple blocks away ( every minute counts when your overwhelmed with to many things to do). So this morning was suppose to be the first direct deposit. Thank the Lord I had my old ATM card and money in the bank to cover my purchase! It is such a hassle to change banks... no wonder I haven't moved my check lol.

Aside from dealing with bank moving we finally purchased a car. A 2004 Pacifica. I can't stress how much I love this vehicle, give me a couple years and I will probably be begging for an upgrade but at the moment I am obsessed with this adjustable gas peddle. Even more so because I got out the manual and figured out how to program the keyless entry. It is now programed so that if Stephen unlocks the car with his keyless entry fob the seat, mirrors, radio and gas peddle moves to his saved settings, and the same when I unlock the car with my fob it all adjust to my settings. Now how cool is that!  Not to mention that it is now getting cooler out and in the mornings pretty darn chilly. I am am loving these heated seats! I tend to be shivering when I get in the car in the mornings and put the seats on high heat, then about 1/4 of the way to work my  butt is on fire! I do it every morning and every morning when I am crossing the Oklahoma/Texas line I start wanting to jump out of the car because it feels like my ass is on fire!

Since my last blog Stephen finally trapped a passage hawk, we named her Willow. Honestly I tend to love trapping, especially if I am driving because well its just fun. However after two or three months of it I was wore out. I am super happy that he caught a keeper. Now to the hard part! Stephen makes me laugh because typically my alarm goes off at 4:30 am. I hit snooze until about 5 am. Then from 5 to 6 I am getting myself ready for work while constantly trying to get Stephen to wake up and get out of bed. However now that he has a hawk he has actually been so revved up that on some mornings he is out of bed before my alarm starts going off! Now I would just laugh at him and hit snooze but this early rising of his is killing me! He is so tired by the afternoons that he wants to come home and crash for two hours before he does anything. This means I am doing homework while chasing down a two year old who seems to think that any and every thing she sees is fair game for her to snoop in. She thinks it is so very fun to take all her clothes out of the dresser, empty the silverware out of the drawer and create messes. Her worst offense at the moment is her desire to be an artist! I have now cleaned all the crayola off of the freezer three times, off the wall twice, and the marker off the TV a thousand times. Today I was trying to get the kids all ready for a Halloween carnival that the school does every year, I look up to see that Katie had my deodorant and in lightening speed has covered the entire TV screen with it! All the while Stephen was sleeping off his early morning tryst with Willow! I was ready to scream at the both of them by the time we left for the carnival lol.  However I must admit that Willow is a beautiful hawk!

 

On another note, I got a few cool shots of the kids in their costumes and of Sara, Luke and Ayden. I have tons of photos to do for class but these where a few non class related photos that I took just for fun. I have to say Stephen and Shelby are to funny for words some times, Katie is the cutest strawberry I have ever seen and don't Sara look great for having a baby just two weeks ago!

Now about the VA, I have finally relented and realized that I needed to sign up with the medical facility and attempt to get stuff sorted out. I wasn't sure I was going to be pleased with the facility near me because the first visit I felt like the doctor was only interested in the possibility that my gall bladder needed removing. However this week when I returned to be informed that the ultrasound didn't show an issue with my  gallbladder, the doctor apparently decided to get to the bottom of the various issues and has schedules some test. He also took a closer look at this pain in my shoulder that he thought was gonna be gallbladder issues and informed me that I have a huge knot of muscles there that is probably causing that pain, I had attempted to get him to feel this knot last time I was there but he was sure it was gallbladder related. That knot in my muscle has been there for years now, the thing is I   hate taking pain pills because I am scared to death of being addicted to them.  It has came to the point that I am willing to take some pain meds, or do what ever if he will just make it go away, I insisted on the lowest dose possible and will see if this helps. In the mean time I now have a couple of appointments to go to and will see what happens from there. In a lot of ways signing up and going to the VA is a huge disappointment to me, I have been managing to deal with the medical issues that resulted from deployment, well I suppose it would be more accurate to say I have managed to ignore the issues. I am not really able to ignore stuff any more and in some ways I hate that, if I could ignore things then I wasn't having to deal with it. However there is only so much physical pain that I can ignore, then it is time to give in and sort it all out. I did walk out of the appointment feeling like the doctor is attempting to sort things out.

I seriously think he started attempting to sort things out after we had a discussion about a doctor that no longer works at the VA. I had actually attempted to use the VA as soon as I came back from deployment but every time I went in to see my doctor he wasn't there and I would have to see a nurse or some other doctor that was covering for him. The nurse actually informed me that because I had insurance I was wasting the VA's time by using their facilities, I wasn't pleased with her comment but I did what I typically do and ignored her. However the last time I went to the VA my doctor was once again not there and I had to see this other doctor that was covering for him. I already had a bad taste for this doctor because I knew that a week before she had treated a friend of mine, during my friend's visit a nurse burst in the room and informed this doctor that there was a man in the hallway having a stroke. The doctor walked out of the room, leaving the door open, informs the man's wife that she needs to take him to the Dallas VA because he is having a stroke and this office don't deal with such matters. The wife (an elderly woman) tells the doctor that she has never driven outside this town and don't know how to get to Dallas, the doctor informs the woman that she better figure it out or her husband will die! She then returns to the room, closes the door, states " I should have probably called him an ambulance because I don't think he will make it to Dallas" but didn't make any attempt to actually call an ambulance! Then she pulls up my friends shirt to push and poke on her tummy, spots my friend's belly button ring, states "You have your belly button pierced, you know you probably have HIV from that!" she then yanks down the girl's shirt and storms out! She didn't complete her exam or anything. So needless to say I wasn't happy about seeing this doctor.

I entered her office and sat down, she demanded to know what it was I needed. I informed her that I had already had several visits where a PA had indicated that I needed some test and he would schedule the test but however he had not actually scheduled any test, I also informed her that I realized that she couldn't really verify specific information about my medical history but I at the very least needed to take back documentation to my unit to indicate that I have came for X amount of visits and that I was actively seeking treatment. I tried to explain to her that this was my 5th scheduled visit to attempt to see my doctor in order to get the treatment process started because eventually the military would just kick me out for not getting treatment. Her response to me was "I am not giving you anything for your unit, I wont assist you in attempting to stay in the military, your a female and shouldn't be in the military any way" that really set me off and I pretty much cursed her out, left and found the patient advocates office and gave her a piece of my mind, then attempted to speak to the director of the hospital but was refused access, possibly because I was beyond pissed and the desk clerk could tell.

With all that story told, I had a conversation yesterday with my doctor and during the course of the conversation I explained to him that after several attempts to see him I had cursed out "the crazy doctor" and never came back to the VA. He looked at me sort of like he knew the answer but just had to ask, then said in a questioning tone "the crazy doctor?" I didn't even get her name out of my mouth before he was shaking his head and about to burst out laughing, he even said "yep she was the crazy doctor" when he realized I had gotten into it with her he looked back at my records. The expression on his face was priceless, he stammered out " you ummm ..did you really.. ummm" I didn't have to ask I knew what he was looking at, it is clearly noted in my file that I told Dr. James  that she could "kiss my fat ass". As I informed him, she didn't bother to note what she did to provoke me or why I was cursing at her. This I think was a turning point for me and my doctor, it is pretty clear by his reaction to her name that he knew she was a nut case and probably wasn't his favorite co-worker and I would say  he enjoyed hearing that someone cursed  her out! lol Now I have appointments to get my stuff sorted and a doctor who thinks it is very funny that I cursed out the "crazy doctor". 

Flash Backs

So for the last couple of weeks every afternoon when we get home from work we spend a couple hours looking for a hawk for Stephen. Some days there are none to be seen and some days we trap a couple old haggs and release them. However during our driving around we have a lot of time to talk and see venture down roads we have never been down or roads that we haven't been down in a long time. I also found myself realizing that I miss listening to the radio and music. The last car I had did  have a radio but if I forgot to remove the front from it the battery on the car would go dead (some wiring issue) so I never used it for fear of forgetting to take off the front.  I heard the above song and thought you know this song really does remind me of the years that I was growing up.

Yesterday we came up to this sign that said Enos >;  My first thought was "ohhh I haven't been to Enos in forever" We took the road to Enos... This is a spot in the road really and the only reason I even know about the area was because years ago in high school my cousin and I made a lot of trips to Enos to go to church, swim at the beach and hang out with people, I can't say friends just people that we knew.

It was also in this little spot in the road, several years later that it dawned on me how very much our views on people change over the years. When I was in my mid 20's it just happened that I found myself in this little church that I had attended when I was a teen. On this particular day I found myself standing there talking to this guy and his wife. The guy seemed so out of place, because I had known him when I was 16 or so and first of all while I was driving off to Church he was parked on a back road in the most awesome 1965 Chevy known to man, smoking weed and banging random girls.The mention of Church would have made him snort and loose the lung full of smoke he was holding in but absolutely no way would he have given thought to going to Church.

My daughter's father had worked with him a few years earlier and was standing there having this conversation with this guy. I know his wife had to think I was a nut because I didn't know her at all but I knew her husband pretty well. The entire conversation I was not speaking but instead staring at this guy and my mind was going 90 to nothing, I kept thinking "omg what was I thinking at 16 when my friends and I thought the sun rose an set on this guy and his very old chevy truck?" I mean at age 25 I am staring at this guy that used to make my heart beat out of my chest and thinking "really he isn't cute at all and I don't know what we thought we saw in him". I walked away from the conversation not knowing even one word that had been said, I was in total shock that first of all he had changed so much that he was now a dedicated Church goer but mostly I was shocked that I ever found him attractive in any way.

It is pretty amazing what we find attractive at 16 verses 25 and even 35, my taste is so different now and what attracts me is so different. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I knew these changes take place, I was just shocked to realize at 25 that so many changes had taken in both this guy from my past and myself.

And we have a Baby!!

So Sara checked into the hospital on Sunday night at 7 pm to be induced.  Unlike when my doctor induced labor with Katie, they started the induction right away. I personally checked in at 9pm and started induction at midnight, Sara had her first induction pill placed within about half an hour of signing in. Not that this early start helped her much. She checked in dilated to a tight 1cm. Four hours later they placed a second induction tablet and she only barely a 1 & 1/4 cm. Technically Sara should have received a third induction tablet because four hours after the second tablet she was still not dilated beyond 1 & 1/2 cm. However when the nurse attempted to check her, Sara's water broke which meant no more induction tablets. Time to move on to Pitocin.

Later the next morning the nurse explained to us that Sara had a dysfunctional uterus, in other words she would have back to back contractions for about six or eight minutes, contractions with out any break at all but then she would have a three or four minute span with no contractions. Pitocin typically corrects this issue.

Looking at the very poor drawing above of a contraction chart, Sara's contractions where the bottom example. When in labor it is important that all the contractions peak and then decline to a stop for a second or two. The uterus needs that break in order to then peak on the next contraction. However Sara was not ever able to have functional contractions. She actually delivered with these insane contractions.

The doctor actually started to do a c-section several times there where three things that prevented the c-section. First Sara and I were very adamant that a c-section was only an option if Sara or the baby was in danger. For me this insistence  was based on the fact that I didn't want for Sara to have a surgery and go through a longer recovery unless it was absolutely necessary, not to mention that Luke's mother and I wanted to be in the room for the delivery. Sara didn't want the c-section because she didn't want to stay in the hospital for several days and trust that Stephen, Shelby and I are capable of baby sitting her dog lol.

Every time that they raised Sara's Pitocin level to try and regulate the  contractions the baby's heart rate would drop. Now every time I have been in the delivery room, either for myself or with other people having babies ( and it has been a few times) the baby's heart rate may drop some and the mother may need oxygen to help sort this out, I wouldn't say normal but maybe common would be accurate. However this time the baby's heart rate was dropping below what is common.

The doctor said several times that she thought we needed to go ahead with the c-section, but every time she said it Sara would suddenly dilate a cm or so and the doctor would agree to wait another hour or so (the second thing that prevented the c-section).

 To make matters worse Sara has an insulin issue. Sara's OBGYN's physician assistant always takes time to remind me that it is insulin resistance not type II Diabetes, her OBGYN never says a word when I refer to it as Type II Diabetes and Sara's regular doctor actually told me that she officially has Type II Diabetes, now I am no fan of the PA so there is no changing my mind that the technical name is Type II Diabetes. To clarify Sara produces to much insulin and her body can not function with that much insulin with out a high amount of sugar. The problem is that the more sugar you take in the more weight you gain, which is not only bad for a teenage girl's self esteem, but the extra insulin and extra weight brings back a condition that Sara was worn with where her heart beats way to fast. Interestingly enough the OBGYN is the doctor who discovered the insulin issue when Sara was 12 and started her on metphormin after two years of begging her doctor to find out what the problem was I finally got a referral to the OBGYN and we got to the real issue. It seems that the OBGYN seems to have forgot Sara's history (I can understand why with so many patients) However she had Sara not take her medication, she kept saying she was worried that the meds would drop Sara's sugar to low during labor. The problem is that stopping her meds is what causes her sugar to get so low. Half way through her labor during all the contraction issues they discover her sugar is dangerously low, hence Sara was passing out between contractions. Every one kept saying that some women fall asleep from the anesthesia and exhaustion. Exhaustion was thought to be the problem because her epi was only working on one side of her body so they thought she was exhausted from the pain of the contractions. but I kept saying I think she is not able to stay awake between contractions because she hasn't had her meds. They decided to check her sugar and with in minutes she was being force fed a Popsicle and a different IV solution with extra sugar was being  put on her IV pole.

It frustrates me so much when doctors don't listen to what your trying to tell them. They may have a medical degree but a person knows their own body, and a mother who has struggled to get their child healthy for six years tends to know the signs when things are not going right.

Interestingly enough once her sugar level was fixed Sara staid awake between contractions!

This also leads to the third reason why a c-section was a last resort, if the epi  isn't working then in order to have a c-section Sara would have to be put completely under during the c-section which the doctor, Sara, Luke and I were all against.

Eventually Sara managed to push through the dysfunctional contractions, she pushed at least double the amount of times a woman would typically push per contraction. 27 hours of active labor and about an hour of actual pushing and she delivered Ayden Rylee Aytes on October 11, 2010. He weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and19.5 in long at 10 PM!!

Now we have another battle to fight. I had to go back to work today, so we left the car at the hospital so that if Sara and Ayden were released from the hospital before I got off work, Luke could drive them home. However they were informed that because of Sara's age she had to have a parent there to meet with CPS and if CPS couldn't get out to see us before the discharge time then CPS would be visiting our home. Now had Sara delivered a under nourished or drug addicted baby or been at the hospital the whole time with out any parents or family at all or if either her or Luke had ignored the baby in any way at the hospital then I could see this. However considering that they couldn't take the baby out of the room for a minute with out Luke standing at the nursery window until they brought him back. From the moment that the baby was born Luke has been mother hen over him, I couldn't get Luke to shower the entire time Sara was in labor because he said if he heard a sound that made him think something was happening he would run out in the nude to make sure he didn't miss anything. He went out to the car to smoke a cigarette and Sara was in real pain. I called to say Sara wants you to come back in. Sara's sister just happened to be looking at him  out the window and laughed because when the phone rang, before he actually answered he jumped out of the car and was running back to the hospital as he answered the phone. Luke took better care of Sara and Ayden at the hospital from check in to check out than most home health nurses do for their patients. It really annoys me to see these two kids trying so hard to be parents and doing all the right stuff and still be required to have CPS involved because of Sara's age. I know some older parents who need some CPS attention they should spend their waisted time checking on them instead of investigating the care of a baby who is possibly the best cared for baby ever.

We won a couple of ribbons @ the Grayson Co Fair

 


SO Stephen won best of show for this photo, basically he won the top ribbon over the whole contest!










 I didn't even really want to submit this photo, for some reason it isnt my favorite, however Stephen and Luke seem to really like it and it was already printed so I submitted it and darn if I didn't win first place for exposure manipulation!

Drill Weekend

I am finally home from the long drill weekend. Most of the time the only good thing about three day drills is the fact that I get paid more for those drills.

We were traveling about 4 hours away from where I live in order to go to the range. The unit took hummers and convoyed down to Camp Gruber. This isn't my favorite place to go because it is pretty much out in the middle of no where. However I have had a few really good drills there. This month however it was the last place I wanted to be. Sara is close to having her baby and I was really worried that she would go into labor while I was there and I wouldn't make it back in time. Luckily the unit sorted out the issues and I was able to drive myself to Camp Gruber. This is actually the first time in 11 years that I took my own vehicle instead of going in the convoy. I found it quite nice having a ride to the store or where ever I wanted to go. Realistically it wasn't that big of a deal because the only place to go was a Shopette that had next to nothing in it.

I left on Friday morning a couple hours before I really needed to. I wanted time to stop by the store for a few necessities, I always try to give myself some extra time in case of traffic or road construciton and I also wanted the option to stop and take a few photos if I saw something of interest along the way. 

This additional time afforded me the opportunity to take a few photos of what appeared to be a derailed train just outside of Camp Gruber. It appeared that the pieces had been there for quite some time. I found it strange that the train company hasn't bother to pick up the piece's and at least take them to a scrap yard.
 
   
   




 Even though it is technically trash, I found the old rusted pieces to be interesting.

Once I finally stopped with the photos and was heading back to the truck, I noticed my boot felt strange. So I stopped to have a look. I have been requesting new boots for almost two years. A year ago when we went to this same range I complained loudly because the soles where coming off of my boots and I had to wear another pair that are to small. The smaller boots left huge blisters on my feet so Stephen used some gorilla glue to put the soles back on. However that gorilla glue didn't work to well because the soles were starting to come off the next day. I have walked around for almost two years with the soles of my boots showing this gap between the sole and the actual boot. Well Friday the sole of one my boots came completely off all the way up to the toe, there was about an inch of sole actually still attached. I hobbled back to the truck and drove through the gate at Gruber and headed straight to the Shoppette. Now years ago that little shoppette actually sold boots and some clothes.  Unfortunately they no longer sell boots unless you want to order them and wait for delivery. I wouldn't wait for delivery so I opted to buy a package of super glue that had a photo of some one gluing together a portion of their tennis shoe together. Good enough I would give it a try.

As I was looking for boots or glue every time I took a step the sole of my boot (which is rubber) would smack against the tile floor and make this crazy squeaky squeal sound, the sound would echo through the entire store.  Typically the shoppette which does not offer a lot doesn't have a lot of customers, on Friday there were about five people standing around in there talking while I was flapping and squeaking up and down the isles looking for glue.So in an attempt to not flap and squeak I was dragging my foot across the floor like a crazy person.

Now I personally would be laughing really hard if I had seen some one in my position, I wasn't exactly laughing though. It was to funny but I was embarrassed and just wanted to run out of the store. Instead I drug my flapping boot up to the counter and bought myself some super glue. I then drug my boot out the door and stopped right there in the door way to sort this crap out. I mean dang the parking lot is half a block away and I can only drag my foot for so long before some one is gonna ask me if I a out of my mind. So I opened two little tubes of super glue and squirted them onto the detached sole of my boot and then stepped down on it. Just then I realized that I would need to stand there for a few minutes until the glue dried. So I pretended to be sorting out some stuff in my shopping bag for a while  until I felt like the glue was probably set.  Lucky for me the sole of my boot is still on. I am now thinking I should have got a couple extra tubes because the other boot needs to be glued back together as it currently looks like it may come off soon.

Once I was able to walk with out causing a flapping squealing scene I went on over to the barracks where we were going to be staying and started looking for people from my unit.The long weekend had began!

Gruber. The ranges never work properly and most of the time at least half of the people do not qualify. The pop up targets either don't pop up or no matter how many times you hit them they don't fall down.  This weekend was no exception. We fuddled through the range, cleaned our weapons and fell into bed exhausted. Knowing that my time in the guard is limited, promotion points are well pointless for me so once I verified that I didn't need to qualify I took my bolo and opted to not refire. Instead I spent the refire time taking a few photos.


   
  I loved this flag, the flag is flown at the range to indicate that the range is hot and live rounds are being fired. Regardless of it's meaning the flag was pretty amazing on this very windy day.

This morning once the convoy headed back to the unit, those of us who drove ourselves there staid behind and cleared the barracks and turned the keys back over to the full time staff at Gruber. Then it was freedom time to head back home. I did stop on the way home for one last set of photos. I am only posting one photo from these. I am not really sure what this plant does but we have driven by there early in the morning when it is cold and there is a huge amount of steam coming off of the plant. I always wish I had my camera with me.Today it was to late in the day to get the steam but I still stopped and took a few shots.

 

There was one thing this weekend that got my mind to wondering what the heck! So before I end I think I must just go ahead and address this.  Friday during our evening formation when they informed us of the next days order of events the 1st SGT informed us that every one needs to be very careful about what they say on their face book or MySpace or any other similar site.This warning was issued because apparently some soldier went on his/her facebook and blasted their unit and named names of officers and aired their opinion. Now before I voice my opinion let me state clearly that my unit recently got a new Commander and I don't know at all, the only thing I have heard about him is that he is extremely family orientated that is it. I also barely know my 1st SGT, I have had to go to him with an issue and a question and both times he handled the situation or answered my question with no problems. I honestly have no reason to blast either of them and any reference I  make in this blog about my Commander or 1st SGT is being made in a hypothetical term not a specific real situation. 

With that said, I have to think that as soldiers, most of the people that I know in the military has at one time or another been deployed, spent time doing state side missions or supporting their country in one way or another. It is our job, what we sign up for and what is expected of soldiers. Most of them do this with out hesitation. However if soldiers in general are defending our country and the rights that are afforded to Americans then how in the hell is anyone going to take away one of America's basic rights from the very people who are maintaining those rights for all of us. Do we not all have freedom of speech? Are we not all allowed to speak our minds on our own time? I mean isn't it called Myspace because it is my space and place that I can do with as I pretty much please? If I feel that my commander is a dumb ass isn't it my right to express that opinion on my personal web page, or any where else I feel free?  As long as I am not posting anything that is illegal then don't I have the right to post all day long and express my opinion? I personally haven't ever blasted my unit on any of my pages, but if ever my commander or 1st SGT or any other person in my unit gives me cause to call them a dumb ass or a selfish ass hole, well expect to see it in flaming letters on here and on every other page I have. And if the military wants to argue with me about it I suppose I would be the person to challenge the opposition and request to see written law that proves  I don't have a legal right to express my opinion. Just my random thoughts on the subject.