This is political...you are warned..,

The President was acquitted. So be it. Some say it’s the end of an absurdity and of a farce. Others say the outcome was a farce. To me, it doesn’t matter. It happened; it’s over; move on.

None of this is the point of this post, however. I have social media and personal friends on all sides of the political spectrum. Some love the President. Some hate the President. Some couldn’t care less. So be it. That’s their right. If they have a social media page, it’s their right to post on it whatever they want. It’s no different than writing a letter to the editor in a newspaper, or posting on a blog.

If what I post clogs up your news feed with things you don’t agree with, it’s not my job to limit what I post so as not to upset or to offend you. It’s up to you to either scroll past it, or to unfollow it. 

All throughout the day, I see a lot of people threatening to block others over political posts. I read news pages where people are lashing out at others they don’t know in the comments. Clearly, they are saying things on social media that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

I see people who seem to take great joy in blocking/unfriending/unfollowing others, and who seem almost disappointed if they don’t get to do it enough. Threats are made. People are in some cases even being singled out by name. So be it if that’s what makes you happy. I really couldn’t care less. The attitude of many seems to be, “If that’s how you feel, I don’t need you anyway.” Well, that’s my thought as well.

If you’re willing to give up friendships over social media posts, maybe the friendships weren’t that strong to begin with. Telling others what they can or cannot post on social media so as not to offend you doesn’t make you stronger. It shows intolerance.

If you don’t like it, scroll on or unfollow. If you decide to block or unfriend, do it and move on; don’t do it, use it as a status symbol, and brag.

I see history posts, hobbies, etc that I don’t like, and I move on. I don’t tell people not to post them. 

I see political posts I don’t agree with. I move on.

I see posts criticizing hobbies I like, sports teams I like, or athletes I like, and I don’t care. We don’t all think alike. We all don’t like the same people or the same things. That’s what makes us unique. Sometimes I read them. Sometimes I move on.

I see posts promoting or singing the praises of sports teams that I despise, or athletes I don’t like, and I don’t care. Sometimes I read them. Most times I move on. It’s your page, your wall. Post what makes you happy.

No one posts on social media to fill your newsfeed with things you don’t like. They post things they like that sometimes show up in your newsfeed. That’s how it works. They aren’t doing anything wrong. They have the right to use social media as they see fit, just as you do. 

If you don’t like what’s on tv, you turn the channel. If you don’t like what’s on social media, scroll on by. It’s simple. It doesn’t have to be used to cause hatred or divisiveness. It should be used to do whatever makes you happy.

Just as I don’t have a right to tell you what to post, you don’t have a right to tell me what not to post. To borrow a saying from a friend, “My page! My rules!” We all should remember that. Most importantly, we all should remember tolerance and diversity. We also all should remember what is most important. 

If you see yourself in any of what I have posted here, maybe you should step away from the mirror, try to fix what troubles you, and look again. Most likely, however, you’ll just cry foul and unfollow or unfriend.

Even those currently serving in the National Guard can be guilty of stolen valor.

I know a kid whose dream was to be a soldier. His grandfathers both served in WWII, and he idolized them, as he rightfully should have. He saw WWII and the 1940’s era as glorious and great. It wasn’t a great era, but fortunately we had many great people during that era who refused to lose.

This kid had many old veterans that he hung out with and considered his best friends. He had few if any friends around his age. He thought he was too good and too smart for them, and he was often ridiculed.

During high school, this kid bragged about his school baseball team, how much he loved it, and how much he would miss it; he had one at bat with a strikeout the whole time he played.

After graduation, he enlisted in the Army. To his credit, he completed boot camp and went into the 82nd Airborne. He got a concussion in jump school, was transferred out, went into the 4th ID in Colorado, and became a cook. After a whirlwind romance during which he caught his fiancé in bed with another man, he played on his concussion symptoms and was discharged. He called himself a vet, and he bragged about his service. 

Awhile later, he mustered back into the National Guard. His unit is in the Pittsburgh area, even though he lives in the upper Susquehanna Valley in the central part of the state.

He wants to be a combat veteran, and he equates his service with theirs, but he won’t go into a unit that will be deployed. His enlistment in the Guard is nearing its end, and now he’s trashing the military as an excuse not to re-enlist. He’s also engaged to his lifelong neighbor. 

This kid has a pretend antique and relic business, and fancies himself as an entrepreneur. He wants to be like Donald Trump, but his business is doing so poorly that he had to take a job elsewhere. 

He constantly spouts off on social media about how great he is, how phony other people are, how he can spot fakes, how he’s authentic and everyone else are phonies, and how he knows more about militaria than just about anyone else. The truth is that if he really wants to see a fake, a phony, or a pretender, he only needs to look in the mirror.

The following pictures are how he presents his military service on social media. He’s trying to create the illusion that he’s a hardened combat vet; he’s not, but he wants people to treat him like he is. Is he trying to steal valor that he didn’t earn? I say yes.

The USS Texas

These are just three of the more than 250 photos I took of the USS Texas when I was in Houston awhile back. What can I say? This ship is incredible! You can explore the main deck, a few levels of the super structure, and even go several levels below deck. One of the main gun turrets is even open, but it is not for everyone. It's very tight and cramped, and a bit difficult to get into. You can even go way below decks and into parts of the engine room. Being deep in the belly of the beast gave me new appreciation for the types of men who manned these ships.

The day I was there, temperatures were in the mid '80's, and humidity was low. The Sun was shining, and by mid-morning, even with fans, A/C and increased ventilation, and even with no boilers fired, it was incredibly hot. I couldn't truly imagine the constant heat inside this thing. It also is unbelievable to think about being below decks during battle, or having to put out fires or repair battle damage. 

For those unfamiliar, the Texas was christened in 1914, and at the time it entered service, it was the most powerful weapons platform on the face of the Earth. It is the oldest US battleship in the US and has the dubious distinction of being the only remaining battleship to have served in both World Wars. It was reconditioned and overhauled after the Great War, and it served with distinction in both the Atlantic and Pacific during WWII. It participated in the Normandy invasion, and also the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. 

The USS Texas is showing its age. There is constant repair and upgrade being done to it by volunteers, but there is also a lot more to do. Volunteer organizations also are raising funds to give it a permanent dry berth, as the hundred+ year old battleship has numerous leaks that require constant pumping. A dry berth will be the only way to keep it preserved and open for future generations. 

You can learn more about the ship here;

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/battleship-texas

You can also learn about volunteer opportunities here;

http://www.firsttexasvolunteers.org

If you are ever in the Houston area, the Texas is definitely a thing to check out. Its proximity to the San Jacinto monument and battlefield provides a good opportunity for a fun day of education.

A memorable experience on the USS Alabama

As posted above, a few days ago I got to tour the USS Alabama. It was amazing. The photos are a few of the more than 250 I took of the ship. 

While I was there, I had a very memorable experience. I used to say that these types of things are once in a lifetime, but fortunately for me they happen quite often. An older gentleman was walking the decks. He had a WWII veteran cap on, so I said hi, and told him it was great to see veterans still able to come out to these ships.

We got to talking, and he told me his story. He was a naval veteran who was on a destroyer escort for one of the carriers in the Pacific. He said he was a local, and that he came to the Alabama nearly every week. He has been doing so for many years. I thought the story would end there, as most veterans don't like to tell war stories to people they don't know, but this guy was different.

He said that during a naval battle near the Caroline Islands, his destroyer was absorbing the brunt of a Japanese aerial attack. The Japanese pilots were after the carrier that his ship was trying to protect, and his ship was starting to be overwhelmed. Of his 2 1/2 years at sea, this time was the time he was most scared, because even though no kamikazes were attacking, there was always that fear, and even without them the pounding they were taking was more intense than he'd ever been involved in.

Then, he said a call came over the radio that changed the fate of everyone involved that day. He said that it was announced that help was coming in the form of a battleship. He looked starboard, and he saw it. It was easily recognizable, as his ship had been near it in formation on many occasions.

It was the Alabama, and she came in with AA guns blazing. Apparently the mere sight of the Alabama was too much for the Japanese pilots, and all but a few broke off from their attack. The few who stayed never returned to their ships.

This guy is convinced that the Alabama and her crew saved his ship and all of their lives, so he comes to see her, to relive that feeling of relief in his mind, and to pay his respects to the crew, very few of whom are still alive. What more is there to say about a story like that, other than to say I felt humbled? It was a very moving experience, and I'm glad he shared his story with me.

"Sweet Home, Alabama!"

And on this day, the skies sure were blue!

I had to make a trip to Houston again. As can be expected, the history buff in me took over. Again! I heard the cry of "Damn the torpedoes!..." I had seen the movie "Under Siege." I had never been to the Gulf Coast, so I felt a brief stop in Mobile was in order.

The web site for Battleship Park recommended planning two hours for a thorough trip. I spent nearly that on the Alabama!

 I got in to the Mobile area after dark, and stayed in a hotel a few miles from town. Of course, I had to venture into town for a drink and a sample of the night life. I had just finished driving over 1,000 miles,  so my night wasn't going to be very lively. Mobile didn't disappoint at all, however. The Antebellum mansions and churches were enough to make the trip worthwhile. The atmosphere in the city made it even better. Everyone everywhere seemed to be having fun.

After a short stay, a good night's sleep, and an early wake up, it was off to the battleship. 10 years ago, I walked the decks of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. While enjoyable, there was a lot of the ship that was off-limits. This was not so with the Alabama. 

On the Alabama, you can walk the decks, climb to the upper decks, descend the stairwells into the lower decks, and even climb into one of the gun turrets, though this isn't easy. It is filled with displays on the history of the ship, battle honors, WWII displays, and various other bits of information on the ship and her past. While all of the ship isn't accessible, a large part of it is. The only things missing were a topless Erika Eleniak coming out a cake, a psychotic Gary Busey trying to drown his crew, an even more psychotic Tommy Lee Jones trying to nuke the World, and Steven Seagal kicking ass and saving the day!

After 1 1/2 hours exploring the beast, it was onto the hangar and its aircraft and vehicles on display. Sure, there was an F/A 18 Hornet, a P-51 Mustang, an F-14 Tomcat, and other planes and vehicles, but the highlight of the pavilion was the A-12 spy plane, the precursor to the famous, and infamous, SR-71 Blackbird. I was most impressed by the overall large size of the engines, and the relatively small size of the plane.

After a half hour in the pavilion, it was on to another WWII sea vessel, the submarine USS Drum. I had previously been aboard and spent the night on the USS Cod in Cleveland, but I had forgotten not only how cramped the subs from that era were, but also how overly complex they also were. I couldn't imagine having to diagnose, locate and repair a systems malfunction while at sea. The thought of being submerged and being depth charged made me shudder with fear. Like everything from that era, it took a special breed of man. Anyone who questions the bravery of a submariner has never been aboard a sub.

I spent another half hour or so wandering the park. There are various boats, including a replica of the Confederate Hunley, various aircraft, including a Vietnam-era B-52, and many tanks and mounted guns. The $2 park entrance fee is a bargain for all this park has to offer, but no visit is complete without exploring the Alabama. The $15 entrance fee is quite possibly the best $15 I've ever spent at an historic site. I highly recommend this place to everyone, and I'll definitely be going back!

What were they fighting over?

Around 20 years ago, I was bitten by the Civil War bug. I  reenacted  it, studied it, read about it, and tried to tour as many Civil War battlefields as I could. The first time I ever drove through a large part of the Civil War south was in the mid-1990's when I drove to FL. There was one common theme apparent on the trip, and it became more and more prevalent the deeper I got.

I drove to Virginia Beach for the first time in the late '90's. I saw more of the same, and it was then that I started to form an idea. We can research what caused the Civil War soldier to fight. We can research why he so heavily committed to the fight. We can research the ferocity of the fight, and we can research just about any other aspect of the war.

That is not what this post is about. What were they really fighting for? What is the common thing that is very prevalent in every southern state? They all have different names for it, and some states have more than others, but what is it?

I had put this line of thought on hold for awhile, because I hadn't traveled deep into the heart of Dixie recently, and I had never been to the true "Deep South." Columbia, South Carolina was the closest I had ever come to it.

A short time ago, I traveled to Houston . To get there, I drove through Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. I had been there. I drove into eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville. I had been there. Then, the true adventure started.

We briefly rode through northwestern Georgia. I didn't see much, but I had previously driven I-95 south, through the entire state, and I knew Georgia had it. Then came Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and eastern Texas. It was during this part of the trip that my idea from the past resurfaced. As I went deeper into each state, the notion was reaffirmed.

The American Civil War was fought over an extremely large amount of swampland. There! I said it! There's no denying it. Of course there are mountains throughout many southern states. Of course there is farmland in many southern states. Not all of them have everything I've mentioned, such as mountains or farmland, but every southern state has an abundance of swampland.

There are many notable swamp regions. Virginia and North Carolina share possession of the Great Dismal Swamp. Georgia and Florida share the Okefenokee. Florida has sole possession of the Everglades. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas share the bayous of the Mississippi River Delta. Tennessee has the Bald Cypress Swamp. South Carolina has the Edisto Island low country. Not to be outdone, Arkansas has the Boggy Creek swamp region.

For every swamp, such as the Everglades or the Okefenokee, that you've heard about, there are hundreds of others. Many aren't even named on the maps, and are known only to locals. 

Whether you call them bayous, swamps, marshes, creeks, lowlands, wetlands, or any other name you can think of, they are all over the Civil War South. Of course the true fighting was not over the possession of the swamps. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of acres of swampland comprised a large portion of the spoils of war. Got swamp? The Confederacy sure did!

I don't always take more than a year off...

...but when I do it's because someone tried to steal my blog! I'm back. Posts will commence in the near future. Regards, and to those who stuck with me, I say,...

..."Thanks!"