Ben's feelings!

This is the motto of the U.S. Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) otherwise known as the "Night Stalkers". I hope to someday fly in this unit, but I have a ways to go to get myself in shape and ready for selections. This is my long term goal, And I am so lucky to have such an amazing beautiful wife, who supports me through everything, and sticks with me no matter what.
I have been very dissapointed with the whole "Big Army" (that is what the SPECOPS comunity calls the rest of the Army). Before I got to Germany I was under the impression that being a soldier was about being a part of something greater than yourself, for standing up for what is right, being part of a brotherhood, but lately I haven't seen anything of the sort. Instead of being "Service Members" we are basicly encouraged to become "Self Service Members". I do not believe this is what is taught in Army Doctrine, and I believe it makes us less effective. When did a symbol on our chest become more important than the man to your left, and your right? I was trained to believe that the life of the soldiers around you was more important than your own, and that every soldier on the battlefield feels the same way. This is the key to our success; Unity of force, and Violence of action.
When did being a "tattle tale" become an admirable trate? When did the Army start giving Platoon Leaders "brownie points" for punishing soldiers under UCMJ? To me this only reflects poorly on their leadership.
And that leads me to my next point. This whole operation in Iraq could be ended very quickly, if we were allowed to remove the "kid gloves" if leaders actualy lived up to their Warrior Ethos and "always place the mission first" and worry more about that then how they will look on CNN. It's the same old problem as always though; The "Legacy Leader" everybody wants to be remembered as a hero, not the guy who shot some car to hell in an effort to save his squad. I say the only way to stop a terrorist is to kill him, and anybody who dissagrees with me is ignorant to the facts; these people will die to kill us because they hate us that much. a great man once said that "The only thing neccessary for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing" well I think this is what we are doing now, except it's worse than that because were doing nothing in a way that gets good people killed every day.
I'm not saying we should pull out or stay here. That isn't realy my place. I'm simply saying that the self serving leadership style that has filtered all the way down the ranks is hurting us all.
I'm getting tired of asking why we do things a certain way and being told "if it makes sense it isn't the Army way" that is so stupid. What realy sucks is this statement is very true. We often waste time doing things over and over, filling out the same stupid form, counting the same bullets, beans, or whatever else, ect. Insted of being able to call up to higher that the IP's arent at a station we have to sit there with nothing to do all day. Of course the leadership is back on the FOB asleep so why would they give a shit about us peeons anyway right? I mean were just rungs on the ladder of promotion anyway.
well I guess I better end this before I have to hire a lawer or something. I just want to have anybody who reads this pleas comment, even if you arent millitary, but before you do ask yourself one thing; would you die for your country if you knew nobody would ever know about it? that you would'nt get any medals, or promotions. No front page news story, ect. This to me is the definition of selfless service. There are countless operators who have paid this price. Brave men who fought and died protecting us from an enemy we never knew existed, in countries that we have never heard of. To me these are the real heros. Men who understand the brotherhood, and the meaning of word "Leader" these are the kind of people I want to work with.
So go ahead and tell your poser ass war stories. You can proudly wear your combat patch, CAB, and whatever else, But remember that while you are talking about how you have PTSD and your going to "combat stress" there is an operator training for or actively engaged in a mission to keep you safe
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying who shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I Here am I, Send me"

Some more flordia pictures to share!

Aidan sure loved Flordia! He loved the characters and thought they were quite funny and cute! He loved the water although sometimes he was very unsure about it! He was such a good kid too. We played all day and even late into the night and he was so awesome! He was tired though. When we went back to Kathy's finally he was so tired he practically slept all day and night! He loves disney just as much as mom and dad! We will have to take him again when he's a bit bigger! Dad was pretty jealous he wants to go to disney world! Well we are at the browns now for 2 weeks and will be really busy training the new nanny and getting their house unpacked! So we love you all and hope you'll take time to comment us and let us know what you think! Take care!

Some pics from Flordia!

Checking in From Flordia

Hi guys just checking in for a bit! We have been enjoying the sun in Flordia! I took Aidan to the beach for the first time and he loved it. Got a little scared of the ocean waves coming and and feeling like he was sinking! But he is a trooper and loved it! And yes I kept lots of sunscreen on him! He's so much fun and keeps growing up everyday! I taught him how to stick his tongue out and now he does it all the time! Well hope everyone is enjoying themselves......one more month and Ben is home!

Utah trip!

Aidan and I just got done watching the firetrucks put out the fire across the street from Aunt Mandy's house! This was his first time seeing the firetrucks!



Aidan was sick of the sun getting in his eyes. He took off his glasses and closed his eyes due to the sun being in his eyes


Me just goofing off out front!

Jen, Mandy and I were going to the movie and I had just colored my hair so I thought I would be silly and take pictures!


Aidan loves his Mommy!


So there is some pictures from our trip to Utah. Now we are headed to Flordia to play in the sun then back to CT for 2 more weeks then we get to go see our daddy! Yeah Ben could be home anywhere from Sept. 11-25 or so. Love you all!