How quickly time seems to pass, it seems as though in a mere eye blink ago I was niether a soldier nor a blogger, yet  now both those things are so.  In looking back on the past year I must say that taken as a whole more good than bad has emerged from 2007.  Both for me personally, and for the world as a whole.  Perhaps it is just my optimistic nature, but I see the world becoming an even better place in 2008.  What role I will play in that, is as yet unknown to me, but I eagerly await to have that knowledge revealed to me in all due time.  Time is a strange thing, when we wish for it move more quickly it crawls by, yet when we wish for more it seems to rush by at ever increasing speed. 

     How strange it is time, that most human of creations, can seem to be a natural deliniation is merely the desire of the human mind to structure into rigid and equal units what nature does seemlessly and smoothly since before humanity even came to be.  I desire to control it, I know that I can not, and I accept it as it passes away, each passing moment ushering in the next.  That is one of the great quandries of life, and one of its greatest challenges is to learning to accept the passage of time for waht it is, an inevitable and beautiful part of our precious time on this good earth.  So enjoy every moment of your life, for each moment is already escaping into the past.  In closing I borrow the words of colonel General Dmitry Volkogonov:

The past is irretrevable, the present is incomplete, the future has already begun.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 08:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 299 words, total size 2 kb.

     New posts coming later, I am in Texas visting relatives.  And I am also enjoying the nice weather.  Sun and sixty degree temperatures are a nice change from the twenties and snow.  Well I will let the pictures do the talking.

From This:

To This:

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 02:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

    A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.  Especially to those of you who find yourselves in sweltering jungles, scorching deserts or wind swept mountains or anywhere else on the land or upon the seas.  Here is hoping that next year is spent not at the front but in the embrace of hearth, home and family.

U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps embedded trainers, Afghan National Police, and Afghan National Army Soldiers search a village in Ala Say Valley, Afghanistan, for suspected Taliban members Aug. 11, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Marcus J. Quarterman) (Released)

U.S. Army Spc. Jason Curtis provides security for members of a medical civil action project in Parun, Afghanistan, on June 28, 2007. Curtis is assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment. DoD photo by Sgt. Brandon Aird, U.S. Army. (Released)

U.S. Navy Builder 2nd Class Chad Smith, right, of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three and Philippine marine Pfc. Marlon Seytes, from the 5th Marine Battalion, work together to build a new school in the village of Taglibi on Jolo Island, Philippines , Feb. 20, 2007, during exercise Balikatan 2007. The annual bilateral exercise is designed to improve interoperability between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States military during humanitarian, medical and engineering missions. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Larson) (Released)

U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division setup a fence for a veterinarian assistance operation in Yusufiya, Iraq, Oct. 23, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Luke Thornberry ) (Released)

The Military Sealift Command (MSC) Modular Cargo Delivery System Ship SS CAPE GIRARDEAU (T-AK 2039) underway on the Pacific Ocean as a USN HH-60H Seahawk, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Four (HS-4), Black Knights, returns to pick up another load of supplies during a Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP).

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Hall, a vehicle maintainer with the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron's vehicle management flight, adjusts the air compressor on the braking system of a 10-ton truck at Balad Air Base, Iraq, Sept. 17, 2007. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua J. Garcia) (Released)

U.S. Marines from Detachment A, Marine Special Operations Command, attached to Joint Special Operations Task Force - Philippines observe a group of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers do a jungle movement they learned as part of a subject matt er expert exchange in Sanga Sanga, Philippines, May 19, 2007. Subject matter expert exchanges are regularly conducted to ensure the U.S. and Philippines can work together in crisis and non-crisis circumstances while maintaining the U.S. -Philippines security partnership. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Troy Latham) (Released)

    We pause to keep you in our thoughts and prayers during these most joyus days, and to remember that we have the freedom to do so thanks to your sacrifices.  To borrow someone else's words:

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf." -- George Orwell.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 11:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 529 words, total size 4 kb.

     We got dumped on but good today, it snowed from early in the morning until about 5:30 in the afternoon.  So this year will be a white Christmass, and suppousedly it isn't going to snow for a couple of more days, but more is expexted.  I like the snow but I hate shoveling it, and digging my car out.  On balance though I like having four actual seasons as compared to other places I have lived where you got two at best, and niether one was particularly enjoyable.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 11:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.