I though I’d go ahead and tell you all just a bit about me. Up until last night I was writing over at Digital Warfighter. Thanks to Stryker for letting me figure out if I really wanted to do this blogging thing or not.

Sgt Stryker’s Daily Briefing was one of the first blogs I ever read. I’m very happy to be here.

I was born and raised in Chicago on the far North Side. Eight years of Catholic Grade School, escaped to Chicago Public High School, and then four and a half years at Loyola University studying to be a starving actor…that worked…I was gonna starve, so I joined the Air Force at Age 22. I do not have a degree, I took the classes I wanted to take and had a thoroughly amazingly entertaining time…I was more than a bit of an ass.

I’m a born and bred Chicago Liberal Democrat who, through the course of severe indoctrination and brainwashing (hey, they already believe that, why not?) has drifted further to the right but has come to the conclusion that neither party has my best interests at stake, so I have to vote for the person who’s values come closest to mine. This year I’m a two issue guy, it’s the war and credibility, you can figure out the rest on your own. Or maybe not…both sides seem to have claimed those areas so let me say the war, credibility and consistency.

I’m an Active Duty Master Sergeant, Information Manager…Admin Wheenie for the rest of you who serve or have served. For you Navy folks, sort of like a Yeoman but I’ve yet to master the art of ruining a perfectly good pot of coffee. For the Army, the closest thing would be a 71L with less of the ability to disappear the moment there’s real work to be done. Those are my experiences…YMMV.

My favorite description of myself came from a Marine Colonel I worked for, “A proud descendant of Radar O’Reilly with a bad attitude, a computer, and a way of getting what I need when I need it…as long as I don’t ask too many questions about where he got it. He should have been a Marine.” I don’t think any ribbon or award has made me prouder. I’ve never broken any laws in the performance of my duties…unless you count…no, I ran that through contracting…it was legal…they just couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t do it and that will piss off a loggie faster than just about anything.

The past six years have been spent in Joint billets. That means I’ve worked in organizations where all the services get together in the same building to try and figure out what the hell the others are doing. After that initial training, we figure we’re more qualified to try to figure out what the bad guys are doing. Once you’ve come to accept the fact that the Navy calls floors “decks,” walls “bulkheads,” and doors “hatches” when you’re in a building that’s thousands of miles from any saltwater, you’ve pretty much passed the “thinking outside the box” test.

What do I write about? Well, since I’m still on active duty, politics is supposed to be off limits, but I may let you know in some subtle way what I’m thinking and feeling about particular subjects there. Since I was a Theater Major in College I over analyze anything related to the media, but I severely edit myself when I write on that because who’s really interested in the lighting choices or prop placement for last week’s episode of “Lost” or the dramatic build up of ads done by 527 groups? On the other hand I do enjoy movies and books and music and sometimes just go off on something that’s caught my eye or ear.

I’ve been known to rant. Sometimes I go through this mood where I’d rather be right than happy. I’m not proud of it, but I am aware of it. I’ll leave it up to Sgt Mom to tell me if and when I’m out of line. Otherwise I reserve the right to be as right and miserable as I want to be until it passes.

I live with my Beautiful Wife and 8 year old son, Boyo. I’m madly, deeply, wildly in love with them both. We have two cats that have chosen to live with us, Miko and Gypsy. I mostly like them except when Gypsy decides we’ve slept in quite long enough and jumps from the headboard to the pillow right next to my head. She’s getting old…she sometimes misses the pillow. Beautiful Wife is Gypsy’s human. Miko usually and is currently curled up on the desk in front of me. She prefers me and Boyo if she HAS to be around people.

I’m slowly and surely turning into a gym rat. Part of that is willingly, I’m 43 with genes that include cancer, heart disease and diabetes and it’s simply become time that I acknowledged those facts and take the actions to keep them at bay as long as possible. The other part is forced. I want to be a First Sergeant in the next year or so and for some reason the military has this fascination with running that’s always eluded me. Where I come from you ran from two things, cops and crooks, and I haven’t had to run in the performance of my duties in my entire 20 years. But if the Air Force wants me to run…I guess it’s time I learned how again. If I could simply keep my shins from turning into rigid I-beams, I’d have half the battle won. Oh…and I’ll be quitting smoking on Monday so I should be LOADS of fun for the next couple of weeks.

I over-use ellipses…get over it…it’s how my brain works.

I’ve already edited this a couple of times so before it gets out of control again, that’s enough out of me. Once again, it’s great to be here.