As some of you may have read, I was recently tagged by Ian to reveal eight things about myself that you probably don’t know. Being the person I am, I am breaking the rules by not posting the rules; and I will further break the rules by not tagging eight more people. Here you go:

1. I really am a Republican. I know, some of you that have been reading for awhile see my frustration with the Republicans in power; I don’t hate them, I just want to be able to raise my kids with my wife instead of have their grandparents raise them; and my vote for president will be based on who will allow me to do that.

2. I am really good at ping pong; in three months at Camp Atterbury I only lost once by a score of 21 to 19 and I played at least 1,000 games.

3. In 1992 I was offered a baseball scholarship to play outfield for a Junior College south of Dallas. (Turned it down to join the Army)

4. I was a long haired heavy metal fan in high school with my ear pierced; at least until I had to cut my hair for the baseball team.

5. I went to college to be a preacher; God changed my mind after I failed Greek miserably! Now I am married to a preacher (was then too).

6. I believe in civilian control of the military…politicians in Washington really are supposed to decide what we do (we decide how). (Okay, if you have been reading for any time at all you already knew that about me.)

7. I believed Nancy Reagan; I really have never tried any illegal drugs.

8. In the sixth grade I wrote a series of short stories called The Detectives, and always wanted to be an author. I even won a statewide competition for young authors in Kansas.

Earlier this week I was talking on the phone to Amy when Chaplain Williamson walked into my office. Just a few short months ago he was at Chaplain Officer Basic phase one with my wife. Amy had emailed him to tell him to come see me. Chaplain Williamson used his former MP skills to hunt me down at the post office.

It is odd to meet someone I have only known about for a month or so through his blog. When I first talked to him I felt like I had known him for years. I don’t know much about his background, his family or even him; however, I do know that I am now jealous of Kala Gush and wish I were a Soldier there.

FYI, if you must know the details of the disgusting things I wrote about earlier; email me at joel at joelmaxwell dot com and I will give you the password for “That’s Disgusting.”

I have had a couple of back to back sixteen hour days and I am exhausted. My inbox is flooded right now, and I hate not responding right away to emails; especially because of where I am; but don’t worry, I’m just tired. I will be responding to them all tomorrow, God willing.

This was somewhat shocking when I first heard it; however, when I look around I am not surprised. I am not really sure what I think about it. On one hand I hate it; and on the other I am currently adding to it with two initiatives that I am about to complete.

I have no problem with any of the US contractors I work with or deal with over here; however, there are an increasing number of foreign contractors, mostly hired by KBR who no longer recruits actively in the US; making more money by hiring cheaper foreign laborers. If you read their contract I am sure they are required to be able to speak clear, coherent English. Talking to them, I’m not sure what English many are able to speak.

Then there is the recent surge of what we professionally call third country nationals. Just being a “reservist” we aren’t fortunate enough to live in one of the camps like Special Forces, Aviation or the Air Force where IDs are checked and only US personnel are allowed in. That means we are the ones that live with them, shower with them, use the same bathroom and eat with them. I know and respect different cultures, but have been recently sickened by some of the disgusting acts that these third country nationals perform. It is hard if not impossible to escape from them. If you want more details on what I am talking about, email Amy or me; it is too disgusting to even talk about here.

Back to my initiatives; the nice thing about them is all the contractors coming in are required to be US citizens with secret clearances; a different echelon of personnel then those I spoke of above. They are becoming necessary in order to avoid units like ours from rotating before their dwell times are complete. In that sense I like contractors taking our place. That is why I am not sure what to think. I suppose you have to take the bad along with the good.