I have been tagged by the mighty morphing pundit the one and only zenpundit. Let loose the dogs of war and the mighty shall fall and here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Present an image of martial discord from whatever period or situation you’d like.
Here are the facts:
1 – Of fact there is no fiction. I have ridden a motorcycle in excess of a 1000 miles on multiple occasions in less than 24 hours. For this endeavor of will and continence I have been given membership as a true iron butt.
2 – When I left law enforcement I put away all of my firearms, I packed them up, and until I took up archery for the second time had no ballistic type weapons. I wanted to protect my hearing. I’m loosing my hearing anyway and I find it quite ironic. Archery though is very quiet and contemplative. People want me to compete so I shoot poorly and they stop asking. That is my story and I’m sticking to it.
3 – I personally own/have almost every x86 chip generation in laptop form and three power pc generations of laptops. My favorite though is an 8086 luggable blue screen monstrosity from Radio Shack (by the way that is darn near 15 laptops). Totally nerd weird. Add to this that I collect old software programs and I’m absolutely sure some day I will either open a museum, or effect the course of national security by providing a critical piece of legacy software in a crunch. Oops that last one already happened.
4 – Between 1986 and 1999 I did not drink, and since 1999 I do not smoke. Though that may seem somewhat strange I still cuss like the Marines taught me too. I also now own a wine cellar that fluctuates between 20 and 100 bottles of wine. I only buy Mexican beer and only twice a year. I miss cigars.
5 – I have military fighting knives/bayonets from almost every major American war including the Spanish American War, World Wars 1 & 2, Korea, Vietnam, but more interesting is the fact I don’t own a k-bar from when I was in the Marines. I have no idea where I put them all though.
6 – I have what is likely 2000+ books in the library in my home. There is near 170 linear feet of shelving stacked two deep (in many places), and nearly half again that much in my office at work. I love books but I sin. I write in them. I write in the margins, highlight them. From Clausewitz to the Bible I put sticky notes and markings all over the place.
7 – Regret is for fools that cannot see the future. I will always be a fool because I regret leaving the Marines as a task undone. That singular task regardless of the broken body I left with, regardless of the pain and suffering that followed, in many has shaped my history and my future. The constant striving for new challenges in new jobs, the incessant travel, the high risk consulting gigs, and in many ways where I am today are symptoms of a long past regret near 22 years old.
Marc @ In Harmonium (because he owes me a drink)
John Robb @ Global Guerillas (will he come out and play?
Matt @ Mountain Runner (becauase he is a great guy)
Swedish Meatballs Confidential (because we miss them)
Fabius Maximus (because I want to)
Bill or Dave @ Small Wars Journal BLOG (Because they work so hard
Dr. Iraq @ Abu Muqawama (because we miss Andrew Exum and want to know more about the others)
Thank you for thinking of me, but I do not exist in the same frame of reference as the “7 meme.” I am just a ghost, visible only by the trail of virtual text left behind in the blogosphere and whatever effect this has.
There are no additional “7 facts” beyond that in the available biographies. No personal details to detract from the message. No personalities, friends and enemies, whatsoever.