Drunken Poem #5

TO SCOTT

Sweet angel of a boy!

My son.

My “Airborne Buddy.”

I can see your halo from here.

It sparkles so and nearly blinds me,

In this dimly lit room.

And it reminds me of the empty nothingness

Hanging over my own head.

 I wish I could be more like you,

For you are perfect in every way.

When I kiss your cheek,

I kis the very boundaries of heaven,

And suddenly,

All the little worries of life

Don’t seem to matter much anymore.

This is the product of love.

This is the meaning of life.

You.

Always you.

Drunken Poem #4

TOMORROW

I marvel at the incomprehensible:

When will tomorrow cease to be?

This is the question we dare not seek to answer,

Honestly or otherwise,

For to do so would admit defeat

At the hands of an unknown and unseen

Enemy.

Our lives, at the very best of times,

Are futile and irrelevant.

And yet we continue to live

As if we don’t know the difference

Between eternal life and forever

Nothingness.

Which is to be our fate, I wonder.

Which is to be the destiny of us all.

Or more importantly:

Of me?

Drunken Poem #3

A FOOL’S ERRAND

He makes the leap every six months (or so)

And promises with every step that it will be his last.

With exhasperated sigh, he exclaims,

“Victory!  At last you are well within my grasp!”

But the grass is always greener OVER THERE isn’t it?

And off you dash, dear friend, dear fool.

In search of gold and all the little pretty things in life.

Never satisfied withe the treasure

Already in your palm.

“Follow me!” is your battle cry,

And I’ve heard it far too often.

Leave me be, old friend.

I am happy here.

Alone.

Drunken Poem #2

REASONS WHY

I drink because I love you.

I drink because I care.

I think that no matter what I do,

We’ll always be a pair

Of foolish fools, with foolish dreams

Of what can never be.

And still we try to persevere

To the end.

To the end.

To the end of you and me.

My life is but an echo

Of what it was meant to be,

But here I lie in waiting

Of love’s tender reassurance

That lonliness is not eternal.

Nor irreverance, nor rebellious hearts.

I think I drink because I love you.

I think I drink because I care.

To think.

To drink.

To remember myself no more.

Drunken Poem #1

AWAY FROM ME 

When I think of hell I think of you

And all the misery you put me through.

The love, the lies, the forbidden lust

All culminate into this shadow of distrust.

Hear me now, oh Angel sweet,

This preface of heaven beneath your feet.

Having come full circle, so fast, so soon,

While never fearing the dying moon.

For daylight draws near to my heart, my lips

And you pull away from me, my hungry hips.

Go now, angelic temptress, onward flee

Away from secret moments shared, away from me.

American Ninja

When I was but a lad of…hell, it’s been so long, I can’t remember how old I was…one of my all-time favorite movies was American Ninja starring Michael Dudikoff.  This was back when I thought ninjas were the coolest things since Rubik’s Cubes (which in retrospect, aren’t very cool at all, but damn frustrating!)

I recently bought American Ninja on DVD and watched it last night while waiting for My Name Is Earl to come on.  It’s such a cheesy flick, but it was still a ton of fun to watch. 

Being ex-military, I’m always looking for mistakes in television or movies involving “army guys” and I found a plethora of them in American Ninja.  I won’t expound on any of them here, but let me just say that I didn’t see a single decent salute given in the movie! 

Maybe they didn’t have enough money in the budget to hire a military consultant that could show these guys how to act like real soldiers.

Mistakes aside, I still love this movie.

Whatever happened to Michael Dudikoff anyway?  I’ll have to do an IMDB search for him and see what comes up.

Going Down Slow

I found an absolutely spectactular blog this morning.  It’s a livejournal run by someone who goes by the name of Going-Down-Slow.   The website is: http://going-down-slow.livejournal.com/ 

It’s creative.  It’s raw.  It’s visceral.  It appeals to the poet in me and has inspired me to start writing again. 

As a preview, here’s one of the entries:

“He loved like a God, creating great beauty with his hands and the strength of his will~turned cement to liquid~and a stone heart to love.

And like a God, he destroyed and crumbled the world he created as simply and irrevocably as the turning of the tide…”

And another good one:

“He was ten months gone, and she had to track him down to call him up, and tell him…she wouldn’t be speaking to him anymore.”

My favorite one (thus far) is the story posted on 12-15-2006 at 21:13:00.    

I think Colton would really like it too.  At first glance, it reminded me a lot of his blog which he hasn’t updated for quite some time.  Check it out at: http://sanctimoniousindulgence.blogspot.com/

I need to hang with Colton (aka Baron Samedi, aka The Sandman) again. 

I miss him.

Christmas “Get to know me”

I have a friend who sends me those “get to know you” type emails…you know, with a list of questions that I answer and send back and then on to other people.  Usually, I just delete these, but I was in a good mood when I got this one this morning and filled it out.  I’ll post it here so all you maniacs can learn something new about me (yeah, like you really give a damn, right?)  Here it is anyway.  Read it sucka!

Your Name: Jumpboot (aka Ryan)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Whichever has alcohol. 

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under

 the tree? The smaller ones get wrapped.  

The bigger ones are strategically placed.  

We don’t like to waste wrapping paper.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? 

Colored lights on the tree (it’s pre-lit) and no 

lights whatsoever on the house.  

(I’m not risking a fall!)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.  My wife wouldn’t 

approve of my kissing other girls.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually 

the first weekend after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding

dessert)? Yams and/or sweet potatoes 

(with marshmallows!)

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: 

Getting the G.I. Joe action figure Snow Job 

(he’s the arctic trooper) and going right outside 

to have him ski down a mound of snow.  I froze my 

ass off, but it was fun!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? 

I knew something was up when I saw him at all the 

malls.  I knew they couldn’t all be Santa, so I 

figured none of them were.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  We’ve 

tried that in the past, but haven’t made it a 

tradition.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? 

Last year we started hanging all of our incoming 

Christmas cards on it.  This solved two problems: 

finding tree decorations and finding somewhere to 

put all the cards.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Hate it.  With a 

passion.  Seriously.

12. Can you ice skate? My head says yes, but my 

ass says no.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No.  That 

must mean I get crappy gifts.

14. What's the most important thing about the 

Holidays for you? Taking the day off from work 

and relaxing.  Oh, and watching the kids open 

their gifts.  It’s a kid holiday.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? 

Anything with alcohol.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? 

Watching a Christmas Story!!!…and drinking alcohol.

17. What tops your tree? A star made out of 

construction paper that my daughter made last year.  

I keep bugging her to make a new one.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving!

See my earlier answer about getting crappy gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? FM100.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?  

Not sure…do they have ones made with alcohol?

Survey says:

I’ve seen this on other blogs and finally decided to give it a try. 

So if I’m 56% open  minded, that means I’m 44% close minded.  Hmm, I didn’t think I was that judgemental.  Guess I have some things I need to work on.

You Are 56% Open Minded

You are a very open minded person, but you’re also well grounded. Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints. But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line. You’re open to considering every possibility – but in the end, you stand true to yourself.

How Open Minded Are You?

Airborne Buddy

For anyone who doesn’t know, these are Airborne wings, also called the “parachutist badge.”

These can only be earned by members of the armed forces (though primarily those of the Army branch) who attend (and successfully complete) a 3 week course appropriately dubbed “Airborne School” at Fort Benning, Georgia.

I went through the course in June of 1995, immediately following my Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) classes on the same Army base. My MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) at the time was 11C (Infantry Mortarman) with an Airborne contract. In other words, I was Airborne Infantry.

Airborne School itself consists of 3 phases, each phase lasting one week.

Week 1 is Ground Week: Mostly running and practicing PLFs (Parachute Landing Falls) in sawdust pits. This is where we’re taught how to land without hurting ourselves. We’re also taught how to maneuver in our parachutes using what are called “pulling a slip”. By pulling down on 1 or 2 of the 4 “risers” you can [somewhat] control which direction you’ll drift. We may have practiced exiting the aircraft during this week as well.

Week 2 is Tower Week: More running and PLFs, but this time with the more realistic drills of jumping from the 30 foot towers and for some of us, the 150 foot tower. (And if you hate heights, these drills downright suck because you can SEE THE GROUND RIGHT THERE!) The 30 foot towers are just a mock up of the aircraft and we’re taught the proper procedures of exiting the aircraft – step out, tucking your chin to your chest and grasping the reserve ‘chute attached at your stomach, and couting to 4 as you slide down a wire to the mound about 50 meters away.

Oh, and just a side note, if anyone “falls out” of a platoon run for any reason, they are automatically ejected from the course.

Week 3 is Jump Week: No more running or sawdust pits or towers, but a lot of the same old drills. This is the week when we’re taken up in either a C-130 Hercules or C-141 aircraft and actually get to jump. One of the jumps is a mandatory “night jump” which usually just takes place shortly after dusk so we can get an idea of jumping in the dark. This is the preferred method of troop insertion in real-world missions so it’s harder to get shot at by the enemy while airborne.

There are two types of Airborne School graduates: The “5 Jump Chump” who only gets in his or her 5 aircraft jumps in order to earn the coveted wings and get back to their Non-Airborne unit, and the “Career Airborne” troop who, upon completion of the course, is bound for an Airborne unit. I was of the latter.

My first duty assignment was with SETAF (Southern European Task Force), specifically the 3/325 ABCT (Airborne Battalion Combat Team) which was based in Italy…ah, Italy!
I spend my first two years of active duty service there.

My final 13 months of [initial] active duty were spent at Fort Bragg, North Carolina which is home of the mighty 82nd Airborne Division. I was assigned to the 1/504th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) and went from being a mortarman to a TOC (Tactical Operations Center) driver and RTO (Radio Telephone Operator.)

Don’t you just love all those acronymns?

All in all, I had around 33 jumps. I lost count after awhile and I don’t think my jump record accurately reflects all the jumps I did in my airborne career.

I’ve jumped from a number of aircraft including the C-130, C-141, C-5, CH-47 Chinook helicopter and the UH-1 Huey. The helicopter jumps were my favorites.

I’ve landed on several DZs (Drop Zones) with a myriad of terrain from soft sand, to gravel, to the pavement of a runway, to a 6 inch puddle of water (why is it that I’m seeing stars when I look down? Oh shit! It’s water!)

But I was lucky. No major parachute malfunctions. No major injuries to speak of (just the one minor static line injury that yanked off my watch and a layer of skin from my wrist).

My father was Airborne, so I wanted to be.

I call my son my “Airborne Buddy” which I hope doesn’t force him to think he has to follow in my footsteps.

Airborne Infantry was certainly a worthwhile experience, but I want better things for my children.

Stay out of harms way if you can help it.

Airborne!