The Electronc Blue Beret Week 51

Love him or loath him, he nailed this one right on the head.............

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between
victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die
serving the country in Uniform are profound. No one
is really talking about it either, because you just
don't criticize anything having to do with September
11. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by
because it says something really disturbing about the
entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a
family member in the September 11 attack, you're going
to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a
minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7
million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American
soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a
$6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.
Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are
the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you
remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for
each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those
payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting
an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are
complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were
tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in
harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families
know the dangers.

We also learned over the weekend that some of the
victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an
organization asking for the same deal that the
September 11 families are getting. In addition to
that, some of the families of those bombed in the
embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this
is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement
politics in this country. It's just really sad.
Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they
usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the
green machine is in combat in the Middle East while
their families have to survive on food stamps and live
in low-rent housing. Make sense?

However, our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have
to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that
is more than $15,000 per month, and most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They also do not receive
Social Security on retirement because they didn't have
to pay into the system.

If some of the military people stay in for 20 years
and get out as an E-7, you may receive a pension of
$1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you
in harm's way receive a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a
weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out
benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters
who are now fighting.

"When do we finally do something about this?" If this
doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this
to as many people as you can.If your interested there
is more.......................

This must be a campaign issue in 2004. Keep it going.
SOCIAL SECURITY: (This is worth the read. It's short
and to the point.)

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during
election years. Our Senators and Congressmen do not
pay into Social Security. Many years ago they voted
in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no
congressperson has felt the need to change it. For
all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay
until they die, except it may increase from time to
time for cost of living adjustments. For example,
former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their
wives may expect to draw $7,800,000 - that's Seven
Million, Eight Hundred Thousand), with their wives
drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their
lives.

This is calculated on an average life span for each.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. These
little perks they voted for themselves is free to
them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.

The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly
from the General Fund--our tax dollars at work! From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into -- every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) --we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of
$1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one month to
! equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small
change were made. And that change would be to jerk
the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the
Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social
Security plan with the rest of us and then watch how
fast they would fix it.

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of
awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will
evolve. WE, each one of us... can make a difference..

Hi Pom
I'm off in the middle east at the moment and there was a poem written by the
techo's and so on, that the ADG's are providing security for. The guys are
doing a great job in the background allowing everyone else to relax without
worry. This poem attached is what was left to the guys .
The hub is the main place the boys are working from. If this all sounds a
bit veiled it's the usual OPSEC thing.
Cheers

<<This Was Their Hub.doc>>

SGT K. AULD
GNDOPS SGT
TG 633.2

Good Judgement comes from Bad Experiences,
and a lot of that comes from Bad Judgement
=====================================

This Was Their Hub.

This was their hub
Their workstation, their gathering place
With names like Sleepy and Killa
This was their hub

Sometimes they'd venture out
Sometimes to work
Sometimes to play, but
This was their hub

You'd see them at the VCP
You'd see them on the flightline
You'd see them out, but
This was their hub

They'd let you in
They'd let you out
Always watching
This was their hub

You were safe from evil people
You were safe from bombs
You slept peacefully
This was their hub

Some young, some old
Some shy, some bold
They are all sorts, but
This was their hub

Love them or hate them
They did a bloody good job
And this is where they did it from
This, was their hub.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

   A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

     A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

    A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

    A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

   A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

   A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

   A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

   A snail can sleep for three years.

   Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

   Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

   February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

   In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

    If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

   If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

   It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

   Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

   The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

   The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

   There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":
   tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order:
"abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

   Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

.Now you know everything!

'Twas The Night Before Christmas,
He Lived All Alone,
In A One Bedroom House
Made Of Plaster And Stone.

I Had Come Down The Chimney
With Presents To Give,
And To See Just Who
In This Home Did Live.

I Looked All About,
A Strange Sight I Did See,
No Tinsel, No Presents,
Not Even A Tree.

No Stocking By Mantle,
Just Boots Filled With Sand,
On The Wall Hung Pictures
Of Far Distant Lands.

With Medals And Badges,
Awards Of All Kinds,
A Sober Thought
Came Through My Mind.

For This House Was Different,
It Was Dark And Dreary,
I Found The Home Of A Soldier,
Once I Could See Clearly.

The Soldier Lay Sleeping,
Silent, Alone,
Curled Up On The Floor
In This One Bedroom Home.

The Face Was So Gentle,
The Room In Such Disorder,
Not How I Pictured
A United States Soldier.

Was This The Hero
Of Whom I'd Just Read?
Curled Up On A Poncho,
The Floor For A Bed?

I Realized The Families
That I Saw This Night,
Owed Their Lives To These Soldiers
Who Were Willing To Fight.

Soon Round The World,
The Children Would Play,
And Grownups Would Celebrate
A Bright Christmas Day.

They All Enjoyed Freedom
Each Month Of The Year,
Because Of The Soldiers,
Like The One Lying Here.

I Couldn't Help Wonder
How Many Lay Alone,
On A Cold Christmas Eve
In A Land Far From Home.

The Very Thought
Brought A Tear To My Eye,
I Dropped To My Knees
And Started To Cry.

The Soldier Awakened
And I Heard A Rough Voice,
"Santa Don't Cry,
This Life Is My Choice;

I Fight For Freedom,
I Don't Ask For More,
My Life Is My God,
My Country, My Corps."

The Soldier Rolled Over
And Drifted To Sleep,
I Couldn't Control It,
I Continued To Weep.

I Kept Watch For Hours,
So Silent And Still
And We Both Shivered
From The Cold Night's Chill.

I Didn't Want To Leave
On That Cold, Dark, Night,
This Guardian Of Honor
So Willing To Fight.

Then The Soldier Rolled Over,
With A Voice Soft And Pure,
Whispered, "Carry On Santa,
It's Christmas Day, All Is Secure."

One Look At My Watch,
And I Knew He Was Right.
"Merry Christmas My Friend,
And To All A Good Night."

Two Weeks Before Christmas!

T'was two weeks before Christmas, And all through Iraq,
The people still worried that Saddam would be back.
The soldiers went out on their nightly patrol,
Capturing the bad guys was always their goal!

With raids seeming endless in the triangle Sunni,
We hoped that not all of Iraq was so looney!
We gathered the tribe of Saddam, in Tikrit,
And suddenly now they all started to snit!

They told of a farm where Hussein just might be
Odierno then called on our boys- from the great 4th ID!
More rapid than Baathists our soldiers they came,
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name

Now Delta, Now Rangers, Now Cavalry too!
On Green Hats, on Pilots, I need all of you!
Go to that farm and secure it right now!
Capture his ass- you guys know how!

Off went our soldiers under cover of night,
So stealthy, so quiet with no trace of light
While we back at home were eating our lunches,
Our boys on the ground were following hunches!

And then it was time for the raid to begin.
The first target came up -empty within!
Could it be our Intel was wrong once again?
No! Somewhere nearby is the wolf in his den!

And then, in a twinkling, camouflage torn away
In a hole in the ground did their quarry lay
Dazed and confused, right at them he looked,
Did the stupid old fool know his goose was now cooked?

He was dressed all in rags from his toes to his head,
And his beard was as matted as 12 day-old bread!
How the mighty had fallen, could this be Hussein?
One look in his eyes was to know he's insane!

Our boys got their man - how proud we all are
The relief in our country is felt near and far
A bath he has had now -yet he'll never be clean
Forever tainted with mass torture and his Fedaheen

To our soldiers we give our undying respect
You always give more than we ever expect
We hope you can have now a night with some fun
Your loved ones back home say- JOB DAMN WELL DONE!

Deborah Sandberg
Proud Army Mom (101st)
14 December 2003

Who wears the trousers in your house

Jack was going to be married to Jill, so his father sat him down for a little fireside chat......

He says "Jack, let me tell you something. On my wedding night in our honeymoon suite, I took off my pants and handed them to your mother and said, 'here - try these on'."

"So, she did and said, 'These are too big, I can't wear them.' I replied, ....exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will. Ever since that night we have never had any problems."

"Hmmm," says Jack. He thinks that might be a good thing to try.

So on his honeymoon, Jack takes off his pants and says to Jill, "Here try these on." So she does and says, "these are too large, they don't fit me."

Jack says, "...exactly. I wear the pants in this family and I always will, and I don't want you to ever forget that."

Then Jill takes off her pants and hands them to Jack and says, "Here, you try on mine."
So he does and says, "I can't get into your pants."

So Jill says, "...exactly. And if you don't change your smartarse attitude, you never will."

Two bone weary public servants were working their little hearts and souls
out. Their department was just too busy for staff to be able to take flex time off.

But there had to be a way........ One of the two public servants suddenly lifted his head. "I know how to get some time off work" the man whispered.
"How?" hissed the blonde at the next workstation.
Instead of answering, the man quickly looked around. No sign of his>Director. He jumped up on his desk, kicked out a couple of ceiling tiles and hoisted himself up. "Look!" he hissed, then swinging his legs over a metal pipe, hung upside down.
Within seconds, the Director emerged from the Branch Head's office at the far end of the floor. He saw the worker hanging from the ceiling, and
asked him what on earth he thought he was doing.
"I'm a light bulb" answered the public servant.
"I think you need some time off," barked the Director. "Get out of here that's an order - and I don't want to see you back here for at least
another two days! You understand me?"
"Yes sir' the public servant answered meekly, then jumped down, logged off his computer and left.
The blonde was hot on his heels.
"Where do you think you're going?" the boss asked.
"Home," she said lightly. "I can't work in the dark."