Was watching the news in the chow hall tonight while eating dinner...a story came on showing a poll in which >50% of Americans are dissatisfied with President Obama's handling of the Gulf oil spill.

The USAF MSgt sitting next to me kinda laughed, and I looked over and said something like "Seriously, man, what the hell do they want him to do?"

He responded with a few remarks about the Constitutional limitations on the federal government regarding private business, at which point I said joked "Wow, I didn't know anyone else had actually ever read the U.S. Constitution."

I then asked where he was from, as he had an accent. Turns out that he was from Haiti, and came to the States in the early 90s. He worked menial jobs for a couple of years, until some guy he was working for convinced him to talk to an Air Force recruiter. Shortly thereafter, he was in the Air Force as a linguist (French and Haitian Creole). I think he might've done some other stuff, too.

After he had been in the Air Force for a few years, he started taking college classes in his spare time (on the Air Force dime). He got a bachelor's in healthcare administration first...a few years later, he had an MBA, too. He's now finishing up his Ph.D. in healthcare administration.

5/29/2010 4:07:05 PM

That's awesome, dude. Preciate you sharing.

5/29/2010 5:12:29 PM

Wow. GG MSgt.

5/29/2010 5:41:05 PM

It was an Army Haitian linguist that got me interested in ROTC to begin with... I met him last year at a college fair; he can speak French, Haitian Creole, and Spanish.

5/29/2010 5:47:40 PM

What a waste of a smart man.

If he was a hard worker as you say, he should have had no trouble attaining that level of education through civilian means. "Impossible!" you say? Well, then the education system is fundamentally broken. Imagine if we spent a trillion dollars to fix it.

Suppose he came here illegaly and achieved citizenship by joing the armed forces. An excellent program you might say. I say the immigration process was fundamentally broken to begin with, denying him entry for years(or forever). Imagine if we spent a trillion dollars to fix this system.

Suppose he leaves the service and makes incredible contributions to his field. Wouldn't it have been better for him to have moved directly into research or positive contribution rather than bouncing around in various military positions that likely don't use his skillset(a creole translator in the mid-east?)

Now suppose he really is a career military man, bleeds red white and blue and is exactly the type of individual we'd want in every level of the armed forces. Isn't the air force getting short changed by him splitting his time between service and half a decade of college? Imagine if we spent a trillion dollars to actually pay soldiers what they're worth directly and let him pursue education after he's retired.

But instead we have now an overqualified and unsuited individual killing towelheads, or at best securing corrupt governments that will never benefit or repay the US. His story is a triumph and much to his credit, but in a roundabout, wasteful way. Imagine what we could do with the surpluses of a 50% cut in the armed forces budget. Imagine how much easier recruiting would be if soldiers were actually paid what they're worth and used only when they were needed instead of luring young men with a potential escape from destitution and social slavery, just like armies have always done.

[Edited on May 29, 2010 at 9:05 PM. Reason : .]

5/29/2010 8:46:10 PM

troll troll troll your boat

your lack of knowledge about the military is pretty astounding thou

also, some people aren't like you - they get educated in their free time instead of making troll rants on the internet

[Edited on May 29, 2010 at 9:07 PM. Reason : .]

5/29/2010 9:05:34 PM

Dismissal
Ad hominem
Ad hominem

5/29/2010 9:09:57 PM

your post doesn't rate anything better

5/29/2010 9:12:04 PM

smc hates America

5/30/2010 12:46:08 AM

I hate our freedom.

5/30/2010 1:07:19 AM

Quote :

"What a waste of a smart man."

What kind of dumbass remark is this?

5/30/2010 2:28:07 AM

Who are you to judge what someone else does with their life, as long as they're not harming anyone and they enjoy what they do?

5/30/2010 9:13:51 PM

I paid for his school. I'm still paying for the violence he brings to strangers on the other side of the world. To be honest, I want no part of either, but if I don't pay for these things they'll throw me in jail. Democracy will never change this situation, we will always be at war. So my options are violent rebellion, suicide or fruitless complaining.

5/30/2010 9:26:57 PM

^ you choose to do all of those things by living here. you can always leave you know.

5/30/2010 9:43:41 PM

Fuck that. I'm currently less than 1 mile from where I was born. No choice was made. Besides, I don't have permission to leave.

5/30/2010 9:54:22 PM

I vote suicide, as your fruitless complaining is getting old.

5/30/2010 10:06:07 PM

I have a story

Irving "Irv" Blitzer is an American bobsled double gold medalist at the 1968 Winter Olympics, who finished first in two events again in 1972 but was disqualified for cheating and retired in disgrace to Jamaica, where he leads a destitute life as a bookie. He is approached by top 100m runner Derice Bannock, who failed to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympics when another opponent, Junior Bevil, tripped at the trials, and pushcart driving champion Sanka Coffie, who both wish to use his previous experience as a coach in order to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics as bobsledders. Irv had been good friends with Derice's father, Ben, a former sprinter whom Irv had tried to recruit for the bobsled team years ago. Yul Brenner, another runner who was tripped at the qualifier by Junior, also joins the team, as well as Junior himself. After Irv is convinced to coach the team, the three months of practice begins, initially resulting in embarrassment. However, the four men acclimate to the sport and travel to Calgary and the Olympics.

The Jamaicans' first day on the track results in, once more, embarrassment, and a last-place finish. The second day proves better; the Jamaican team finishes with a fast time which puts them in eighth position. For the first half of the final day's race it looks as though they will break the world bobsled speed record, until tragedy strikes; their sled, due to one of the blades falling off, flips on its side coming out of a turn towards the end of their run, leaving them meters short of the finish line. However, the team lifts their sled up and walks across the finish line to rousing applause from onlookers. The team, at the end, feels accomplished enough to return in four years to the next winter Olympics. A brief epilogue states the team returned to Jamaica as heroes, and upon their return to the Winter Olympics four years later, they were treated as equals.

5/30/2010 10:12:37 PM

Peace.

5/30/2010 10:16:28 PM

Good story but the portion of the constitution regarding "the limitations on the federal government regarding private business" means pretty much nothing to the current administration, it hasn't kept them out of anything else so I don't want to see them hiding behind it in regards to the current BP mess

5/31/2010 12:52:39 AM

that could be said for almost everyone in Washington in recent history. He wasn't cheerleading for the President so much as he was just stating facts, I think.

5/31/2010 7:40:58 AM