There are about 154 female Rangers as of about a year ago.

which is 100% legitimate because while the DoD relaxed the standards for women to be in Combat Arms, Ranger school didn't relax a damned thing.

Somewhere out there are 154+ badass women the met the standards, passed the course and were awarded the tab. For the record one of them is an ICU pediatric nurse which I find to be too cool.

I was listening to someone gripe because Pete now requires EVERYONE in combat arms to meet the same requirements that her male counterparts do.

No combat arms unit needs anyone of either sex that can't pitch in and carry their own weight.

Grunts already have too much crap to lug around as it is much less have to carry some of someone else's.

==============================================

One time I heard a TV reporter claim that blacks were getting a raw deal because they were not getting 'prestigious' combat arms assignments and the promotions that went along with it.

I only heard that once because I'm sure it was pointed out .to her that people get to choose their jobs before they enlist and can also reenlist to change their career field. That's what probably shut her up.

Everyone gets the same opportunity. Nobody's special.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was wondering about what ever became of the nurse that graduated from Ranger School.

Captain Molly Murphy is now an ICU pediatric nurse at Walter Reed. 

When the fist women Rangers were going through the pipeline I asked a (then) recently retired Ranger School instructor if they had dumbed down the course to let women graduate. He told me he had wondered the same thing and made a couple of calls to his friends that were still in.

Nope. She passed the course fair and square. She passed every single training day.

It's a 62 day course on paper but the last day is administrative. They give orders and other administrative things. A lot of graduates spend that day in the hospital getting medical treatment. A lot of candidates that have pushed on through injuries and illness turn themselves in that day.  It is not considered a training day and doesn't effect graduation.

Molly checked herself in along with others to get patched up and the naysayers tried to say she didn't finish the course. She had and had done well in it.

A while ago Pete Hegseth raised the standards for Combat Arms MOS category. What he did was ordered gender neutral PT tests, using the male standard. That means if a woman wants to become a grunt she has to pass the new PT tests. 

I like the idea because it raises the standard. I'm sick and tired of double standards, period. It's unfair to those that make it to the top and sounds like a participation trophy.

Anyway some chickee-poo decided that the woman that graduated Ranger School was proof that women belong in Combat Arms.

Apples and oranges. SOME women belong in Combat Arms. Namely the women that qualify and pass the same test required by men.

Grunts pack enough $hit as it is. They don't need to be forced to carry someone else's that doesn't belong there in the first place.

I'm with Pete on this one. 

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It would be interesting to find out how much money it takes to put $10 worth of chow into a poor person's belly.

From 5 different levels.

Federal

State

County

City/town

Neighborhood

It would probably look something like this:

Federal: $1,000,000

State:     $100,000

County  $10,000

City       $1000

Local*    $15

*Local means disbursing funds to churches and local not for profit and volunteer organizations, that sort of thing. 

Of course my figures were pulled out of a hat but you get the general idea.

Trump had mentioned throwing some sort of welfare thing back to the states and the fact is that I agree with throwing a lot of shit back to the states. In fact the state ought to push it down even further.

Currently the tax structure is an inverted pyramid . The taxes take the bulk of the tax money. The pyramid should be turned over and the bulk of tax money should be spent further down the line.

From a federal level you have to put a guy in charge and he has to hire a few assistants who have to hire their assistants who have to hire someone from all 50 of the states who have to hire their assistants who have to hire someone from every county in the state and you have now spent millions and the people you are trying to feed haven't gotten a single bite of food yet.

On the other hand if you just give a few bucks to a non-profit or  church volunteers they can generally get $10 worth of chow in somebody's belly for about $15 because they will probably need about $5 for gas to pick the food up and deliver it..

About 30 years ago I was part of a church that had volunteered to supply 2 meals a month to a homeless shelter and a woman that did a lot of the cooking said they could put out a pretty good meal for about a buck a plate. Depending on donations it was often less.

If one bothers to look around there are probably a lot of federal programs that should be pushed back to the states and pushed downhill.

One other thing. Locals have local knowledge and they can often spot a faker. If some guy is collecting disability and is seen roofing his house that's prima facia evidence that he can work. Locals can recognize a faker. Outsiders would not know the faker from Adam.

Of course this post isn't very accurate but you get the general idea.

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I wonder how much weight I would have to lose to get into the Space Force?

It seems that a lot of people just like to jump to conclusions.

I asked someone this a while ago and they told me I was too old to join the Space Force. When they answered by asking me why I want to join the Space Force I simply said "Never mind" because I knew exactly where the conversation was headed. I would get a long winded explanation about how I was too old and yada yada yada. I just wanted to know the answer to a simple question. When I came home I Googled it. (The answer is a bunch.)

Fact is it was simple curiosity. I was looking some sort of a benchmark. It would be interesting to know I met the height/weight requirements at the ripe old age of 75.

I think the worst one was the time someone close to me was going shopping and I asked her to pick up a can of Gold Bond Medicated foot powder.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FEET?" she cried out.

"Nothing," I replied. "I use Gold Bond Medicated foot powder to take care of them and keep them in perfect condition."

I headed that one off fast.

Sometimes I'm just better off doing things myself.

As I was typing the above someone called and asked to use my compressor to check their tire pressures. I like to help so I laid out the hose and turned on the compressor. 

I left explicit instructions. When you are through with it just leave it in the driveway. Do NOT try to put it away. I will.

Usually I expect things returned the way they were when they borrowed it but there are exceptions. Coiling the air hose is one of them because most people don't know how and leave it tangled up try as they may. 

It's far easier for me to coil the hose because I know how I like it so it is set up easy to uncoil.

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A couple of 54 second eggs this morning.

Fifty four second eggs?!

Over the years I have heard of microwaving eggs (with differing results) but never really looked into it.

One day I dug into it and found a couple of interesting reports. Off to Amazon for a set of egg cups and followed the recipe for one minute eggs. I toyed with it for a while and found that 54 seconds is just about right. 

Not bad, just about as good as my poached eggs and a lot easier to clean up after.

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I just told the guy across the street to move the kid's toys and stuff onto the concrete walkway so I can mow the front part of his lawn.

It doesn't look too bad but it could use it and I can use the exercise.

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There is a package due in today and I have no idea what it is. I checked everything I have ordered over the past couple of months and everything has been delivered.

We shall see what we shall see.

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I am now ready for Halloween.

I have a good supply of candy and, hot buttered rum mix and rum.

A few years back I read here some people in the inner city were taking their kids to more affluent neighborhoods and trick or treat.

There were the gripers and at first I agreed. Their argument held a lot of water but I did something unusual. I figured give the kids a break and be kind. I couldn't blame the kids.

I simply bought an extra bag of candy and called it good.

I figured they'd probably hit the higher end neighborhoods but wanted to be prepared. Then I thought again. I DO live in a 'rich' neighborhood...relatively speaking. My house is made of brick.

If you are living in a tent and someone else is living in a plywood shack is one of them rich guys. 

I did get hit by maybe fifteen or so kids that were obviously from the city and instead of just giving them the bum's rush I chatted with them. A couple of them commented that I had a big, nice house and said they'd like to live in one. (My place is somewhat middle middle for the neighborhood at best). 

The adults politely refused my hot buttered rum which makes sense. They were driving and also had to set an example. I would have refused if I were in their shoes.

I was good to them and encouraged them to get ahead and make something of themselves and think for themselves. If they did and worked hard they could have a nice place someday.

Anyway it's been a few years and I hope that at least one of them got a look at the burbs and is working at trying to get out of the city. It would be cool to find out that at least one of them went on for further education or some kind of apprentice program and eventually gets out of the city. 

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It is getting colder which means I have a uniform change coming up.

This time of years my safari jackets get parked in the closet unless I have to travel by air.

They get replaced by hoodies and when it gets even colder the hoodie gets covered with a leather flight jacket.

I just pulled a couple of safari jackets out of the dryer and they will be ironed and hung up until spring unless we have an unseasonable cold snap or I have to fly somewhere.

I'm lucky that I got to stay in safari jackets this long because sometimes by October things get pretty cold.

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"Yes you can AND DON'T RETURN IT.

When I need it back I will shout out for it."

When I was a carpenter and someone asked to borrow a tool I would say that because everyone would put it back by quietly laying it behind me and then I would have to go looking for it.

If they had it I knew where it was.

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Some whack jobs are mad at the LAPD

because a little kid got gassed at a 'protest'.

What a crock! The parents should face reckless endangerment charges for bringing a lid to a protest that they knew could easily go south.

Maybe if the police start charging these idiots and punishing them this kind of behavior would come to a halt.

I suppose some liberal judge would let them off the hook but it would be in the parent's arrest record and if it happens again CPS would have a leg to stand on and take action and possibly remove them from their idiot parents.

When that happens a LOT of people will stand up and take notice and the stupidity would cease instantly. 

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Don't come to this country unless you want to become an American.

And don't move to North Carolina unless you want to become a North Carolinian or move to Texas unless you want to become a Texan.

I am getting tired of getting reports that transplants move into an area and try to turn it into the sewer they left.

If everything was so good back where you came from then why did you leave? If you don't like your new home then by all means, leave.

This holds doubly true for Islamic activists. If you come here and even think that Sharia law has a place here then leave.

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One thing Trump has done is return the word 'retard' to its proper home.

when he called Tim Walz one.

At one point the term was used to describe a special needs person but like a lot of things in the English Language that seems to have changed over time.it warm and allow him to cook.

I remember an incident from back in the day when an engineer from some lofty place dropped out to become a fisherman in Alaska. He bought a boat and went to work on it to suit his needs.

He was installing an oil stove of sorts in it to keep warm and enable him to cook. He arrived at the boat one day with a bunch of hardware including a small pump, check valves, fittings, piping and other hardware to get the now installed stove up and running.

At the time practically every town had one or two harmless special needs people that had been mainstreamed and were just part of the woodwork. They were pretty much accepted,  looked after and protected by the townspeople.

As the engineer turned fisherman started sorting out his parts our special needs guy was wandering by and asked the fisherman what he was doing. He went into an explanation on how he planned to pump fuel to his new stove.

Our special needs citizen looked at him and said, "Gee, you must be awful smart to know how to do all of that. I would have put the tank on the roof and let the oil run down into the stove."

The engineer turned fisherman looked completely stunned like he'd been hit by lightning. He mumbled something about having to go to the store and left.

A couple of days later I saw the engineer working on the deck of his boat and asked how his stove install went and he replied it works like a charm and invited me aboard to check it out. It ran perfectly.

When I disembarked I turned and took a look. I was not surprised to see the stove fuel tank affixed to the top of the coach roof. I said nothing but thought to myself "Who's the retard?"

Some of the most intelligent people on the planet can be retards.

I saw this picture answering a post on social media and decided that it fit Tim Walz nicely. (Occasionally it fits me.)

 

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I see where Ilhan Omar is having a few problems.

with her citizenship and maybe a few other minor things like fraud and/or theft.

One thing about this is the entire thing could have been avoided if she'd have simply represented her constituency without all the bull$hit, fanfare, drama and false outrage. 

She had to know that her paperwork had been fudged a little and that it would not take a whole lot to go through it with a fine screen and discover where something had been glossed over but she grew too overconfident and started getting herself into the limelight and pissing people off.

What's interesting to note is that if she continued to represent her constituency and quietly contribute she likely could have had a lifetime spot and a Congresswoman because her constituency of Somalia born people in MN would have continued sending her to Congress for the next umpteen decades.  

She also could have continued with whatever (alleged) fraud she was into and kept milking the system dry. 

Instead she chose to make a nuisance of herself and finally someone got tired of it and decided to do a little digging.

Most of the usual scam stories I have heard over the years are stories where the scam artists are doing something that is and likely will fly under the radar forever and a day if they hold course and speed and keep quiet about it. They always end with either 'Then they started getting greedy' or 'Then they started bragging about it'.

Getting greedy or telling anybody about a scam is a sure fire way of getting caught. When you start increasing your criminal activity where it becomes noticeable people start looking around trying to find out what's going on. 

When you tell someone what you are up to you run a very good chance that they will say something to someone else and then it becomes common knowledge fast. When that happens it's all over.

While I am no fan of Ilhan Omar whatsoever, I bet if she's followed the simple rules of crookedness and simply decided to fly under the radar she'd be sitting in Congress instead of waiting for whatever comes next.  

 

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Chain drive garage door openers.

tend to be noisy but they are solid. They are also the most reliable.

The quietest openers are screw driven and probably a little more expensive. They make sense for a family where the comings and goings spread over 24/7.

Still, I met a guy that bought one so it would not wake him up when the garage door opened and closed.

He lives alone.

What kind of badness is he talking about? If he is inside his home and he heard it it is an alarm because someone else has opened it and is either planning on entering or leaving his house.

I seriously doubt he is going to walk in his sleep into the garage and open the door and when he returns he's not going to be asleep either.

Go figure.

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There are times I piss myself off

like I just did a few minutes ago when I looked into my refrigerator to see what I am going to have for breakfast. 

Nothing outright jumped out at me and I got mildly annoyed becaause of that.

Then I got pissed off at myself because the whole refrigerator is full of edible food and I'm annoyed because I wasn't instantly inspired.

Then I opened my eyes and saw some leftover ham and some cheese and started to make an omelet which collapsed when I went to flip the empty side over the onions, ham and cheese side so I said the hell with it and scrambled the whole mess up and had a pretty good breakfast.

I have a refrigerator that people would kill me for a quarter of its contents and I'm complaining? That's just plain wrong.

It's an old saw but once in a while at times like this I ought to stop and think about the hungry kids overseas.

I'm ashamed of myself...or at least was. Now I'm grateful I have more than enough to eat.

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If it only saves one child...

is a common gun control plea.

Good point. While we're at it lets outlaw swimming pools, 5 gallon buckets and other sources of childhood drowning. 

Cars kill children, too so let's outlaw automobiles and we can all walk because if we ride horses children can fall off of them, hit their heads and die.

In short how much are we willing to give up to save one child?

 

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It is Sunday and there is no mail

I think one of the things I can do is pass on some dopey little stuff that will make people's life a little easier.

On the USPS website look up 'Informed Delivery' and check it out. I have it and I check it every morning shortly after I turn on the coffee maker.

It lets me know what I am going to find in my mailbox that day. It's pretty good knowing what to expect that day.

They show pictures of the actual mail piece so you know what it is.

Check it out.

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The Waffle House weather index.

The National Weather Service (NWS) does not officially use the Waffle House Index to forecast weather, but the federal emergency officials certainly do.

One of the things the feds do which actually makes sense is they pay attention to experienced local knowledge. Most likely because they have been embarrassed too many times over the years.

"Our scientists say..." announced the feds only to be made fools of by Farmer Joe's bunions or the local water witcher's trick knee. 

Actually regarding the North River the local (now gone) Coast Guard station used to tell people that local knowledge was the best source of information for people navigating the river. 

The Waffle House index seems to be a pretty good source of local weather information. They have a well earned reputation of toughing out bad weather and staying open. They also have a company index. 

Green, full operations. Yellow means limited operations and red means closed. Closed generally means the place has pretty much been destroyed and can't even provide shelter.

Closed ahead of time means that the storm is pretty much going to render the place heavily damaged. While like anything else that's not a guarantee that a storm is going to tear the place up it's a pretty good indicator of truly nasty weather.

Waffle House also has a pretty good humanitarian record of providing food and shelter during bad weather.

For all of the jokes, laughter, brawl videos etc. and the reputation of being a circus the place quietly shares a reputation for humanitarian service.

It's about as legitimate of a weather indicator as anything else the government provides.

I'd eat there if there was one nearer to home.

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One rant Almost Joined coming right up.

I have seen an increase in "almost joineds'. as in ''I almost joined the (enter service here)"

Either you did or you didn't. 

If you signed enlistment papers and bilged out of MEPS you joined. You are NOT an almost joined. You enlisted. You stood up to the plate and signed the check payable for up to and including your life to the government. You joined. While you are certainly not a veteran, but you are NOT an almost joined because you joined. The government just chose not to cash your check.

Over the years I have seen any number of 'almost joineds' and they are a pain in the a$$. Almost joined in a pig's eye. Half of the AJs my age were in college protesting the Vietnam war and dodging the draft while in liberal colleges. Here so many years later they want to tell people they 'almost joined'.

I have no problem whatsoever with someone that says they opted for college or took advantage of another opportunity or something along these lines. That's all well and good. I can't say as I blame you. I very well might have gone down this route. 

If you considered the military but decided to do something else that's fine and dandy. 

Just spare us the 'Almost Joined' crap. Whatever you do don't say you almost joined to a service member to try and win approval. They may be polite about it but they will think you're a jerk that just outed himself. 

I've noticed that a lot of the AJs from the Vietnam era have started to disappear only to be replaced by AJs from out Middle East adventures. Life goes on.

Fact is I have a lot more respect for someone that was a draft dodger  and admits it than I do for any AJ.

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The other day I overheard an 'almost joined' which is a peeve of mine.

I'm prett lax about what constitutes a veteran. For practical purposes simply signing on the dotted line gets a certain amount of credit. If someone says the flunked out at MEPS I give credit for joining. 

They don't get vets status but they get credit for joining because they committed themselves and that says a lot in my book.

On the other hand when someone says they 'almost joined' they go straight to the bottom of the pile with me. It's 100% total bull$hit.

I overheard someone saying that they 'almost joined' the Marines but it wasn't my conversation so I stayed quite. 

Still, it reminded me of a classmate that was an 'almost joined' when in fact he was at a liberal college protesting the Vietnam war. I tore him a new one for that crock.

Almost joined my a$$!

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An ATNO.

I just worked the Democratic Republic of Congo which is an All Time New One in my log.

I was confused when I looked it up I already had Congo and realized there are 2 Congos, Republic of the Congo and Peoples Republic of Congo.

Anyway there's an new one in my logbook.

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Cats are pests. It's just who they are.

Of course I would not have it any other way.

Someone or something has to keep me going.

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