So proud of our MaMaw

I wanted to share with you something my mother has done for our soldiers.  Most of the time you hear talk about parents being proud of their kids.  Sometimes, the kids get to be proud of their parents.  Im fortunate that my parents have given Patrick and I so much to be proud of.  This is just something else that makes me proud of MaMaw.  She has spent hours and hours sewing scarfs for our soldiers in Afghanistan.  I mean hours.  Below is a total of the amount of scarfs she has sent, each with a personal note. She received an email from one of our men over there, it is copied below.  We love you MaMaw, we are so proud.


All together -

2010 - 35
2011 -  412
2012 -  306

Total  753


From: Bailey, Danette D CSM USA 3-401st AFSBn CSM <danette.d.bailey@afghan.swa.army.mil>
Date: Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 10:24 AM
Subject: (U) Thank you for the hand made scarf,
To: OpGrat@gmail.com


UNCLASSIFIED

Ms. Ayers,
I wanted to take this time out to say thank you for the beautiful scarf,
that I received in a care package sent to me from Operation Gratitude.
I am the Bn SGM for my battalion here in Bagram Afghanistan.  It is a
great feeling to know that our American people still show care, love,
gratitude and support for the Warfighters of this great nation we fight
so hard for as an American Soldier today.   I never take for granted how
bless I am to continue my duty, loyalty and selfless service after 31
years of service and still continue to live the Army values while
serving here in Afghanistan.  Although I have only been here for a
little over 2 months with 10 months to go, it feels like eternity.
However I have a mission to complete and I plan to do just that.  The
Soldiers, DA Civilians and Contractors who serve under my leadership, I
am thankful for their support as well.

Please know that I appreciate the time and care that you took in making
this scarf that I will carry in my bag during my BFC's (Battle Field
Circulations) until I am back home to the states to wear it proudly for
all to see.

I am very thankful, God Bless you and thank you again.

SGM Danette  Bailey
3-401st AFSBn
Bagram, Afghanistan
APO AE 09354
DSN (312)-864-5294
MMCS: 644-5294   Cell:  079-619-6536
SWA:Danette.d.bailey@afghan.swa.army.mil

"First to the Line"



UNCLASSIFIED

25 things I should teach my girls

Not my blog, but great advice

I have this reoccurring nightmare, seriously

Alright, most of you know that I swim on a daily basis.  I try and lift during lunch, swim before work.  When I swim, I am 100% in a zone.  My head is down and the rest of the world is blocked out.  Not only is a great workout, it is a way for me to clear my head. I do a lot of thinking while swimming, I think about what I have to do that day, how to phrase something, etc.   I have really come to enjoy my swimming workout.  My gym itself is elevated, it is on the second floor of the building.  Honestly, its kind of a workout just to get to the gym.  The pool is even more elevated.  You are in the back corner, elevated, looking down on everyone working out.  The pool is a great, smaller room, well heated, etc.  Great conditions to workout, its very cave like.  There are a lot of times when I am the only person in the pool too.

This is where my nightmare begins.  It is a nightmare that I think about almost every time I get in the pool.  At some point during my swim I always think...what happens in the Zombie Apocalypse occurs while I am swimming?  Seriously, I think about this.  I always envision me getting done with my swim, I get out of the pool and look down at the gym, and then BAM!   There is nothing but blood, carnage, and death.  Maybe even a loan "Walker" or two stumbling about the gym.  I seriously think about what I am going to do if the ZA occurs while I'm swimming.  What does someone do to fight off zombies in their swim trunks?  Sort of like when you are showering at home and you hear a thump somewhere in the house, you think to yourself "great, now I am going to have to fight off the burglar naked. "  Same sort of thought that I have with the pool.  

Anyway, thus far I have been lucky. No Zombie Apocalypse while I have been swimming.  I will go to work out tomorrow and sometime during my swim I will think to myself....what if today is the day?

Ghosts of Ole Miss

I have really enjoyed ESPN's 30-30 films.  I watch almost everyone, regardless of my interest in the subject.  ESPN has done a fascinating job of telling a sports story that many of us have never heard of.  They teach history, they teach sports, they tell stories.  It really is excellent.  Its hard to pick a favorite of the bunch, and I am really looking forward to the one on Bo Jackson.  He was one of my favorite athletes when I was a kid.

Last weeks episode was on Ole Miss and 1962.  This was the year that Ole Miss went undefeated on the football field but the school was almost torn apart by racial strife on campus.  John F. Kennedy had to send in the National Guard in order to protect James Meredith, the first African American at Ole Miss.  I wont go into too much detail about the show, or give you a history lesson, its worth checking out on your own.  However, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride after watching it because of how far we have come.  

We in the South get kicked around and made fun of a lot.  Some of it is well deserved, well earned.  We have made mistakes and sometimes continue to do so.  However, it was great to see someone take notice of the strides that have been made in the South and the conflict that still rests within many of us.  I think of how far the South has come just in my parents lifetime.  My parents grew up in the segregated south.  When its talked about here in Chicago, even people older than my parents only remember it from TV or  school books.  My Mom and Dad lived it.  I know that many of my grandparents ignored the "laws" and treated everyone as best as they could.  My great grandparents owned a grocery store.  They offered credit to their regular customers, white....and black.  To them, everyone was poor, everyone was the same.  I am proud of that.  There were a lot of people like my great grandparents in the South, I would like to think it was the silent majority. But it doesn't change the way things were back then in much of the South- the separation, the fear, the hate.  To go from separate doorways, separate water fountains, and separate counters in a deli, to an African American in the White House- IN ONE LIFETIME- is pretty impressive. That's what my parents have lived through, that's the stories they know from experience, not some text book. 

You can't really talk about the South without talking about the SEC.  When Kennedy addressed the nation about forced integration, even JFK mentioned it.  The first SEC school to have a African American basketball player was Vanderbilt.  The first SEC to have an African American football player was Kentucky.  I'm proud of that too. Ole Miss (itself) has gone from 1962, to having their first African American student body president this year. I can understand how it is easy for you to throw stones from your couch, hundreds of miles away.  I can see why you think we are all dumb rednecks.  Again, we do enough to continue to earn that.  However,  you cant really understand our love for the South.  The good and the bad.  You haven't lived it.   You don't know what its like to love a song like Dixie, but at the same time be ashamed at some of the things Dixie stood for.  You don't know what its like to have your relatives, many of whom were honorable men, get painted with a broad, negative, brush because they wore gray.

Now that I am in Chicago, I feel I can never really tell the proper story of the South.  I do get asked a lot, but I can never do it justice.  If it is a part of you, you can't really explain it.  If it isn't, you cant really understand.  Its not just a direction, its a way of life.  

We are a conflicted bunch, but we in the South have come a long way.  This 30 for 30 illustrates that.

Epilogue:  On que, Ole Miss strikes again.  Apparently some were upset after Obama won last night and their was minor rioting/flash mob in The Grove.  I have seen the video and its relatively minor stuff, but still pretty embarassing.   I would not be surprised if this 30 for 30 isnt somewhat related.  Like I said, we continue to do stupid things like this.      

  

Resting in the shade of the tree(s)

As all three of my faithful blog followers know that I am a big Civil War fan.  There are a handful of things to love about that time period, a few things to fear, many things to be respected.  I love the way men wrote and talked back then, they were much more eloquent than we are today.  One of my favorite quotes was by Stonewall Jackson,  a quote that is attributed to the last thing he said before he died... "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."  I love that quote, especially in the context of one of the greatest soldiers coming to the end of his young life.  Think about that quote as we continue on with my blog today.  

I am currently in the state Oklahoma.  I have never been here, nor do I know much about the area.  This job has allowed me to travel all over the US.  I have met some amazing brothers and seen some amazing places.  On Friday, I had a great visit with the SAE men at Oklahoma State.  I was supposed to have dinner with them at Leadership School but unfortunately I had to cancel.  So, I owed them.  I also have a good friend (Khris Kendall) who has been trying to get me to come visit his chapter at OKKA, The University of Oklahoma.  If you didn't know, "there is only one Oklahoma!"  Today (Sunday) I will be going to OU to visit with their chapter during chapter meeting. Yesterday, we had some downtime before he and I went to the OU/ND game. I must say, it was very nice of the people of Norman to continually shout my name at the stadium.  Its pretty moving to have the largest crowd ever for a OU home game constantly shout "BOOMER!"  One of the places I did want to see while I was here was the OKC bombing site.  It is one of those events that will always stick in your mind, even if it has been somewhat overshadowed by 9-11.    

Yesterday morning was a beautiful, chilly, fall Saturday morning.  The downtown of OKC has been really transformed lately and it is a new, shiny, looking downtown. A lot of this is probably due to the OKC Thunder NBA team.  The OKC Memorial is right in the middle of downtown.

The memorial is literally on top of 5th street, this section of 5th street has now been closed.  At one end of the memorial is a big wall with a cut out in it to walk through.  On the top of the wall reads the time 9:01.  You then have this long reflective pool above running east to west, and on the other end is a similar wall with a similar entrance cut out as well.  On top of that wall  reads the time 9:03.  The truck bomb went off at 9:02.  Behind the trees in the picture above Im looking (northeast) are chairs.  Each chair represents one of the 168 people who were killed in the bombing.  There are 19 chairs smaller than the others.   These chairs represent the 19 children who were killed, all 6 or under.  All of my children are 6 an under.  

Who can forget this iconic picture from the OKC bombing?

This is what hurt me the most.  To think of all the kids, the same age as mine, who were at the daycare on the second floor of the building.   As if this entire event wasn't tragic enough, this just breaks my heart.  It could have been my Reagan, my Carolina, my Baylor Grace, or my Hadley.  

My Hadley(after dominating a nap)! 

It is all very sad to me.  I was a sophomore in high school when it happened.  It didnt really effect me like it did yesterday.  Not until I saw (again) the picture of above of the firefighter, not until I realized that 16 sets of parents lost their babies due to this.  As I was doing some research before I went over there, I couldn't help but cry. It is strange, when I was a sophomore in HS, none of these thoughts crossed my mine.  However, I couldn't shake them yesterday.   It is a good thing that I got it out of my system before I went, because I would have hated to have lost it there.  Again, I have no real connection to this bombing.  

You then walk to the north end of the park which is elevated above the chairs/reflecting pool.  On this end you have an incredible view of the site.  A view, that almost 20 years later, is so extremely peaceful.  Standing there you can almost imagine the chaos that day. The sadness.  The death.  When looking at the site, behind you stands a tree.  This tree is called "The Survivor Tree."  The tree is about the only thing that remains from the site that day.  Windows blocks away were shattered, people blocks away were injured, churches destroyed, but this tree survived.  

It was at this point of visit that I turned around and looked at what was at one time a scene of death and terror. Today, you see the remains of the building in the distance.  As your view is focused closer to you, you see some newer trees, then you see the memorials to those that are no longer with us, beautiful landscape, and then you have the reflecting pool.  I couldn't help but think of that great Stonewall quote.  On this site of terrorism, you literally cross over the river (reflecting pool) and rest in the shade of the tree(s) ( The Survivor Tree).  As Stonewall's life of war and strife was coming to an end, Stonewall knew he would soon be with his Savior.  That was the same journey those victims took that day.  We will never forget.

At Cold Harbor- I was killed

I swore I was not going to bring politics into my blog.  My following blog is not an endorsement. Democrats will hate it, republicans will agree with my take.  However, read carefully what I say and understand that Im not making an endorsement, just an observation.  I will go back to a non political blog.

Im going to delete any comments-FYI.


Tonight's Civil War analogy is Cold Harbor (look it up, most probably never heard of it).  Romney had to come off as someone who could be president and not screw up.  A foreign policy debate ALWAYS favors an incumbent, so the goals were very different.  CNN poll that 63% said Obama could be the CiC.  60% said Romney could.  That is virtual tie and is a big win for Romney.  Romney reinforced this tonight in a rather convincing way.  In fact, on the two major debate argument points Obama was wrong.  1) being the agreement with Iraq (VP bet his VP on getting the SOFA- which they ended up not getting) 2) Being the auto bailout- Obama was wrong on that as well.   Not to mention horses and bayonets are still used today (horse statue ) in the military.  Obama went very, very small tonight, while Romney went big.  Obama slashed and attacked, and as a result, gained some debate points for that.  His base will probably thump their chests over it.  However, he also came across pretty negative to the undecided.  Obama came across almost as the challenger and the person who is trailing, where Mitt came across as the leader, the incumbent.  This is coming from focus groups on different channels, not just my thoughts.  Romney was also smart to place himself as close to Obama as possible, so that Obama couldn't paint him as another Bush.  This will only help gain more votes for Romney for those who were afraid he would get us into another war.  But in the end, people care about the economy most.  While Obama might have won on points (it was close- Romney closed very strong), Romney did everything he had to do. CNN says it was 48-40 for Obama but that all thought Mitt did better than expected.   Romney probably closed the gaps on the specific issues where Obama leads (like foreign policy) by being knowledgeable and competent to be President, and he will continue to outpace Obama on the most important issue, the economy.  Obama was focused on winning this debate, but he has sort of lost sight of winning the war.

Another pole (PPP- a democrat poll) post debate:

More/Less likely to vote
Obama 32/more 48/Less
Romney 47/more 35 Less

CNN Post Debate Poll
24% more likely to vote for Obama
25% more likely to vote for Romney

Cold Harbor was the last major Confederate victory of the war.  US Grant considered it his greatest mistake and disaster.  When you take a step back, this battle was a pyrrhic victory for the South.  In the end we all know who won the war.  This is still very possible (probable) in the US election.  However, a month ago the Romney camp was left for dead.  He now goes into the final few weeks as the leader, tied, or within margin of error, on all significant polls, in almost all the major swing states.  This is very significant because undecideds  traditionally break from the incumbent by a 2-1 margin on election day.  People who like Obama, really like Obama.  He still (despite what some polls say) I think has a very good chance at winning because people like him.  However, what a great debate/campaign this has been.  Mitt has proven to be a much better candidate than most people...even Republicans, gave him credit for.

A song for Baylor Grace

I heard this song on the way home, I think it was written for Baylor Grace.  Anyone who knows her, knows that these words are perfect.