Where are our "royals" at?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522552&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Prince Harry, 3rd in line to the British throne, has been, by all accounts mixing it up with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan for the last 3 months, and they decide to pull him out after Matt Drudge decides to expose his deployment.

Drudge is an idiot for breaking this story, and Harry has balls of stone for hanging out in the neighborhood that he has been, not a very nice locale by any one's estimation. This brings me to my question? Where are America's "royals"? That 1-3% of our population that is at the top of the heap? As someone who has been here and there in the Army for the last 12 years or so, they're MIA. Gone. They don't exist. Is this a problem? For some it may be, but who really cares, this is the way that its been since time immemorial. There have been a few notable exceptions, but since the end of the Draft Era 35 years ago, we have been a military populated by the lower to middle class. The rich and superrich don't have to serve, and if they choose not to, that's their right, hence the term "all volunteer" military.

By all accounts, we have the lowest percentage of members of Congress ever that have not served in the military in the history if America. We have a *snicker*(I only snicker at that because when you vault over 150+ people on the waiting list to join the Guard at a time when it was the same as dodging the draft, then your service is tainted) Air Guardsman in the White House, and a 5 time draft dodger as the Veep. While we have been a nation at war for more than 6 years, and we have less and less people who know what its like to serve your nation, then alot of folks think that unless you have some idea what its like, then you shouldn't send the young of this nation into harms way. I call bullshit, that what we have the DOD, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for. These advisers to the Powers that Be are the one's responsible for telling these folks what the Servicemembers are going through.

I don't need the rich to do my job for me, you want to join and sit at my shoulder and fight alongside me, grab an M4 and lets do it. Money and doesn't make someone a better Soldier or not. The desire to learn the trade, and the ability to apply that knowledge is what matters. I say good job to Prince Harry, he could've avoided the military all together, but chose to fight.



"I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight." LTG Patton.

1 year done and gone

Almost 1 year has passed since I returned from the war. I have spent the last 11 months on Active duty at Fort Lewis, where my little adventure started, training Soldiers, Sailors, and Airman getting ready to head downrange.

I live by myself, and I am single, for the first time in my adult life, and that has been interesting to say the least. I have been assigned to an Infantry(Training) unit, and I love my job. I am still trying to sort out my past life with my ex, as we still own a house together. As soon as I returned the market went to shit, and hasn't yet recovered. We are civil to each other, but the last time that I was in LA, I got the feeling that she was a bit scared of me, and that hurts, I never would, nor have I ever raised a hand to hurt her. I have spent some time in Portland, Seattle, and several trips back to Phoenix to see the family, but through it all, I remain alone.

I have found that returning home was much harder than I anticipated. In some ways, I still haven't found the peace that I've been searching for. I have no real emotions to speak of, and though I try, I find myself wanting to return to Afghanistan in search of something that I think that I lost. Deep down I know that I can never recover it, but the urge to try is great.

My orders keeping me at Lewis are set to expire in 60 days or so, I am in the process of trying to extend for another year, but must make plans in case that it doesn't happen. I can either say Fuck it! and let my house go, stay in Washington, and ruin my financial future for the foreseeable future, or I can go back to LA and work at my job and try and find another deployment to go on. The CA Guard is sending a task force to Kosovo sometime in the near future, and that's a part of the world that I've never seen before. That's an option, or there's always Iraq, the big dance. I can only influence the future, not control it. So I'll do what I can, and we'll see how the cards play out.