Monthly Archives: April 2024

Current Events

The First is Always the Best

5 Comments

Yes, how well I remember the first salute I received at around 1530 on 7 August 1967 at MB, 8th&I, Washington, D.C. when I was commissioned. Here it is:

Then GySgt Lee M. Bradley, my hero, mentor, and godfather giving the newly commissioned brown bar his first salute and collecting the infamous silver dollar, which now retired SgtMaj Lee M. Bradley says he still has.

One Final Salute                                                                  By: G. Maresca

For my first 17 years, a hat was, well, a hat. It wasn’t until I stepped off the bus in the wee hours of a humid June morning and landed on those celebrated yellow footprints of Parris Island that I quickly learned what I once called a hat was now a cover.

After my tour in the Corps, which included two deployments that literally took me around the globe, the only piece of uniform that fit me upon my departure were my covers. Thanks to adding two inches in height and 45-pounds in girth, my dress uniforms were always a major point of contention, especially during inspections. Fortunately, the camouflage utility uniform had a good amount of give, which was our uniform of the day – the one benefit of not being a pogue.

Once I returned to civilian life, my remaining covers were tucked away in my sea bag that in subsequent moves always found a home anchored in the basement. It wasn’t until my daughter requested me to render her first salute upon her commissioning in the U.S. Army that the cover would find itself, however briefly, returning to active duty.

Having been prior enlisted, I was unfamiliar with the protocols of the commissioning of a second lieutenant. Not only would she be commissioning but was named a George C. Marshall graduate having earned the U.S. Army’s top cadet award based upon scholarship, leadership, and physical fitness.

My poplin camouflaged cover was practically inspection ready considering it spent nearly four decades packed away awaiting its eventual parole to a hunting or fishing expedition that never materialized. My name was still visibly stamped on the inside and all that was left was a brief meeting with a touch of starch and an iron.

The only issue that still needed to be addressed was my hair. The mane is still in full force and pretty much the same color as when I first donned that cover. The mop, or what Uncle Vinny once sardonically called “good guinea hair,” was on tap to get a regulation high and tight shortly before the commissioning allowing enough growth to still pass muster with USMC regulation and acceptable to our family’s commanding officer, the butter bar’s mother.

The last time, I rendered a salute wearing that cover, I was still on active duty. I have no recall who was the heir of that salute, but to think the next one bestowed would be my own daughter decades later at her commissioning was surreal. The entirety of the formal proceedings were certainly a significant moment in time for an aging Jarhead.

Before accepting her request, I wanted to make sure that she didn’t want one of her ROTC cadre to do the honors as she has spoken with high regard for the senior noncommissioned officers that worked diligently with her during her undergraduate years and in particular MSgt. Cardray Moulden.

Our family’s military history is significant, having had two uncles who served in World War II one in the Army, the other in the Navy, and my, Dad, a Marine, served in the Korean War – all were enlisted. On her maternal side, one served on Iwo Jima, while the rest were Army veterans fighting the Nazi’s in Europe during World War II when military service was not necessarily a choice. The common denominator that ran through them was a patriotic sense of time-honored duty to serve one’s nation.

This seems to be missing among today’s youth as last year the Army reached only 75% of its recruiting goal, while the other branches barely met theirs. 2023 is no different. At a Congressional hearing, Pentagon brass testified things have not been this bad since the draft ended in 1973 and that the all-volunteer force may no longer be feasible.

Maria Maresca’s initial salute had two sets of firsts. Not only would she be the first woman in the family on either side to serve, but also the first to forgo the chevrons and pin on the gold bars of a second lieutenant.

Across our fruited plain, May is commissioning season. The formalities at Shippensburg University, not far from the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg or the Army’s longtime War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is by no means a destination for any of these young officers. Rather it is the first stop in a journey that will sculpt, fashion, and solidify the rest of their lives as they serve a cause much greater than themselves.

The hope inspired by both Major General Andy Munera, the Commanding General U.S. Army Cadet Command out of Fort Knox. Kentucky, and the university’s ROTC’s Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Nicole Jepsen stirred a current that could not help but energize the auditorium of the Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

These newly commissioned officers’ commitment to serve stands out in a nation where only 9% of those eligible to serve do. They carry with them the hope of a nation that my last commander-in-chief Ronald Reagan once called “a shining city on a hill.”

This will be my last post for a while as my bride and I are taking our new RV (new to us) on its second shake down cruise to another FL State Park, that will make two down and 45 to go. I think it is fitting to post Greg’s story of his daughter receiving her first salute from her Dad. Great story. Congratulations Greg to you and to the new Brown Bar! I wish her well.

 

 

 

Originally posted 2023-05-21 12:17:26.

Current Events

D-Day Approaches

6 Comments

Hi Gang, the D in this case stands for DEBT, our countries debt! I hesitated to post this article, but I really think it needs to be out there so people understand what is going on in our country today economically. As a self-made Economist who loves the topic and follows it more than anything else we are about to reach a turning point in America. June 1st is D-Day folks. This has never happened in the USA and if it does this time, it will have far reaching impact on many things, not to even mention America’s reputation throughout the world. I’ll save my further comments  after you read it.

15 May 2023
Military.com | By  Rebecca Kheel

Billions of dollars of veterans benefits could be imperiled if the U.S. defaults on its debts, though the full extent of the fallout is uncertain because of the unprecedented nature of a default.

About $12 billion in veterans benefits are expected to be paid out June 1 — the same day the Treasury Department has named as the earliest day a default could happen if Congress doesn’t act to avoid it.

A default would likely delay those benefits, but for exactly how long would depend on the Treasury’s next move after a default, experts who spoke to Military.com said.

“There is significant uncertainty as to what would occur because we’ve never been there,” said Rachel Snyderman, senior associate director of business and economic policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Washington, D.C., think tank that estimated how much money in veterans benefits is due to be paid in June.

At issue is what’s known as the debt ceiling or debt limit, which is the amount of money the Treasury can borrow in order to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of the “X date,” or the day the Treasury runs out of cash, is a moving target since it depends on how much tax revenue comes in, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1. If you care to, look up this idiots bio and see how many Econ courses she has ever taken. She just learned how to spell Treasury when she got the job.

Pentagon officials have sounded the alarm about how a default could affect paychecks for service members.

House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling. The White House has maintained Congress should raise the ceiling immediately to avoid even the specter of a default and that any talks about spending cuts should be handled separately, though President Joe Biden has signaled an openness to clawing back unspent COVID-19 funds as Republicans have demanded. LOL, Biden wants to raise the ceiling THEN talk about cuts, that is so funny, it’s crazy. Does anyone really believe he means that. One of those famous, “The check is in the mail ” statements.. And they are still paying COVID payments? 

With the deadline fast approaching, Biden and congressional leaders met at the White House last week, and staff-level talks have continued since then. A second meeting between Biden and congressional leaders had been scheduled for Friday but was canceled. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are next scheduled to meet Tuesday, Biden said Monday.

McCarthy sounded a pessimistic note Monday, telling reporters he thinks the two sides are still “far apart” and that it “seems like [administration officials] want to default more than they want a deal.” Certainly, so they can blame it all on the GOP

While the Biden administration and House Republicans have been trading accusations about whether the GOP proposal to slash overall government spending would mean cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less talked about has been how veterans could be affected by a default.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of payments that could be missed, including veterans benefits, is based on analysis of past Treasury reports on its daily transactions, Snyderman said. The estimate for veterans benefits covers any benefit administered by the VA, she said.

In addition to the June 1 payment, another round of veterans benefits is expected to be paid June 30.

“With each additional day that impasse continues, there could be an exponential impact on what that payment delay could look like,” Snyderman said.

Experts see two possible scenarios for how the Treasury could try to pay U.S. bills after hitting the debt ceiling. In one scenario, the Treasury could choose to prioritize making certain payments before others as cash comes in. In that case, how long veterans benefits and military pay is delayed would depend on where they fall in line for priorities. Yellen has downplayed the possibility of prioritizing payments, doubting that it is technically feasible.

In another scenario, the Treasury could wait until it has enough cash in hand to make a full day’s worth of payments in the order in which they came due. Then, if a default happened June 1, veterans benefits due that day might see only a short delay, but delays for later veterans benefits and other payments would grow the longer the impasse lasts.

“We’ve never defaulted, and we’ve never breached the debt limit, and because it’s so unfathomable, there’s no public playbook for what to do in a situation when this happens,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Some prioritization is probably possible, but it would be difficult for them to justify continuing to pay full veterans benefits and not paying other things,” he added. “It’s possible they would do that. Veterans are very popular. But I think we should assume that at least payments would be delayed.”

A lengthy default could equate to up to 30% in cuts for non-interest government spending, Goldwein said.

In addition to potentially hitting veterans benefits, about $12 billion in military and civilian retirement pay that is expected June 1 and about $4 billion in military salaries that is scheduled for June 15 could be disrupted by a default, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin alluded to the potential effect on military pay in congressional testimony last week.

“What it would mean realistically for us is that we won’t, in some cases, be able to pay our troops with any degree of predictability,” Austin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. No kidding Jose, someone woke this fool up, go back to sleep you POS.

Administration officials issued similar warnings the last time the U.S. was close to a default in 2021. That year, Congress approved a debt limit increase with days to spare after Senate Republicans agreed not to block legislation. While Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time, they didn’t have the 60 votes typically needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

The negotiating dynamics are different this time because Republicans now control the House. The last debt ceiling crisis when Republicans held the House and Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate in 2011 ended with an agreement to lift the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts.

— Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Okay, here is my take.  First of all I find it interesting  the only folks they are talking about being hurt are the military and the VA recipients, what about all the others who will be impacted by this, hopefully including all the illegals, welfare, elected officials, and government workers in general. No, they want to hit home to the compassionate types. Oh dear me, our soldiers and our vets. Hogwash! We’ll handle it.

My take. I want the USA to default, I really do. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally and professionally as an Economist, hope McCarthy stands his ground and doesn’t give Biden one inch. Then we’ll see how all those department heads who got their job, not because of their intelligence or background, but because of their sexual orientation, skin color, or whatever figure out how to handle the issues brought about by a default.

I’m living on a military retirement and am a VA recipient so this will hurt Nancy and I very much. But, we CANNOT keep raising the debt limit and keep spending and spending, Can you imagine what thirty trillion dollars looks like folks. No you can’t, and neither can any of us.

I have written all three of my national elected officials and told them to stand their ground, make everyone hurt so they understand what is at stake here. I encourage you to do the same, then tighten your belt. Nuff said. Semper Fi,

Originally posted 2023-05-16 17:08:53.

Current Events

Bud Who?

6 Comments

I’m absolutely amazed at how stupid some supposedly educated people can be.  Two highly paid ad execs are enjoying their leave of absence while probably wondering what they did wrong. I have always associated Bud Light as the workers beer; electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters, factory folks; you know – the blue collar gang, that’s who drank Bud Light. But from what I hear and read, that “ain’t” happening now. And as Greg points out they won’t come back, regardless of what AB tries to do. Think of the advertising revenues AB will surely lose for all the sporting events they “used” to sponsor. LOL, Lord, I love it.

 

Bud is no wiser                                                                                                                      By: G. Maresca

Anheuser-Busch (AB) seeking to pass off a man for a woman in their latest advertising campaign, hitched their Clydesdales to 26-year-old transgender Dylan Mulvaney that only reinforces their wokeness.

Overnight, Mulvaney became the image of Bud Light with his face splashed on the cans of the nation’s bestselling brew. One friend said he thought the look was a Surgeon General’s warning that if you drank too many Bud Lights you may wake up next to an ugly woman with plumbing.

The best customer is the one you have, so why alienate them? The same friend told me Bud Light tastes like horse urine, that’s why they have all those Clydesdales. Having never imbibed in horse urine, I took him at his word.

There are thousands of microbreweries across the country, and you are drinking Bud Light? It is like eating Wonder bread when there is a bakery next door.

If AB wants to expand their base, feature an accomplished young woman instead of a man who is a caricature of the insipid tramp you pray your daughter never becomes. Such a pathetic advertising campaign is orchestrated by an indoctrinated public relations ensemble who can’t fix a flat or use self-checkout.

AB already possessed a 100% Corporate Equality Index (CEI) score, which rates wokeness prior to bringing Mulvaney onboard. It’s a good bet that most Bud Light consumers have no idea what CEI is, but they do now: Clueless – Entitled – Ignoramuses.

Not a fermenting bunch, the Bud Light cadre stepped up to the bar and ordered a boycott where follow the money is creed with the potential to make “go woke, go broke” a reality. The embargo is being hailed as one of the most successful in recent memory.

In their April 23 edition, Insights Express, a beer industry newsletter, called AB’s lost sales from the Mulvaney advertising campaign “staggering.” Moreover, Beer Business Daily confirmed, “We’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time.”

Sales and the totality of AB’s market share continue to shrink. AB executives should be cognizant of how statistics constantly underscore that some customers never return. Provided the transgender community is as formidable a market as AB believes, they should be able to reverse their losses.

That has yet to occur.

Once you step into the woke quicksand, they demand even more virtue signaling and validation. Businesses need to focus on making an excellent product, not selling a political ideology. Companies can choose to go internally woke with training de rigueur, while hiring and promoting for things other than ability. Nevertheless, when companies fail to distinguish between the two, they only polarize their clientele and play havoc with their stockholders.

What Bud Light executives dismiss is their beverage has always been trans – water identifying as beer. AB should have just introduced a new beer with a rainbow can called TransLight or Bud Light-in-the-Loafers.

Saying they want to get away from their “fratty image” and promote “inclusivity” is their dog whistle for heterosexual white males. Marketing is about gaining customers, and customer service is about keeping them, while advertising is about growth without disgruntling your base.

The leftist echo chamber rings loudly throughout corporate America and the Democrat Party. The transgender mafia claims to be oppressed yet spooks a multibillion-dollar company to conform, while alienating their customers.

AB’s debacle is another teachable moment for woke corporate America. Picking sides, however, does not have to mean you are committed.

With Gay Pride month in June, AB will be on tap for an encore.

Two AB marketing executives were placed on a “leave of absence,” which suggests AB is not at all serious. Rather, it is basic damage control where they believe playing the waiting game is best.

 

AB, like the sporting events they sponsor, does not belong to one cultural group. It can be one thing to have different political opinions, yet folks can still enjoy a beverage and sporting event together. That, however, is not how corporate, political, or sporting America works anymore. You must signal your virtue in every arena of life, or be labelled a racist, fascist, or bigot.

Such absurd behavior only results in a weaker America for all.

I remember being stationed at Camp Lejeune and seeing Bud Light semis delivering beer to the base clubs. They were painted camouflage and in big bold black letters read “Marines Drink Bud Light.” Care to guess which beer was the biggest seller on base? Some marketing person at AB had their “stuff” together.  I wonder what the trucks say now

 

Originally posted 2023-05-15 13:19:06.

Current Events

Orwellian America

9 Comments

I somehow knew my Marine brother, Greg, would eventually write something about this insane event overtaking our country.  This is so unbelievable, it defies even trying to explain it using Webster’s words. With that, I’ll let Greg talk about it.

 

 

A transgressive disaster                                                   By: G. Maresca

The older I get, my hearing and vision isn’t necessarily the problem; rather, it is believing what I hear and see. To wit: the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” voted on last week in The House of Representatives.

The bill’s resolve is to amend Title IX’s legislation regarding women’s athletics where “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The bill says plenty about the polarization and politicization of transgenderism that is symbolic of today’s devolving culture where an addendum is desperately needed.

Predictably, the vote went strictly along party lines with all Republicans supporting it, while every Democrat voted against it. Given the bill’s necessity in Orwellian America, I couldn’t help but think of one particular episode in the highly acclaimed 2010 HBO series The Pacific that chronicled  the Marine Corps’ numerous island-hopping campaigns during World War II.

The scene upfolds as Marine Eugene Sledge boards an amtrak in the darkened bowels of a navy warship. As the hatch opens to unleash the tracks from their bay, the light is blinding. Within minutes, Sledge and his fellow Marines hit the beaches at Peleliu under extreme fire. Only one percent of those survivors are still with us. I often wonder how they would feel about how their grandchildren are so divided over legislation to protect girls from competing, sharing locker rooms and showers with boys who think they are girls.

What is lost on Democrats is that Title IX was meant to correct sex discrimination, not enforce it.

Are Democrats simply blind loyalists to a deeply flawed political ideology or cowards unable to stand for what they truly believe is right? Or is it that they no longer believe that boys in athletics have innate advantages over girls? Instead, they view the transgendered as victims rather than suffering mentally.

Cue Rod Serling, another decorated World War II veteran, and his notorious Twilight Zone theme. Even Serling’s boundless capacity to write creative futuristic fiction would have an issue with such insanity in 2023 America.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke truth to power saying, “There’s a reason why there’s men and women’s sports. . . it’s about fairness.” Florida Republican Greg Steube, one of the bill’s sponsors, added that Congress first passed Title IX “to enable women to have an equal playing field in athletics.”

Women have spent decades fighting for equal opportunities and Title IX ensured they had a level playing field. Allowing men to compete against them is its antithesis. Men’s and women’s sports exist due to fairness.  Recall in 2017, a U-15 boys soccer team from Texas beat the world champion USA women’s team 5-2 in a “practice” game.

Seemingly dismissed is how girls are not clamoring to compete against boys. MMA fighter Jack Shields has challenged any gender-confused woman to a bout. Guess how many have accepted?

None.

Such politically driven ideology deprives girls of opportunities as gender is consciously divorced from one’s biological sex. Girls should not be forced to compete against boys in sports. No issue underscores the leftist agenda more than transgenderism that places the desires of the few above the many. Who could possibly be happy with such circumstances and for what reasons? There is nothing woke or progressive in rolling back women’s rights and protections.

The deconstruction of traditional male and female roles has led to confusion that is the impetus for falling birth rates to the decay of the nuclear family.

This legislation puts the rule of law where one cannot change their biological sex at will.  Such insanity begs the question if changing one’s sex is acceptable, what about changing one’s race?

Where are the pink hats of the feminists? They should be justifiably up in arms, but nary a word unless it is anything pro-abortion.  One would hope that all women affected by this ongoing issue would vote accordingly.

However, in today’s Orwellian America that may be too much to ask.

For those who oppose such common sense, the Senate revealed they will not debate it, while President Biden has said provided the bill ever did make it to his desk, he would veto it.

As such, this insanity continues.

Isn’t it amazing the vote went exactly along party lines? I wonder if any those Dems who voted against the bill have any young daughters playing women’s sports, and if there are some, have they told their daughters  how he/she voted? I doubt it. I am really have a tough time with this issue. I simply cannot believe how someone with half a brain could be in favor of this travesty, but then there are lots of things the Dems do and say that defies my understanding.

George Orwell published “1984” in 1949, a year later on January 21, 1950 he succumbed to Tuberculosis. I wonder what his thoughts would be on today’s Orwellian America. I’ve not read “1984”, but I think I might, but hell, why do so, I’m living it..

Originally posted 2023-05-01 08:25:13.

Current Events

The “King” of Beers?

5 Comments

Wait is it Beers or Queers? Sorry, I just had to take a moment and post this in case you have missed it while have a Bud Light. LOL. So, Bud Light is the king of beers right? Wrong. It’s now the Queen of Beers. Glad I’m Scotch drinker, but on occasion when I do Have a beer on a sweaty afternoon, it  sure “ain’t” Bud light. It’s Coors!  Oh wait,  here’s another one

Can you imagine what this is probably going to do for Bud Light sales. LOL Gotta love it, never did like the beer anyway.

Originally posted 2023-04-18 16:09:20.