On killing...

I am many things. I am a Christian, an American, a father, son, husband, and Soldier. These things have shaped my values, views, and beliefs. To many, I am the flag waving American that they can't stand; I'm sure many in the list I identify with abhor who and what I am.

I was challenged to write about my beliefs on our current war and my general disapproval of misguided leaders, like Ron Paul. For those that don't know, Ron Paul believes that the American military should not be defending our freedoms outside the borders of America. He believes that we are terrorists and justifies the killing of American troops because we are the "occupiers." He also believes that we should allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. This is not the man I would want running the country, because I don't think he's putting America's best interest first.

To change directions, for a moment, one asks how I, a Christian, could fight in a war. Well, for me, I think that there is one right and one wrong. I still believe in good vs. evil, and although I don't think we're perfect, I think the U.S. fighting terrorism is a perfect example of good vs. evil. If you've read much of the Old Testament, you can see how God has used war as an instrument to stamp out evil. In most cases, God used his chosen people, Israel, to kick the tail of godless evildoers. Going to the New Testament, in Romans 13, we see that God uses governing authorities to carry out judgement on those that break the law. On a side note, the United States Constitution gives the power to the people and we are the authority.

So, with all that said, I don't know how anyone could think terrorists, who want the whole world to be under Islamic rule and will kill anyone who stands in their way, are anything but evil. Obviously, I can't forget the many times that Islamic terrorists have attacked peaceful Americans throughout history. I also think it would be ridiculously ignorant and stupid not to defend ourselves against these terrorists. I am a strong believer that if you don't fight them over there, you will very quickly be fighting them over here (or should I say "fighting them more over here?")

The U.S. has been the envy of the world for many reasons, and one of those is the fact that we have the best defenses on the globe. Other countries also know that we will be there in time of need to protect innocent life.

I want freedom in America to remain. I want freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan to remain. If that actually continues to improve is another topic, but I believe it's a worthy cause. Some say fighting terrorism is not a war you can win, but is it worth giving up on? If crime will always be around, is that a reason not to fight against it in order to protect yourself and others?

This person who challenged me brought up the fact that over 100,000 have been killed because of "our occupation." What he continues to bundle and distort is that this number includes those who were killed by terrorist bombings and attacks, and the fact that these reports can be grossly inaccurate. For the instance I mentioned about the kill cam, almost all of the evidence that proved one's "guiltiness" was on a classified system, and for many reasons cannot be shown to the public.

All in all, I could continue to write for hours, but in this case, is it really going to change this challenger's mind? No, I didn't think so.

So-called "Jobs Plan"

I think I heard, "You should pass this job right now" too many times tonight. It still blows my mind that President Obama is trying to present another stimulus plan after admitting it was an utter failure the first time. I'd like to address the significant problems with the government "creating" jobs and specifically through construction work.

After I returned from Afghanistan, and the "shovel ready" jobs trickled down to begin bidding, I received a first-hand, down-and-dirty education on why government jobs, especially stimulus jobs, caused a bigger downturn in the economy. Aside from the massive waste of taxpayer dollars, let's take this step by step. Since I work for a commercial construction company, we focus on commercial jobs - offices, warehouses, schools, churches, etc. With the construction industry in such a depression, this means that residential builders and commercial builders both desperately look for work. As a general commercial contractor, its rare that you get into the residential side. However, it's more likely that a residential contractor becomes interested in commercial work and decides to give it a shot. Now we have more competition who may or may not know commercial subcontractors that can accurately estimate a job and who themselves may not know how to accurately supervise a job. Next, since so many contractors across the nation are without work, they look across state lines for work. This is also risky in knowing reputable subcontractors, labor and equipment rates, and local codes. Well, now, the pool of contractors that bid a government job just got much bigger.

With all that said, hears the problem - we arrive at a government pre-bid meeting. "Back in the day", I'm told, our construction company would compete with 5-10 general contractors. Well, that day, the room had at least 40 other contractors in it - each one salivating for a chance to beat out the competition. Competition is good for consumers, but let's put this in perspective. For this job, you have everyone in their brother that passed their general contractors license exam in the room. They may lack experience, local knowledge, but man do they want this job. The competition is stiff; what do they do? The guy who wins the job is so inexperienced, he wins because he underbid everyone else - I mean way underbid. That job was awarded to a contractor who underbid our COST (no profit) by around a million dollars.

So what's the end result? Quality contractors who have made it through the years due to their craftsmanship, value, and knowledge are suffering even more due to an inexperienced bidder flying by the seat of his pants. In turn, the consumer most likely gets a lot of headache for fixing their problems and arguing, and most likely gets a chintzy product.

A good example of the red tape involved with stimulus jobs is the call I got a few weeks after the previous example. This town said they received good recommendation about us regarding a rest stop we completed and wanted us to come to their stimulus pre-bid meeting to discuss a "bus station." I was thinking I was going to build a bus station or maybe even a bus mechanic station for the town. When we arrived at the meeting, we were instructed that since this was a stimulus job, we needed to fill out this form first, that form weekly, this form daily, we needed to hire these people from the unemployment office at these rates, contact these geological surveyors to locate this on a map, and this list goes on and on. It turns out, this job was for two bus canopies. After seeing the insane amount of nightmares involved with this project, every single contractor walked out the door silently following the meeting. A couple weeks later I received a call from the town construction supervisor asking if we would be bidding the job. After hearing my reply, he responded, "Yeah, I figured that. No one is bidding this job and this is the third time it's out for bid. After the third time, the allocated funds for this project go back into the pot." What a waste of everyones time and money. This is the problem with government.

Furthermore, for every government job I've looked at, the contractor is required to put up a bond. What they don't care about is the fact that, now, the contractor has to indemnify (or backup) the job 100%. So regardless of the fact that a contractor has outstanding financials, has busted his tail to get an unlimited license, and has protected liability under a corporation, the officers of that corporation now have to essentially put up their personal assets as collateral for the price of the job? Why do we need a bond if we're going to do that?

Like Ronald Reagan said, "In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Government's wasteful spending on plans like this is just one example of the utter waste and thievery that's collapsing our country. Contractors will rarely see private jobs any time soon since banks will tightly hold onto loans due to the economic turmoil caused by politicians who quickly swept problems under the rug for far too many years. That may have been a run-on sentence, but I think you get my point. Government will not create private sector jobs because it is just that - the private sector. Getting rid of the abundance of regulation which has big impacts on the cost of a project will help, though. I won't even mention how small business owners get taxed every way they look (I'll save the tax talk for another day).

Unfortunately, the problems we see now was caused by ignorant people voting in an ignorant man with no business experience and tax cheats/liars/politicians/lawyers.

2 years later - Not a day goes by...

Wow, yeah, it's been a long time. I think tonight I've finally had the time, patience, and heart to post after my life has changed so much.

Not a day goes by where I don't think about my time in Afghanistan. Mainly, my memory is stained with the loss of the guys I trained over and beside on a daily basis. I think of SGT Douglas Bull who was the first Soldier lost in my unit and a team leader when I was Alpha Company XO. I think about PFC David Badie who was my armorer for a majority of my time as XO. I think about the others who died with him - 2LT Michael Girdano, SPC William Mulvihill, and PVT Jair Garcia. 2 weeks earlier, I had tried to give 2LT Girdano words of encouragement and motivation as I knew his platoon's job would be one of the toughest in Afghanistan. He humbly smiled and shook my hand.

I usually think of our training and the poor decisions made by a few in leadership... and I usually get angry. I think about these brave guys, trying to give a country peace and freedom from religious oppression, and how they were taken out by evil men who sat and waited to shed blood. It reminds me of Proverbs 1:10-19. I think about the variables - how, one day, when I was the first vulnerable truck, another heavier armored truck took the blast. I thank the Lord. I thank Him for men like 2LT Girdano, SGT Bull, SPC Mulvihill, PFC Badie, and PVT Garcia = heroes.

My thoughts can't help but turn to their families- their parents, brothers, sisters... sons and daughters. I look at how much the Lord has blessed me. I have a daughter now. I get to see my own little one. I have a beautiful daughter and wife. I couldn't ask for better parents, brothers, grandparents, and friends. The Lord has given me a great job, a house, and a car. He allowed me to be born in America and grow up in a Christian family. He chose me and chose to work in my life, love me more than anyone possibly could, and sent His only Son to die on a cross for me - a sinner. He chose to give ME eternal salvation.

Not a day goes by where I don't think about this.

I'm Back!

Well, it's been more than a year since I've posted on my blog. Actually, now it should be called CPT Flythe's Blog, but I'm just glad I got around to updating it. Even though I got home about two months ago, I wanted to post the pictures of the homecoming. I can't say this enough - THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!

If you can't tell, I'm hugging MG just below the big balloons.

Now, it's just time to out-process the Army. There are some roadblocks in the way that I need to hurdle, so I would appreciate your prayers in getting out smoothly and quickly.

Waiting

Right now I'm sitting in an airport about to board a plane and go abroad. It still doesn't feel real. I can talk to Mary-Grace or Mom and Dad or anyone else on the internet for that matter. I hope I haven't forgotten anything. I guess I'll find out when I get there. I already miss everyone, but I'll try to write, call, e-mail, skype, etc. whenever I can. Love y'all...

Smallpox vaccine

I got the smallpox vaccine. Here it is after 10 days.

... and here it is after 14 days

SPC Gonzalez

One of my soldiers in my old platoon died from injuries suffered after small arms fire and an RPG attack on the 6 May. He is pictured in my archived pictures here. He is in the standing up, tenth from the right. Please keep his family in your prayers.