Kurt Schrader For Congress (5th) District November 2010

My Fellow Vets from 1/162, With election time fast approaching, it is time to think about who has your back when it comes to our needs as disabled vets and Human beings in general. I usually do not get on a political soap box, I prefer to let my pen do my talking on election day. These last few years I have learned some hard lessons regarding the political party I once was affiliated with. For those of you who remember me from our trip to the big catbox, I had grey hair and you guys called me old man and gramps and stuff like that. That I thought was great, because even though in some cases I was twice your guys ages, you still accepted me.
Now, to show you how old I am... I voted Republican since Reagan, Does that tell you how long I had been drinking the Republican Kool-aid?... Now, I bought off on the Iraq mission like we all did and now I come home from that mission with some problems.

I tried going to my local State Representative Kevin Cameron who is a Republican and his office would not even return my phone calls. As a matter of fact Republicans in general take the road that it is ok for you to be exposed to a chemical that will kill you years down the road even though a contractor working for the government was in charge of the site and let it happen unnecessarily... I guess that way you die sooner and they do not have to pay out so much on your worthless soul. I believe the Iraqi People needed help, but did we go there to help them, or ourselves to their oil? I am beginning to think the latter. The reason I say this is because the first priority was to get the oil flowing, not stabilization of the country. Saddam was not leaving and the U.S. wanted that Iraqi Oil on the global market, so we had to go kick him out.

Now the Republicans complain about the cost of having to foot the cost of healthcare for disabled combat veterans..If they would stop making them unnecessarily, this would not be an issue. Look at all the time , money, equipment and most importantly the human cost. Hell look at Vietnam and the thousands lost there, those men and women did everything their country asked of them and more. Just think of the waste of American Resources there...How many potential Congressmen and Women and or President's, scholars, scientists and just plain good people who could be making America a better place today but never got the chance...God bless them for serving their country. That's the human Cost I am talking about...The part the Republicans refuse to acknowledge.

I myself am voting for Kurt Schrader for my Congressional District here in Oregon (5th) He worked hard to make sure that us Oregon veterans are getting help with jobs when we come back from deployment and help with reintegration into civilian life and also for soldiers to be immediately notified if they have been exposed to dangerous chemicals. Do not get me wrong, I am all for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility, but is losing over 4000 lives in Iraq for no clear objective fiscal responsibility?... Think, along with that gasoline we are putting in our cars, does it also contain some of the blood of our servicemen and women? Yes, I even did a commercial for him, and I did it because I believe in him and I meant every word I said!! I do not want to tell you how to vote...but to think about who has your best interests at heart before you vote!!
Kurt Schrader is committed to us Veterans and he has my vote!! :D
Here is the Link to the commercial

How did I end up here? Part 2

I now realized that anywhere I had gotten that stuff on me that had a sore or was naturally sensitive, like my eyes mouth and such were burning. Where the stuff was stuck to my skin and uniform, I looked like a damn giant Cheetoh. So I started brushing the stuff off me, because I knew I had to get into the KBR contractor's SUV, and I am sure they wouldn't want that stuff inside.

After I had most of the stuff off of me, I thought I had better go see just what I had gotten myself into. I went over to where the bags I was sitting on were, and noticed that they said "Sodium Dichromate" I was puzzled...why the hell would there be big bags of salt stacked all over, and some strewn about..I know damn good and well it doesn't freeze here. Anyway, some of the Iraqi workers came over to my location and started telling me that they were happy that the Americans had come and that they were a little upset that we let them suffer so long under Saddam after the first war. When I took off my Kevlar to make them feel more at ease, they were shocked to see that my hair was greying.

One Iraqi told me "You're too old to be in the army" I told him the reason my hair was grey, was because my wife made me crazy. They all burst into laughter. I was surprised to learn that most of them spoke English pretty good. One gentleman totally freaked me out when he started talking, he had a perfect British accent. I asked them why their hair was not grey, I asked "Don't you all have 4 wives each?" Again, they started laughing, they told me that 4 wives would eat too much. They were interested in how the U.S. was going to make their country better, I told them when we catch Saddam, he won't be coming back, and that seemed to make them real happy.

Then they wanted to trade money...I am pretty sure I was fleeced real good, but I figured what the heck, I had a good interaction with the Iraqi workers and they were just folks like me.

well, I am getting a migraine, so I will have to continue later..can't look at the screen anymore...ouch