Hurricane Irene vs. The Tomb Sentinels

Like the rest of the country, I've been watching the media's coverage of Hurricane Irene.  For me, the most enduring image from the footage is the one above.  These soldiers, known as Tomb Guards, the Tomb Sentinels, Guards of the Unknown Solder, or The Old Guard, represent to me the best that our military has to offer.  No matter the weather, no matter the date, no matter the time, these guys have guarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every second since April 6, 1948, and the tomb itself has been under constant guard since the mid 1930's.

Amazing.

I've always been fascinated by this unit of our military and the years of dediction they have to this one craft, this singular duty; Hurricane Irene gave me the opportunity to blog and brag on them.  Google them and you will find a lengthy, storied history of this unit.  The requirements to join this elite honor guard unit are stiff and demanding.  The honor they bestow is personal.  The dedication they have to this duty is special and lasting.

The changing of the guard is pageantry done right, and they ENSURE each guard is properly squared away prior to taking guard:

And the entire ceremony itself is crisp and perfect:

One thing is for sure, they mean it when they request silence, and to remain behind the barriers:

To that last video, I'll add this:  it is a national park and these guys are active military, my guess is that gives them detention and arrest powers; best not to test if that's fact or not.  I'll also add this:  I'd hate to be that guy that had to do the about-face on the lawn.

One thing is for sure, these guys take this duty very seriously.  From the 5 hour prep of their uniforms and weapons, to the thousands of hours of practice and drill, to their physical standards, to the way they carry themselves in public, this is a 100% dedication like no other.

And even Hurricane Irene could not prevent these guards from their duty.  Again, amazing.

I have always held an admiration for our military and their families; I have an even more enduring love for guys like this that sacrifice all they have and all they are for their fallen bretheren.  These guys are special, and the day we can take our kids to D.C. and show them this unit and their changing of the guard is a day I am anxious for.

Read more about them here, it is worth the visit:  http://www.tombguard.org/

25 Questions for Obama

It has always been a dream of mine to shake the hand of a sitting president.  I have had the privilege of meeting a former president, but not a sitting president.  It would be an honor to participate in a Beer Summit (remember the classic flub of our current president, lambasting the entire Cambridge Police Department incorrectly), regardless of who the president is.  While I may disagree with the office holder, I honor the office itself.

So this begs the question.  If I were to have the privilege of meeting our current president, let's say in a Beer Summit, what would I ask him?  Here's a list of 25 questions I might choose from:

1. Why do you insist that folks that make over $250,000 a year are millionaires?? Wouldn't that be folks that have $1,000,000??

2.  Please explain why my medical insurance costs are going up??  I thought Obamacare was going to stop that.

3.  Why don't you support balancing the federal budget?  The American people have to do this, we are all trying to save, why not you?

4.  During the current debt ceiling debate, you cited polls saying the American people support a "balanced" approach.  Yet, according to these same polls, Obamacare was, and remains, not supported and deeply unpopular by the American people.  By your own argument, when can we expect you to announce Obamacare's repeal, since the American people do not support it or want it?

5.  Aren't "balanced approach" and "revenues" really code for "tax increases on everyone"?  After all, if you raise taxes on businesses, don't they just pass those costs on to us, the consumers....thus, WE pay for the increases???

6.  Why do you not understand that most small business owners file as individuals, so your tax increases on these folks would raise taxes on small businesses and keep unemployment sky-high?

7.  Just how in-over-your-head are you?

8.  When will you admit that your stimulus bill failed?

9.  Do you not understand that a real "mea culpa" to the American people...you know, saying my liberal policies have failed, let's try something completely different and more right-center...would give you mountains of credibility with us?

10.  No really, what IS your long-term spending reduction plan?

11.  Mr. President, you are looking a little overwhelmed by my questions.  May I refill your beer?  You drank the first three awful fast.

12.  How much private stock do you own in Teleprompter Inc.?

13.  Just how do you pronounce "corpsman"?  Hint hint hint, the P is silent.  Before discussing our distinguished military members, might want to get the pronunciations right, huh??  How about investing more in your Teleprompter Inc. stock to include pronunciation marks???

14.  You do understand we have 50 states, not 57 as you stated, right??  Man, that was a funny one, Mr. President.

15.  Recall that now famous picture of you standing on stage with Hillary Clinton and refusing to cover your heart during the national anthem?  Simply......why??

16.  Mr. President, slow down!  I can hardly keep your beer filled.  May I light up your cigarette for you?  Good thing you brought a fresh pack.

16.  While pushing for a government-run public health insurance option, you compared it with the post office and noting that private business does just fine vs the post office.  Do you not understand you were making the very argument AGAINST a government run health care system??  Do you really think the American people will accept a health care system that is as inefficient and overbudget as the post office?  You really regret that analogy, don't you?

17.  Mr. President, why do you hate Israel?

18.  No, really, come on, answer it.  How in-over-your-head are you??

19.  Wasn't your Joe the Plumber moment, where in absence of your teleprompter you described wealth redistribution, how you REALLY want to do things?

20.  Mr. President, where did you get the scotch??  This is a beer summit!  These questions aren't that tough...really......

21.  Just how much do you regret that "clinging to their guns, their religion" stuff?

22.  Why, oh why, do you keep bowing to foreign leaders????  American presidents aren't supposed to do that.

23.  OK OK, really??  I know you admitted to drug use in your youth, but during an interview???  These questions can't be THAT stressful, they are just a search for the truth.

24.  So, in 2012 when you join the ranks of the unemployed, will you start your memoirs immediately or wait until history shows how dismal of a presidency you had?  Isn't it true that it takes a Jimmy Carter to bring forth a Ronald Reagan?

25.  Mr. President, why did your hair turn completely gray during our Beer Summit???  Mr. President, where are you going?  Does this mean we are finished??  Thanks for the beer!


Yeah, something like that.......

Einstein

It's never a good thing when your wife comes home from the dog groomer's, picture and phone number of a breeder in hand, with that look....you know, the look that says, "Honey, how much do you love me??"

Truth be told, we had discussed getting another dog sooner rather than later.  My only advice for my wife was that the dog could not shed and I don't think I could stomach something too girly, while she wanted a true small lap-type dog.  My family has owned several Schnauzers over the years, so I had secretly hoped to stick with that breed when this happened.

While Denise and I were dating, over 11 years ago, we bought our first together, Georgia; a beautiful salt-n-pepper soft hair miniature Schnauzer that gave us 9 wonderful years before she succumbed to internal problems.  She is missed and loved today.

During a difficult time in our lives, we got our current miniature Schnauzer, Jasper.  He was just what our hearts needed at the time.  He, like his late big sister, is a salt-n-pepper soft hair that has been as true a friend as I have had in a dog.....even rivaling the Schnauzer I grew up with, Monty (short for Montgomery Allouisious.....don't ask about the middle name, it just was).  Jasper is hitting year 4, and we are so blessed to have him.

Schnauzers have really become our breed of choice.  They are fiercely loyal, wonderful with children, protective of their homes and families when need be, sweet in disposition, and want so much to please their owners.  Love them even a little, and they will love you a whole lot.  I can't imagine getting another breed.

But the two that we have owned have not been true miniatures.  Both Georgia and Jasper grew well beyond true miniature stature, most likely just the luck of their blood lines.  So we pretty much settled on a true miniature Schnauzer for our next breed to satisfy Denise's want of a smaller lap-dog.  Plus, I have always loved the look of the soft champagne ones.  Secretly, and silently, I hoped we could come across one.

Everything seemed to line up correctly.  Denise happened upon a very nice local family that bred AKC-registered true miniature Schnauzers....both salt-n-pepper as well as champagne.  They had a litter ready for owners, and lo and behold, a few male champagne mini's left.  Their blood line is gorgeous, and this is such a nice, law-enforcement connected, dog-loving family.  They had a very nice, free-roaming set-up for breeding, no puppy mill about them at all, and truly loved their dogs.  We had found the breeder for us...and if anyone is interested, contact me and I'll get you in touch with them, you won't be disappointed.

The kids had such fun carting around all the puppies, playing with them, watching them, loving on them.  But Denise quickly found her favorite.  A champagne male, ready to go home today, weighing in at 2.3 ounces at 7 weeks old, expected to peak at about 12 pounds...and such a cuddle-bug.  The kids had already settled on a name, and so it was.

On Saturday, June 25, Einstein Caspell came home.  And our breeder was correct when he said that the world would be a better place if we learned to love as unconditionally as these sweet dogs do.  He's right.

Welcome home, Einstein.

My Lucky Shirt

It is absolutely true, I have a lucky shirt.

It is a solid black 3 button collared polo, with white trim on the collar and a Texas Tech double-T emblem embroidered on the left pocket area.  It is a 2X, which is way too big for me so it kinda hangs off of me if I don't tuck it WAY in, but it still has a prized place in my closet.

Why a 2X?  You see, I bought it from Campus Design at 98th and Quaker in 2008.  It was just after the famed 39-33 win over the hated #1 Longhorn football team, so Tech merchandise was hard to come by.  I was to attend the next game against a WAY overrated and over-whiny OSU team with my friend, Ryan Butler.  It was to be a black-out game, and I did not have a black Tech shirt....so off I went to find one.  The only one I could find was this 2X, and there was no way I'd attend the game out of uniform!!  So I bought it.  We won handily 56-20 to improve to 10-0.  What a fantastic year, could have ended better, but I had found my lucky shirt, clearly.

I've worn it since then, on occasion, and it has always brought me good luck.  I wore it on our recent Alaskan cruise, and promply hit the bingo blackout game, winning about $1,200.  I wore it during a visit to the United Spirit Arena this year to watch our struggling basketball team, 0-3 at the time, win their first conference game against the quitter-Nebraska 'Huskers (good riddance).  I wore it during a recent outing with my boys to see the Monster Truck Rally, and we had a fantastic evening, even found a close-up parking spot.  I've worn it other various and sundry times as well, and I can never recall anything short of a good day while wearing it.

I wore it again this past Monday.  It was the day of our Captain's promotional examination, a test I had been studying long and hard for.  I had sacrificed time with my family and co-workers, as well as this blog, all in the name of trying to promote.  I had put in the reading, study, toil, note-taking, sweat, long nights, weekends, and stress upon stress to prepare for this test.  I felt like my lucky shirt would be just the thing to wear that day.

Guess it worked.  I was fortunate to take a good exam and place #1 with a 98 score.

Other friends of mine also took the exam and did very well, everyone should be proud of their performances and I hope my friends also get to promote....it looks that way, anyway.

However, they were just no match for the lucky shirt that day.  It's power and influence is well-documented and known.  It's sway is like no other.  It is real.

So if you see me sporting my lucky shirt, just take note.....it is going to be a good day, well, at least for me it will be.

All kidding aside, it looks like I will be promoted around the 24th of June.  No word on where I will land, but as my good friend Greg Stevens has told me, there are no bad Captain's spots.  I owe a debt of gratitude to my wife and family....I relied heavily on you to carry the load while I prepared.  Thank you, especially Denise, for your love and support.

Oh, and you too, lucky shirt......

Study Break

I know I know, I have not blogged in a few weeks.  However, I have a reason....good or otherwise, at least it's a reason.

I have been studying.

You see, our Police Chief's retirement has started a snowball effect of a few other movements, promotions, and retirements.  In short, a few Captain's spots are opening up.

For my friends that aren't familiar with our promotion system, it is almost solely based on exam results.  If you have been at the previous rank for 2+ years, you can take a written promotion exam.  You are placed in order based on the results of that exam, and barring anything huge and glaring in your background and the number of spots available, bingo, promotion.  The eligibility list is good for a year, so if another spot opens up and you are next, bingo, promotion.  However, it is not just a poof-and-promote like that sounds....you gotta do the work, you gotta study, cause spots are fewer and fewer the higher you promote.

So, sitting at the rank of Lieutenant (of which we have 12), and aiming to promote to Captain (of which we have 8), do the math.  Captain's spots don't come along every day....if you want to try and promote, you better darn well study and take the darn test and better hope darn well you score high enough to promote.

The tests are made up of college-style material....at this rank, 2 full-on college text books on management theory, situational leadership, ethics, and the like....along with policy manuals and civil service laws.  Needless to say, it is just a shade bit of light reading.  They hand you this PILE of reading material, and a good luck, better study.

So, it goes without saying, but just about any spare time I've had given family and work obligations, I've had my nose buried in a book.

And as I sit here, I needed just a touch of a break.  Just about long enough to blog.

So, I'll study and prepare the best that I can, and we'll see how the test comes out.  2 months and counting.  Perhaps I'll score high enough to promote, perhaps not.  It's really not me against anyone else...the others taking the exam are friends and are smart, so focusing on who is taking the test does me no good....it's me against me, all I can do is push myself to do my best.  So, I'll give it a go.

And....break time is over....time to bury my face back in a stack of words and text.  "The Johari Window is correlary to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's contingency model because these theories are relevant to needs satisfaction and motivation....which thus begins the discussion of theory versus model as they pertain to cerebral functioning in behavioral situations............"

sigh............

Chief Dale Holton Retirement

The third Chief of Police that I have worked for is retiring.  Chief Dale Holton is saying good-bye to our department after 37 years of service to this community.  I applaud him for a job well done, and welcome our new leader, Chief Roger Ellis.  I have worked for Chief Ellis on many different assignments, and have full faith and confidence in him.  We are headed in the right direction.

Chief Holton's retirement takes me all the way back to my academy, 15+ years ago.  He was the Captain at the LPD Academy at the time, and I remember him being our very first instructor....U.S Constitution.  I recall very vividly his poise, stature, and professionalism as he taught....and I told myself that if he is emblematic of the type of leader at this department, I have begun my law enforcement career at the right place.

And I was right....

Over the years, I have worked for Chief Holton on many different levels.  And yet, the most vivid memory I will take with me as he retires is almost not job-related.  And it was the day he promoted to Chief.

3 years ago, we were experiencing his predecessor's retirement.  There was no job search, there was no equivocation....Dale was our next Chief.  At that same time, my wife and I had recently welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world.  Not too long after, I had to take extended medical leave....my wife had developed serious, surgery-requiring complications post birth.  The surgery went fine, but her reaction afterwards did not go well and we ended up in ICU for almost a week.  It was a very scary time for me, thinking I might actually lose my wife.  I stayed strong for the family, and God saw us through and healed my wife, through his miraculous touch and the skills he blessed our medical staff with.

After her hospital release, I was not quite emotionally ready to return to work, but I knew I needed to return to some sense of normalcy.  So, the wife home and recuperating with her mom helping out, the kids taken care of, back to work I went.  My first day back?  The day Chief Holton was being sworn in as our new Chief of Police.

Many of the officers at the department were going to City Hall to view the swearing in ceremony and attend a reception in his honor.  To be honest, I did not feel at all like going.....no offense to the new Chief, I just was in no mood for a social setting at that moment....my in-basket and email were overflowing with backed up items and I just wanted to bury my nose in work.  One of my good friends would not let me, and just about dragged me out the door.

The swearing in came off without a hitch, and the reception was mostly bearable.  Lots of high-up city officials, community muckity-mucks, wanna-be community muckity-mucks, and us regular joe's all clamoring for hors d'ouvres and punch, all while waiting to congratulate the new Chief.  I stayed back from the throng, had a few little smokies on toothpicks, and called my wife to check on her.  She was fine.  I needed to get back to the office, but since I had already made my presence known, I did not want to get off on the wrong foot and not shake the new Chief's hand.  So I stuck around for a bit more.

Finally, the reception began to thin just a bit, and I saw an opening to finally shake his hand and leave.  I walked up to him, hand extended, smile affixed.  He looked just as professional as the day I started the academy, and was all smiles at his big day.  As soon as he saw me approaching, things changed.

His smile immediately left, and he looked at me with concern.  He grabbed my extended hand with both of his, looked squarely into my face, and asked, "Jon, how is your wife doing?".  It was all I could do not to well up into an emotional ball.  Here he was, the new Chief of Police, on his big day of promotion to the most important law enforcement position of leadership at our department....and he was taking time out to ask about my recovering wife.  He had taken the time, at at 460+ member department, to learn of my family's predicament.

To this day, I still hope he did not see the tears developing in my eyes as I did my best to hold them in.  He has never let on if he did or not.

I relayed that she was home recovering, and followed up with a sincere thanks for thinking of us on his day.  He responded with a very direct statement that I was to call him directly if we needed anything.  I walked away and somehow held my emotions in check, and with a sense that I would go to bat for this man anytime.

This is the nature of this man....people first.  It made a lasting impression on me, and is something I will always remember when Chief Holton's name is mentioned.  For all of his law enforcement achievements, to me, this is his legacy for us.  Take care of your people, and they will work even harder for you.  I did.  Thank you, Chief Holton!  We are a better department because of you.

A 3 Year Old's Lesson on Arizona

It's been all over the news.  It was almost bound to happen that our kids would see some footage of the shooting in Arizona.  So far, Lauren is the only one that has asked anything about it.  And today, when she saw some of the footage, I was just amazed at the perception our 3 year old daughter had.  It is a lesson well learned.

The news was replaying some footage of the shooting.  It showed all the police cars and ambulances at the scene, emergency flashers going strong.  Of course, it drew her eye.  Then, they showed shooting victims being hurriedly gurneyed away into waiting ambulances.  Lauren asked, "Daddy, did something happen?  Are they going to the doctor?"  I told her yes.  She said, "Oh, I hope the doctor makes them all better."

I could not help but smile at those words.

When something so senseless, so tragic, so unexplainable happens like this, the human curiosity in all of us comes out, and on purpose.  Us grown-ups live in a normal world, where we go to work, eat our meals, live our lives, raise our families, etc.  We have formulated a world norm over the years, and somehow, what happens around us needs to fit in that norm.  It helps us cope, keeps us on an even keel.  When the unexplainably tragic happens, our world norm has been violated.  To try and cope with what has happened, we do our best to wrap our minds around it, to try and fit it, almost force it, into our world norm.  Only then can it in any logical way make sense to us.  There has to be a rational explanation that we can grasp as to why this has happened.

Unfortunately, while trying to apply logic to the illogical, sometimes we take it too far.  Those that immediately and incorrectly jumped to conclusions, falsely blaming Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, the "hatred" of conservatives, the political divide "caused" by "the right", were 150% wrong.  It is one thing to try and find order in the chaos while coping...it is another to falsely accuse well-intentioned Americans that love this country of hate and causing violence without proof.  Shame on the liberal pundits and hacks that tried to score political points by falsely exploiting this tragedy.

Rep. Giffords and the other victims were not attacked because they were Democrats...were not attacked because of what someone said....were not attacked because of politics.  They were attacked because evil exists.  Sometimes, evil rears its head and strikes.  It happened to befall them in the form of a lone attacker.  And while we may never know the true reasons from his twisted mind, the fault is solely his and should remain there until proven otherwise.

The grown-ups pointing fingers elsewhere could learn a lesson from a beautiful 3 year old girl.  Trying to find reason, trying to place blame, trying to answer "why" is misguided right now.  Once the victims are cared for and the funerals are held, we can try to answer all of that....just be prepared there may be no other explanation than evil exists, and our world norms were violated because of evil.  Period.

For now, we should be focused on one thing.  Hoping and praying that the doctors can make the victims all better.

The refreshing honesty and focus of children is so pure at times....and so correct.  God bless the Arizona victims.