20 years, down the drain

And just like that, my Army career was rendered irrelevant.

Pacific Stars and Stripes: Moon and Kim Discuss Denuclearization at Historic Summit

BBC: North Korea's Kim Jong-un Pledges 'New History' With South Korea

The Times: Koreas Poised For ‘Great Transition in World History’

Voice of America: North, South Korean Leaders Hold Historic Meeting

Moon and Kim
Photo from The Small Wars Journal

Moon and Kim
Photo from The Small Wars Journal

Not really, of course.

Note, by the way, that Kim and Moon did not sign a peace treaty, which some of the reporting implied happened. It sounds like they agreed to look into it later this year.

No, what is so momentous is the fact that the heads of state met: Neither country has heretofore even acknowledged that the other existed legitimately. North Korea has always insisted on meeting with the USA alone, while the USA refuses to meet separately, and officially designates it "north Korea", with a small "n".

As I was explaining to a colleague in The Salt Mines,  I served for 20 years, 3 months, and 3 days, and almost 9 of those years were in the Republic of Korea. I spent a fair amount of time on, or within rifle-shot of, the Demilitarized Zone.

One year I was Watch NCO at Field Station Korea; this was under Bush 41, when Mrs. Drang and I were still newlyweds, and de-nuclearization talks on The Peninsula were proceeding well enough that every installation in the republic of Korea was required to make plans for how to deal with commie inspectors.

At a facility that was a wholly-owned subsidiary, so to speak, of the National Security Agency (which was still commonly referred to as "No Such Agency" at the start of my career) you might assume this resulted in some angst.

You would be correct, but it might surprise you that the Secret Squirrel contingent just read the instructions, and made plans accordingly. (Collection operations would be suspended, equipment turned of, and contents of filing cabinets and the like would be covered with kraft paper. IIRC, things would filed so that the kraft paper could be pulled back to reveal files, but they would be set up in such a manner that nothing could be learned of the contents of files by so doing. They would not have the right to inspect read the files, just do a quick scan with the Mark I Eyeball, and wave a Geiger Counter over it, if they wanted.)

(This was the first use I saw of an Access Card scanner; some genius covered those boxes with kraft paper...)

No, the person who really got all spun up was the NCOIC of the Information Technology Section. (Whatever we called it back on 1990.)

Mind you, that doesn't mean we were all impressed, those of us who had already invested a significant amount of time and effort into the "Korean Mission" fully expected the whole thing to come to naught, which it did.

So.

My standard answer regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula remains "I'll believe it when I see it", but I must admit, for the first time since 1980 I do feel some hope.

Observations -- UPDATE!

Some observations while I'm sitting here contemplating my liquid diet.  Many of you know from personal experience what I'll be doing (or having done to me) tomorrow.

1. Naturally, it seems like there are nothing but pizza commercials on.
2. This gunk tastes like someone involved in the formulation might have considered making it palatable.
3. Not that they did.
4. I tried to tell them that a nice, tall glass of whole milk, maybe accompanied by a properly aged blue cheese, would have the same effect, but apparently it wouldn't be scientific or something. 
5. Amazing how the cat that fights getting off your lap under ordinary circumstances recognizes the urgency in your voice when said gunk begins to take effect...
6. (Bonus observation, added later): The worst part may have been giving up ibuprofen for the various aches and pains and creaky joints. Of course, the VA says there's nothing wrong with me... 
7. UPDATE: I had to stop taking ibuprofen Sunday.
1. Up until sometime last night I was convinced that was the worst part of the process.
2. Now they tell me I can't take it again for two more weeks. 
3. 😱😰😭

GOAL Alert 2018-2

Action needed!

or

BOHICA!

***

FROM: GOAL WA (goalwa@cox.net)(Joe Waldron)

TO: undisclosed recipients

SENT: Sun 2/25/2018 6:27 AM

SUBJECT: GOAL Alert 2018-2

GOAL Alert 2018-2

Legislative alert from Olympia25 February 2018

HOUSE COUNTERPART TO SB 6620

ACTION NEEDED, NOW!

I’d say I’m sorry for the rush of messages, but I’m not.The rush is caused by end-of-session manipulation by Democrat “leadership” in Olympia, and calls for a strong response.

As I have posted frequently, it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.And she’s not scheduled to sing until midnight on 8 March (a week from this coming Thursday). While the legislature sets cut-off dates and other procedural processes to keep bills moving and cull out other bills, the bottom line is that these are not written in the state Constitution, they are internal rules adopted by the legislature and may be changed by the legislature at will.

The House has filed a “counterpart bill”, HB 3004, to SB 6620.A counterpart bill is a verbatim duplicate of the bill filed in the other chamber. If both pass unamended, it/they go straight to the governor for his signature.

SB 6620/HB 3004 is a 14 section, 28 page bill in their words, “Improving security in schools and the safety of our students.” What it is is a Trojan horse, gun control hidden under the guise of the standard Democrat mantra “It’s for the children.”

Part I of the bill is a single section less than one page in length and talks about unspecified funding for “school emergency response systems.” Part II, “Students protecting students,” is three more sections spread over 10 pages and discusses nominally establishes a program whereby students may – anonymously if so desired – report potential threats to school safety and sets out procedures, including court action, to be followed, as well as identity protection for all involved in the process up to and including law enforcement and court personnel.

Part III is the zinger, “Semiautomatic rifles or shotguns with tactical

features.” 18 pages, 24 sections describing the offending firearms as semi-auto rifles or shotguns with detachable magazines (mostly the features such as pistol grip, thumbhole stock, flash hider, grenade launcher – the standard litany of evil features from the federal 1994 Clinton/Feinstein “assault weapon ban”). There are some omissions here but I’m not going to identify them. Please note that these definitions do not include tube-fed firearms or manually operated firearms.

The principal focus in Part III is shifting “semiautomatic rifles and shotguns” to the same category as that applied to handguns: they can only be sold to individuals age 21 and over, and are subject to the additional requirements for handguns: additional state paperwork and waiting periods (with the existing CPL exemption).

Keep in mind, under I-594 ALL firearm transfers must be processed by a licensed dealer, meaning that de facto registration already exists via the FFL’s required record-keeping, but this would effectively add offending semi-auto firearms to the state pistol registry, creating an on-line data base of such firearms.

It also increases the state firearm dealers license fee from $125 to $150.

Text of SB6620: http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2017-18/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/6620.pdf

Text of HB 3004 has not been posted yet, but the bill’s home page is at: http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=3004&Chamber=House&Year=2017:

It is the intention of legislative “leadership” to ram this bill through before the end of the session.How much time will be given to public testimony remains to be seen – at this point nu public hearings are scheduled.

It is imperative that you contact your legislators as soon as possible to ask that they remove Part III from the bill.Parts I and II are likely legitimate, but Part III is strictly a ploy to use school and children’s safety as a cover for more gun control.

You can find your legislators by visiting: http://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder

Once you find your district, simply scroll down to see your Senator and Representatives listed.Click on their name and it will take you to their information, including a link to e-mail them.

Or you can call the Legislative Hotline toll-free at (800) 562-6000.

We need to flood the legislature with you going on record opposing Part III of SB 6620/HB 3004.

This is just step one on their agenda.There is already discussion of raising the age limit for the purchase of ALL firearms to age 21. The Constitution does not impose an age limit on the exercise of fundamental, enumerated (listed) constitutional rights.Not to mention the fact that you can enlist in the military, or be drafted, and fight for your country at age 18.

If anyone receiving this is attending the WAC gun show in Puyallup today, please make copies of this and take them to the show.Thank you.

------------------------------------

Posted by: GOAL WA goalwa@cox.net

------------------------------------

Earworm, 04/01/2017 -- Fed Up Edition

So, I haven't discussed my new job... and I'm not going to.

But I keep running into situations where my training was rushed, partly because they needed me to take over a shift, and partly because (in all modesty) they figured I was good enough to hit the ground running and do the job.

And, (again, in all modesty) mostly they've been right, except I keep finding things they never told me.

So last night a semi-annual report needs to be run, and I do. I've used this report before, and it was a pain in the fourth point of contact, because it's always been sorted on the wrong parameter. Maybe the choice didn't exist before, but now it does, so I sort it in numerical order by account number instead of alphabetical order by division or department, because there are too many divisions within each department, and many of the divisions across different departments have similar names, so, in the words of a colleague, you'd tell a customer to go for coffee while you find their account.

She added "You're the first person to make this report usable!"

Naturally, I got bitched at for doing it wrong.

So...

Earworm, 03/15/2016; TLG, RIP

Ever since I got the word that Todd L. Green had passed away this morning I have had the stanza about The Duke in my head:

Now on the day that John Wayne died
I found myself on the continental divide
Tell me where do I go from here
Think I'll ride into Leadville and have a few beers
I think of "Red River" or "Liberty Valance"
Can't believe the old man's gone

Chorus:
But now he's incommunicado
Leavin' such a hole in a world that believed
That a life with such bravado
Was takin' the right way home

It's strange: I never met or trained with Todd Green, but news of his passing has me all down.

I dunno.

I guess I'll hit the range.

Then I'll hit up Rampage For The Cure!

ATTENTION, EURO-WEENIES!

After hitting "Publish" on my previous post, I noticed on the "Dashboard" that Google has the following advisory:

European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.

You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities.

The only cookies I know anything about are the ones my wife bakes, or, under extreme duress, we purchase at the store.

If any cookies end up on your computer (or whatever you call it in Euro-speak) they were put there without my knowledge.

Especially since that apparently means you're too stupid to block cookies and the like. Sheesh, it's the Twenty-First Century, people! 

I deny any responsibility for anything that may happen to you or your devices while visiting my subversive, pro-liberty, anti-authoritarian blog.

Unless you start agitating for your country to ditch the EU and EC, and start organizing on libertarian principles.  I'm all over taking credit for that.

And Google can go take a flying leap, too. Paying Word Press is looking better every day.