*walmart IS INAPROPRIATE!

Here's one post I bet you never thought you would see on my blog.  It affects every Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman, and Coast Guard person and their family and friends.  This just about has me ready to quit my part-time gig with the company.  I am spreading the word and asking all my bloggers to do likewise.  Here is the bottom line.

Wal-Mart is gouging the family and friends  when they ship packages to an APO address.  I am coping and pasting part of the article reported in the Stars and Stripes for you to read and then the link for you to continue on the whole article.  I  am also suggesting a world wide boycott of Wal-Mart and asking you to approach or call the store manager of your local store and complain.  With this posting you will have chapter and verse at hand and there is nothing they can do but accept your complain and perhaps move it up the line.

By Mark Patton, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, December 16, 2009

WIESBADEN, Germany — Overseas military customers ordering gifts online from certain retailers might get an unpleasant surprise when shipping and handling fees are tacked on at the end of the purchase.
Those same customers might be most surprised to find that retail giant Walmart had the biggest markup.
On a $120 purchase, Walmart.com charged $10.35 to ship to an APO address, compared with $2.10 to a stateside address. For most items, Amazon.com charged the same to ship to an APO address as a stateside address. And Target offered shipping on a $120 purchase to an APO address for less than to a stateside address.  Continue the complete article by cliking here.

I hope to post the corporate office number tomorrow night on this blog and at Conservative Outrage.

This is absolutely disgraceful on the part or any major American Company.

*The lower case is done on purpose as any company that behaves in this manner does not deserve to be recognize with the professionalism of an upper case starting character.

Pops

Another Safe Landing....Well Sort Of!

Ah, another day in the life of an AIRBORNE soldier!  Up at 0300 hours, on base at 0400 hours.  gear up for a nice "Hollywood" jump at an airshow, home and down a suds or two and call it a day.  Well, that was the plan.  Let's see when does a plan go wrong?  Hmmm.  Oh I remember.  Just when you think all is well.  It's like ABNMOMMA  once told me. Never walk into the Emergency Room and say, gee it's quiet in here.  She was a nurse you remember.  Anyway back to my story. 

Specialist Jacob and some other fine soldiers from the 82nd were scheduled to make a nice crowd pleasing "Hollywood" jump at an airshow today.  Hollywood is a term used for a nice easy jump just the parachute and backup.  No heavy equipment or gear.  Jus step out, grap some silk and float to Mother Earth.  Grab your chute back to the trucks and ride and ready for home.  Hmm, now where did this all go wrong.  Oh just about the time the wind started picking up and the air show got canceled, AFTER, everybody was loaded up in the birds.  Not being one to waste a chance for training it is my understanding someone higher up than a Sgt. decided if the wind layed low for a while the group might as well jump.  Well it did lay low FOR A WHILE.  It started to pick back up when the last person went out the door of the second bird.  The other two planes in the formation stopped their jumpers.

It is my understanding from a somewhat highly irriated Specialist and a couple of Sgts. they knew they were in trouble on the way down.  Something about being sideways, I  think he said.  It is usually feet first.  Apparently the young Specialist and 3 Sgts.  landed on everything but their feet and couple of them on their heads.  After being drug a couple of hundred feet and wobbling back to the pickup point said Specialist and said Sgts. were escorted by the Medic to the Docs office for evaluation.  Bumps, bruises, bangs and abrasions were examined along with their mental capcities.  All were informed to head home and report back in the morning.  Oh yes, take 800 MG of ibroprofen.  Just for good measure.

I await a text message from Specialist Jacob to make sure his brain wasn't severly scramble.

Film at 11:00.

Merry Christmas  to all and I have to get up a 0400 tomorrow myself so, to all a good night.

I'll proof  this tomorrow.

Pops

Damn, Wait and see for another day!

I just finished listening to President Obama make his speech from West Point.    I see the pundits on TV are all ready slamming the President's  plan.  From a strictly personal point of view it has taken  him 3 months to make this decision so I will give myself a couple of days to digest it. I wasn't motivated to the point of standing up and cheering his speech and was turned off by his several references to the previous administration as failure there.  That had nothing to do with the mission at hand. I felt it unnecessary and low class.

I have spent most of the day searching the web and blogs and news sources for solid units for deployment info but have found none I feel creditable enough to say Specialist Jacob is going or staying.  Damn, wait and see for another day!  I really don't want to put my Google earth to work again,  I don't really want to have Reuters and other world news media on my favorites to monitor war news, and I really don't want to search the DOD web site for soldiers I might have met. I sure as hell don't want to wait out the dreaded "unidentified soldier, pending notification of next of kin".  These are all things parents, wives, husband's and love ones go through when "their soldier" deploys.

Like all parents and love ones we will deal with it the best way we can and pray for our soldier as we pray for all soldiers in harms way.  God Bless America and those who defend our freedoms.

They call me Pops