Follow this link to read the piece from today's Sun about one of the most prominent Cambodian-Americans, Dith Pran, who died last weekend in New Jersey. Since coming to the U.S., Dith worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the millions of atrocities committed by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the late 1970s.
http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_8757564
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
No Love Lost for Stop-Loss
If I wanted to spend my own hard-earned dollars to feel belittled or degraded, I'd go to a nudie bar. But because I prefer not to do that sort of thing, I stay away. And I'll quite happily stay away from "Stop-Loss" as well.
I recently saw a headline stating that "Stop-Loss" performed terribly in its first weekend at the box office. Of course, Hollywood will offer up a million explanations for its poor performance (America isn't ready to talk about the war yet, too serious, too painful, etc.)
But what if Americans are, collectively, just too darned smart? What if American moviegoers are way more sophisticated than Hollywood gives us credit for? What if we see through the veneer of the silly thousand-and-one negative stereotypes of returning veterans that are jammed into "Stop-Loss"?
I have no idea if the average American personally knows someone who has come back from Afghanistan or Iraq. But I would bet the farm on the idea that the average American is way more likely to have a close, personal connection to the war than is the average person in Hollywood who writes, edits, produces, or directs these movies.
If Hollywood made a movie about a platoon, a company, or, heck, a brigade that deployed to Iraq and gave it a reasonably accurate portrayal of the daily victories and losses, the campaigns to win hearts and minds, the heartbreak of escalation of force incidents at checkpoints, the strain on marriages and families, the loneliness of long deployments, and most of all, the daily heroism of the American soldier who earnestly and honestly puts in endless 16- or more hour days alongside the buddies to his right and his left, people might take it more seriously.
In other words, show people the good alongside the bad.
I've spent lots of time side-by-side with young, junior enlisted marines, sailors, soldiers, and airmen. None of them met some Hollywood stereotype of a dumb kid with no options or goals in life who just wants to "waste hajjis." In fact, most are far more plugged in to the nuances of Counterinsurgency (COIN) than is most of the chattering class back here in America.
If the Hollywood crowd actually went to see this for themselves, they might be surprised. In the meantime, they can keep churning out garbage like "Stop-Loss" and keep being surprised when American moviegoers say "no thanks."
I recently saw a headline stating that "Stop-Loss" performed terribly in its first weekend at the box office. Of course, Hollywood will offer up a million explanations for its poor performance (America isn't ready to talk about the war yet, too serious, too painful, etc.)
But what if Americans are, collectively, just too darned smart? What if American moviegoers are way more sophisticated than Hollywood gives us credit for? What if we see through the veneer of the silly thousand-and-one negative stereotypes of returning veterans that are jammed into "Stop-Loss"?
I have no idea if the average American personally knows someone who has come back from Afghanistan or Iraq. But I would bet the farm on the idea that the average American is way more likely to have a close, personal connection to the war than is the average person in Hollywood who writes, edits, produces, or directs these movies.
If Hollywood made a movie about a platoon, a company, or, heck, a brigade that deployed to Iraq and gave it a reasonably accurate portrayal of the daily victories and losses, the campaigns to win hearts and minds, the heartbreak of escalation of force incidents at checkpoints, the strain on marriages and families, the loneliness of long deployments, and most of all, the daily heroism of the American soldier who earnestly and honestly puts in endless 16- or more hour days alongside the buddies to his right and his left, people might take it more seriously.
In other words, show people the good alongside the bad.
I've spent lots of time side-by-side with young, junior enlisted marines, sailors, soldiers, and airmen. None of them met some Hollywood stereotype of a dumb kid with no options or goals in life who just wants to "waste hajjis." In fact, most are far more plugged in to the nuances of Counterinsurgency (COIN) than is most of the chattering class back here in America.
If the Hollywood crowd actually went to see this for themselves, they might be surprised. In the meantime, they can keep churning out garbage like "Stop-Loss" and keep being surprised when American moviegoers say "no thanks."
Friday, March 28, 2008
Men's Health Article on Navy in Fallujah
Well, it looks like Men's Health just ran an article on Navy SOF operations in al-Anbar. There aren't too many operational details, and it's sort of a psychology piece about stress and fear management. But it's still pretty neat that they did this. Article link is below:
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=guy.wisdom&category=life.lessons&conitem=a45ff170b76a8110VgnVCM20000012281eac____&page=6
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=guy.wisdom&category=life.lessons&conitem=a45ff170b76a8110VgnVCM20000012281eac____&page=6
Hamilton Canal District Link
Well, the big news here is that I closed on the condo on Market Street today. So yes, I am officially a homeowner. Great stuff -- now I just have to figure out how to lay the place out.
I also checked out the YMCA and the VFW -- both seem like great spots.
Here's the link to the planned Hamilton Canal District site: http://www.hamiltoncanal.com/Default.aspx. I think this will have a strong spillover effect onto "old Downtown" assuming that the commercial spaces in the new district aren't too redundant with what's already there in the area near Central and Merrimack.
Time to run to Boston for some March Madness with the old Dutch Oven crowd..
I also checked out the YMCA and the VFW -- both seem like great spots.
Here's the link to the planned Hamilton Canal District site: http://www.hamiltoncanal.com/Default.aspx. I think this will have a strong spillover effect onto "old Downtown" assuming that the commercial spaces in the new district aren't too redundant with what's already there in the area near Central and Merrimack.
Time to run to Boston for some March Madness with the old Dutch Oven crowd..
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Whale Turd on the Ocean Floor
With all the business book reading I've been doing lately I've come across a really neat parallel between the financial world and military -- the doers are king, and the support folks play second fiddle.
I've known for some time now that this is the case in the military. At an F/A-18 squadron, for example, there are actually over 100 people. But if there are only 12 planes, that means either 12 or 24 total actively-flying aviators (depending on whether the model is configured to have a backseater). So what is everyone else?
Essentially, a window-wiper.
Whether you're the mechanic, the supply guy, the corpsman, the imagery analyst, the admin clerk, or any of the other (many) people it takes to get Goose and Maverick up in the sky, at the end of the day you're down a few rungs on the totem pole if you're not in the cockpit. Your options are either to accept your fate, get out, change your rating, or go work for a different community.
Strong-willed people are going to choose one of the latter three options, but never the first.
I had no idea it was like this in other realms, but this is a theme I keep coming across in financial literature. Several books I've come across have stated that the best talent in finance is always "closest to the money" or "running the money."
Last night I hit up Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" in which he describes the hierarchy among traders, salesman, and analysts at Salomon Brothers in the mid-1980s. Traders are the kings, he says, while everyone else is about as low as "whale [expletive] sitting on the ocean floor." He describes the nature of the relationships in vivid, outstanding detail.
Burton Malkiel says the same thing when he disparages analysts -- essentially, he writes, the best analysts are going to jump ship to portfolio management or hedge funds.
In one of our late-evening, beer-fueled bull sessions back in our old office in Virginia Beach, my former boss (Lieutenant J.S.) explained to me why most of the strongest members of our (support) community get out -- they don't want to be the towel-holders on the sidelines while someone else is playing the game.
In my case, I'm switching over to Civil Affairs for the rest of my career mainly because I think it's a better fit for my skill set and interests. But on some level, I realize that part of my reason for the switch is that I want the opportunity to lead.
I can definitely see the parallel in finance, and I'm sure it could apply to myriad other communities as well.
I've known for some time now that this is the case in the military. At an F/A-18 squadron, for example, there are actually over 100 people. But if there are only 12 planes, that means either 12 or 24 total actively-flying aviators (depending on whether the model is configured to have a backseater). So what is everyone else?
Essentially, a window-wiper.
Whether you're the mechanic, the supply guy, the corpsman, the imagery analyst, the admin clerk, or any of the other (many) people it takes to get Goose and Maverick up in the sky, at the end of the day you're down a few rungs on the totem pole if you're not in the cockpit. Your options are either to accept your fate, get out, change your rating, or go work for a different community.
Strong-willed people are going to choose one of the latter three options, but never the first.
I had no idea it was like this in other realms, but this is a theme I keep coming across in financial literature. Several books I've come across have stated that the best talent in finance is always "closest to the money" or "running the money."
Last night I hit up Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" in which he describes the hierarchy among traders, salesman, and analysts at Salomon Brothers in the mid-1980s. Traders are the kings, he says, while everyone else is about as low as "whale [expletive] sitting on the ocean floor." He describes the nature of the relationships in vivid, outstanding detail.
Burton Malkiel says the same thing when he disparages analysts -- essentially, he writes, the best analysts are going to jump ship to portfolio management or hedge funds.
In one of our late-evening, beer-fueled bull sessions back in our old office in Virginia Beach, my former boss (Lieutenant J.S.) explained to me why most of the strongest members of our (support) community get out -- they don't want to be the towel-holders on the sidelines while someone else is playing the game.
In my case, I'm switching over to Civil Affairs for the rest of my career mainly because I think it's a better fit for my skill set and interests. But on some level, I realize that part of my reason for the switch is that I want the opportunity to lead.
I can definitely see the parallel in finance, and I'm sure it could apply to myriad other communities as well.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Virtues of Adult Ed
I have anywhere from 1-3 years to figure this one out, but I'm still not entirely sure what I'll do as a full-time civilian career when I transition over from active duty to the Guard.
One idea that's really growing on me, though, is Adult Education -- ESL, GED, other skills, community college, junior college, etc. For the same reasons that drew me into Education after college, I'm still interested in pursuing some type of career in the field. But at the same time, I'm put off by a lot of the administrative hoopla that teachers are forced to go through and not exactly thrilled by the percentage of time teachers have to spend on disciplining students as opposed to actually teaching them.
Adult Ed might be a great way to go -- the students are more mature, they're there voluntarily, and the positive effects of the work might be even more readily apparent.
I'm going to keep this idea on the backburner. It would be a great fit with freelance writing, which I would love to get into but wouldn't exactly pay the bills, at least at first.
One idea that's really growing on me, though, is Adult Education -- ESL, GED, other skills, community college, junior college, etc. For the same reasons that drew me into Education after college, I'm still interested in pursuing some type of career in the field. But at the same time, I'm put off by a lot of the administrative hoopla that teachers are forced to go through and not exactly thrilled by the percentage of time teachers have to spend on disciplining students as opposed to actually teaching them.
Adult Ed might be a great way to go -- the students are more mature, they're there voluntarily, and the positive effects of the work might be even more readily apparent.
I'm going to keep this idea on the backburner. It would be a great fit with freelance writing, which I would love to get into but wouldn't exactly pay the bills, at least at first.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Phone Tree Mystery
I don't like phone trees, and neither do you. No one does. I could write here, "I'm one of those people who always hits "0" to speak to a live human being," but you are, too, and so is everyone else -- so no one can really say he or she is "one of those people."
But here's what I really don't get about phone trees -- they ask you a million questions about your account, the type of service, your shoe size, immunization history, etc. and then when you finally get to speak to a real person (your goal from the beginning) they ask it all back to you anyway. It seems like all those annoying questions and prompts haven't really gotten you anywhere.
I don't get it.
But here's what I really don't get about phone trees -- they ask you a million questions about your account, the type of service, your shoe size, immunization history, etc. and then when you finally get to speak to a real person (your goal from the beginning) they ask it all back to you anyway. It seems like all those annoying questions and prompts haven't really gotten you anywhere.
I don't get it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)