Latest from ‘the field’

[aadler]

 
There’s no real reason for my having gone so long between posts, I just got occupied with other things for several consecutive days. Such news as follows is buried under cuts as a courtesy for anyone who would rather skip it.

First Cut — Regarding Guantanamo

In this particular assignment, we’re authorized four personnel, including one officer. We have no officer, nor did the team preceding us … but they had three men, and we only yesterday got our third. Which worked out okay, being that he arrived just when the tempo was starting to pick up in my office. I’ve had new duties dropped on me, which happen to coincide with my experience, qualifications, and personal preferences. I’ll be a lot more busy in the future, and probably enjoy it more.

If anyone wonders about the accuracy of reports coming out of Guantanamo, here are some quick quidelines:

1. If it comes from any of the detainees — whether or not they’re speaking through their lawyers — it’s lies. These people lie as part of warfare, and are schooled in how to do so with maximum effect. Google the “Manchester document” and you’ll get some idea of what I mean.
2. If it comes from any member of the Democratic Party, it’s self-serving silliness with little if any connection to reality. Those people never speak of Guantanamo except to advance their agendas, which by necessity (since the Commander-in-Chief is Republican) means opposing DoD policy.
3. If it comes from any non-governmental agency, be suspicious of it. Such agencies have their own agendas, and too many of said agendas run contrary to U.S. national interests.
4. If it comes from any member of the national news media (i.e., doing their own report/ investigation, citing other sources or not but principally themselves being the source), be very suspicious of it. The mainstream media in America is the de facto propaganda arm of the liberal-socialist crowd. They claim to be objective, and may even believe it, but they’re not.
5. If it comes from a military source, the Department of Defense, or a member of the current administration, it’s probably accurate but so cautiously parsed as to carry little solid meaning.

As for the actual state of things here, another list:

• There is no torture. I saw, from an open news source, some of the complaints of one of the current detainees: 1) the videos he was given to watch were outdated; 2) the soccer balls provided for his recreation were underinflated; 3) the deodorant supplied to him wasn’t the brand he wanted. People, nobody bitches about silly crap like that if they have serious grievances.
• We’re not keeping them here because we’re too stubborn or too embarrassed to admit we have a bunch of innocent shepherds and carpet merchants. None of them are innocent. We’ve released more people from here than are currently in residence, a measurable proportion of whom have been confirmed as rejoining the fight alongside their old Taliban/ Al Qaeda buddies. If anything, we’re too careless about who we let go.
• There is, indeed, systematic abuse going on here … but it’s the detainess doing it, and their guards who are the object of it. Behavior that would never be tolerated from an inmate in an American prison is not only commonplace, it’s unanswered, because an appropriate response would instantly be characterized as war crimes. I served in two combat theaters, and never had to deal with the things that guards here have to face on a daily basis. Nor do I want to. I’d never be able to handle the stress.

Close First Cut

Second Cut — Personal Issues

My daughter is back home for a month, and I’m trying to arrange for her and my son to visit me here at Guantanamo while she’s still available. It may or may not be possible; she arrived three weeks earlier than I thought she would, and it takes time to get the necessary clearances. Right now, I’d say the odds are on our side, and I’ll know more in another day or two. I haven’t seen her in almost a year, so cross your fingers on our behalf.

My ex-wife is dealing with a lot of fatigue these days. She was initially diagnosed with lymphoma, but then it was determined that what she has is both less serious and less amenable to treatment. It’s not easy for her, and I think also that she got used to having me around; while it’s nice to be missed, I do worry a little about what effect my absence may have on her. Meanwhile, she’s begun making the arrangements for our remarriage on my return … which may be later than I originally thought, but at least this time I have something to go home to.

Finally, I received a quick e-mail from my stepsister yesterday. She must have gotten an ultrasound, because she told me she would be having a baby boy. She was fairly faithful about writing me while I was on deployment (more than my own children, when it comes to that), so I definitely owe her some correspondence. With one thing and another, she may deliver before I get back home.

Close Second Cut

Third Cut — Fanfic Writing

I’m still inching my way, bit by bit, through my gen_remix assignment. This story is going to be substantially shorter than the one I did for remix_redux, but it’s also posing more difficulty for me. I’ve let it drag on too long already, and I’m about ready to attack it with the strategy that has generally worked for me in the past: steady, relentless composition of something that I can then edit into suitability, the main point being to crush my difficulties under sheer verbiage.

Once I finish that one and take a breath, it will be time for me to (finally) get started on the promised revision of “Queen’s Gambit”. I can hardly believe it, but — after nagging sroni for almost two years to finish her draft of it — I’ll likely be starting my own contribution a full year from the day she turned it over to me. Not very good performance … but then, it hasn’t been an uneventful year, and I’ve done a few other things in the meanwhile.

On the other hand, it occurred to me a week or so ago that I haven’t done anything original since “Icarus”, back in November 2006 (and that wasn’t even a Buffyfic). In fact, with one thing and another, I will have done five stories wholly or partly from someone else’s work before I get back to anything solely mine. I did “Spur of the Moment”, a quick revision of a ficlet by sroni; “God Save the Queen”, again a revision of sroni’s work; “Walking After Midnight”, a remix of a bastardsnow story; I’m now working on my gen_remix assignment; and, when I finish, “Queen’s Gambit” (yet another revision) will be my immediate next project.

I haven’t run out of ideas, they come to me considerably faster than I can write them. I just happened to fall into a run of remix/ revision, and it’ll be awhile before I’m done with it.

Close Third Cut

Lots of rain lately. Did I mention that we’re doing basic hurricane preparation, simply because this is the season when those things happen?

Time to finalize this and move on. Later, folks.

Comments

[lmzjewel.livejournal.com]

Hey Aadler! (: I'm sorry to hear that your wife is not feeling well and I hope that she will feel better. Also, congratulations on the upcoming arrival of your stepsister's baby boy. (:

LMZ

[aadler]

Not wife, exactly. Both ex-wife, and wife-to-be. But thanks.