Sunday, June 10, 2012

Beautiful Day in Hanoi

It seems for the past few months I have been losing weekends and holidays to work. I don't mind it so much for the most part as long as the work I am doing is interesting. Usually, the work entails travel somewhere else in Vietnam and that is interesting enough.

But this weekend, I got both days off. My excitement was tempered because Diep is still in Saigon, and I am nursing a sore hip.  This hip thing has been on and off for a while; I thought I was over it a couple of months ago but it just came back on me. I am not sure what the deal is but I suspect it is related to over stressing it during exercise.  I figured two days of easy activity might be what I need to get over it. It already feels better, but it is definitely not 100 per cent. Friday night it cramped up on me so bad that it woke me up. I managed to work it out before I died, but I had problems getting back to sleep. Last night was much better.

Yesterday Megan spent all day with her friends so I didn't do much more than walk out to get a bite to eat for brunch and dinner.  At dinner time, some huge thunderheads were building to the west and the wind was kicking up. It smelled like rain.  For whatever reason, the rain missed us but it cleared out the haze that we usually experience in the morning to where you could see the Tam Dao Mountains.  This happens maybe five times a year. I saw the mountains while I was biking to work to check on the network connection because it went out yesterday.

Sunday morning bike rides rock here because of the low traffic flow. Usually going anywhere on a bicycle is stressful because of all the other vehicles on the road, but Sundays are special because many are nursing hangovers, sleeping in or just not going to work. The lack of people on the road allowed me to relax and enjoy the trip.

Later, Megan and I took the bus downtown to eat at Thai Express. After that we taxied down to VINCOM shopping mall to buy some earrings Megan was eyeballing with her friends the day before. Then we headed back home on the bus. It was sunny and hot, but not too much so. I enjoyed the father daughter time.

Next week the mayhem begins. I will be busy with a helicopter inspection team and then a congressional delegation.  Following that, the week after we have a joint forensic review to evaluate the remains recovered during this field activity and then a repatriation ceremony on 22 June.  Right after that I head to Khanh Hoa Province to finish some investigative work we started late last month. I finish up June with our family move into the new digs.

Diep said she would do the heavy lifting on the move, but it seems like a huge amount of work. I can help a little, but I will be on the road again around 1 July. I have to look at some sites in central Vietnam and then write some reports.  I probably won't be back until around 6 or 7 July.

People have been asking when I am going on Summer vacation and where we might be heading.  The short answer is, "I don't know."  With the way I have been moving around and working, I am not sure I will have the time. That would be unfortunate because I have lots of use or lose leave built up. If I don't find a place to use it by the end of the year, about three weeks of vacation goes out the window.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Things I Usually Avoid

Never talk about religion, politics or money in mixed company.  That is a saying I have heard from time to time for quite a number of years. Though I do not know the origin of the saying, I suspect it is in the primer of military officers and diplomats.  In my honest opinion it is good advice, but as the presidential election looms I can't help but to share a little piece of my mind on a book I just read.

I just finished reading Dreams from My Father, A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama. I would say it took me a little over two weeks to read it and I would give the excuse that I only picked the book up when I found some free time in my hotel room and at home.  But the fact is, it took me almost four years to read it.  The book came to the office through an MWR book package for overseas military and I picked it out at the time to try and understand the then presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama.  I got through the first maybe 30 pages before I simply gave up.  You see, the Book is titled "Dream from My Father" in very bold letters and in much smaller print, the remainder of the title, "A Story of Race and Inheritance." The beginning of the book for sure is very heavy on the "story of race" and it seemed to me, for a man who grew up in a very race-neutral state like Hawaii, he carried a very heavy load of the black man's burden. In my mind, he has very little in common with most black folks living in the U.S.  Excluding his childhood years in Indonesia he was raised in a white home and his lineage did not come from slavery, but rather his father was a relatively well-to-do Kenyan. At least he would have been well-to-do if it weren't for his drinking, polygamy, philandering and conceit.

Then-Senator Obama, in authoring his book, painted a pathetic picture of his maternal grandfather as a man who constantly tried too hard to show black folks just how much skin color didn't mean to him. It was my feeling throughout the initial chapters of his book that Obama thought his grandfather was a simpleton, somehow unable to see the world as it truly is: Full of racial divide. He also seemed devastated that his maternal grandmother, Toots, decided one day she would no longer take the bus to work because she had a run in with an aggressive black beggar at the bus stop.

The reason I had to put the book down the first time nearly four years ago was because I was a little offended by the logic train Obama was on that only black folks are disrespected, and it is only because they are black. It just seemed too convenient that every hardship and social shun he ever experienced was because he was black. The implication was, in my mind, that every rejection I ever experienced socially was because I was a misfit.  This, because I didn't have the color of my skin as an excuse.

Anyway, I found I had to see this book from another angle in order to power through it.  I began to read it as a book of discovery.  I realized this was a very honest book full of raw thoughts and I decided I would read it from a detached perspective.  And, while there is much I did not agree with from his political viewpoint - Obama's leanings are clearly socialistic in the book - I found the story line fascinating. I much enjoyed reading about his childhood in Indonesia, his time as a community organizer, and perhaps most of all his discovery of Mother Africa and his relatives there.

I took into consideration that Obama wrote this book in 1995, probably before he ever had aspirations to be President of the United States.  In reading the book, there is little doubt in my mind that he was born in Hawaii - I think even Donald Trump would come to the same conclusion if he read the book.  But, I also find it amazing that he was ever elected POTUS considering his admitted generous use of illicit drugs. There is no doubt in my mind he was a habitual grass smoker, and it is likely he experimented with blow... and perhaps even stronger mind altering drugs.  There was even one reference he made in the book, and I hate myself for not marking it, that I inferred he was at some point in his youth arrested for felony car theft.

All that aside, I did enjoy the book. I am glad I read it and would recommend it to anyone who wants a better perspective on the President of the United States.  Once again, it seems very clear President Obama has strong socialist leanings especially in reading through his chapters as a community organizer.  In principle, I don't even disagree with the idea of Socialism, except that it doesn't work in the real world.  I mean, why would I bust my ass to make my world better when I had to drag every lame dick and their load with me? Vietnam went through her experimentation with socialism, and though there are still remnants, I think anyone with even the smallest powers of observation can see that Vietnam is more capitalist based than socialist thanks to Doi Moi (the renovation) of 1986 - the policy change that saved the nation.

Unrelated to the book itself, I do think everyone should have access to healthcare. I only disagree with the method of reform.  I personally believe that reform lies in the pricing of health services, pharmaceuticals and insurance.  This triad is a monster that needs to be slain.  Both employer and employee are the victims to this parasite. There is no reason in the world, in my mind, that I can buy a pill that cost fifty cents in Vietnam that costs 20 dollars in the U.S. Same formula and made by a first world nation.

This election year will be interesting to say the least. I can't say I have made up my mind on who to vote for yet for all the lies flying from both sides. I might not know the truth, but I can sure spot a half-truth a mile away. I really want to vote, but I am not sure who to vote for. I can say this for sure, I would like to see the electoral college eliminated. It makes no sense anymore. Give me my popular vote. One person - one vote!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Special Visitor

Today the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, visited the office.  These visits always require lots of preparation and coordination, and fortunately, my participation in that tedious task was nominal. I did, however, get to enjoy a little time in the lime light with my colleagues and it was cool to feel like a rock star, if but for a little while.

I suppose like everyone, there are those aspects of my job that I wish were better, but the overall satisfaction I get from my work is much greater than most people could ever dream about. As a DoD employee, it is nice to have the Pentagon Chief come and tell you personally what a great job you are doing. Even better that I had to share that praise with only a handful of other people. All of the office staff received a challenge coin and hopefully I will have some pictures to hold as proof of the visit soon. I was looking through my stash of coins and realized this was my third SecDef coin in succession.

I spent most of last week on the road, visiting two recovery sites in Quang Binh Province, one recovery site in ThuaThien-Hue,and one recovery site in Quang Nam Province.  We spent lots of time in planes, cars and helicopters, but it was good to see what the teams are doing. I suppose my sympathies go most out to the guys in Thua Thien-Hue Province because they are base camping on the southern side of the Bach Ma Mountains where it is very hot and even more humid. The humidity is so high that the team members are having problems drying out their clothes after washing.  It doesn't help that the site they are recovering sits on a 45 degree slope.  I can only imagine how miserable it must get moving up and down that mountain with socks that aren't quite dry. Trench foot sucks!

Final preparations are being made on our new accommodations; we will sign the new contract soon. I was very comfortable where we are now, but Diep was ready to move on. We should be living in our new residence at Frasier Suites at the beginning of next month. Since I spend such little time at home, this is all about Diep and Megan.  Hopefully this will be some place we can hang our hats for more than two years this time!