FUO

Sorry to break in, but...

One of our contributors - Lisa, of RangerAgainstWar (as well as the Story Project and an author over at Big Brass Blog, among others) - is under the weather from the dreaded Fever of Unknown Origin (medspeak for "Fuck if I know...give 'em some antibiotics and hope it's some sort of infection.").

You might drop by RAW if you get a moment and send her a get-well card. Or a mash note. Something. She's good people, and isn't feeling quite the thing at the moment.

"Though I am wounded, I am not dead.
Lie me down to bleed awhile and I will rise to fight again."

New Bartender

I have asked Jim (whose gun chief Lisa is a member of the bar staff here) of RANGER AGAINST WAR to join the rest of the waitstaff here. Many of you know him as a long-time commenter here, and you may have encountered his verbal stylings at his own blog. He describes himself as "twice retired from the Department of the Army. His past incarnations include DAC/SME Training Specialist/Terrorism Counteraction/ SF Branch Officer, retired."

He adds that "Since retirement, he has unsuccessfully been attempting to become a feeling, sensitive being, like FDC himself." To which I can only reply that feelings and sensitivity are relative terms. The sensitivity of my feelings about, say, the fellow that used to post at the old Intel Dump as "Diogenes" can be summarized as a strong inclination to kick the man somewhere...sensitive.

But I welcome Jim here and look forward to his additions to our discussions.

Lift and Shift

I'd like to direct you to a new post, and a new author, here at the MiPub.First, those of us who were regulars at the old Intel Dump will remember the gentleman who signed himself "seydlitz89".

A teacher, and student, of military strategy his incisive deconstruction of the sort of tactical-myopic "war is for the warriors" comments you'd often find there were the stuff of legend. I won't talk the man up further except to draw your attention to his first post at the MilPub, one he started several days ago and which might have been lost downpage a bit.

But his introductory post - which includes a nice precis on classic strategic thinking and how we here could approach applying it to the current conflicts in southwest Asia - shouldn't be missed

Self immolation...er, introduction

Hello.
As most of these creators have introduced themselves through introductory letters, I felt that I would be the odd man out if I did not follow suit.
I’m a scientist for a large pharma company that is in the process of being merged with another large pharma company. I work in the FACSlab which for those of you wondering, “what?” that would be Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting…mainly, I both conjugate fluorescent dyes to specific antibodies that attach themselves to specific proteins on the cell surface, then sort them using a Becton Dickenson Cell sorter called the ARIA,I, I used to use the BD VANTAGE/DIVA, but technology marches on.
Before my latest incarnation as a bench monkey, I worked as a Public Safety Assistant to the University Police department, which basically meant that I was eyes/ears/radio on the scene. Which was fine with me because by that time I had no intention of ever using a gun to kill anyone and would prefer not be put in the position of having to make that decision. Ever.
And before that yours truly worked as a courier for a Silicon Valley defense contractor whom will remain anonymous namely because we both will find that beneficial to our ignorance. Yours because it’ll make you cry, and me because I would rather limit my memory of that time…not that the job was bad, it wasn’t. Rather it was after the 1991 1st International Baghdad Air show I kind of lost the desire to be associated with that aspect of my past.
I switched majors from military history to Biology due to my change in work status, i.e. I was unemployed and to be perfectly honest, history majors are a dime a dozen. My history professor was sad to see the change, but he knew me well enough that when I contacted him a few years ago he said, “Of all my students, I knew you would be back.”
Hummph…some Professors…anyway, he was right, I’m back, and after much talking he convinced me that instead of taking a couple of mickey mouse courses for an undergrad degree that I should just go for the Masters program. So…I’m working on that. Unfortunately, the wife’s current employment pattern, coupled with my eldest now going to a four year college along with my youngest taking summer school college courses will mean that my activity in the program will be spotty at best for the next six years.
Thus, I’m brushing up on my German, middle latin, Greek…I guess I should learn more Hebrew…and always, always working on my writing.
I met this crew over at Intel Dump, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure why they put up with me. And to further the confession, I seem to have gotten more out of the relationship than they have, which in biological terms means that I view this as a mutually symbiotic relationship while most would correctly identify me as a parasite.
I try to live up to that standard…as low as it is.
Anyway, I’ll hopefully provide something worth while reading, or at the very least prove to you why I shouldn’t be allowed to outside, alone, unwatched, and with small furry animals that squeak when squeezed…you know, come to think of it…they all make that wonderful little noise when squeezed.

sheerahkahn