[Allan from Fallbrook]

AK: We had two Marines from Recon and two SEALs (they had just finished BUD/S and SEAL school and were getting jump qualified) in my Airborne company.

The Marines kept making barking noises at the SEALs, who would then jump the Marines. The black hat finally had enough of it and got the Marines and the SEALs together and told them if they weren’t at chow, in the rack or the latrine, then they were holding hands until this nonsense ended. That crap with the barking noises stopped right then and there.

My dad and my uncle were both Marines, and both were vets of WWII and Korea. My dad was the reason I joined the Army, which drove him nuts. He finally grudgingly admitted that an Army Ranger was “nearly” equivalent to a Marine, which I thought was decent of him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him which unit in the American military was the most elite (and it ain’t the Marines!). I would say the world, but after working out with the British SAS, I’d be lying out my ass.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends–
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance”.

I first heard this song back in the 1980s, when I was in the Army and with a military advisory unit in El Salvador. This song really hit me and the lyrics are even more compelling today.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends–
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance”.

I first heard this song back in the 1980s, when I was in the Army and with a military advisory unit in El Salvador. This song really hit me and the lyrics are even more compelling today.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends–
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance”.

I first heard this song back in the 1980s, when I was in the Army and with a military advisory unit in El Salvador. This song really hit me and the lyrics are even more compelling today.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends–
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance”.

I first heard this song back in the 1980s, when I was in the Army and with a military advisory unit in El Salvador. This song really hit me and the lyrics are even more compelling today.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends–
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Jackson Browne, “Lives in the Balance”.

I first heard this song back in the 1980s, when I was in the Army and with a military advisory unit in El Salvador. This song really hit me and the lyrics are even more compelling today.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

David: I was 505th PIR, before going into Rangers (2nd Bat). 82d is a good outfit, unlike those posers in the 101st. DLI, huh? I did language training at Garmisch back in the 1980s (Russian). I’m presuming DLI Monterey?

Yeah, jarheads hate the Army. It’s all that propaganda they’re fed. Plus, they lack the intestinal fortitude to jump out of aircraft. That must embarrass them. I better stop now, or I’ll break out my store of USMC jokes.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

David: I was 505th PIR, before going into Rangers (2nd Bat). 82d is a good outfit, unlike those posers in the 101st. DLI, huh? I did language training at Garmisch back in the 1980s (Russian). I’m presuming DLI Monterey?

Yeah, jarheads hate the Army. It’s all that propaganda they’re fed. Plus, they lack the intestinal fortitude to jump out of aircraft. That must embarrass them. I better stop now, or I’ll break out my store of USMC jokes.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

David: I was 505th PIR, before going into Rangers (2nd Bat). 82d is a good outfit, unlike those posers in the 101st. DLI, huh? I did language training at Garmisch back in the 1980s (Russian). I’m presuming DLI Monterey?

Yeah, jarheads hate the Army. It’s all that propaganda they’re fed. Plus, they lack the intestinal fortitude to jump out of aircraft. That must embarrass them. I better stop now, or I’ll break out my store of USMC jokes.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

David: I was 505th PIR, before going into Rangers (2nd Bat). 82d is a good outfit, unlike those posers in the 101st. DLI, huh? I did language training at Garmisch back in the 1980s (Russian). I’m presuming DLI Monterey?

Yeah, jarheads hate the Army. It’s all that propaganda they’re fed. Plus, they lack the intestinal fortitude to jump out of aircraft. That must embarrass them. I better stop now, or I’ll break out my store of USMC jokes.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

David: I was 505th PIR, before going into Rangers (2nd Bat). 82d is a good outfit, unlike those posers in the 101st. DLI, huh? I did language training at Garmisch back in the 1980s (Russian). I’m presuming DLI Monterey?

Yeah, jarheads hate the Army. It’s all that propaganda they’re fed. Plus, they lack the intestinal fortitude to jump out of aircraft. That must embarrass them. I better stop now, or I’ll break out my store of USMC jokes.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Veritas: You are in it to win it today! Thanks for the great posts. Auden? Way to go.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Veritas: You are in it to win it today! Thanks for the great posts. Auden? Way to go.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Veritas: You are in it to win it today! Thanks for the great posts. Auden? Way to go.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Veritas: You are in it to win it today! Thanks for the great posts. Auden? Way to go.

[Author]

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