Free Time/SC Primary

[Ibanez]

I've got a lot of free time today. My job has changed significantly and taken me to places where I never dreamed of going. I'm doing things that support our troops and that's about all I can say. BUT, I have not forgotten about my state's primary. The Republican winner of SC(since 1980) has gone on to win the nomination. It's a tough call for me. I absolutly will NOT vote for Romney. THe man seems too fake and full of promises that he can't and has no intention on keeping. I like John Edwards and Obama to an extent. I think Huckabee is very interesting and I still consider McCain a good candidate, even though I think he won't win. If you had to pick today, who would you pick?

[SuperHornet]

So you support the Army and that's it, Mark?

Not everyone in the military is a "troop." That term is properly reserved for Soldiers. Any other member of the military (at least in the Navy and Marine Corps, not so sure about the Air Force) would consider that term an insult.

As far as your question goes, well, that depends. My values are best expressed by a vote for Keyes. However, he's not going to get the nomination. My support of the Navy dictates that I vote for the one who best supports that great institution, and that's McCain. I still believe that Hillary's going to win the Donkey nomination, at the very least due to NOW influence. Your supposition that the SC winner has won the Elephant nomination may not play out this year, as some pundits see this race as so wide open that it may actually come down to the convention floor for the first time in ages, if ever.

[Ibanez]

So you support the Army and that's it, Mark?

Not everyone in the military is a "troop." That term is properly reserved for Soldiers. Any other member of the military (at least in the Navy and Marine Corps, not so sure about the Air Force) would consider that term an insult.

As far as your question goes, well, that depends. My values are best expressed by a vote for Keyes. However, he's not going to get the nomination. My support of the Navy dictates that I vote for the one who best supports that great institution, and that's McCain. I still believe that Hillary's going to win the Donkey nomination, at the very least due to NOW influence. Your supposition that the SC winner has won the Elephant nomination may not play out this year, as some pundits see this race as so wide open that it may actually come down to the convention floor for the first time in ages, if ever.

Buddy, you really need to go back and re-read without your bias/opinions/inclinations, etc...

Army? I never said Army. I said I support our TROOPS, this is all our of men and women in the armed forces! This is the second time you read something other than what I have written. My main responisibility and support directly benefits the United States Marine Corps but my company and I cover all branches and then some. So before you call me out for anything, learn the fvcking facts: I've given support to MRAP, Humvee's, radio systems and IED detection/avoidance/elimination for the Marines and the Army. I've supported some avaition projects for the Navy(USMC), Air Force as well as foreign governments. I've supported programs that deal with the Navy SEAls, Army Rangers. I

Nominations used to be made at the convention, in the smoky rooms of the party elite. It's a different world today. I never said SC will choose this years Republican nomination, I stated a historical fact. I didn't even suggest that history will be repeated.

[SuperHornet]

Go ask a Sailor or a Marine what they think about the term "troop." I should know because I spent 17 years in the Navy serving with Marines. The average Sailor or Marine will tell you where to get off because they do NOT consider themselves "troops." The typical civilian attitude lumping us in with the Army disgusts a lot of us. I'm also sure that the typical Soldier would be offended that someone who hasn't received the training that they have. If you haven't heard of interservice rivalry, then you haven't been paying attention. It's as bad as or worse than Cowboys-Redskins, Yankees-Red Sox, or Michigan-Ohio State.

What your company does is great. I'm sure it's done a lot toward keeping our people safe. But that has nothing to do with how military personnel see themselves and the rest of the military.

As far as the nominations go, officially, they've ALWAYS been made at the conventions. The issue is that in recent years, the floor nomination has always been a rubber stamp because the result has been decided in the caucuses and primaries. Your assertion about party elites determining the nominations in smoke-filled back rooms may have been the case in the era before TV, but they have to be more transparent than that nowadays. I never stated that you were foretelling that the SC winner would win this year; you stated a trend, which may or may not come to pass this time around. Who knows? It COULD come down to a convention floor vote and STILL end up being the guy who wins SC. We'll see as the race draws down.

[Ibanez]

Go ask a Sailor or a Marine what they think about the term "troop." I should know because I spent 17 years in the Navy serving with Marines. The average Sailor or Marine will tell you where to get off because they do NOT consider themselves "troops." The typical civilian attitude lumping us in with the Army disgusts a lot of us. I'm also sure that the typical Soldier would be offended that someone who hasn't received the training that they have. If you haven't heard of interservice rivalry, then you haven't been paying attention. It's as bad as or worse than Cowboys-Redskins, Yankees-Red Sox, or Michigan-Ohio State.

What your company does is great. I'm sure it's done a lot toward keeping our people safe. But that has nothing to do with how military personnel see themselves and the rest of the military.

As far as the nominations go, officially, they've ALWAYS been made at the conventions. The issue is that in recent years, the floor nomination has always been a rubber stamp because the result has been decided in the caucuses and primaries. Your assertion about party elites determining the nominations in smoke-filled back rooms may have been the case in the era before TV, but they have to be more transparent than that nowadays. I never stated that you were foretelling that the SC winner would win this year; you stated a trend, which may or may not come to pass this time around. Who knows? It COULD come down to a convention floor vote and STILL end up being the guy who wins SC. We'll see as the race draws down.

I work alongside people from every branch(except the coast guard) and they use troop/warfighter as a generic term. The only difference is when you are speaking of a certain branch, than I would use Marine/Sailor/Soldier, etc... Don't get hung up on terms like that and put me on the offensive for something stupid. If I were referring to you and you took offense, than I would apologize. But, I have said nothing inaccurate so drop it.

As to the nominations, the days I were referring to ended in the early 20th Century.

Btw, what'd you do in the service?

[SuperHornet]

In civilian terms (though there's a whole lot more to the job than that), I was a secretary for chaplains. Because of that, it was fairly common for me to be stationed with Marines since, in addition to medicine, Marines do not provide for their own ministry. It's part of that "Navy-Marine Coprs Team" thing one hears about quite a bit. I hesitate to use the term "chaplain's assistant" because some people (both in and out of the military) tend to twist that into "assistant chaplain;" the two concepts are entirely different. While a chaplain and a Religious Program Specialist (the Navy's term for us) are both members of a Religious Ministry Team, we serve different functions. An RP provides administrative and logistical support in a garrison (i.e. "back home") setting and in a wartime or training environment. We can arrange for religious services to be performed (usually by our own chaplain, by a nearby chaplain, or in some other fashion), but we cannot actually perform those duties (like conducting a service, doing religious counseling, and the like) because it's seen as a conflict of interest.

Our duties vary based on the setting. For example, on a ship, one of an RPs unique duties is functioning as the ship's librarian. We can't do that in a Marine setting (though if an RPs battalion is on ship for awhile he COULD help out the ship's RPs in that regard). In a Marine setting, an RP functions as a chaplain's chauffeur (HMMWV or "Humvee" driver) and bodyguard, typically carrying an M-16A2 service rifle or an M-9 service pistol (or both), depending on rank. (I say both because, in combat, I don't think ANYONE would want to be caught with just a 9 mil. )

It's one of the most cross-trained jobs in the Navy. And I was proud to serve as such for the 17 years I was in the Navy and Navy Reserve. I served in two ships full-time (a guided missile cruiser and an amphibious assault ship, both decommissioned), one other ship for a month as a reservist (an aircraft carrier), seven Marine battalions, four Marine Bases, and a Reserve Religious Support Unit. Other than running into a poor boss at the end, I really enjoyed serving with Sailors and Marines around the world. My one regret (one shared by a great many Sailors) is that I never got to do an Around-the-World cruise, and therefore never got to do much in the Atlantic. It's one thing that's promised on almost every shipboard deployment, and hardly EVER gets delivered.

Once again, though, thanks for that stuff your company is doing, Mark. Regardless of service and interservice rivalry, we ALL are grateful for the protection you provide us.

[Ibanez]

Right on.

[BigApp]

IMHO, if you can't win the South, you ain't winnin' the White House.

That rules out Hillary, Obama, Edwards and Romney.

[Ibanez]

My buddy voted for Romney stictly because he fells that Romney can put into action plans to improve the economy. I did not vote on Saturday, i've been struggling to find a candidate and I've chosen one. Personally, I lean more towards the conservative side but I have to go for John Edwards. He has convinced me that he will do what it takes to follow through on his campaign promises. Hiliary Clinton is a dirty politician who takes money from lobbyiest and probably still has ties to anti-union companies like Wal-Mart(she conveniently sold all her WalMart stock before her decision to run for president). Hilliary will say anything to get elected. She couldn't get healthcare passed in the 8 years her husband was in office, what's different now? A democrat controlled congress with lower approval ratings than the lame duck Bush?! Obama is my second choice. I really think the man can bring together many of our citizens and electing a black president will show to the world how we have changed.