Hero: a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

As those of you following college football may know, the University of Hawaii Warriors finished the season undefeated. Granted, this is a significant accomplishment, especially for them; the last time this happened was more than a decade ago (I can’t find the specific date right now). The team will be “guest of honor” in the Kapolei City Lights Parade. > more <

Ever since I arrived in Hawaii, I’ve noticed something about the way the Navy Exchange (NEX) operates. Normally, a military exchange checks the ID cards of all patrons to ensure that only military members shop there. This is in addition to having to show your ID to actually get on base. The commissary (military grocery store) is supposed to do this also. But guess what? The NEX doesn’t do that in Hawaii, at least not consistently. > more <

I had seen this story last week but the Libertarian Blog article reminded me of it. In short, police departments across the country are running out of ammo for their weapons training because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention all the other locations we have troops) are sucking up most of the small arms ammunition being manufactured. > more <

I don’t want this to sound like a political blog and it’s not directed at a specific political party. As usual it’s an observation from my personal life.

As readers should know, I am sending out resumes because I plan on leaving military service next year. Since I won’t be retiring from the military, it behooves me to get a federal civilian job so my years in the military will still count towards my retirement. In that light, I’ve been perusing USAJobs.gov, the “official” web site for federal service. > more <

First, I am not a Constitutional lawyer. These are strictly my opinions and interpretations. Everyone has their opinions about gun control so I thought I’d weigh in on the matter and hopefully apply some “common sense” to the argument, if possible. Second, when I mention “Army” below, I mean all branches of the military. It’s just easier to use one term for them.

If you read the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, this is what it says:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. > more <

First off, don’t take the title the wrong way. This is strictly a personal event and (hopefully) not related to other military installations.

Last night we bought our daughters a small pack of fireworks so they could light them off in celebration of America’s “birthday”. It’s the same thing that happens in nearly every country and something I’ve been doing every year since I was old enough to be trusted with fire (about 2 years ago ). Seriously though, I’ve been lighting fireworks since I was in grade school, maybe about 6 years old or so. > more <