Below-The-Zone, In Love and In Life

He was a former North Dakota hayseed who enlisted in the Air Force at 17.  He grew up there and was surrounded by good fortune throughout his 24 years in service.  

He had great bosses, both enlisted and officer.  After his first seven years, he met and married Julieann Marie.  She motivated him to work through night college classes until he was eligible, and fortunately selected, for a full-time bootstrap education program. That let him finish his baccalaureate degree quickly.  Three and a half years, all within moves from Riverside, CA to Udorn, Thailand, to Phoenix, AZ to San Bernardino, CA and back to Phoenix.

Next, he applied for commissioning as a Medical Service Corps officer and, fortunately, he was selected.  Shortly after, he applied and was selected for a Master's program sponsored by the Air Force Institute of Technology.  He survived the two-year program at one of the nation's top universities and was assigned to serve at a medium-sized Air Force hospital in the Pacific Northwest.  There, good fortune struck he and his bride again and his son Tyler was born.

Shortly after, he was selected to serve as the hospital administrator at another Pacific Northwest Air Force hospital, an early and fortunate assignment for the junior Captain.  After three years, with a great physician boss and some terrific staff support, he was selected for Major three years below the primary promotion zone, an honor for less than 1% of all Air Force officers. The North Dakota Hayseed was walking in some truly tall cotton.

After a brief humanitarian tour to help with his severely handicapped father, the hayseed and his family left for an Air Force headquarters position where he assisted and guided with job assignments for roughly 1,200 Medical Service administrative officers. Although he loved the job, his boss, and co-workers he and his bride decided to leave the Air Force and experience life in the civil sector.  It was simple curiosity about what was beyond, on the other side of the proverbial fence. 

Life, post Air Force was good, some struggles at first but highlighted in good fortune as their daughter Samantha was born.  He went on to work as a consultant in health care management for the next twenty+ years. Now the hayseed spends his days as an "obnoxious octogenarian" and has spread his stories about love and life in two blogs and a couple of books.  Lord have mercy. Lord. Have mercy. 

     

Green Beans

His uncle Leonard was a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He served in the Army in World War II and somehow came away with a serious limp and speech impediment. He was on disability of some sort and to supplement his income, would board labor buses to rural areas outside Seattle.  There, he would join farm workers and provide stoop labor to pick various types of vegetables including pole and bush beans.

Pay was two to three cents a pound and it was possible to make 3-5 dollars a day.  The hayseed, while a teenager on summer break, joined his uncle on a few of those trips. It was decent, honest work and the few bucks helped him subsidize his passion for shooting pool.  

Leonard Gladue

Leonard passed away in the Spring of 1970 at the age of 47. To this day the hayseed regrets not asking his Uncle about his war  experience.

The Blue Dog - Dem that is

America is truly a "sweet land of liberty."  It's built on a premise of checks and balances. While it's designed to prevent certain 'isms like racism, extremism,  fascism, imperialism and sexism among others, it's never been perfect.  Contrary to a certain expression often used today, it's never actually been "great" so to say it will be made that way "again" is a clear oxymoron. Yet, to the Common Man, it's always seemed to be something worth striving for.

Ours, when it is at its best seems to be, and should be a balance between socialism and capitalism. That's where I am and that is what makes me what is called a Blue Dog Democrat.  Others might like to consider folks like me "leftist liberal scum."

Right now, we have a number of factors that are working against our checks and balances.  We have a partisan Supreme Court. We have a wanna-be king. We have an impotent Congress composed of those afraid their "king" will "primary" them and they'll lose their jobs. These entities are supported by a cult-like mass of uneducated and those who ""trust without verification" to paraphrase Ronald (Iran/Contra) Reagan who yes, I voted for <sigh>. What we are dealing with here is a Capitalist, radical extreme that is fueled by pure greed and a large dose of racism.  It's in right in our faces too, in our President and his sycophants and in Project 2025.

This blog is not monetized. 
Thanks for the loan George Rodriguez

The effect we are seeing is to decimate the rule of law, to violate the rights of others (ICE), to turn a blind eye toward those who have violated the rights of others (Epstein Files), to attack without provocation or imminent threat (Iran).

How do we turn this around?  There are pundits and writers everywhere who are talking endlessly and writing books that explain how.  Yet, the answer is simple.  We have to get up off our asses and vote.

River - Tyler Thomas Campbell

This... a Leon Bridges cover recorded in Sacramento's "Pus Cavern" studio.