Command and Respect....

Ok, I know this isn't in-line with my topic idea, but I just have to rant on the subject of the military and their promotions.
So the other day at Delta College I seen this lady sitting down at one of the tables. She was in the ACU military uniform that is used by the U.S. Army. Upon closer inspection I noticed she was adorn with the rank of an E-6, also known as a Staff Sergeant. There isn't anything wrong with that I thought, that is until I noticed she had no combat patch. This is the patch worn on the right sleeve, and is only awarded to soldiers that have been over in a combat situation.
This is something that pisses me off, because if you demand command and respect from the troops you are supposed to lead, and you do not have a combat patch and they do they wont think and much of you. That was the common consensus in my old unit. When you see a private with a combat patch and then you see their squad leader who is a Sergeant with out one it kind of makes you mad. Or at least with me it does, I posted this on my facebook page the other day and I got some nice response from some friends. For example at Fort Jackson their CSM(Command Sergeant Major) does not have a combat patch, how can you demand the respect from your soldiers when you have no idea what most of them have been through.
Another example of of how the military has a messed up ranking advancement process is the late husband of Faye McDonald, the wonderful elderly lady that adopted my old unit. Her late husband had to do four combat tours before he was promoted to 1SG(First Sergeant), she said it just makes her mad to see people promoted when that have no experience in a leadership position. Well that's my rant for the day.

I Grow Pot On My Off Time......

So recently i found a new game on Facebook called "Pot Farm." This is an interesting game that really has no purpose, you start off with a small plot of land and a small amount of funds. The goal of the game is to grow pot and other plants to gain level and unlock new plant, structures, and other items. In the game there are plants that are safe to grow(legal) like Hemp, Hops, Corn, ect., but then there are plants that make you loose protection points(illegal) like OG KUSH, TIME WARP, SWEET TOOTH, AFGHAN DREAM, and many more. If you have to many non-approved(ranger-bait) plants the local "ranger" will come and confiscate them. Sounds a bit like real life to me, in the essence that if you are a care giver and you are growing more plants than you should. You'll get busted and the plants confiscated.

 Although in the game some plants grow in 2 hours where as in real life it would take 10 weeks to grow it. Although I would have to say the best part about this is that about three days ago about a mile down the road from me. The local law enforcement went into a field/small patch of woods and confiscated someone’s “Pot Farm” that they had growing. Another funny thing about this game is that when the game is loading it has a load screen that states "This game contains immature subject matter and is not intended for anyone under 21. All plants and situations depicted are entirely fictional and any resemblance to real life situations or plants are completely coincidental." then the last line goes on to read "This game should not be played by anyone..."

I find this game to be a great waste of time, although it's rather pointless and a waste of time, but it's just like all the other games on facebook. This might actually make a good case for how modern society has accepted the growth and distribution of marijuana(pot).

Video games will rot your mind????

When I was growing up my mom would always tell me that video games would rot my mind, and that they would never prove to be helpful in life. Man was she wrong. The military has adopted a game-like simulator known as the "EST" to help train their troops. It's almost like playing Call of Duty, just instead of a controller you have an air powered weapon. Not to mention, video games can be used as a social tool. An acquaintance of mine at a young age jumped from their current reading level to four years above what they needed because of playing an online game. Video games can also teach problem-solving and critical thinking skills in games like Portal and Portal 2 which is soon to be released. Although many video games have gone through a lot of scrutiny as to their content and the violence. Throughout the gaming community there are many good game, from Mario Duck Hunt all the way up to Call of Duty, but then there again there are games out there called School Shooter: North American Tour 2012 a game about going to different schools and shooting your way through different schools shooting anyone that gets in your path. It is games like these that cause so much controversy, and make it so much harder for gaming companies to market their product. I am waiting for the uproar that will occur when a company finally decides it is time for a game based on the events of September 11^th 2001. Frankly, a game should just be a game, and people need to realize that it is only one perspective on a situation. It’s merely an interactive representation of one side of a story, which is fictional. I’ll say it again, video games are fictional and a lot of controversy would be eliminated if critics got off their high horse and realized this.