Did you see the last Extreme Home Makeover? and Ranting.

Things like this make me cry like hell.

I wonder should I stay in for another 6 years. I already have 7 under my belt. Why not do the whole retirement thing? What do I have to lose? Any way during this one episode... well, they built this veterans meeting building on a reservation. They built a home for the Piestewa family.

This is the story -

"When PFC Lori Piestewa was in Iraq, she told her roommate and best friend, PFC Jessica Lynch, that her dream was to return to her home in Tuba City, Arizona and build her parents a house to which they could retire. But in March 2003, Lori lost her life, becoming the first American woman killed in the Iraq war. Lori died while trying to save the lives of her friends, Jessica Lynch and Shoshannah Johnson, as she navigated her Humvee through gunfire and debris when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Lori is also believed to be the first Native American woman to die in a foreign war. She was a true warrior spirit who fought and died for her country. The 23-year-old divorced mother left behind two young children, Brandon and Carla Whiterock, who are six and five years old, respectively, and are being cared for by Lori's parents, Percy and Terry Piestewa. Currently the family lives in a rented 1200 square-foot mobile home on a reservation in Tuba City, Arizona.

Percy, a junior high school administrative assistant and his wife, Terry, who works as a maintenance worker at the same junior high school, would like to move to Flagstaff, where they can be closer to family. Now, with help from neighboring tribes, as well as the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition design team, the Piestewas will be able to raise their grandchildren in a new home. They will also have a proper place to put all of the many mementos that they've received from people all over the world who wanted to honor their fallen heroine daughter.

Lori has received many posthumous honors, including being promoted from Private First Class to Specialist First Class by the U.S. Army. Last Memorial Day she was remembered with rose petals in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, and she was honored on September 21, 2004 at the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC."

I think it's fucked up that they promote people after they are dead. What the fuck is that?
Anyway, they also built this beautiful building for the Veterans. They were all crying and appreciative. It was gut wrenching for me.

So - I have also been struggling with this life altering decision - namely, should I reenlist? Honestly, and I don't know what you believe, but I think that everyone in the nation should work for it in some way for at least 2 years. Either, you do the military thing, or you do the -within our borders- AmeriCorps thing or something to that affect.

Of course, that is just my humble taxpaying opinion. By the way this is all JUST my humble opinion. Honestly, we are the modern day Rome; the only direction we can go is down. Thank goodness, we have the “leader” we have. >As I chuckle and cry on the inside< Of course he’s just a figurehead that gets to take blame for a very long list of fucked up shit. Let’s see our military is spread extremely thin, I can’t even get into the war. The powers that be have fucked over our military (so that, our “volunteer military” doesn’t want to volunteer anymore). The whole environment thing, well, that’s fucked. It’s just not “profitable”. I could seriously go on forever about this shit.

So, here I am wondering, how can I help in a country that is so fucked up? Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s an amazing place. I love America, and I hate it. I hate so much of our history. We fucked up the Native American’s, we thoroughly enjoyed slavery, we dropped the bomb, and this is just the beginning. We, and I mean American’s (to include myself) have such a narrow view of what is actually going on. That and the whole attitude that we are all freaking entitled to whatever the hell we want. Take it if you want it. It’s no wonder that everyone else on the planet pretty much hates us. It’s all about me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Fuck everyone else. So, what do I do? Do what you want to do, right?

Do whatever the fuck you want. So, go into graphic design, or reenlist and go into the medical field. We are all so selfish. I am so selfish. I don’t want to choose the easy option this time. I don’t want to think that way anymore. If it’s going to work, it’s going to take work. I’m not talking the Atkins’ Diet here. I’m not talking the easy road. I need to find my path, whether or not it’s straight up hill on my knees.

Shit what the fuck was I talking about?

Out.