Who am I. I'm a guy who started reading blogs shortly before 9-11. I'm a Navy vet who was on the first if not one of the first ships which pulled into Kuwait City post Gulf War I. I saw the devastation that Saddam visited upon that country. I toured the city and the thing that struck me most deeply was a former safe house which was part of the tour.

To describe what happened at this house is beyond my writing skills. The house looked like any house in southern California, where I lived for ten years. Peach stucco, about four bedrooms, and a nice sized kitchen. The only distinguishing feature was a six-by-six hole blown in the side of an upstairs bathroom. If you followed the trajectory of the round that created that hole, you would see on the wall, about six feet up, a brown stain and some hair.

While occupying Kuwait, Saddam's troops arrested anyone who offered resistance. This safe house was a memorial to those people. The Iraqi Army brought in a tank, leveled the barrel at the house, and fired repeatedly. The resistance was quelled quickly with such tactics. I was appalled that we halted our advance toward Baghdad. We should have finished the job in 1990.

Since that day, I have thought of that house and what happened to the occupants. You see, I don't know because at that time the Kuwaitis didn't know. Brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers were killed for what? They were killed for OIL. Saddam invaded Kuwait because he believed they were drilling into his wells. There was talk of the 19th Province and his right to it. That is garbage. There was also talk of April Gillespie, a US Envoy giving Saddam permission to invade. That has pretty much since been proven wrong.

But back to me and why I'm blogging. I have always been interested in current events and as a byproduct history, since today's current events is tomorrows history. I would have to say that one of my earliest memories is my Dad yelling at me and my Brother to be quiet while he listened to the Camp David Treaty signings with Begin and Sadat. He said that he was listening because "this is history".

I remember watching rapt as Reagan was shot, Benigno Aquino was asassinated by Marcos' troops, and Sadat was killed by Islamists who couldn't bear the thought of peace with Israel. I remember the Challenger explosion as if it was yesterday. I was formed by seeing events live or near-live and finding reading material about all.

I grieved when Islamic Jihad bombed the Marine barracks in Beirut. I thought to myself then, a fifteen year old, what kind of people are we dealing with here. I remember waking up on the morning we found out that our military was unable to even attempt a rescue of hostages held by another extremist Islamic fundamentalist in Iran. I read about that too. We were at our absolute lowest.

Then I recall seeing Reagan. Regardless of what you think of Reagan, the man had a presence. He made this young kid proud to be American. Trickle-down economics and Iran-Contra were events that were distant and unexplainable. I was an 80's teen. MTV and CNN. Reagan saying "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" was a moment that struck me as pure adenaline. I imagine Kennedy speaking in Berlin had the same effect on young adults in the 60's.

In the late 80's I turned 20. I tuned out what was happening until 1990-91 and the invasion of Kuwait. My Brother was in the Navy and I was on the verge of joining. We created this huge coalition that was set to open up a big ol' can of whoop-ass on the worlds fourth largest army. I had friends that were freaking out thinking the draft was to be re-instated and Vietnam was returning. I lived with a girl who to this day is the most liberal I've ever met. We debated and debated the issue for many nights.

I got a chance to peer into the liberal mindset and attempt to understand it. I still haven't. After a few years, I was in boot camp and the world changed. I woke up at reveille in about my fifth month and the Company Commander told us that there had been a coup in the Soviet Union. We had no TV privileges so I saw none of it. All the info we received was what our CC's were willing to tell us. You can imagine the shit 90 guys in boot camp could imagine armed with only scant info. Nuclear war was a big topic, so was "what the hell did I get myself into, I only joined for the GI Bill". pretty crazy times.

After the Navy I went into the real workforce and realized that taxes absolutely suck. I also realized that government handouts were not even remotely going to benefit anyone longterm. I went to school (thanks partially to the GI BIll) and learned all I could about my chosen field. I advanced at my job, had two kids, and eventually moved back to the East Coast.

Then came September 11...

To be continued.