Why is a Coach Visiting Iraq Important?

These days, Texas A&M Head Footbal Coach Mike Sherman isn't much of a household name. Back when my team was winning in the late-nineties, he was coaching in the NFL. A lot of people are still wondering just who the hell the guy is after he replaced savior-turned-homewrecker Dennis Franchione.

Sherman's two seasons coaching the Aggies are remarkable only in their ability to continually confuse and frustrate our fanbase.

Disclaimer: I'm an Aggie.

So, when I got word he took the time this last week to visit with Soldiers in Iraq, two words came to mind:

Thanks, Mike.

Iraq is slowly fading from the American public's rearview mirror, and that's a good thing. For years, the only news on Iraq was negative. It was viewed by a good chunk of our national leadership as a lost cause that should have been abandoned for the good of all. But you don't hear that anymore.

The protests have died down. The finger pointing has mostly ended. It means things are going well for Iraq and its people. Violence continues to decrease and our presence in the country continues to decline. Soldiers in Iraq don't appear in the headlines as often as they used to. Regardless of who claims the credit (or blame), it feels good to be a victim of our own success.

It was nice to see my school's headcoach visit Iraq for no other reason than thank the Soldiers who worked so hard to turn the country around. He shared some words of wisdom with those who would listen, and listen they did. I especially liked the part of the Longhorn officer taking notes.

So what? Why address the visit of a little-know coach's visit to an area where the war is gradually coming to a close?

Because we're still there.

As we get closer to Memorial Day weekend, the national holiday where we Americans honor our men and women who died while in military service, take a moment and offer your thoughts and support to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines still in harm's way. Just because we're winning doesn't mean life is back to normal for them or their families. Casualties are always inevitable, and before it ends, more of our Soldiers will perish. Our families back home will still struggle with the anxiety and stress of brought by seperation and protracted conflict.

Until we're all back home together.

No Thin Skins

I'm still a relative noob when it comes to writing. Not a week goes by that I don't learn something useful from my friends in the OWG at Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld Forums. Today I got exactly what I needed: a good swift kick in the rear.

In a moment of weakness, I let some criticism get under my skin. Now I get criticism of all sorts from my OWG friends, some harsher than others. Their's never phases me, after all, it's not personal, they give of their free time to assist my development, and I'm appreciative of their efforts. It's kind of like getting whacked on the ass in a college fraternity and saying, 'Thank you sir, may I have another?'

Initially, I wasn't very appreciative of the Publisher's Weekly review I received as a prize for making through to the ABNA Quarterfinals. The editor used phrases like gauche, limited promise, apropos of nothing, and watered down. I was rather enraged. I fumed, stormed about the office, complained to my OWG mates. A good hour of the productivity was lost to my private little tantrum.

Then there was a cup of coffee, a meeting, some work that needed to get done. For a moment, I was lost in solving tax-payer funded issues. I did what a Field Grade officer gets paid to do: solve macro problems. When I sat back down in front of my laptop, my perspective had changed.

Years ago, as a Lieutenant, training at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, I would attend After Action Reviews (AARs) following each engagement. The memorable rule of the AAR: No Thin Skins. Sometimes the truth hurts, especially when it comes from an anonymous source.

The rule still applies. It's not personal; you're only going to learn if you're will to take your pitches high and inside. As I've grown as a writer, my early inadequacies became glaringly obvious. I've known about the issues with my manuscript. The individuals who read the manuscript came to similar, albeit somewhat less despotic conclusions. The book I entered in the ABNA was completed in July of last year, months before my adventures in a writing group even began.

So I'm thankful for my anonymous professional reviewer. They confirmed the suspected shortcomings and helped me regain some of the perspective I'd lost while cramming in my myopic little writer's cave.

Given the impossibly small percentage of writer's that end up with their work on the shelf of a local bookstore, I anticipate many more of these insightful critiques. I'll survive.

Waiting on Pins and Needles

April twenty-seventh.

Not that I'm counting or anything. It's the date that the semifinalists from the ABNA are announced. They'll post a list, and chances are one of my friends will send me an email saying, 'OMG, you made it!' or, 'You had a great run.'

For me, it's either vindication, or liberation. Vindication that I wrote a pretty decent story worthy of being in the top 50 of 2,500 writers in my category (and get a full manuscript review from Publishers Weekly). Or liberation, I can move forward with a pretty dramatic rewrite and sculpt my creation into what I think it's worthy of becoming.

So, this week's gun bit. A friend asked if I knew anything about loading a pre-1860 Adams percussion revolver, particular how to reload the weapon. A little Googling and I was able to find out. Here's the Adams revolver:


I'll keep it simple. Like any black powder revolver, the powder and lead ball is loaded into the cylinder. Then the cylinder is rotated, and one by one, each round is pressed by the ram on the left side of the pistol. It's a slow process and requires patience, but as evidenced by the success of the Adams percussion revolver on the battlefield, worth the effort.

The Adams is unique because it was the first successful double-action pistol (Wikipedia), meaning the trigger is required to cock and fire the trigger in one motion. As a matter of fact, this particular pistol cannot be manually cocked and fired single action. Guess you better have a real steady trigger pull.

A great wiki on how to reload a typical cap and ball pistol can be found here.