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Welcome to Hydrashok Interactive
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This server suffered catastrophic failure. We are in the process of migrating data off the old server onto this one.
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SSG Bowers awarded by KBR |
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SSG Roy E. Bowers was presented a certificate from Kellogg Brown & Root by Al Asad Site Superintendent Gaston Boney for outstanding service. SSG Bowers was the Camp Commandant for Life Support Area Anzio aboard Al Asad Airbase, Iraq.
During SSG Bowers' tenure, the camp was completely brought up to code set forth by the U.S. Congress. |
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Adult Oriented Business?? |
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  I started a business. As my deployment in Iraq is now winding down, and I don't have a full-time job to come home to, I realize this money train (what little it is) will soon come to a halt. Unfortunately, I have habits (like EATING) that require money.
So, right before I left for Iraq, I purchased 4 acres in my hometown of Atlanta, TX to build a firing range and gun store. Last year, when my step-dad and I were putting this business together, I called Intuit and spoke with Chris. Chris was very helpful in helping me put together a full package of all the accounting hardware and software I need for a small business. I spent around $1850 for something that is now USELESS TO ME! Why? Because...
"You sell firearms and firearms accessories, and we don't approve of that."
Read more about how Intuit made me look like an ASS to my FIRST CUSTOMER!!!
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Project Meggido - The Sequel |
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In late 1999, the FBI released a report called "Project Meggido", detailing the possibility of widespread panic and chaos caused by computer failures during what was coined, "Y2K". The report was complete, concise, and precise to the FBI's best understanding. There was more than just wide-spread concern over the pending change of the century.
Ten years later, the first African American black man takes seat as the President of the United States of America. Since the post-9/11 creation of the new ultimate government organization known as the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI has taken the back seat in the production of such reports. On February 7, 2009, DHS released "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" that made former FBI Director Louis Freeh look like a Rhodes Scholar. The report is short, shoddy, and out-right reckless. In fact, the report issued by DHS was very vague and broad. It pretty much accused anybody who doesn't fall in line with the views of the left wing as being a radical right-wing extremist. Enter the NEW "McCarthyism".
The scare tactics used by DHS are not new. In the late '40s and early '50s, Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) exploited the public fear of communism by publicly (and most of the time, falsely) accusing specific individuals as members of the Communist Party. So DHS is simply exploiting the GOVERNMENT'S fear of the red-blooded U.S. Citizen who may oppose SOME of the ideology of our new administration.
It is quite obvious the government is... |
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After spending the past 45 minutes of somewhat heated debate over the ammunition shortage, I thought I’d write my own analysis and assessment for posting here.
One day at the range during the Bush Administration, a shooter was at the counter
buying a box of ammo to go and fire. Another shooter walked in and bought two
boxes of ammo and started for the exit door.
“Where you off to with that ammo?” the first shooter asked.
“I’m stocking up at the house,” replied the second shooter.
“Why not come and shoot with me,” said the first shooter, “instead of saving it all?”
“I’m storing it up because the elections are coming,” said the second shooter,
“and think you should do the same.”
“Why bother about the elections?” said the first shooter; “we have plenty of
ammo right now.”
But the second shooter continued out the door.
The elections came and Barack Obama won. All of the ammo in stores was bought and
the first shooter could not find a round anywhere.
He went to the second shooter’s house for dinner and found him teaching his son to
shoot a rifle with the ammo he had stored.
Then the first shooter knew:
It is best to prepare for days of necessity.
Adapted from "The Ant and Grasshopper"
The reason there's an ammo shortage is important, but not as important as the fact there is one. |
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Beggers Can't Be Choosers... |
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Things have come a LONG way here in Iraq in 2009 compared to when I was here in 2005. However, it comes at great costs to servicemembers!
 We have "high speed" internet in our rooms. Well, we have SOMEONE'S idea of "high speed". Usually, during non-peak times, the speed is "decent" considering where we are. However, during peak times, the speed goes right in the toilet! When a page DOES load, it's horrendously slow! Joe Moss at OIFNET here at Al Asad Airbase says, "oh, the best you'll get is dialup speeds." The problem is there's not NEAR enough satellites, and they (OIFNET) overloads the wireless uplinks.
 I understand it costs money to provide internet service to the troops. I don't mind paying that money at all. Here's my problem: I'm paying approximately $70/mo for shoddy service! I have to schedule my sleep time around "optimal" internet conditions. For that $70, I get 200MB TOTAL TRANSFER (uploaded data PLUS downloaded data) a day. Once I've used all of that up, I have to wait until midnight for my data usage to be reset. Paying all that money, I don't feel like I'm a begger, but I STILL can't be a chooser!!!
Certain websites are "filtered". There's no children over here, but I'm paying PREMIUM RATES for "filtered" service! If a service member on this base is killed or badly injured, the base instites what they call "River City"... which is a code word for "Restricted Communications". That means they shut down the government and MWR communications (phone and internet) to the outside world except for key leaders. This is to prevent the service member's loved ones from improperly finding out about the death or injury. OIFNET will also shut down their service... with no refunds or time credit!
What prompted this "F-U" to go out to OIFNET was the fact that I didn't realize how bad I had it here until I went to Joint Base Balad, just north of Baghdad. There, I had FREE access to Wi-Fi where I had AMAZING internet speed! I uploaded a 22MB file to my webserver in about eight (8) minutes.
No Backbone in Iraq:
There was an attempt to lay a fiber internet infrastructure in Iraq... |
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Trouble in Mexico? I don't care! |
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From: http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4592
Trouble in Mexico? Anti-Gunners Say, "Blame America."
Friday, March 13, 2009
Over the past few weeks, the number of stories in the press regarding the escalating violence in Mexico has dramatically increased. Now, hardly a day goes by when another story describing the atrocities committed by violent drug cartels cannot be found in an American newspaper or on a cable news channel.
Gun owners need to pay attention to these stories, because the opponents of our Second Amendment rights are starting to use this situation as a pretext to push their gun ban agenda here in the United States.
Since when do my rights as a U.S. citizen become subject to the problems in Mexico??
Is this the "change" we were promised???
How's THIS for change?
Stop illegal border crossings. That's already ILLEGAL. You stop the illegal border crossings, and they can't get the so-called U.S. purchased firearms back into Mexico.
Stop giving Mexico OUR MONEY! Instead, spend it on stopping illegal border crossings.
QUIT TRYING TO FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN! Read the FACTS at www.gunfacts.info. |
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So I was reading a news article my step-dad emailed me over here in Iraq. The article focused around President-Elect Obama making an address in "an Islamic Capital" in an effort to mend the international image of the U.S.
BUT! The article jumps to the topic of President-Elect Obama's inauguration ceremony:
Obama also said he would be sworn on January 20 using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama.
During the presidential campaign, some of Obama's political opponents would refer to his middle name in an attempt to portray him as a secret Muslim.
But the Christian president-elect said he would follow tradition for the inauguration ceremony.
"I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition," Obama told the paper. "I'm not trying to make a statement one way or another. I'll do what everybody else does."
I didn't vote for the guy, I don't see eye-to-eye with him on foreign policy, and I SURE don't like his views on gun control, but I did read Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet. If you're not gonna like... |
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I've not commented on the 2008 elections because I haven't really had time to keep up with all the speeches, agendas, and all the other important things surrounding a campaign. The fact of the matter is, I'm an "issue voter", and my issue of importance is: LEAVE MY GUNS ALONE!
From www.suntimes.com:
As gun sales shoot up around the country, President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that gun-owning Americans do not need to rush out and stock up before he is sworn in next month.
"I believe in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the second amendment," Obama said at a news conference. "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear. I said that throughout the campaign. I haven't indicated anything different during the transition. I think people can take me at my word."
From change.gov:
Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
President Bush has long endured a presidency of being called a "liar". Obama hasn't even yet taken office, and this is what we're getting already??? I would strongly urge every eligible American to go out and purchase a firearm in hopes that we won't have to use them.
Click -->HERE<-- to read my full comments on these articles... |
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It sucks getting deployed. It's not JUST the fact that you're separated from your family for an extended period of time, or putting up with explaining to your employer you're going to be gone for a good while, or putting your entire life "on hold"... but it's also the train-up process of doing a bunch of stupid unrelated training, sometimes three or four times because, although you signed the roster and did what YOU'RE supposed to do, the rosters get lost, the lazy soldiers tracking the training fail to update their spreadsheet, or you took the training "too far out" from your ship date. Many times, you're trained by reservists who've never even been deployed!
Well, we arrived in Kuwait, and (besides our four-day pass right before leaving), we can FINALLY let our hair down a little bit.  From the beginning of our mobilization, I've been telling the other soldiers in my unit who have never been deployed before that life gets MUCH better once we "go over". Well, here I sit at the Green Beans Coffee House with gentle African music playing in the background, sitting on REAL furniture, reading a newspaper, and sipping on a double Cafe Mocha. It's just like visiting your local Starbucks, only all the patrons have rifles.
I was NEVER able to do anything like this during my train-up at Ft. Stewart. Why? Because First Army wanted to make our lives as miserable as possible to make the training as "real as possible". I guarantee the training is MUCH worse than actually coming over.
I'm glad I made it here, because it's going to be smooth sailing until this deployment is over. I did, however, come up with a brilliant quip about this brigade during my train-up:
Whoever says perpetual motion is impossible was never in the 56th IBCT...
...you get a LOT more bullshit out of them than you put in!
...even my commander liked it! :) |
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On October 31, 2008, I got to experience one of those moments that makes a proud father and patriot well up with tears. A couple of months ago, my two oldest boys ("Boogie", age 8 and "Bubba", age 6) joined the Cub Scouts. They started attending meetings and learning the stuff they teach to Cub Scouts... the motto, the pledge, and the two-finger salute.
I thought I was saying "good-bye" to my family until August of next year as I was getting ready to board an airplane on July 19. I'm a soldier in the Texas Army National Guard, and I just arrived in Kuwait yesterday (November 9) to prepare for our movement into Iraq. I've been training up since I left in July, and I didn't believe I would get a chance during our busy training schedule to see my family before we left. We had a 4-day pass at Ft. Stewart, GA, right before leaving for Kuwait. I couldn't afford the airline tickets, so a high school friend of mine, Amy, and her husband, Mark, bought them with sky miles Mark had racked up to fly Ladonna and the boys to see me.
We had a GREAT time during my pass, but that pass ended on the evening of October 31. Ladonna and the kids dropped me off at 1700, just as "Retreat" started to play. I paused during the "warning", and I couldn't believe what happened next! "Retreat" started playing over the base loud-speakers, and I rendered my salute. Boogie and Bubba got out of the car and rendered their two-finger Cub Scout hand salute. My chest puffed out real big, and I had to fight back the tears.
It was one of those "Kodak" moments that wasn't captured by a camera, but will forever be burned into my memory. |
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