Roguetad,
Hey thanks brother on your advice and experience in this matter. Your thoughts on retiring mirror my own. I thought this transition would be a piece of cake. I'm pretty well setup financially and I don't have to work for the rest of my life to live comfortably, but I'm 100% sure that will drive me crazy.


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Exactly like that CeeKay. It happens in the most unlikely places. Like right now, the cigarette smell is so strong I'm having trouble sleeping. Every time it happens I ask my wife or kid if they smell smoke, but they just look at me like I'm crazy


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Lee,

All I'm really doing is finishing up at my local college so I can finally get a degree. Also working out twice a day just to get back into shape. But other than that, got nothing going on.

As for what I miss in the military, I think I miss the structure the most. I always had somewhere to go, somebody to train, something to do. Now? Not so much. Sure I will miss my military friends and will keep in touch but its not the same being on the outside.
Hindsight is 20/20 but I really should have prepared myself for this day a lot more. Feel a bit lost and useless.
Now I understand all the stories of career salty dogs dying a few years into retirement.

Anyways I'll get over it. Good luck with your upcoming retirement Lee and I hope nothing but the best for your future.

Semper Fi


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Missing it?

Old friend had his ceremony today, felt really jealous. I am trying to plan when to do mine. Probably not this year, but early next. Don't think I will miss it once I make the decision, unless I can't get a job. :-)

Hell yes I do.  I don't really understand it, I am actually quite depressed as of late.  I'm barely even playing videogames, which is very alarming lol.  I just think I may have to find something to focus on.

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So ever since I was diagnosed with TBI a few years back, I've been suffering from phantom smells....in the form of cigarette smoke. I've never took it seriously before since in the past it just happened maybe 2-3 times a week. Buy now during the last month I've been smelling strong cigarette smoke daily, about 3-4 times a day. It is so infuriating, so I scheduled to see a specialist next month about this issue.
Does anyone here have any experience with this or have any insight? Thanks in advance.


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Thanks Soulchild, I actually gave Southland my 15 minute test and before you know it I was watching my third episode in a row. Great show

Hope this show gets better, trying to like it but I'm getting a bit tired of how incompetent the law enforcement are.

Edit: Nevermind, just thinking about the LAPD made the show better

War never changes

Yeah I'm really confused here. I love the whole Brothers in Arms series from Gearbox and the Borderlands series, and also the Section 8 games from Timegate Studios. Sigh

Fuck. Thanks for the fail Gearbox. Please let some company snatch up the Alien franchise so we can get the game we deserve.

Out. Black Ops 2 is the last for me this generation, I fight lag more than other players.

I'm sure it's my kids.  From an outsiders point of view, they might look at the time I spent at Air University.  I met most of the senior leaders in the U.S. military from the President on down.  I doubt any of them remember me though.  I have some neat challenge coins.  I didn't get a presidential coin, but I got a tour of Air Force One.

Here's the one I carry. 

Retiring somewhat intact and coming back home from down range.

 

Right on flyboy

Retiring somewhat intact and coming back home from down range.

This so awesome. They are both fans of each others field so I can't wait for what they come up with.

I'm have an above average chance surviving a Zombie apocalypse, for a little while

But a below average chance of surviving Grammar Nazis.

Don't come looking for me when you need your leg cut off.

I'm have an above average chance surviving a Zombie apocalypse, for a little while

I may go PC this time around instead of Xbox

Any more console or PC impressions? Does the PC version run pretty smooth (optimized)?
Just watched the quick look at Giant Bomb, they were not pleased
But I trust our community more anyways so.....

I am a little bit disappointed in the action focus, there are already to many games that do it better. Loved DS1 & 2 and DS3 was going to be a no brainer for me until I played the demo

I just finished the game on Demon Hunter difficulty, which I just realized might have been Easy mode (there is an even easier mode, Human) after reading the description of Nephilim difficulty.

What difficulty did you guys play on?

I re-started at Nephiliem (sp). Hardest difficulty on the first run through until you unlock more on completion.  I still had my God of War 3 chops so it was an easy transition.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are females out there that are pure bad asses.  And I'm also sure that there are more than a few who could pass the basic tests to be a Grunt. With that said I am still unsure if women have a place in direct combat MOSs.

Can women truly endure the physical and physiological rigors of SUSTAINED combat operations, and are we truly prepared to accept the attrition and medical issues that will go along with this integration?

Is this all coming from a Congress agenda or are females Soldiers (enlisted and officer) pressuring Congress that their inability to serve in the infantry violates their equality?

Interesting read from a few weeks ago.  I have full permission to post this in its entirety here.

Some advice on women in combat from a female veteran
 posted at 5:01 pm on January 27, 2013 by Jazz Shaw

 Yesterday’s column on women in combat elicited a number of passionate responses from both sides. Some of them came from proponents of the move, frequently citing alternate motives on my part. These ranged from “trying to keep women pregnant in the kitchen” and “Republicans want to lock women in the 1950s” to whichever variant of the GOP’s “war on women” you’d care to name. Many others lent a more sympathetic ear. One in particular, though, caught my attention. It was from one of America’s female veterans who served in Iraq, delivered with a first hand, been there, done that background. The Marine in question – who for purposes of publication will go by the pseudonym of “Sentry” – had previously submitted this history and opinion as a comment at National Review, but her story was compelling enough that I checked into her background, contacted her and decided to republish it here in its entirety. I offer the following as a third party testimony to stand your scrutiny on its own merits.

 I’m a female veteran. I deployed to Anbar Province, Iraq. When I was active duty, I was 5’6, 130 pounds, and scored nearly perfect on my PFTs. I naturally have a lot more upper body strength than the average woman: not only can I do pull-ups, I can meet the male standard. I would love to have been in the infantry. And I still think it will be an unmitigated disaster to incorporate women into combat roles. I am not interested in risking men’s lives so I can live my selfish dream.

 We’re not just talking about watering down the standards to include the politically correct number of women into the unit. This isn’t an issue of “if a woman can meet the male standard, she should be able to go into combat.” The number of women that can meet the male standard will be miniscule–I’d have a decent shot according to my PFTs, but dragging a 190-pound man in full gear for 100 yards would DESTROY me–and that miniscule number that can physically make the grade AND has the desire to go into combat will be facing an impossible situation that will ruin the combat effectiveness of the unit. First, the close quarters of combat units make for a complete lack of privacy and EVERYTHING is exposed, to include intimate details of bodily functions. Second, until we succeed in completely reprogramming every man in the military to treat women just like men, those men are going to protect a woman at the expense of the mission. Third, women have physical limitations that no amount of training or conditioning can overcome. Fourth, until the media in this country is ready to treat a captured/raped/tortured/mutilated female soldier just like a man, women will be targeted by the enemy without fail and without mercy.

 I saw the male combat units when I was in Iraq. They go outside the wire for days at a time. They eat, sleep, urinate and defecate in front of each other and often while on the move. There’s no potty break on the side of the road outside the wire. They urinate into bottles and defecate into MRE bags. I would like to hear a suggestion as to how a woman is going to urinate successfully into a bottle while cramped into a humvee wearing full body armor. And she gets to accomplish this feat with the male members of her combat unit twenty inches away. Volunteers to do that job? Do the men really want to see it? Should they be forced to?

 Everyone wants to point to the IDF as a model for gender integration in the military. No, the IDF does not put women on the front lines. They ran into the same wall the US is about to smack into: very few women can meet the standards required to serve there. The few integrated units in the IDF suffered three times the casualties of the all-male units because the Israeli men, just like almost every other group of men on the planet, try to protect the women even at the expense of the mission. Political correctness doesn’t trump thousands of years of evolution and societal norms. Do we really WANT to deprogram that instinct from men?

 Regarding physical limitations, not only will a tiny fraction of women be able to meet the male standard, the simple fact is that women tend to be shorter than men. I ran into situations when I was deployed where I simply could not reach something. I wasn’t tall enough. I had to ask a man to get it for me. I can’t train myself to be taller. Yes, there are small men…but not so nearly so many as small women. More, a military PFT doesn’t measure the ability to jump. Men, with more muscular legs and bones that carry more muscle mass than any woman can condition herself to carry, can jump higher and farther than women. That’s why we have a men’s standing jump and long jump event in the Olympics separate from women. When you’re going over a wall in Baghdad that’s ten feet high, you have to be able to be able to reach the top of it in full gear and haul yourself over. That’s not strength per se, that’s just height and the muscular explosive power to jump and reach the top. Having to get a boost from one of the men so you can get up and over could get that man killed.

 Without pharmaceutical help, women just do not carry the muscle mass men do. That muscle mass is also a shock absorber. Whether it’s the concussion of a grenade going off, an IED, or just a punch in the face, a woman is more likely to go down because she can’t absorb the concussion as well as a man can. And I don’t care how the PC forces try to slice it, in hand-to-hand combat the average man is going to destroy the average woman because the average woman is smaller, period. Muscle equals force in any kind of strike you care to perform. That’s why we don’t let female boxers face male boxers.

 Lastly, this country and our military are NOT prepared to see what the enemy will do to female POWs. The Taliban, AQ, insurgents, jihadis, whatever you want to call them, they don’t abide by the Geneva Conventions and treat women worse than livestock. Google Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca if you want to see what they do to our men (and don’t google it unless you have a strong stomach) and then imagine a woman in their hands. How is our 24/7 news cycle going to cover a captured, raped, mutilated woman? After the first one, how are the men in the military going to treat their female comrades? ONE Thomasina Tucker is going to mean the men in the military will move heaven and earth to protect women, never mind what it does to the mission. I present you with Exhibit A: Jessica Lynch. Male lives will be lost trying to protect their female comrades. And the people of the US are NOT, based on the Jessica Lynch episode, prepared to treat a female POW the same way they do a man.

 I say again, I would have loved to be in the infantry. I think I could have done it physically, I could’ve met almost all the male standards (jumping aside), and I think I’m mentally tough enough to handle whatever came. But I would never do that to the men. I would never sacrifice the mission for my own desires. And I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if someone died because of me.

 - Sentry

 Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/27/some-advice-on-women-in-combat-from-a-female-veteran/

So basically there is a big divide here. You have the ''Dinosaurs" on one side who believe that if it ain't broke don't fix it.  And you have the younger generation who believe that this will strengthen the military, and not weaken it. 

   Before this discussion I believed that women would be a bad idea, but afterwards...I really don't know.  I was directed to this article as well.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/30/army-may-train-women-for-rigor-of-front-lines/?page=all

The study concluded that only 0.1 percent of female applicants and 1 percent of trained female soldiers “would reach the required standards to meet the demands of these roles.”

In tests of aerobic capacity, the records show, only 74 of 8,385 ROTC women attained the level of the lowest 16 percent of men.

[opinions]

   This is intended for the GT community only and please do not repost anywhere else.  I consider the GamingTrend community a part of my family so I appreciate it if my post stays here.  The following are the opinions of myself, my family, and some of my colleagues.

   During my retirement luncheon last week, I had the honor of having a majority of the people I have worked and deployed with.  Also in attendance were most of my siblings, 2 brothers in the Marine Corps (SNCO's), 1 brother in the Army (newbie), 2 sisters (field grade officers), and 1 sister in the chair force.  The event was a good time, with the explicit instructions of everyone leaving their rank or grade at the front door.  The number one topic of the day seemed to be about women in combat.  I have roughly 4 hours of video on this debate.

Here are some of their candid opinions:

Civilian (female) - "I imagine my youngest son (currently 16, only two years from enlistment and aiming for Infantry) in a combat situation with women. As much as this young man loves his country and would be in the fight to win it - he would absolutely protect female comrades AT ALL COST. He has a mom and three sisters (not to leave out other female family members), is naturally protective and is being raised right. Any situation that involved a female comrade would cause his focus to automatically shift to her safety - AT ANY COST. No amount of re-training will counteract those instincts and would surely compromise the mission, thereby compromising the lives of EVERYBODY in the unit."

Sergeant (female S-1 admin) - "There are some things that cannot be denied or ignored. While I certainly possess the fighting spirit, the capacity to handle extreme bullshit and discomfort, the fact remains that I cannot pick up a 60-pound pack, put it on and walk for nine miles, and that's before boots, body armor and ammo.
   Since the beginning of time men and women are and will always be different....some very good points have been made. It doesn't mean women are less than men because we don't nor will we have the strength of men....and do men and women really want to change that and change how the roles should be? This is not saying women should be barefoot in the kitchen with babies on her hip, but come on, there are things that should be left to men and things that should be or women. I am very proud to have 3 sons serving, but do not want my 2 daughter serving, nor do I think their brothers would want them there, knowing what they know."

Sis #1 - "Interesting to me how women in combat are presumed to be fragile and unable, trust me not every MALE that goes into combat is as physically/emotionally strong as a Navy Seal and witholding Females from combat is not going to change that. A Soldier is a Soldier as a Marine is a Marine as a Sailor is a Sailor."

Salty MasterGuns - "Women are physically inferior to men. All of the people here that have no service experience or combat experience, your opinions are based on nothing. I want all of you to go find a male friend that weighs 175 lbs. I then want you to add 25 lbs for his body armor, 3 lbs for his helmet, 15 lbs for his ammo, 5 lbs for his grenades, 15 lbs for his weapon, 35 lbs for his assault pack and 5 more pounds for his self carried medical equipment. Now that man should weigh nearly 300 lbs. I want that man to now play dead. Now drag or carry that man 200 meters. That is the weight of the average Infantry soldier. How many of you think you could do this?"

Sis #2 - "I agree wholeheartedly that women should not be in a line unit.  I've served with female soldiers in the Army (Combat Support and Service Support). And they did a great job. Combat Arms is a whole 'nother animal. THIS ISSUE IS BEING PUSHED BY THE FEMALE OFFICERS' CORPS in order to gain rank, pure and simple. The enlisted corps (males & females) realize the dangerous fallacies by pushing females into the Combat Arms ranks. The price for this PC BS will be unnecessary death, and a country that can't stomach the high price of military action." LOL. Sis #1 gives Sis #2 ultimate dirty look. 

Wife of Salty MasterGuns - "I strongly believe in female rights but I am strongly against this, I can't picture a woman who in full gear could carry my wounded husband to safety who himself in full gear would weigh around 250lbs and there are more guys way bigger than him out there. There is a difference between the guys doing everything they could for one of their brothers and a woman getting one of our boys killed because she loved Gi Jane and now wants something to prove. I'm sorry I'm for equality but not at my husbands expense."

Big Bro - "I firmly believe that policy makers in Washington do not have the capacity or experiential capital to make a remotely informed decision on this issue.
For all of the reasons so astutely and passionately outlined in the comments from my fellow Marine...our country is not prepared for the realities and carnage resulting from women being employed in direct infantry roles on the battlefield.

Female warriors have served valiantly, honorably, and with great distinction in battle...and have paid an extraordinary price with their lives, their limbs, and their futures. As a Marine, we all know what we're getting into...we also understand, unlike any fighting force on this planet, that we may be called upon to give up our life for our fellow Marine. Marines embrace this truth.
We also understand we have defined roles that must be adhered to in order to maximize battlefield outcomes, and ultimately, save lives.
Folks...this is not about gender equality, as evidenced by my female Marine counterpart. There are indisputable realities about close-combat and direct-action combat operations which do not change because we want them to. Semper Fidelis"

Geverich (Strong like Bear) -  "Some very valid points were made here. But still, you never know until you try. What if women experience much bigger adrenaline spikes than men do? There have been recorded instances when women having acted in amazingly heroic ways that they can't explain.

I have seen the biggest strongest meanest guys freeze up in the face of death. At the same time, I have seen tiny Asian guys react as if they were seven feet tall. (Looks at Kato) No one can look at anyone and say, "that guy is a warrior."

The same may be true of women. One might be one hell of a hero next to a beast of a man who is frozen solid.

But there are still some very valid points made here. Some can be corrected by new technology (or existing, like the P-mate for women). Some points may never see a solution (like a mans inherent nature to protect a woman)."

   

Lol at the power loss. More lol for the 49ers

Okay it was me. I unplugged everything to reset the scoreboard

Well shit, I had this all written up and then my internet goes out again. Lost everything, I'm a jackass for not starting out on a word doc.  Basically I recorded most of the heated discussion and I had typed up some of the more memorable quotes here.  I'll get back to it when my morale is better  At the very least a cliffnotes version

I'll post my lengthy thoughts in a few. Today was my retirement luncheon with my old and new units. It turned into a 4 hour debate about women in combat.

I was able to hear so many points of view from every conceivable rank and gender.

I'll be getting everything. Steambox, Xbox, PS4, and anything else that tickles my fancy.

I got hit by a bad storm here in Georgia Wednesday, power is back but Internet has been inconsistent.

Looking forward to playing ad catching up on my single player games, but if my Internet behaves I'll be playing some Dungeonland, Far Cry 3, Dead Island, Diablo 3.

Wow, that's an impressive bit of gender sterotyping there, guys! Take it from someone who's actually served with female soldiers: They're every bit as capable as male soldiers, if not more due to the ingrained attitudes from males they have to fight against. The average woman might not have the same muscle capacity as their male counterparts, but they wouldn't get through basic training if they weren't able to do their jobs properly.

There's a hint of "women shouldn't be allowed to vote, for they are too busy in the kitchen to understand the world of politics" in this debate, and it's a good idea to make sure we don't stumble into that little trap.

Sorry about that, I must have hit send on the empty text field.

Just to clarify Tilt, were you infantry? Did you actually fight alongside them in country and in the field?

I have a few things to say about this subject, but it probably won't make much sense to those who have no experience down range.

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Hand holding is there, but at least the mechanics are moving along faster than final fantasy 13. And Kuni doesn't throw you in the deep end like Resonance of Fate.

Free taxes done by H&R Block for life, only at Fort Benning though

Revisiting, bought it again for 7.99 at my exchange last week. Normal was too easy since I still had my DMC chops, just defeated Hades on hard.

Even now, I still can't believe how great this game looks. Probably the best intro level in an action game ever.

Props!

I bet it's going to be a black trenchoat

From the little time I played it, the game was very fun and intuitive. Cross platform multiplayer is a definitive plus

Upgrading their skills and talent trees are going to be expensive