Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness

Iraq War Veteran Joke – Viral Youtube Video

A few months back I was having dinner with a bunch of war veterans; at one end of the table there was a handful of us Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and at the other end, there was a handful of Vietnam vets.    We were all sitting around and telling stories about our wars.  The Vietnam vets all talked to each other and shared their stories and experiences, and all us Iraq and Afghanistan vets talked with each other and shared our stories and experiences.

About an hour into our dinner/conversations, something crazy happened.  At one end of the table, one of the Vietnam vets was telling a knock knock joke, and at the other end of the table, one of the vets from Iraq was telling a knock knock joke.  Turns out, it was the same military joke, passed down from generation to generation–of war veterans.

Here’s the joke (with an original performance by Michael Anthony):

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Rxcug3t7k[/tube]

Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness

American Soldier – Poem + Video

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIcbqrpfn7Q[/tube]

 

American Soldier Poem

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I’m not shouting I’m better than you,

I’m whispering, I was a boy, and now find myself a man.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I speak not only of this with pride

I’m also confessing that I stumble, make mistakes,

And need competent leadership to help guide me,

So I in turn, can be a competent leader.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I’m not trying to be strong,

I’m professing that I am weak

And need the strength of my peers and country,

To help carry me on.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I’m not bragging of past successes

I’m admitting I have failed in the past

Admitted the mistakes, and tried to right the wrongs.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I’m not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible

But my country needs me,

And I soldier on.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I can still feel the sting of pain,

From seeing those that I care about die,

While we fight for those that we love.

I have my share of heartaches,

So I call upon the American people,

To help guide our soldiers, when home.

 

When I say… I am an American Soldier

I’m not saying anything,

I’m just a simple man,

Who was called upon his country…

To fight.

Written By: Michael Anthony

(Inspired by Carol Wimmer)

 

Related Posts:

American Soldier Poem – Acoustic Version – Original

Bright Yellow Sun – Original Poem.

Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness, Self Improvement / Healthy Living, Self Improvement / Healthy Living

PTSD: What to do when Your Child has PTSD

Adults can have immense problems dealing with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) whether the adult his/herself is experiencing it or those around him/her. You could only imagine how children with PTSD are dealing with it. Post traumatic stress disorder can be very hard on both parents and children. It’s not enough that children go through a traumatizing event or events that lead to PTSD but to experience the fear and the hurt every time their mind goes out of focus is difficult to accept.

There are times when children keep these experiences to themselves and end up with PTSD with parents not knowing or parents may not realize the gravity of the situation. Here are some signs that the child has post traumatic stress disorder:

  • Has a frequent recollection of the traumatizing event whether the child is awake and asleep in the form of nightmares.
  • The child displays erratic behavior when something triggers a recollection.
  • The child loses interest in play or other activities.
  • Sleeping problems
  • Alternate bouts of depression and mood swings
  • Problems with concentration
  • Increased alertness or awareness

No child should have to deal with such a set of symptoms that can drive an adult insane. The following are some of what parents should do to heal the child’s mind and should go about doing it immediately.

  • Seek the help of a professional child psychologist to solve the PTSD. They will be able to seek out the source if it’s unknown, provide medication that can ease the symptoms and recommend an effective cognitive therapy to keep the child’s learning process going.
  • Always be available or let the child know you will always be there. This should alleviate their fears in going to bed and lessen the effects of nightmares.
  • Maintain the child’s pre-PTSD daily routine. This will keep a sense of order and normalcy.
  • Keep potentially dangerous objects accessible only to you so the child cannot hurt his/herself.

 Check out some of our other posts on PTSD.

What To Do When Your Child Has PTSD.

What To Do When Your Spouse Has PTSD.

What To Do To Prevent PTSD.

Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness

The Best Charlie Sheen Quotes

“But you can’t focus on things that matter if all you’ve been is asleep for forty years. Funny how sleep rhymes with sheep, you know?”

“I have a disease? Bullshit. I cured it with my brain.”

“I am on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it once your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body. “

“As kids we’re not taught how to deal with success; we’re taught how to deal with failure. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If at first you succeed, then what? “

“I’m winning.”

“I don’t have time for their judgement and their stupidity and you know they lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and look at their loser lives and then they look at me and they say, ‘I can’t process it’ well, no, you never will stop trying, just sit back and enjoy the show. You know? “

“The first one’s free. The next one goes in your mouth.”

“If you borrowed my brain for five seconds, you’d be like, ‘Dude! Can’t handle it! Unplug this bastard!’”

“It’s perfect. It’s awesome. Every day is just filled with just wins. All we do is put wins in the record books. We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it’s scary.”

“People say it’s lonely at the top, but I sure like the view.”

“I just didn’t believe I was like everybody else. I thought I was unique.”

“Fuck that.”

“I still don’t have all the answers. I’m more interested in what I can do next than what I did last.”

“I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.”

“I’m dealing with fools and trolls and soft targets. It’s just strafing runs in my underwear before my first cup of coffee. I don’t have time for these clowns.”

“I’m different. I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man. Dying’s for fools, dying’s for amateurs.”

“I’m here and I’m ready. They’re not. Bring it.”

“What was she doing with a shrimp fork in her purse?”

“I’m sorry, man, but I’ve got magic. I’ve got poetry in my fingertips. Most of the time – and this includes naps – I’m an F-18, bro. And I will destroy you in the air. I will deploy my ordinance to the ground. “

“I’ve spent, I think, close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold.”

“Life all comes down to a few moments. This is one of them.”

“The Nike slogan doesn’t say ‘Just Try It’.”

“Slash sat me down at his house and said, You’ve got to clean up your act. You know you’ve gone too far when Slash is saying,” Look..you’ve got to get into rehab.”

“The only thing I’m addicted to is winning. This bootleg cult, arrogantly referred to as Alcoholics Anonymous, reports a 5 percent success rate. My success rate is 100 percent.”

“Uncertainty is a sign of humility, and humility is just the ability or the willingness to learn.”

“What they’re not ready for is guys like you and I and Nails and all the other gnarly gnarlingtons in my life, that we are high priests, Vatican assassin warlocks. Boom. Print that, people. See where that goes.”

“Surprise. That’s what winners do.”

“I’m not Thomas Jefferson.  He was a pussy.”

“What’s not to love? Especially when you see how I party, it was epic. The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards and all of them look like droopy-eyed armless children.”

“What you come to discover is, it isn’t how you get there, it’s that you get there. If that’s what it took to get me where I’m at today, so be it.”

“When friends asked me, Can we help? I’d say, Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock. I used that line from Star Wars.”

“You have the right to kill me, but you don’t have the right to judge me. That’s life. There’s nobility in that. There’s focus. It’s genuine. It’s crystal and it’s pure and it’s available to everybody, so just shut your traps and put down your McDonalds, your vaccines, your US Weekly, your TMZ and the rest of it.”

“Boom. I’m winning.”

With that said:

Charlie Sheen is all over the news because he`s a celebrity drug addict, while Andrew Wilfahrt 31, Brian Tabada 21, Rudolph Hizon 22, Chauncy Mays 25, are soldiers who gave their lives this week with no media mention.

 

Let’s not forget what really matters!

Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness, ptsd, Self Improvement / Healthy Living, Self Improvement / Healthy Living, Uncategorized

PTSD: What to Do When Your Spouse has PTSD

Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is a difficult and often dangerous mental condition for patients and those around them, the immediate family, the children and especially the spouse. PTSD happens when someone comes back from a truly horrible, violent or near-death experience. Something in the brain snaps; gets rewired and the person with PTSD has no choice but to relive those traumatizing moments physically, mentally and emotionally.

When undiagnosed or untreated, what happens later is an endless stream of coping or adapting to the partner’s bouts of depression and feelings of weakness or uselessness by continuously comforting the partner; of staying up late when the partner experiences horrible nightmares or night terrors related to the experience or even during the day; of being wary for sudden mood swings that sometimes become violent; and of juggling everyday activities like work and chores amidst the demands for attention.

PTSD is a mental condition that needs to be treated and it will simply not go away by hugs and kisses and promises that ‘everything is all right’. Here are some things that need to be done if you have a spouse with PTSD.

Seek professional help – Even though the prospect is hard to accept, your spouse needs professional help and later even you. As a mental condition, professional psychologists can help heal your partner’s troubled psyche and also prescribe the appropriate medication to ease the symptoms.

Set up a security plan – PTSD can be dangerous especially when your spouse experiences vivid waking nightmares or flashbacks. Your spouse can be dangerous to his/herself and everyone around him/her because your partner might be reliving an experience and might not be able to differentiate what’s real. Set up things like having a wireless phone anywhere in the house in case you need help, keep dangerous objects like knives and guns in places easily accessible only to you and practice a quick exit.

Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir

In this dark humored War Memoir, Iraq veteran Michael Anthony discusses his return from war and how he defeated his PTSD. Civilianized is a must read for any veteran, or anyone who knows a veteran, who has returned from war and suffered through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

dark humored military memoir“An intense memoir.” -Kirkus

“I wont soon forget this book.” -Mary Roach

“A must read.” -Colby Buzzell

“[S]mart and mordantly funny.” –Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Anthony delivers a dose of reality that can awaken the mind…” Bookreporter

Order your copy of Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir .

Check out some of our other posts on PTSD.

Main Updated Article: Best Ways to Treat PTSD for You or Your Spouse.

What To Do When Your Child Has PTSD.

What To Do When Your Spouse Has PTSD.

What To Do To Prevent PTSD.

Is PTSD genetic?

Best Of, Blogishness, Blogishness

Veteran Photography Project

Since I’ve redesigned the site, I wanted to post up some of the important blog posts from the old site.

The first one that comes to mind is a photography project that a friend is working on.

His name is Jeffrey Sisto and he was a photographer in the Marines.  He’s now out of the Marines and is a full time photographer.  One of the projects that he’s working on is of veterans that are out of the military or just got back from overseas.  The photos that he takes are great; nowadays all we see in news are photos of troops going to war or when they just come home, but we never get so see or hear anything about them a week, month or year later.  What Jeff captures is these veterans after they’ve been out, or been back for a while, after they’ve had time to think and compartmentalize.  He really captures something within all the vets.

Here’s some pictures he took of me when I first got back from Iraq (I’d only been home for about two months when he took them).

Here’s a link to Jeff’s Project: JeffSistoPhotography.com/veterans/