Just wanna say so long

[Mord]

I'm in the midst of packing all my stuff and getting it out. Gotta split on Monday to the hotel, Tuesday to Ft Benning. Won't have my comp up for much longer so figured I'd say bye while I have the chance.

I'll look forward to seeing The Brits module when I get done BCT...and hopefully some screenies for Normandy, in the least.

BFC, keep up the good work.

Take care everybody and enjoy the New Year.

Mord.

P.S. Birdstrike, thanks for all your modding help.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Take care, Mord, and good luck!

[vincere]

Are going on a deployment Mord? Either way take care.

[Stingray]

May God go with you. Thank you for defending my freedom.

Take care and come back safe and sound.

Happy New Year

[Secondbrooks]

I ripped a old military poem to celebrate this event and translated it (more or less successfully) into English:

"Old guy departs, sht remains, from sht arises a head of new guy"

Not referring to biological age with word old, but to time spent in service. And i'm not very poetic so please try to understand that my skills in rhyming might not be most beautiful.

[MikeyD]

Keep this web address with you, there's no telling when and where you may find a friendly internet hookup.

[Dietrich]

I ripped a old military poem to celebrate this event and translated it (more or less successfully) into English...

Was this from a poem in Finnish? If so, I'd dig seeing the original. (I'm in the process of teaching myself Finnish. lol) If not, I'd still dig seeing the original. =)

[Battlefront.com]

Good luck Mord! Don't forget to write

Steve

[Michael Emrys]

Yeah, toodle-oo, toots. It's been fun. Just remember that incoming fire has the right of way and don't forget to duck.

Michael

[purpheart23]

Good luck Mord. Congratulations once again and we'll see you on the other side.

[Other Means]

Good luck dude.

Remember - shít always rolls downhill. Try not to live in the valley.

[Pvt. Ryan]

Don't forget extra socks.

[Cpl Steiner]

Good luck. Take care.

[Mikko H.]

Was this from a poem in Finnish? If so, I'd dig seeing the original. (I'm in the process of teaching myself Finnish. lol) If not, I'd still dig seeing the original. =)

IIRC, it was like this:

Vanha lähtee, paska jää,

paskasta nousee mopon pää.

And, IMO, to call that piece of doggerel poetry is like calling David Hasselhoff actor :-) If you want some Finnish poetry to translate, go for Eino Leino. Not only does it have some challenge, it's also some of the greatest poetry ever written in any language. Honestly.

And my best wishes to Mord, too.

[birdstrike]

Best of luck to you, man.

I'll try to get you some new scenarios and mods to play around with when you get back to the game.

[19Kyle72]

Mord,

I wish you the best of all luck and in all things.

You've freely devoted a ton of your time, labor, and passion for this community's benefit, and for that I'm extremely grateful.

In return for all that you've given, I'd like to offer you some advice, that is NOT intended to be morbid, nor do I want anything I'm about to keyboard to be prescient in any way (if you can avoid anything I'm about to mention, then GREAT for you!), but it's extremely important to me that you keep the following in mind.

As I've said in the past, I've had three of my childhood friends participate in our latest invasion of Iraq.

None of them are the same. Not even close.

When each of them temporarily returned to our old stomping grounds, my family put on a large celebratory feast in their honor. One of these friends was a Marine, and he colorfully shared with us about how flabbergasted he was at how many Marines suffered shellshock from the artillery. He called them a bunch of "p_ssies" and "f_ggots". When he was done reviling them, I queried him with my confusion, as it was my understanding that Saddam's military, for all intents and purposes, lacked any frontline main battle pieces. "Yeah, that's right, we never encountered anything heavier than a little bit of small arms fire", he replied, "Whenever we encountered even the tiniest bit of resistance, we'd stop the whole line and open up our arty on 'em for half an hour. If we did see anything afterwards, it'd be one pile of goo here, another bit of goo there. Those f_ckers (meaning his fellow Marines) were getting shellshock from OUR OWN artillery opening up on the sand n_ggers. See what I mean about them being f_cking p_ussies?!"

When I shared this story with one of the other vets I knew, a mutual friend of ours, his reply was stunning to me. "Who the f_ck does he think HE is? Kyle, let me assure you, he's talking as if being around firing arty is a natural thing, when it's the furthest thing from it. Hell, being within a block of just a SINGLE gun firing will shake your insides like you can't begin to imagine. So, he's ridiculing brothers in arms who sat in the glow of God knows how many pieces, firing nonstop for half an hour at a time, and for who knows how many fire missions, and he's MOCKING them for losing their minds over it?! Well, f_ck him!" I could go on with his analysis of just how ignorant our mutual friend was, but I'm confident that you get the point...

My father honorably and proudly served his country for over 25 years and retired as a beloved First Sergeant. Long after he retired, men from the company still sought him out for personal advice regarding a huge spectrum of serious issues. To this day, the overwhelming majority of my family's friends are veterans from Vietnam to the present war, and I'm going to share the advice my father gave me to pass along to my friends before they departed to Iraq:

Document EVERYTHING.

Perhaps come up with your own codified system of shorthand, but however you do it, DO it!

Every time you're asked to inspect a blown out vehicle, or a building that was more than likely hit with depleted uranium rounds (even in the distant past), DOCUMENT it. Every time you're commanded to take a cocktail of inoculations, DOCUMENT it. Any pill you're given, any medicinal shot for any reason, DOCUMENT it. If you're given conflicting rules of engagement, DOCUMENT it. If when you get back from the frontlines, and they ask you not to have procreative sex for one-two years, DOCUMENT it.

Try to do this as quickly, as promptly, and as secretively as possible, but DO it.

In other words, just because you're going to do your utmost to honorably serve the military does NOT mean that the military is going to honorably serve you. To assume that's the case is to be quite naive and/or completely ignorant of even our most recent history with how our country has treated its service men and women.

One of the most shameful acts in the history of our country has been the suppression and actual RIDICULING of THOUSANDS of Gulf War veterans who came back suffering and dying from terrible maladies, whose cause was supposedly "all in their heads" and/or "inexplicably mysterious."

Now imagine being one of those vets, not knowing what's affecting you... The fear of the unknown is FAR WORSE than knowing what IS affecting you, and so for far too many years they have NEEDLESSLY suffered because our government, through the Pentagon, didn't want to foot the bill to properly care for those who honorably served their wishes and laid EVERYTHING on the line to prove it.

It's only been in the last several weeks that our government has FINALLY acknowledged the disgustingly OBVIOUS. This behavior by our elite is incomprehensibly shameful in its magnitude and deplorable in all of its intricate consequences that not only affected our brothers and sisters in arms, but also all of their loved ones. For years, our government waged a war of terror on our own malady-laden veterans and their families, and the overwhelming majority of these elite criminals are going to be able to peacefully retire to their little gold-plated estates and their champagne filled yachts.

However you do it:

Document.

DOCUMENT.

DOCUMENT!!!

Note who gave the order, and when. Note at least two other fellow comrades who could later act as witnesses on your behalf. Take photos. Pretend you're taking images as "war trophies", but are really being taken to potentially be used later on to concretely back up what you actually experienced. Be boldly secretive in covering your @ss, because it should be no surprise to anybody with just a minuscule bit of contemporary historical knowledge that the Higher Ups won't hesitate to BURY yours should something "mysterious" happen later on.

If you encounter combat, do not be surprised that when you come home that you'll see the faces of the dead occupying the faces of the living, even if you're thousands of miles away from where you originally saw them. Be not surprised if you're standing in a checkout line, see a mother or a father overreact in disciplining their child, and suddenly have a very vivid fantasy in exactly how you'd kill them for their f_ucking foolishness. As if what they have to deal with is of any real serious consequence, or, indeed, dealing with the so-called "Realities of Life."

You see, f_ck 'em. YOU experienced the REALITIES of Life...

Thoughts such as these (and many, MANY others) are not alien, or uncommon for combat vets, and have been shared with me in intricate details by my friends.

If you have thoughts such as these, then please, do NOT hesitate to get professional help. Do not even begin to entertain or tolerate the bullsh_t testosterone pseudo-bravura of the military culture that'll more than likely want to make you feel condemned and ashamed to address the completely and obviously unnatural experiences you might have encountered.

F_ck those ignorant @ssholes. Just because they can "deal" with what they've experienced today, doesn't mean that they'll be able to deal with it the next minute, day, month, year, or decade from now. They may not even be "dealing with it" now, perhaps by taking it out on their families, or by drinking just a little too much, or whatever means you're deliberately not made privy to.

Cover yourself in EVERY sense of that all too vital word.

And you know what? Your careful endeavors may not only make you a hero abroad, but later on at home as well. If something "strange" occurs, you can bet everything you have that your buddies and their loved ones are going to WORSHIP you once they find out the tremendous potential for Good that's held within your "foolish" and "unpatriotic" notes.

I say these things as a man forever honored to have friends who experienced the absolute worst that Life can deliver, and yet had the courage to overcome unspoken of taboos to share it with me. I have grown in innumerate and immeasurable ways because of their putting their trust in me. As strange as this may sound, as much as I've always loved veterans due to my upbringing in a military household, it is only now that I can say that I wholeheartedly UNDERSTAND just how much I SHOULD love them for what they've endured, and have to continue to endure till their dying day.

Godspeed to you and to your loved ones.

Forever Yours,

Kyle

[Bigduke6]

Mord,

I second the "document it" suggestion from 19Kyle72 and his 1st Sergeant Dad.

Your army buddies will be your buddies forever. If they are getting screwed by the system - and trust me, some of them will - the best thing you can do for them is give them some way to defend themselves.

Serve to the best of your ability, do the best job you can. But don't expect the army to appreciate it, the army is just an organization on paper and in computer files. And most of the people in the army are far more interested in the rules, than what might be the right thing.

So if you want to be true to your buddies, don't stop thinking about what's right and wrong. Be a good soldier, follow orders unless they're really dangerous, but keep your mind turned on and questioning, always. Your brain wants to protect you - let it.

Good luck, and enjoy the experience.

[Sgt Joch]

Good luck Mord...and try to come back in one piece...

[theFightingSeabee]

Mord,

Thanks for everything. To do what you are doing is a very honorable thing. We will miss having you around and will miss your kickass modding. Godspeed to you and your new brothers in arms. You mentioned before that you wanted to go to Afghanistan. 2009 is looking like it's going to be a hell of a fight, and may even decide the fate of the war. If you end up going there, you'll be a part of history forever. Just PROMISE to keep your head on a swivel and don't trust a single damn one of those Afghans no matter what. Like someone said earlier, incoming has the right of way, so don't be too brave! Thanks for you service. We are all proud of you and hope you nothing but the best. Good luck with the newest chapter of your life and we'll be keeping you in our prayers.

HOOAH!!!

[Dietrich]

IIRC, it was like this:

Vanha lähtee, paska jää,

paskasta nousee mopon pää.

And, IMO, to call that piece of doggerel poetry is like calling David Hasselhoff actor :-) If you want some Finnish poetry to translate, go for Eino Leino. Not only does it have some challenge, it's also some of the greatest poetry ever written in any language. Honestly.

Kiitos, Mikko. =)

I have a book of Finnish poems (Finnish on one page, English translation on the other), but I'll also look for works by Eino Leino. I love the sound of Finnish. Thanks for the recommendation.

[MehMan]

Like someone said earlier, incoming has the right of way, so don't be too brave!

With no disrespect or anything of the like but not having served in any sort of military I believe that a thing like bravery quickly dispells once the bullets start flying around you. The loudest become the quietest, or so I heard.

In any case I don't really know who you are but I wish you godspeed. Also, trust your gut. If it just doesn't feel right, doublecheck everything you can think of. And then check it all again. You can apply that to a lot of things though. Like the milk I had this morning.