“TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY”
by OPOVV, ©2014
(Sep. 8, 2014) — “Welcome to our show today. Roving Reporter here, back on our corner, waylaying people walking by to take the pulse of America. Here comes a nice young lady. Miss, like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Well, it just so happens I do mind. Look, buster, there’s easier ways to ask a girl out for a date.”
“Look, I’m the Roving Reporter. I’m married.”
“And I’m the Fairy Godmother. Does your wife know you’re trying to pick up strange women? I’d bet she’d like to know.”
“Lady, I’m not trying to pick anybody up. All I want is a straight answer to a straight question.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. Here’s the question: What’s your situation awareness?”
“Ha! I knew it. You’re one of them perverts, and my awareness is that I’m out of here. ‘Situation awareness,’ as if I didn’t know.”
“Well, scratch that one off. You, sir! Roving Reporter here. What’s your situation awareness?”
“Five cold ones waiting for me in the ‘fridge, that’s my situation awareness, sonny.”
“Ah, yes, of course. Enjoy. And thank you. This wasn’t quite the response I was looking for. Here comes someone dressed in a uniform. Ah, excuse me, sir, Roving Reporter here. What’s your situation awareness?”
“How come you’re not standing at attention and saluting me? Oh, I see, you’re a civilian. Nevertheless, I think I ought to be saluted, and often. I’m a Lieutenant Colonel, you know. Army Reserve. I’ve never served in combat, but I’ve worked at the Pentagon, which is like combat, I assure you. Why, there’s skirmishes and surprise attacks around every corner. You’ve got to watch out for ambushes wherever you go. It’s nerve-wracking, is what it is. Why, combat, real combat, is a walk in the park compared to Pentagon duty. In combat all you’ve got to worry about is the here and now, while we who toil tirelessly in the Pentagon have to see long-range, as in “retirement” and “pension” and how we can get some cushy civilian contractor job at Northrop or Boeing. It’s not easy, you know. Those jobs don’t grow on trees. They don’t just pop up. You got to get down in the trenches and fight for them. It’s harder than it used to be, all because of Obama. That’s right. Used to be you put your time in and kept your nose clean, you’d get something, maybe not big, but something. Now it’s all gone to seed. It’s all haywired. You see, everyone knows Obama is ineligible; even my kids know. So how you make it in this man’s army is to violate your Oath of office; to turn your back on the Constitution. If you can do that with a clear conscience, and make everyone around you think that you’ll follow whatever orders comes out of the White House, then you just might make it to retirement and a chance at the brass ring. So, that’s my situation awareness. Dismissed.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, Colonel, sir. Well, that’s about what I was looking for. Oh, look here, the Vet that we interviewed earlier is walking his dog again. Hello!”
“Oh, hello. Roving Reporter, is it?”
“Yes. Did the dog get to play with the squirrels?”
“What? Oh, yeah, sure. Funny, but maybe the squirrels wouldn’t describe it as ‘play.’ But, after all, who knows? Okay, what’s today’s question?”
“Situation awareness.”
“How could I ever forget? It’s drummed into you at the start of your military career so much that you start thinking ‘situation awareness’ when ordering a hamburger. Seriously, though, good question. Some of us have it: you’ve got to. I think that’s what took me so long to get back into ‘The World’ after my stint in the service. I thought I was on another planet until I came down to earth, but that was only after a lot of drugs, booze, and ruined relationships. But it’s come creeping back into my everyday life, once again. And that’s a good thing. It’s what may keep you alive. Like when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, it’s for real: can’t be ignored. Like that Marine locked up in Mexico, Andrew Tahmooressi. His hairs were up but he wasn’t paying attention. Me? I would’ve put my car in “park” and opened the hood rather than drive into Mexico. At that point he was still on American soil, still in the good old USA. See, he forgot his ‘situation awareness.’ A tow truck would’ve showed up pretty quickly and he could’ve explained the situation to the tow truck driver who probably lives in El Cajon, for all we know, but anyway, an American. But the ‘situation awareness’ for America, today, is not good. We can’t expect the government to protect us because there’s no one around to protect us from the government; that’s why you have to be armed. See this-here backpack? No books. Use you imagination. Too many people in our country want to kill us, “Beltway sniper, “Ft. Hood,” “Boston Bomber,” and we can attribute a large part of that to the Muslim in the White House and his criminal Attorney General. The solution is take personal responsibility for protecting yourself, your family, neighborhood, and country. But it starts right here, at home. You have to be armed. Honor the 2nd Amendment. You have to have the ability to protect yourself. That’s step number one. Can’t make it any clearer than that. Nice talking to you. See you around.”
“You, too. Well, that’s the pulse of America. Roving Reporter, signing off.”