Note
from Suz: Today we have a recommended read!Countdown to
12/08/04
20 days (and counting to Hot Target, in stores on December 28th)
Note
from Suz: Today we have a recommended read!
The author is screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer, who wrote the movies U.S. Navy SEALs, The Jackal, Darkman, Red Planet, Virus, and Hard Target.
The book is Warrior Soul -- his memoir of his eight years as a Navy SEAL. It's available right now, in hardcover from Random House, ISBN 1-4000-6036-2.
I truly enjoyed this wonderful book! Chuck Pfarrer can really write, and his ability to communicate what it was like to be in Beirut in the tumultuous 1980s -- when the American Embassy was truck-bombed -- was riveting. His description of living under constant threat from mortar attack is something I'll never forget. (And, I suspect, very similar to conditions our American servicemen and women face in Iraq today...)
Here's the cover blurb:
Warrior Soul is a book about the warrior spirit, and it takes the reader all over the world. Former Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer recounts some of his most dangerous assignments: On a clandestine reconnaissance mission on the Mosquito Coast, his recon team plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with a Nicaraguan patrol boat. Cut off on the streets of Beirut, the author's SEAL detachment must battle snipers on the Green Line. In the mid-Atlantic, Pfarrer's unit attempts to retrieve--or destroy--the booster section of a Trident ballistic missile before it can be recovered by a Russian spy trawler. On a runway in Sicily, his assault element surrounds an Egyptian airliner carrying the Achille Lauro hijackers.
These are only a few of the riveting stories of combat patrol, reconnaissance missions, counter-terrorist operations, tragedies, and victories in Warrior Soul that illustrate the SEAL maxim "The person who will not be defeated cannot be defeated."
Note from Suz: As exciting as the action sequences are, it's Chuck Pfarrer's ability to paint pictures of the men with whom he served that really make this book one of my all-time favorites.
Here's an example -- an excerpt from Warrior Soul, in which we learn a thing or two about about Chuck's senior chief, a man he previously describes in the book as "a red-faced, thickset man in his early forties." Chuck writes: (He) seemed to have a trace of a German accent, although this was not the most peculiar thing about his speech. He had a sort of verbal tic: He constantly used "or so" as an appositive. Any noun or verb was followed by "or so." He'd say things like, "Get your ass over here before I shook you, or so." Or "Youse guys are dumber than a bag of hammers, or so."
Okay, that's your set up -- here we go. Take it away, Chuck Pfarrer:
A few days later, we were cooling our heels in the departure lounge at Howard Air Force Base, waiting for an airplane. Our flight was delayed twice, and finally, Senior Chief Jaeger wandered over and sat down next to me.
"Hey, Mr. Pfarrer." He had a sly look on his face, and I knew it meant he wanted something. Probably permission for something he'd already done or would soon do anyway.
"How's about I let the lads go across the street to the enlisted club and have a few beers, or so, before we get on the plane?"
I knew the guys would get as drunk as they could as fast as they could, and that might be a problem. The one thing guaranteeing their good behavior was the fact that no one, including me, had much money. I'd parachuted in with a fortune, fifty bucks, and I doubted all the lads together had even half that much.
"Sure, Senior Chief," I said. "Tell 'em to keep it within the pale of acceptable human conduct."
The guys clomped across the street. John Jaeger grinned, and for a while we sat together in an empty departure lounge.
"Hey, sir?"
"Yes, Senior Chief?"
"You got any money, or so?"
"I've got a little," I said.
"How's about you and me slide on over to the club and have a couple of cold pops. Or so."
Now would come a major episode in my education as a junior officer. The E club was for enlisted men. Officers had their own clubs, and chief petty officers had chiefs' clubs. Neither the senior chief nor I was supposed to drink at an enlisted club.
I sat there quietly and thought about this, and John looked at me like I was a moron. "Let's go," he said. He stood and removed the golden anchors from the collars of his cammies. Before I could think better of it, I stood and took off the gold bars that marked me as an ensign. I'd been in the jungle for the better part of two weeks, and I was thirsty. Without our rank devices, we were transformed instantly from and E-8 and and O-1 to a pair of E-1 no-count snuffies, slick-sleeves, military nonentities. I followed John across the street and into the dark, smoky confines of the club.
The joint was wound up. ZZ Top was playing. Pushed up against the bar was the most explosive mixture of men known to mankind. At one end were about twenty marines, recon dudes with high-and-tight haircuts; in the middle were the SEALs; and on the far end were about an equal number of Green Berets. All had played in the exercise, and the SEALs had operated against both groups. I sipped my beer like a Baptist. The insults were already flying, along with small items: rolled-up napkins, twist tops from beer bottles, and the occasional drink thrown whole. I knew it was only a matter of time until the place exploded. The senior chief and I would be doubly damned if it did. We would be dinged first for not stopping the riot from happening, and then we would be gigged for being here in the first place.
An empty shot glass bounced off the bar in front of John.
"Getting a little hairy in here, or so," he said calmly.
I was just about to say "Let's get the hell out of here" when John picked up the glass from the bar. He stood on his bar stool and banged the glass off his beer mug. Ding ding ding ding.
"All right, you assholes," he bellowed, "pipe down!" The crowd quieted a little. The senior chief yelled again. "I'm telling you assholes to shut the fuck up! AT EASE!"
The bar quieted. It was a sullen, tense silence, and every eye in the place was on John, balanced on his bar stool. I wanted the world to open up and swallow me, but the senior chief was in his glory. He stepped onto the bar and walked its entire length.
"All right," he growled. "Who's the roughest, toughest motherfucker in the bar?"
A gigantic Green Beret stood up. This guy was six-five and looked about 250. "I am," he said.
John looked him over. "You're the toughest motherfucker in this bar?"
"That's what I said, old man," the Green Beret answered.
"Good," John said. "You take over. I gotta take a piss."
The place exploded in laughter, the tension broken forever. John jumped down off the bar and gave me a wink. It was an epic stunt, and one I have never had the courage to repeat. I'd just watched a master in action.
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So that's an excerpt from Chuck Pfarrer's wonderful Warrior Soul. I high recommend this book -- it's on my own keeper shelf.
(And I swear, I wrote SEAL Team Sixteen's senior chief's confrontation with the Marines in the Lady Bug Lounge in OVER THE EDGE back in early 2001, and just read Warrior Soul about a month ago, when the book first came out! <g>)
Gay 101: Tolerance is a Fabulous Value!
Do family and friends of GLBT people also come out?
Yes. Family and friends come out as they acknowledge that they know and love a GLBT person and then take the next step by coming out to others about their GLBT family members. For some, this happens when they attend their first Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) meeting or pride celebration. Or parents may decide to come out when someone asks them when their son is "finally going to get married" or by responding to an anti-gay joke at the family reunion.
From the Human Rights Campaign website FAQ page
Source link: www.hrc.org
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Words of Support from Religious Leaders
Because leaders from certain religious groups are so vocal in their condemnation of gays and lesbians, it often appears that all religious leaders condemn gays and lesbians as sinners who are undeserving of equal rights. But that is far from a true portrait of religious sentiment toward GLBT people in the United States. What follows is a sampling of words of support from religious leaders across a broad spectrum of denominations.
“Jesus didn’t say one word — not one word — about homosexuality. He did, however, have a great deal to say about love, compassion and not judging others.”
“As a Christian, I find the greatest irony is that conservative Christians are using references to Jesus in their anti-gay rhetoric. But here’s what they fail to tell you: Jesus never once mentioned or condemned homosexuality. Not once. Not anywhere.
“Here’s what I do know: Jesus spent a lot of time talking about love — and that’s something that’s missing in both the rhetoric and actions of anti-gay religious groups.”
“I cast my ballot in favor [of a resolution approving the blessing of same-sex unions]. I did so because of my belief that our gay and lesbian children, relatives and friends are in great need of spiritual support; that the Torah's prohibition of homosexuality can reasonably be understood as a general condemnation of ancient cultic practice; that loving, permanent homosexual relationships, once difficult to conceive, are now recognized as an indisputable reality; and that in these relationships, whether or not we see them as ‘marriages,’ it is surely true that God and holiness can be present.”
“During the period of slavery, people would find evidence in the Scriptures to support slavery and why it was God’s will that white people should enslave black people. People have used the Scripture to explain why women ought not to be the equals of men or be able to vote. By and large, we’ve grown out of both of those abuses of Scripture. [But] we still have people who are using Scripture — or abusing Scripture — to justify pre-existing attitudes in opposition to gay and lesbian people.”
“There are more scriptural reasons to oppose homophobia than to oppose homosexuality.”
From the Human Rights Campaign website
Source link: www.hrc.org
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One last Note from Suz: Okay, that was intense -- let's be a little more, well, gay, shall we?
Bonus Recommended listen: Bette Midler's latest CD -- Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook.
What a terrific deal! Two (2) gay icons for the price of one! <g>
The divine Miss M's voice is at top form as she does wonderful justice to an entire CDs worth of classic songs that George's favorite aunt first recorded and made into top hits. Arrangements by the talented Mr. Barry Manilow -- who also does a rockin' duet of Slow Boat to China with Bette -- my personal fav cut on the album -- along with In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening and Mambo Italiano and Hey there and Come On-A My House and... Okay, confession time -- there's not a single cut on this CD that I don't totally love!
Holiday hint: This CD makes a great gift, not just for Friends-of-Bette, but also for <ahem> those slightly chronologically enhanced folks who will enjoy singing along with these memorable songs!
That's all for now! Be sure to come back for tomorrow's installment in the Countdown to HOT TARGET!
See you tomorrow!