Important Day In History

After a 13 day siege, on March 6th 1836, The garrison of the Alamo was put to the sword by the Army of Generalissimo Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna. Thirteen days that the Army of Texas used to train equip and position itself to better advantage and eventually win our indepedence.

The Defenders of the Alamo

Abamillo, Juan--Texas
Allen, Robert--Virginia
Andross, Miles Deforest--Vermont
Autry, Micajah--North Carolina
Badillo, Juan Antonio--Texas
Bailey, Peter James III--Kentucky
Baker, Isaac G.-- Arkansas
Baker, William Charles M.-- Missouri
Ballentine, John J.--Pennsylvania
Ballentine, Richard W.--Scotland
Baugh, John J.--Virginia
Baxter, Joseph--Unknown
Bayliss, Joseph--Tennessee
Blair, John--Tennessee
Blair, Samuel C.--Tennessee
Blazeby, William--England
Bonham, James Butler--South Carolina
Bourne, Daniel--England
Bowie, James--Kentucky
Bowman, Jesse B.--Tennessee
Brown, George--England
Brown, James Murry--Pennsylvania
Brown, Robert--Unknown
Buchanan, James--Alabama
Burns, Samuel E.--Ireland
Butler, George D.--Missouri
Cain (Cane), John--Pennsylvania
Campbell, James (Robert)--Tennessee
Carey, William R.--Virginia
Clark, Charles Henry--Missouri
Clark, M.B.--Mississippi
Cloud, Daniel William--Kentucky
Cochran, Robert E.--New Hampshire
Cottle, George Washington--Missouri
Courtman, Henry--Germany
Crawford, Lemuel--South Carolina
Crockett, David--Tennessee
Crossman, Robert--Pennsylvania
Cummings, David P.--Pennsylvania
Cunningham, Robert W.--New York
Darst, Jacob C.--Kentucky
Davis, John--Kentucky
Day, Freeman H.K.--Unknown
Day, Jerry C.--Missouri
Daymon, Squire--Tennessee
Dearduff, William--Tennessee
Dennison, Stephen (or Ireland)--England
Despallier, Charles--Louisiana
Dewall, Lewis--New York
Dickerson (Dickinson), Almeron--Tennessee
Dillard, John Henry--Tennessee
Dimpkins, James R.--England
Duvalt, Andrew--Ireland
Edwards, Samuel--Unknown
Edwards, William--Unknown
Espalier, Carlos--Texas
Esparza, Gregorio (Jose Maria)--Texas
Evans, Robert--Ireland
Evans, Samuel B.--New York
Ewing, James L.--Tennessee
Fauntleroy, William H.--Kentucky
Fishbaugh, William--Alabama
Flanders, John--Massachusetts
Floyd, Dolphin Ward--North Carolina
Forsyth, John Hubbard--New York
Fuentes, Antonio--Texas
Fuqua, Galba--Alabama
Garnett, William--Virginia
Garrand, James W.--Louisiana
Garrett, James Girard--Tennessee
Garvin, John E.--Unknown
Gaston, John E.--Kentucky
George, James--Unknown
Goodrich, John Camp--Virginia
Gordon, Pelitiah--Unknown
Grimes, Albert (Alfred) Calvin--Georgia
Gwynne, James C.--England
Hannum, James--Pennsylvania
Harris, John--Kentucky
Harrison, Andrew Jackson--Tennessee
Harrison, William B.--Ohio
Haskell, Charles M.--Tennessee
Hawkins, Joseph M.--Ireland
Hays, John M.--Tennessee
Herndon, Patrick Henry--Virginia
Hersee, William Daniel--England
Holland, Tapely--Ohio
Holloway, Samuel--Pennsylvania
Howell, William D.--Massachusetts
Jackson, Thomas--Ireland
Jackson, William Daniel--Kentucky
Jameson, Green B.--Kentucky
Jennings, Gordon C.--Connecticut
Jimenez, Damacio--Texas
John (last name unknown)--Unknown
Johnson, Lewis--Wales
Jones, John--New York
Kellogg, John Benjamin--Kentucky
Kenny, James--Virginia
Kent, Andrew--Kentucky
Kerr, Joseph--Louisiana
Kimble (Kimbell), George C.--Pennsylvania
King, William Phillip--Texas
Lewis, William Irvine--Texas
Lightfoot, William J.--Texas
Lindley, Jonathan L.--Illinois
Linn, William--Massachusetts
Losoya, Jose Toribio--Texas
Main, George Washington--Virginia
Malone, William T.--Virginia
Marshall, William--Tennessee
Martin, Albert--Rhode Island
McCafferty, Edward--Unknown
McClelland, Ross--Unknown
McCoy, Jesse--Tennessee
McDowell, William--Pennsylvania
McGee, James--Ireland
McGregor, John--Scotland
McKinney, Robert--Tennessee
Melton, Elice (Eliel)--Georgia
Miller, Thomas R.--Tennessee
Millsaps, Isaac--Mississippi
Mills, William--Tennessee
Mitchasson, Edward F.--Virginia
Mitchell, Napoleon B.--Unknown
Moore, Robert B.--Virginia
Moore, Willis A.--Mississippi
Musselman, Robert--Ohio
Nava, Andres--Texas
Neggan, George--South Carolina
Nelson, Andrew M.--Tennessee
Nelson, Edward--South Carolina
Nelson, George--South Carolina
Northcross, James--Virginia
Nowlan, James--England
Pagan, George--Mississippi
Parker, Christopher Adams--Mississippi
Parks, William--North Carolina
Perry, Richardson--Texas
Pollard, Amos--Massachusetts
Reynolds, John Purdy--Pennsylvania
Robertson, James Waters--Tennessee
Roberts, Thomas H.--Unknown
Robinson, Isaac--Scotland
Rose, James M.--Ohio
Rusk, Jackson J.--Ireland
Rutherford, Joseph--Kentucky
Ryan, Isaac--Louisiana
Scurlock, Mial--North Carolina
Sewell, Marcus L.--England
Shied, Manson--Georgia
Simmons, Cleveland Kinloch--South Carolina
Smith, Andrew H.--Tennessee
Smith, Charles S.--Maryland
Smith, Joshua G.--North Carolina
Smith, William H.--Unknown
Starr, Richard--England
Stewart, James E.--England
Stockton, Richard Lucius-- New Jersey
Summerlin, A. Spain--Tennessee
Summers, William E.--Tennessee
Sutherland, William Depriest--Unknown
Taylor, Edward--Tennessee
Taylor, George--Tennessee
Taylor, James--Tennessee
Taylor, William--Tennessee
Thomas, B. Archer M.--Kentucky
Thomas, Henry--Germany
Thompson, Jesse G.--Arkansas
Thomson, John W.--North Carolina
Thurston, John M.--Pennsylvania
Trammel, Burke--Ireland
Travis, William Barret--South Carolina
Tumlinson, George W.--Missouri
Tylee, James--New York
Walker, Asa--Tennessee
Walker, Jacob--Tennessee
Ward, William B.--Ireland
Warnell, Henry--Arkansas
Washington, Joseph G.--Kentucky
Waters, Thomas--England
Wells, William--Georgia
White, Isaac--Alabama
White, Robert--Unknown
Williamson, Hiram James--Pennsylvania
Wills, William--Georgia
Wilson, David L.--Scotland
Wilson, John--Pennsylvania
Wolfe, Anthony (Avram)--England
Wolfe, Son age 12--England
Wolfe, Son age 11--England
Wright, Claiborne--North Carolina
Zanco, Charles--Denmark

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD (They didn't)

It's A Mad Mad Monkey Mania

My staff believes I have a problem and you know what they say, "the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem". Here it goes:

I am obsessed with Monkeys!

Funny, don't feel any better. I still think monkeys are WAY COOL. Must not be obsessed at all. Speaking of monkeys, recently one of our Engineer SGTs had a close encounter with a some R.A.Ms (for those of you who don't have the monkey on your back of monkey obsession, that means Red Ass Monkey i.e. the stately Baboon). Whenever I go outside the wire with the engineers I always take some nutri-grain bars. Monkeys love 'em. Everyone pretty much always takes something to feed the monkeys with 'cause monkeys are cool. Our intrepid SGT was out on an inspection trip and of course he had some monkey chow for the local fauna. When he and his "force protection" came to a spot where the R.A.Ms hang out, they stopped and started tossing bits of fruit and nutri-grain bars out to them. Eventually, they had quite the monkey fan club around the vehicle too include what the SGT described as "Big Ass Bull Baboon" which climbed on the hood of the SUV. This is a bad thing because the Motor T officer gets a might torqued when the vehicles come back with claw marks on them. The SGT figured he could get the R.A.M.s attention with a piece of fruit that he would then toss away through window which he would lower little ways down (Monkeys are way cool but even I want to keep something between me and them). So he gently flips the power window control and low and behold its one of those fancy press it once and the window goes all the way down hooyahs. While his attention is fully on trying to keep the window up, the baboon swings himself onto the door and plants himself eyeball to eyeball with the SGT. So there he sits face to face with a large R.A.M. with a small slice of pear in one hand and the rest of the pear in the other. The monkey looks at the slice, then it's eyes dart to the rest of the pear. The monkey snatches the pear out of the SGTs hand and scampers off. In the mean time the "Storm Trooper" riding in the back seat is making himself very small against the far side of the truck and has his M4 trained, leveled, and safety off. Afterwards, the SGT explained that he didn't know if he was more frightened of the Baboon or the terrified soldier with automatic weapon in the back seat. Wish I was there, I like monkeys; also, it would have been nice to know if he was telling the truth. I would never question the SGTs integrity, but sometimes Soldiers do embelish a little. After all, it is only a second hand story and nothing that interesting ever happens when I go out. Oh well, makes for a good story.

On a lighter note, got quoted by Citizen Smash. Whenever that happens I get what I call a "Smash Spike" in my visitors. Daily traffic usually goes up about 2 to 400 percent for a day or so afterwards. Thanks Smash!

On the not so light side, there is a vicious rumor going about that the City of Lubbock is going to engage in prairie dog genocide. Say it ain't so!!!!!! Not Prairie Dog Town! I certainly hope it ain't so.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

UPDATE......

Yep, they're gonna do it, or at least they're trying to do it. I think the bit about nitrogen in the water is pure bullsh*t. I saw more ground squirrels on the Tech campus than prairie dogs in Prairie Dog town. In fact, you probably get more nitrogen contamination from student urinating on the ground after Thursday night at Bash Riprock's. What's next? Pull down the Buddy Holly statue? Remove the Cookie? Or realign Will Rogers so Soapsud's ass doesn't point toward A&M. Shoot, leave Lubbock for a measly decade or so and the whole place goes to hell!

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

To Sleep, Per Chance To Dream.....Somebody Shut That Monkey Up!

Haven’t slept more than two hours a night since Sunday, I am a zombie. Can’t think straight, really, really short-tempered. My staff finally argued me into going to visit the Pecker Checkers at the clinic. I hate Doctors; they are inherently evil, like cats. I don’t know why I have not been able to sleep. Anyone who knows me knows I can sleep anytime anywhere. In fact, most of the time it is hard to catch me awake. It is not like I am not exhausted. I fall asleep at about 0430/0500 in the morning and then have to get up at 0600 almost catatonic. I stumble through the day, feeling like I could just put my head down and I would be out. Then I try and hit the rack but sleep just won’t come. Didja know that the night is really, really long and boring when y’ain’t sleepin’. Today, I even skipped my work out to try and take a nap, still no joy. I just can’t concentrate worth diddly-squat and am having difficulty doing simple things. On top of that everyone just keeps pissing me off. The Chancre Mechanic took a look at me and gave a Valium derivative. I plan to take one about 2000 and please, dear Lord, let the sleep come. If it doesn’t I am sure the hallucinations ain’t far behind. Actually, I am positive they are on their way ‘cause that fool purple monkey that won’t shut up told me so.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

I HATE PAPERWORK

The surest indicator that deployment is coming to an end is the paperwork. Here I sit trying to write Fitness Reports in THREE different languages: Navy, Marine, and Army. I am also writing awards for those whom I deem worthy in a FOURTH language: Joint. My Bride was gritchen the other day that she didn't think she could handle another month and a half. My reply was "Only a month and a half, that's not nearly enough time to get my admin done!". She was less than sympathetic. On top of all the personnel maintenance admin I have to get done, I still need to write some pass down SOPs for the lucky smuck who will relieve me. One of the hurdles I had to face was that the "previous regime" kept no records (probably to protect the guilty) so as a result I had to re-learn alot of lessons and make my own tribal knowledge. I ain't gonna do that to the next guy. He or she will know where the bodies are buried and what the actual procedures to accomplish things are. Trouble is: I HATE PAPERWORK! As I look out at the vast amount of administrative torture that lies before me, one of those "Rules To Live By" pops into mind: Never do today what you can put off 'til tomorrrow. Oh well, this stuff just ain't gonna go away and I certainly ain't gonna let my troopers down. They have done an outstanding job in spite of me:), they deserve to be rewarded and I will do whatever is necessary (short of an unnatural sex act) to do right by them.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

On March 2nd 1836 Texas declared it independence and the Republic of Texas was formed. God bless the Republic and may she always be sovereign!

The Unanimous Declaration of Independence
made by the
Delegates of the People of Texas
in General Convention
at the town of Washington
on the 2nd day of March 1836.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.

When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the everready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants.

When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.

When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.

Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connection with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth.

The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America.

In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.

It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue, and this too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate state government, and have, in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected.

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our constitution, and the establishment of a state government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.

It has suffered the military commandants, stationed among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizens, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the state Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into the Interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of the laws and the constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary army advancing, to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers.

It hath been, during the whole time of our connection with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrannical government.

These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas, until they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance. Our appeal has been made in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the Interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therefore of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self government.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.

Richard Ellis, President of the Convention and Delegate from Red River

Charles B. Stewart
Tho. Barnett
John S. D. Byrom
Francis Ruis
J. Antonio Navarro
Jesse B. Badgett
Wm D. Lacy
William Menifee
Jn. Fisher
Matthew Caldwell
William Motley
Lorenzo de Zavala
James Collinsworth
Edwin Waller
Asa Brigham
Geo. C. Childress
Bailey Hardeman
Rob. Potter
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Chas. S. Taylor
John S. Roberts
Robert Hamilton
Collin McKinney
Albert H. Latimer
James Power
Sam Houston
Stephen H. Everett
George W. Smyth
Elijah Stapp
Claiborne West
Wm. B. Scates
M. B. Menard
A. B. Hardin
J. W. Burton
Thos. J. Gazley
R. M. Coleman
Sterling C. Robertson
David Thomas
Edwd. Conrad
Martin Palmer
Edwin O. Legrand
Stephen W. Blount
Jms. Gaines
Wm. Clark, Jr.
Sydney O. Pennington
Wm. Carrol Crawford
Jno. Turner
Benj. Briggs Goodrich
G. W. Barnett
James G. Swisher
Jesse Grimes
S. Rhoads Fisher
John W. Moore
John W. Bower
Saml. A. Maverick (from Bejar)
Sam P. Carson
A. Briscoe
J. B. Woods
H. S. Kimble, Secretary

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

Weather.com Is Smokin' Crack!

Just checked www.weather.com to see what the real temperature is and they are reporting 72 degrees and fair. WHAT ARE THEY HIGH? 72 degrees Celsius maybe. It ain't no 72 degrees here! It's HOT! It's so hot the monkeys are flying north. It's so hot I saw satan trying to buy an air conditioner. It's so hot the monkeys are pickin' their nits with tongs. It is so hot the goats are giving pasturized milk. It's so hot the chow hall has starting serving Habaneros to cool people off. It's so hot that if there were trees, they'd be whistling for dogs. It's so hot I saw a hyena chasing a goat and they were both walking. It's so hot the METOC bubba's ordered an extension for the thermometer. It's so hot the Baboon's butts are red 'cause they sat down. It's so hot chickens are laying fried eggs. It's so hot Camels are giving evaporated milk. It's hot. It's darn hot. It's Africa hot.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

Cool As A Frosted Cucumber

It's hot. It's sweat dripping down your butt crack hot. This country goes from hot to hotter in a blink of an eye. Yesterday, it was only hot in the low 100's almost comfortable. Today, it has got to be at least 10-15 degrees hotter with a warm breeze to help out. The local skinnies say it will be about 130 by May. Glad I will be gone by then. I got a brand new box O'love from my Bride yesterday and I know she really loves me cause she sent me one of those "personal cooling systems" that Sharper Image sells. The darn thing works and it works well. I took a lotta grief about it around the office yesterday. The troops were teasing me that I had one of those explosive prisoner collars from the movie "Running Man". Didn't help that I shaved my head and they have yet to tire of calling me Bull from "Night Court". Apparently, a six foot three inch, 215lb shaved bald guy with a little A/C collar around his neck is funny. Personally, I think they are just intimidated by my manly manliness. Well, ya know what? The A/C ain't working in the building today!

LAUGH ALL YOU WANT I AIN'T THE ONE SWEATING LIKE THE TACO BELL DOG IN A KOREAN MARKET.......HA!

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD

Unfortunate Thoughts

Days are getting longer as the time to go home grows nearer. It is kind of bittersweet in a way. I really, really want to be back with my family; but, this has been the most fun deployment I have ever been on. It also has given me the greatest sense of accomplishment. By that I mean that I really feel the work we are doing is important. I have deployed before on both surface and sub-surface platforms but mainly it was just boredom interrupted by the occasional liberty port. I never felt like what we did was important. In fact, I am sure that if those deployments never occurred there would be no discernible affect on the face of day to day life or history. I can't say that for this deployment. In the last four and a half months there is a measurable number of trans-national terrorist that can no longer threaten our homes and families. There have been attempted terrorist operations that have failed to harm our homes and families because of the work we did. A definable impact is being made from our efforts. I go home in a month and half or so but there is still a huge amount of work left to do. I kind of wish I could stay to finish it however; the work left to do can be only be measured in terms of years or decades. The United States is at war. We can see that out here, it is as plain as the nose on your face, I am afraid I won't see that reflected back home. In fact, I know I won't. It wasn't there when I left so why should I expect it to be there when I get back. Never-the-less, the nation is at war. We are fighting the enemy in foreign places like Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and many others so we won't be fighting them in places like Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, New York, etc. The concept is simple: Take the war to the enemy. Does the American public care? More pertantly, DOES IT UNDERSTAND. The unfortunate side effect of taking the war to the enemy is that the war becomes very impersonal to the American people and unfortunately for us all, the American people have a very very short attention span. I feel a real sense of accomplishment with regard to my time spent here. In fact, I will never know all the things we accomplished but those accomplishments still belong to me and all the Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Airman who have served here and elsewhere. I hope I have more opportunities to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and even Operation Iraqi Freedom. Outside of my family it is the most important, worthwhile work I have ever done. I am afraid when I get home I will see a nation that doesn't understand or care about the threat it faces. That saddens me.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD