Justin McRoberts concert at Biola

Hey folks. Justin McRoberts will be in concert soon and we would love help spreading the word! Please forward or copy/paste this HTML email to everyone you know and tell them don’t miss this! This will be a great night!  Share the love - See you there!

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Thursday January 20th, Biola University

Student Union Building - SUB

13800 Biola Ave

7pm, $5



phone: 530-828-1296 // info: yl_wdlf_guy@hotmail.com

www.justinmcroberts.com

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JUSTIN’S NEWEST ALBUM, Intersections, NOW AVAILABLE!

http://www.justinmcroberts.com/store

In response to a discussion post...

Ryan B. M______ on Thursday, December 30, 2004 at 2:37 AM -0800 wrote:

"Soldiers and marines might support what the nation is doing, but what about the
National Guard? If you laughed at that question, you probably didn't realize
that the majority of people getting killed over there are the untrained National
Guard soldiers tossed into the fray."

First of all, “the majority of people getting killed over there are the untrained National Guard soldiers” does not support the claim that the National Guard does not support the nation.

I would also challenge you to find the statistics to back up your statement.

(At this point, I bring out the soapbox, so if you are only interested in the basic contents of this thread disregard the following.)

There is a great deal of ignorance demonstrated in this statement and unfortunately I feel that it may be perpetuated if I don’t address it.

First of all, National Guard Soldiers and Reservists (I am one) receive the same training as the Active duty portion at this point in time. There was a great deal of concern about troops that were going from the old Post-Gulf War I "Weekend warrior" mentality to a “combat-ready” mentality. Part of this concern stemmed from the question “Is current training up to snuff for the War on Terror?” but this notion has been rapidly addressed by the Pentagon. My unit, of which 325 members are actually deploying today, will be attending a month and a half "train-up" period prior to deployment to Germany in order to integrate current training skills to the equipment and environment that they will be moving in on. In addition, from a medical perspective, most members of my unit work in civilian hospitals and, therefore, bring BETTER medical qualifications to the unit than just the military medical training. Obviously, this is a unique situation and not one concerning combat or tactics, but it should help to dispel the notion that NG and Reserve troops are untrained or unqualified.

On the other hand, there remains an equipment issue, such as armor for HMMWV (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) and other vehicles but that is a logistical issue that is also being dealt with, it just takes longer to manufacture armor for vehicles than it does to teach soldiers to check under bodies before rolling them over because of booby traps (a skill that was learned the hard way during the early days of Iraq and immediately added to our training curriculum during my Combat Medic School, along with a great deal of other lessons learned from dealing with enemy prisoners of war [EPW’s])

On a personal note, I resent the implication of "the untrained national guard soldiers tossed into the fray" Every soldier, Active, NG or Reserve, had to sign a contract in order to enter, regardless of preconceptions about weather or not they would be mobilized and sent to serve overseas. They knew or at least should have known what they were getting into; I did and while it is hard to communicate the complexities of the military training and education system, suffice it to say that you get what you put into it, just like any other education system. Therefore, there are very few "untrained National Guard soldiers" left in rotation and their existence is their own fault.

Continued...

Well I said that I would continue my post... so here goes.

In addition to my Probability and Statistics (which was really good today and quite funny) I am taking a unit of Prosection. That is, Dissection of a Cadaver. Yeah! Dead People! The individual that I have the privilege of working on is affectionately named Blanch. That is that she is quite pale in color. Or at least most of her is. The part of the body that I am working on, the head and neck, is quite dark, probably from post-mortem lividity. I am continuing the work that was started by the students before me who worked on the trunk of the body. They left the trapezium muscle (the big one on the back and shoulder) kind of in pieces so I had to start by sorting out all of those fibers and then working up further. I wound up actually being too deep and going through the trapezium but right above the next layer. I made it up too C1 (the first of the cervical vertebrae) with the muscle before I went back to fish the trap out of the skin layer that I had removed. It was a real pain to separate that thin little layer of muscle out when it’s all floppy like that.

The formaldehyde fumes got to me once or twice but after a while they kind of dissipated. There is a smell to it all, but it really isn’t bad though it seems to linger on the shirt I was wearing. I get really weird looks when I say that. People really don’t like dead people and I gets me to thinking. Does being in the presence of a dead person cause people to consider their own mortality? Is that why it upsets people so much? Biologically and chemically there is nothing really “gross” about it. The contents of that cadaver bag are probably less “gross” than steak package that has sat in your fridge for 3 days. Is it the fact that at one time it was a person? Is it still a person? It is my personal opinion that the soul is really the person and therefore when it leaves, the body is just an empty shell.

I guess there are certain circles that would believe that the resurrection that awaits us as Christians is a literal resurrection of the body and therefore, dissection of ones body would get in the way of said resurrection. I would have to say that requires a rather limited view of God’s power. If he can conquer death, I think that he can re-assemble our bodies if need be. To be quite honest, for someone who is intent on studying the human body, I know very little about what the Bible says about it and its uses and necessity in the “big picture of things.” However, I maintain the view that there are times when the body needs to be healed in order for the soul to be and the converse as well.

Wow, this has become a really long post and covered quite a bit of ground theologically and anatomically. Feel free to weigh in on any of the above issues and/or questions.

I am alive!

Well it has been a while since I have posted. I have commented on many people's posts, so I figured that I should do the same.

First things first. It is really lonely to be in a single over interterm. Part of it is the fact that I am doing stuff from 8 a.m. to about 4 or 4:30 p.m. I don't get to hang out with the other guys when they get done at 1 or 2 p.m. and when I get done I still have about 2-3 hours of Statistics homework. Currently I am carving into my personal time by writing this. It is good to debrief and de-stress for a moment.

"Intro to Prob and Stats" is going well. It was a bit interesting today. We finished a chapter, and in summation the professor started to talk about different ways to improve the accuracy of a statistic, how further investigation can provide needed information to clarify ambiguity, and then he wound up talking about epistimology and the risks of further knowledge.
Well I thought I was going to write longer... but I am getting rather tired. So I think that I will nap and then take care of my Homework after dinner. So long!