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Matt Farwell

all you never knew you needed to know

My Dad Gets a Shoutout in the Huffington Post

“Then there’s Gary Farwell, who tried to get a gold star license plate from the state of Idaho to recognize his son’s sacrifice for his country. Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Gary Marc Farwell died in 2010 in a military helicopter crash in Germany that killed two other soldiers. He had served four combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan flying Black Hawk helicopters with the U.S. military. Yet his application for a gold star license plate was rejected by the State of Idaho, because his son had not died in combat.

Are the deaths of military service members like Schumann and Farwell - who swore an oath to protect and defend this country, who were doing their duty at the time of their deaths - any less important or honorable? Do their families grieve any less than the families of those who die in combat? Is it right for society to honor people only for how their lives are taken - and not for how they are lived?

The Schumanns and the Farwell are not alone. While I was heartened to see the White House expand its policy in 2011 to send presidential condolence letters to the families of those who die by suicide while stationed in combat zones, the policy continues to exclude the two-thirds of families whose military loved ones die by suicide in other locations.”

    • #gold star
    • #army
    • #taps
    • #military
    • #memorial days
  • 4 days ago
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Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?
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Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?

    • #star wars
    • #Boba Fett
    • #bounty hunter
    • #NYC
  • 4 days ago
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Afghanistan: The Taliban’s High-Tech Urban Strategy
By Ron Moreau, thedailybeast.com
In Newsweek Mag­a­zineThe guerrillas use teams of young techies to attack Afghan cities.Qari Jamal has returned safe­ly from a recon­nais­sance mis­sion in Kabul. Short, thin, and immac­u­late­ly dressed, the fresh-faced 25-year-old relax­es…

http://flpbd.it/AOQFx so, this article basically says that the hipster taliban kids use the digital technology to plan attacks in cities. whoop-de-dooh. isn’t it basically the same thing, um, people have always done? scout the objective, determine a weakness, make a plan, rehearse etc. it ain’t new, fundamentally, even if it gives you the chance to obliquely reference taliban social media mavens. 

i don’t know why this annoyed me so much.
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Afghanistan: The Taliban’s High-Tech Urban Strategy
By Ron Moreau, thedailybeast.com

In Newsweek Mag­a­zine

The guerrillas use teams of young techies to attack Afghan cities.

Qari Jamal has returned safe­ly from a recon­nais­sance mis­sion in Kabul. Short, thin, and immac­u­late­ly dressed, the fresh-faced 25-year-old relax­es…

http://flpbd.it/AOQFx so, this article basically says that the hipster taliban kids use the digital technology to plan attacks in cities. whoop-de-dooh. isn’t it basically the same thing, um, people have always done? scout the objective, determine a weakness, make a plan, rehearse etc. it ain’t new, fundamentally, even if it gives you the chance to obliquely reference taliban social media mavens. i don’t know why this annoyed me so much.

  • 4 days ago
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Blimp over Camden.  Helga Viking Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic
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Blimp over Camden.

Helga Viking Lens, Ina’s 1969 Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

    • #Hipstamatic
    • #Helga Viking Lens
    • #Ina's 1969 Film
    • #No Flash
  • 1 week ago
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No one wants to join the Gold Star Mothers as a member, because that means your kid got killed in service to the United States. Go and help this film get made. Give a kickstarter donation. 

    • #veterans
    • #kia
    • #mothers
    • #gold star mothers
    • #film
    • #kickstarter
  • 3 weeks ago
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    • #veterans
    • #propaganda
    • #army
    • #healthcare
    • #war
    • #bonds
  • 3 weeks ago
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Scrivener is coming to the iPad. Rejoice

If you’re a writer or a student & you’re not familiar with the software company Literature & Latte, get over to their website and download a copy of Scrivener.

What? You’d rather not?

    • #scrivener
    • #writer
    • #app
    • #ipad
    • #holy
    • #shit
    • #mac
  • 3 weeks ago
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Kickstarter - They Shall Live

This has incredible potential to tell a story that needs to be told about the barely visible scars war leaves behind. 

  • 1 month ago
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Source: eyeonspringfield

  • 1 month ago > eyeonspringfield
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Paul Fussell, on life after the Army

  • "I became a conspicuous non-joiner, and have never happily joined any group since. I became obsessed with the imagined obligation to go it alone, absolutely, and teamwork became for me a dirty word. I became irrationally angry at any attempt to coerce me into group behavior or to treat me as if all human beings are the same.... I was now convinced that my duty was criticism, meaning not carping, but the perpetual obligation of evaluation."
  • 2 months ago
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Article II, Section 9 US Constitution

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

  • 2 months ago
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My Dad is in the NYTimes

    • #farwell
    • #gold star families
    • #army
    • #duke27
  • 2 months ago
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And he didn't even see the 90's

  • "If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world." Nikolai Tesla's response to agitators seeking to divide Yugoslavia along ethnic lines.
  • 2 months ago
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  • 2 months ago
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Cormac McCarthy "No Country for Old Men"

  • "Anyway, you never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. I was too young for one war and too old for the next one. But I seen what come out of it. You can be patriotic and still believe that some things cost more than what they're worth. Ask them Gold Star mothers what they paid and what they got for it. You always pay too much. Particularly for promises. There aint no such thing as a bargain promise. You'll see. Maybe you done have."
  • 3 months ago
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These are occasional dispatches from my past, present and future. afghanistan from a grunt's eye-view folds into the post-war blues with some strange twists along the way back home.

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