人生行路 — The Journey of Life

Today’s Sunday edition of Stars and Stripes reports that Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN), introduced H.R. 4497 earlier this month looking to end gambling on U.S. military bases overseas. The bill’s short title is Warrant Officer Aaron Walsh Stop DOD-Sponsored Gambling Act, so named for an Army Warrant Officer who committed suicide over a gambling addiction that the military apparently never treated.

This looks mostly like a fundamental misunderstanding of why the armed forces provide slot machines and alcohol on base: it keeps the problems on base as opposed to out among foreign nationals. Nobody’s trying to ban alcohol or tobacco from military exchanges or bars, and those combined kill far more of our people and administrative resources than gambling. If he didn’t get the treatment, figure out why and address the issue there.

Navy Times all over Kitty Hawk like a cheap Hong Kong suit

Other than the whole Hong Kong rejection deal, the Navy Times has had Kitty Hawk in the news twice on morale issues. First was some sort of movie ban. The second is an article on individual liberty plans (ILPs), which according to local rumor here in Sasebo have been the trend in Yokosuka for quite a while now. IT2 “Jim” has more detail in multiple posts.

Sasebo shooting suspect kills himself

The big news Friday night for personnel on duty was the very real possibility that they’d be stuck on base for the weekend while Sasebo police try to find a Japanese man who came into a sports club (gym) with a shotgun and started shooting at people. Two dead, six injured. He killed himself outside a Catholic church. One article which I can’t find right now speculated that organized crime was creeping into Sasebo from Fukuoka, but this looks like an isolated case of psychological illness.

Naval Academy ex-Chaplain gets 12 years confinement (10 suspended) in plea agreement

I couldn’t find much detail on the sentence, but perhaps I could get the record of trial on this one and find out. Nonetheless, the LA Times seemed to have the most detail available, including a remark where his defense counsel says he’ll probably serve 18 months. One assumes that the journalists completely skipped over the term “dismissal.” Newsweek, meanwhile, commits the cardinal sin of calling a midshipman, “cadet.”

Something happened just after I made that last post. By the way, I was at a bar’s patio when writing it just as I am now, though now the bar is closed. Some guys with a few too many in their system started talking about Leviticus, and it went on from there. I had this guy wearing a strip club t-shirt going from being about to sock me (one reason being because he thought I was looking at Christian porn). to just pouring his heart out trying to help me keep my faith. He had already been a Christ follower and had fallen away. I broke down just as he did. God’s molding hurts.

What planning and execution? God just plain did it.

The last time I had a drink of alcohol was back in January. It was only a sip, but I have to say that Shiner Bock was a good choice. Quite tasty. But I don’t trust myself with beer. I did end up at a military social where I accidentally took the wrong glass and had to spit the beer back out about a month ago, but that doesn’t count.

And while externally it would be viable to take the high moral road on this one by not drinking, that isn’t the case at all for anyone who has had a problem with pornography. Simply put, with pornography, there is no such thing as responsible use. And Jesus drank. With that said, I will probably never enter a porn show to hand out bibles like XXXChurch does. Without fail, the moment that I think I’ve beaten this is the eve of a fall. There’s my humility check.
My last experience “clubbing” was back in New Caledonia. I ended up escorting a drunk guy around making sure he didn’t get in too much trouble, and then got into an argument and near-fight…with the other non-drinking guy. It took a lot of energy out of me. Still yet, is there any theological difference between being there for people in a bar and being there for people in a porn show? I’m not sure. And that’s not to discount that sexual temptations exist in bars.

I remember my skepticism when I heard about friends entering gay hangouts in Tucson on a regular basis just to be Jesus’ love to them. It’s a skepticism I now regret. The reason this post is named as such is that the primary visible commonalities between the Navy and college are alcohol and sex. Plain and simple. And the fact is that Jesus isn’t just needed in porn shows. He’s needed in the bars, too. The actual planning and execution is going to depend upon some prayer, though.