Forever And A Day! The Truth Of Acceptance, Is The Acceptance Of That Very Same Truth

A path that has never made itself clear to me has determined my whole life.  As an adult I have been consumed by taking care of my children.  On this day, when all of my children are gone, I miss them.  It is confusing, lonely and my life is thrown off track, but, I am beginning to gain traction once again.  My children are the best little people on earth.  Confident, Intelligent, Attractive and most important to me, well spoken.  I miss them so much.  My loneliness is painful, I can taste it, as it still does grab me from time to time.  As I unpack and look at the photographs, my heart is torn to pieces once again.  The ache of not having all of my offspring near me is causing me such pain, that agony steps in to bring me relief.  It is difficult to describe, but as I have done before in my life, I have had to move forward in spite of the circumstances surrounding the situation.  I do believe that it is best to let it all go and say that the time between then and now is just  to long and to realize or accept the truth.  They have moved on as well.  It must be in the Genes.   

I know, that what I believe, and trust in, will watch over my children with a very special eye.  An eye that is specially reserved for those who are not so easily swayed by worldly beliefs and religions.  I believe my children hold inside of them the key to open any door that they wish to explore.  It is a key kept in a safe place, a key for peace and a key for satisfaction.  A nonjudgmental spot for me and for them.  They will take destiny and change it to what they desire.  If I would wish anything for my children, I would wish for them to know happiness and that they will never experience loneliness.

"Flight From Death: The Quest For Immortality"

Transcendental Media Presents

A Patrick Shen and Greg Bennick Film

Official Trailer

Narrated by Gabriel Byrne (Usual Suspects, Vanity Fair, Miller's Crossing), this seven-time Best Documentary award-winning film (Silver Lake Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival) is the most comprehensive and mind-blowing investigation of humankind's relationship with death ever captured on film. Hailed by many viewers as a "life-transformational film," Flight from Death uncovers death anxiety as a possible root cause of many of our behaviors on a psychological, spiritual, and cultural level.

Following the work of the late cultural anthropologist, Ernest Becker, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Denial of Death, this documentary explores the ongoing research of a group of social psychologists that may forever change the way we look at ourselves and the world. Over the last twenty-five years, this team of researchers has conducted over 300 laboratory studies, which substantiate Becker's claim that death anxiety is a primary motivator of human behavior, specifically aggression and violence.

Flight from Death features an all-star cast of scholars, authors, philosophers, and researchers including Sam Keen, Robert Jay Lifton, Irvin Yalom, and Sheldon Solomon culminating in a film that is "not only thought-provoking but also entertaining and put together with a lot of class" (Eric Campos, Film Threat). Three years in the making and beautifully photographed in eight different countries, Flight from Death is "a stimulating, ultimately life-affirming film, filled with big ideas and revelatory footage" (Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMla61cOMtc


I found it in the 3-Day Rental section at the Public Library yesterday, 6-14-2012.

I Believe In A Coffee Cup. It Is A Religious Experience To Me

Death comes without an invitation.
No Note-card arrives for review or approval.

The date is set upon arrival,

know input, "Did you rival?"

To do what you must.

To succeed and accomplish each & every task,

takes "Mastery of Craft," not just class.

Attention to detail is required.

Being a Liar is not admired.

Laziness is retired.

Return you will,

to times of "Ill."

Regardless of your mess, it's called,

"Due process."

Deeds of Life were drawn,

Contracts to prove you're gone,

were signed and sealed,

with every deal.

Sin was an "At Will," wheel.

You turned.

Do not say, "When" or to ask, "Where"

this will only enhance your End.

"I almost wish I was there!"

Death Court that is,
if interested in "Where."

I have a fascination with it,

how flip-it you are with what creates those hard-core scars.

For failure of such a chore

is met with permanence and much more.

FLAIR! Should I dare to say,
"It does mark the way."

Death will say,

"Come here to stay, I'll escort you the entire way."

Believe what you wish.

Shout what you must

and when you realize that you are Mute,

you will know with certainty you've been dupped.

Looped and Ashamed,

you have no ready claim.

And in a speedy exchange

 you will wish for that Hot cup of coffee.

Lame or Stable,

I am only able,

 to give you something, it is not much, but it may touch.

A suggestion at best.

"I hope you never rest."

Just a personal thing, I accept owing.

A hot cup of coffee would make more sense

than a prayer to a being that you've never seen.

To expect that a god should come to your Wake,

when you neither announce or denounce the existence of:  "Shake."

Attending Mass would have been good.

At least, I think that you probably should,

practice the Religion that you preach with precision.

Pointing your fingers at what you call sinners.

To stand at your end,

without doing yourself in,

Shouting your plead,

makes as much sense,
as having no need.

 Some advice you can "SEE."

Just imagine, what it is at the
"Top of this Post"
and maybe:

You can redeem and have that chance just to be; Free!

________________________________________________________________________

My Coffee Cup Theory

I know that in this World today we see what is. Some of us run, some of us hide, some change their names and some disappear.

Try not to despair or judge with the Centuries that have passed or assume that through old belief's they will repair this rift in the Air.  Even "Time" has changed it's mind.  And Ancients seem "No where." Guidance for such deliverance of knowledge that comes from a different means, is not readily received by anyone, anywhere, if you know what I mean.

I am not a Man, nor would I ever want such responsibility to fall upon me, in any life chosen for me. One day I will be free of what has become so taxing to me and for me.  I have had to grow-up or advance in my years from a child-hood view, so, I would be afforded the opportunity to watch, listen and experience all that is new and seemed so strange.  So many arguments over which religion and how that or any other for that matter, practiced it's faith.  It became so confusing, I quit the entire religious belief to know that it was not worth the Wars that it was most obviously causing here on our own homefront, least of all the Wars it has already caused on every other bit of land on this God Forsaken Earth.

My original idea to do or accept Death and/or Life was presented. I watched and learned alone so that I could gain my own opinion of what I thought was "Right or Wrong," and "Good or Evil," "Religious or not," etc. I discovered so many inconsistencies amongst all that I witnessed, I decided I must only be able to find comfort in what is considered spiritual by nobody but me.  I found my solace in a coffee cup.

It is real.  It is always there. Of course I must wash it with soap and water, should it need a good cleaning,  And if it breaks I can go anywhere in the World and purchase a new one or old one.  The best part about my "Coffee Cup Theory" is that a coffee cup can hold all sorts of things other than coffee.   Hot or cold, even if they are chipped up a bit, they do the job they were meant to do, serve and they keep time too.  So, really, in essence, if treated with care and concern, a "Coffee Cup" can last a lifetime or even longer if necessary.  Just go to your local Thrift Store or Estate Sale and you will see what I speaking of.

Best of all, should you die and belief becomes waning because you cannot see the very thing you sunk all your hope in, you can always take a deep breath, after you take that long sigh and ask, "May I have that cup of coffee now.  I know exactly where I left my coffee cup, it's at home."  Death will answer and lacking anything better or good to say, I can tell you, "You will be on your way, coffee cup in hand or knot."  Should you not be able to pick your coffee cup up with the physical hand that you know it with, than, you shall know that a new and different dimension speaks.

I wish for you my best. However changes are necessary, and, unrest seems to be what will plague the indifference that is happening in each and every place today. There is no belief in anything anymore that brings peace to the land, or to the minds of Men.

I believe, we have lost sight of innocence as a way to fight what is wrong. All in an effort to make it right.

A Map Of Discretion As You Consider Being Discreet

Watch what changes your every thing!

The slightness of a nuance; A slight of hand.

It can stretch out the longevity of what seems endless,

but will have a reasonable means to do so.

To turn from what stares at you

cannot often be seen by the layman: 

But, felt by the sensitive, always.

Haunted by wrongs,

can be what confirms your rights.

Eventual evaluation of what is not said, but, can be heard,

carries a heavier term than that which a dying man utters in the moments before he passes through.

Ignoring the crimes of Humanity,

is not a criminal act.

It is an immeasurable account of what is not considered, 

but seemingly condoned by society.

Put effort into the balance of the health of Mankind,

ignore not the selfishness which shows no action.

Take note that it subtracts from the energy of thought,

and crushes the innocence of any idea's that are not their own.

Clear out the web of your chosen distraction from such things.

Better to stand alone!

To be bold!

Grow your Independence, enhance yourself as an individual.

This would be better than to fold and fall into the populous that such diabolic behavior demands.

Recklessness, Cowardness and Destruction of any and all

at the cost of life itself, is what such negativity will call.

Be what is different and you will prove to be

what most are naturally;

Unique!!

An original idea will come from only one thing.

The growth and acceptance of you.

Tomorrow is a new day and each moment in-between

is an opportunity for you to be anything you wish to be.

"Who are you meant to be?"

I believe you are meant to be, "YOU."

Just as you are.

With all that comes with you.

Good or Bad, it is for you to learn from.

With discretion as a "Rule of Thumb,"

and at a pace you set for yourself to resolve yourself.

You will discover and accomplish the purpose for which,

you were so thoughtfully made for when you first arrived.

All so that you may satisfy that inner desire,

that we seek out to know our worth.

It is in your imperfections,

that you will find your perfections.

Priceless and without measure,

and learn that it is the impossible that is the possible just waiting to happen.

For anyone.

Rest your mind upon knowing that the achievement of perfection,

is merely a state to understand how much more we need to learn.

To progress in our own lives,

or to consider the progression in another,

is simply to discover that which is staring you in the face.

Yourself

A true and faithful account of possibility,

not probability.

Look What I Found From My Vaults! Unpacking from Six Years Without A Place To Call Home....

My Thoughts

"When I was a kid, I just rode away on Freckles, my P.O.A.!!"

By Karen A. Placek

January 7th, 1999

Pain is a very real emotion. Laughter, tears and nothingness seem to carry the same definition.  My life has been a series of mistakes. Some people would call these learning experiences.   Others would say it was fate.  No matter how you explain away your time spent, the one who is left with all the emotion is yourself.

All I wanted for myself was to have a person care about me, as much as I cared about them.  I was under the impression that if you were strong, self-motivated and  truthful human being, you would attract the same.   I thought you then put complete trust and faith in that person.

In hind sight, I believe the process of trusting someone, the first glance, first date, first intimate moment, is as painful as the ending of a relationship.  The uncertainty, the fact you probably are terrified about each moment that passes.  When you think about first meeting your significant other, you think back to all the waiting.  Waiting for the phone calls, the letter's, the date's and simply waiting for the next unexpected moment to arrive.

Now, at the end, you are in the same waiting game.  Only this time, you wait for a solution.  A pain-killer of sorts. In my case, I have a pain in my guts which is not easily described.  I wait for the phone call, yet, when it arrives it carries all the disappointment of a lifetime.

In my mind, I think that talking will help, but, speaking to a person with no conviction of conscience, is like speaking to a person who would cut off his nose to spite his own face.  By responding in an insane manner, you are grasping onto the hope of the sanity found in the eve of the storm.  The only problem is you are still  in the storm and no matter which way you turn, it is disaster hitting you head on.

The question is; "What do you do with an end?"  Painful, rotten, no resolve!  My mind is in a constant swirl of pain.  It has been so easily said, "Time will heal."  All of us know this wonderful phrase, I say this with more than hatred, I say it with the rage I feel when I hear it said.  Time does not even quell the pain.  It does not disburse the lack of needing resolve, solutions and/or reason.

Church, Counselors, Shrinks?  Which of these will help?  Maybe for you, one of these things, will offer you what is needed and is most certainly worth your effort, I believe.  Sadly, for a select few of us, we cannot find refuge in an office or a chapel.  Some have to look deeper into themselves and grasp the pain in a metaphysical form.  We have to rip it out and not only kill it, but, with ceremoniousness effort try to dispose of it.

Even then, you have this gaping wound, hole or enormous void, that is seeping pain into your otherwise healthy self.  In this instance, we need to be the physician, nurse, priest, shrink, spiritual guide and the like.  Somehow, someway we have to heal.

I believe that power lies within our very selves to do such a feat.  In our own minds and hearts, the power of "Self" must overcome the destruction that another person, being or human has brought upon you.  Now, lets figure out how to do it.

I write this not for your health, but, I write it for my own.  You should read what I have written, not to feel my pain, but, to heal your own.  I know, I believe, I have the confidence to say, we will find that much needed common ground to stand upon.

That is what we shall strive for together, as a team, as human beings.  For humanity itself is failing.  It is in need of a progressive way to handle what seems to be coming down the pike so quickly, our end. It seems to be all due to the lack of concern for one another and state of being that so many people are currently in, cruelty has bound the innocent and negativity has ignited fear amongst so many people all over the World.

It is the fright of the unknown becoming known that has societies running scared, and, in so many different directions.  It is horrifying and shocking simultaneously.  I believe that this is the recipe for nothing more than the act of war and/or terrorism.  It will prove to be the outlet for such ill-regard.  All towards the inaction of how many human beings that are suffering the pain and agony of having no answer or resolution that can be found or even readily sought out.

I believe in me, I believe in you, or, at least I try, but, I believe that the loss of my best friend to suicide was a beginning to an end, which I am sure, will only prove to be an end that proves to be my beginning.

Dangerously Close To The Truth! And It Is Not Uncouth

To speak of what you know,

the casual will show,

a gentle wave good night,

to wake up what is right.

A play for those in places,

of cities and the like,

will only ration likelihood,

of ventures in the night.

A treasure that's not hidden,

in plain site for all to see.

Will cause the point that's driven,

for just the you in me.

Perplexed? It could be our ringer,

 the phone is always near.

To call the sexual stinger,

that delivers more than lear .

For in the moment of the thought,

I must not find you running.

Simply 'cause you say a lot,

can be your loss, "Oh dear!"

I wonder in the future,

if time will tell the truth.

Do Men of desire come wanting,

to watch or see the Due?

Some of us are viewers:

Voyeur's in disguise.

Some  will speak in words,

that make Men never lie.

Receive the education,

A diploma!  It does work!

A Decree of what's not writ,

can often lead to what is lit.

An appetite is filling,

with dungeons and the lairs.

Do you have what's telling,

to bank us 'round in there?

It does not matter what it costs,

for luxury is best.

When beauty of the mind,

expenses what is fine.

 Interest is not lacking,

for I will always stay.

It is the curiosity,

that fills my everyday. 

"With mischief! Did I say?"

To keep our selves free from sin,

to never argue from within.

Our deepest, darkest wish to be,

is with ourselves again.

So, on I march and think of tarts,

to see myself once more.

I only know what you will show,

an interest in what's been.

To a star,

as you should be,

a heavy drink won't do.

It only takes more life from you.

I only know that which I read,
and reading, I don't do,

'cause it's all so blue.

Tonight I feel like it's surreal,

to imagine a note in tune.

For sexual pleasure comes with measure,

should I wait for you?

The answer will evolve,

at the rate the questions asked.

For just like what is so simple,

it is the complex inside of us,
that I seem to trust.

It stops you from and makes the stakes,

that need to be driven in.
Not with force,
but with the grace of knowing where you've been.

The time is now, the War is here,

and nobody seems to tear.


It seems that when you do come in from Over Sea's
where you've been, that no one cares for thee.

So, if you know what to do,

then bless your needs with this.

You're not broken, you need an ear,

and blessed I am with Nature's hand, her plan for me to be.

To listen to all your own and personal feelings of,

 "God Damn!"


I didn't know about the show.
  Look at what happened to me.


I went to War and then came home
to find I'm wanted no more.


My mind, my thoughts,
they are so sore,
it's time to shut the door.

For even Death knows of this Lore,
a tale that has been told before.

STOP P.T.S.D. BEFORE IT STOPS YOU!!

My Theory

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER CAN BE PREVENTED IF:

IF YOU CAN TELL YOUR STORY.  

WITH THE TRUTH AND HONESTY THAT YOU FEEL, NOT ANY ONE TELLING YOU WHAT TO FEEL OR DO,

 AND, AT THE SAME TIME, RELATE IN DETAIL THE REALITIES OF WHAT YOU ENDURED.

I BELIEVE YOU MUST GO THROUGH THIS EXPERIENCE, AGAIN (sadly).

BY TELLING YOUR STORY OUT-LOUD, TO WHOM WILL UNDERSTAND, 

THEN EXPRESSING THE REALITY OF THE MOMENT YOU SUFFERED BECOMES REAL, NOT SURREAL.  

BY DOING THIS, YOU WOULD FIND THAT IT ADD'S THE CREDENCE OF PURPOSE TO YOUR LIFE

THAT I BELIEVE MIGHT BE MISSING. 

IS IMPORTANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH PRECISION,

 NO MATTER THE GRAPHIC NATURE OF THE ACTUAL OCCURRENCE.

IT IS IN THIS THOUGHT OR ACTION THAT YOU WILL FIND MY TRUTH IS ACCURATE.

 DO THIS TO A PERSON WHO WILL LISTEN AND NOT JUDGE YOU,

IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FASHION. 

OR, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

SUGGEST TO YOU ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT THEY SHOULD,

SHOCK & HORROR IN EXPRESSION,

NOT, TELL YOU TO, 

"GET OVER IT" 

&

 "NEVER SPEAK ON THOSE ACCOUNTS AGAIN, THEY'RE OVER."

WITH SADNESS AND DESPAIR,

I SAY, AT LEAST FOR MYSELF,

THEY ARE NEVER OVER, UNTIL NEVER.

I WOULD LISTEN,

I HAVE SUFFERED SEVERE P.T.S.D. SINCE CHILDHOOD.

I KNOW, I UNDERSTAND, MY HEAD HURTS TOO.

JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE CANNOT SEE THE INSIDE OF YOU,

DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU ARE NOT ALL TORN UP, SHOT-DOWN OR IN A PERMANENT HELL

CALLED, "PAIN & AGONY."

The Steadfast Foundation

(It's me.)

How James Blunt Saved Us From World War III

He questioned US general's order while serving in Balkans

By Tom Peck

Monday 15 November 2010

Kosovo, June 1999. Serbia has withdrawn from the campaign. Hundreds of thousands of refugees wait over the border to return to their homes. A column of 30,000 Nato troops is advancing towards Pristina airfield – a crucial strategic position.

Unexpectedly, the Russian forces, reach the airfield first; Russia, Serbia's patron, is hoping to stake a claim in the occupation. The soldiers are pointing their weapons at the incoming Allied troops. "Destroy!" orders the US general over the radio – instructions from the very top. World War Three is on the cards. Enter crooner James Blunt. Crisis averted.

Blunt was then 25, a captain in the Life Guards and the lead officer at the front of the Nato column. He risked a court martial by refusing to obey those orders from General Wesley Clark to attack the Russian forces.

In a BBC radio interview last night, Blunt said: "I was given the direct command to overpower the 200 or so Russians who were there. I was the lead officer, with my troop of men behind us... The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight.

"The direct command [that] came in from General Wesley Clark was to overpower them," he said. "Various words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as 'destroy' came down the radio. We had 200 Russians lined up pointing their weapons at us aggressively ... and we'd been told to reach the airfield and take a hold of it. That's why we were querying our instruction." The end result was a victory for British common sense. "Fortunately," Blunt recalled, "up on the radio came General Sir Mike Jackson [commander of the British forces], whose words were, 'I'm not going to have my soldiers start World War Three.' He told us, 'Why don't we encircle the airfield instead?' And after a couple of days the Russians there said, 'Hang on, we have no food and no water. Can we share the airfield with you?'"

Blunt told John Pienaar, on Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, that even without General Jackson's intervention he would have refused to carry out that order given by Wesley Clark, who was at that time the Supreme Allied Commander of Nato forces in Europe.

The stand-off lasted two weeks. Russian forces continued to occupy the airport, until eventually an agreement was secured for them to be integrated into peace-keeping duties, while remaining outside of Nato command. The row had seen General Sir Mike Jackson come close to offering his resignation. General Clark was eventually relieved of his position earlier than expected – his boss Hugh Shelton, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, later cited in a public debate "integrity and character issues". He went on to mount an unsuccessful challenge for the US presidential nomination for the Democrats in 2004.

Capt Blount, as he was then known, spent six years in the Army – two more than the minimum he was obliged to serve after taking an Army-sponsored place at Bristol University, where he studied aerospace engineering and sociology. He left the forces in October 2002, after standing guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother at her lying-in-state. He had only been back on civvy street a few months when he recorded his debut album, the soft rock Back to Bedlam, which contained the surprise hit song "You're Beautiful". (Some critics dismissed it as a cruel assault on rock sensibilities).

His song "No Bravery", on the same album and written in Kosovo in 1999, was taken up by the anti-Iraq war movement. Blunt has said he was deeply affected by his service in the Balkans. "For me, if anyone wants to be labelled pro-war, they would be obscene," he said. "War is an absolutely terrible, ghastly thing. I wouldn't bother describing the things we saw."

http://www.independent.co.uk

Gulf Times / Qutar : James Blunt, Press Conference And Signing Ceremony

James Blunt addressing fans in Doha yesterday. He is to perform for the first time in Qatar tonight as part of his global ‘Some Kind of Trouble’ tour 

Pop singer Blunt vows to regale Doha audience 

Publish Date: Tuesday,14 February, 2012, at 12:48 PM Doha Time 

By Peter Townson

Staff Reporter

British pop singer James Blunt yesterday expressed his excitement ahead of this evening’s concert in Doha, saying that he was looking forward to getting to know more about the country during his first visit here.

Blunt is set to perform at the InterContinental Doha beach, with around 4,000 fans expected to attend the Valentine’s Day concert.

During a press conference and signing ceremony before the event, the singer said that he was keen to get to know more about Qatar during his brief stay here.

“I have friends who live in Qatar and so I know a little bit about it from them,” he said, adding “I don’t know much about this place, but I know that my friends are here and they both have an amazing time.”

Blunt is best known for hits such as You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover, which catapulted him to the top of the charts in 2005. Since then he has been a mainstay of the pop music scene, with his acoustic, folk-style pop music proving popular around the world.

The album ‘Back to Bedlam’ which features both of his most famous songs, was the biggest selling album of the ‘noughties’ in the UK, ensuring the singer’s place in pop history.

He said he was in Qatar as part of his worldwide tour for his latest album, ‘Some Kind of Trouble’ which has seen him perform during more than 220 concerts across the globe.

“My music is not necessarily just the stuff you hear on the radio,” he said, explaining that he has brought a band with him to Doha, and promising “a big show.”

“I’m known for some sad slow songs but the concert we give is full of a life, full of energy and I have a blast when I’m on stage – we have a lot of fun,” he said, explaining “but we are totally dependent on the audience being involved otherwise it would just be a dress rehearsal.”

“I don’t actually know which songs I’ll play, but I’ve got plenty to choose from – you’ll have to come to the concert!” he added.

He did promise that he will play his most famous hits, for any fans who might be worried about a complete change in style. Blunt also spoke about the types of music he likes to listen to, referring to some of his favourite musicians.

“I love all kinds of music, and especially music from the 70’s like Elton John, Leanard Cohen, Cat Stevens. Paul Simon, bands like Fleetwood Mac, and David Bowie,” he noted adding that living in Ibiza has also increased his appreciation of dance music and some of the biggest DJ’s at the moment.

Blunt also mentioned the upcoming Yusuf Islam concert in Doha. “I am a great fan of Cat Stevens and a friend of his too,” he said, expressing his disappointment at having to miss his show on Thursday. “I really recommend that you go and see Yusuf in action as he is a phenomenal musician and a huge inspiration to me,” he urged.

Blunt, who served in the British army for six years, said that he would still be a military man if it were not for his career in music.

He expressed his respect for peacekeeping efforts and the importance of such work, before condemning the modern media for trying to highlight the differences between cultures.

“I don’t think it matters what race or religion, what colour what creed, what sex, or what sexuality - I think we share the same hopes and fears and that’s what drives me as a musician,” he said, adding that he feels a motivation to share these experiences with an audience, and to reach “out to people on equal terms.”

This proved a particularly popular sentiment with the crowd of fans who turned out to meet the singer during his signing ceremony, and the friendly, self-deprecating demeanour he displayed throughout is certain to prove a success on the stage this evening. For couples looking for a way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the singer promises to provide a few memorable moments to enjoy, while his promise of a lively and exciting show will also entertain other members of the audience.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp

cu_no=2&item_no=486535&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

News From James Blunt: Third Time Lucky In Afghanistan

2am departure from RAF Brize Norton (Mon 27 Feb)

By James Blunt (Formerly Capt J H Blount LG)

I am, as I write, nervously seated in an RAF Tristar circling over Dubai. The plane came into service in 1972 - over 40 years ago. It has gone out of service now, with me aboard it, at 33,000 feet.

Our journey had started 13 hours earlier, at 2am from RAF Brize Norton. Unusually for the hour, the Movements Officer was still on duty to oversee our departure, I was informed. We had arrived at the Oxfordshire base by taxi, were escorted across the foggy, orange-lit runway passed the ageing aircraft in which I find myself now, and led into a small waiting room with some coffee, sandwiches and a silent Brigadier reading his Kindle in the corner.

The more important cargo was in the large hall next door - a hundred or so soldiers, who we were accompanying as they deployed to Afghanistan. Looking at them, a memory from a past life flooded over me. I have been here, some 13 years earlier, en route to Kosovo.

Tonight, we flew via Hanover to pick up more soldiers, via Cyprus to refuel and on to our final destination - Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. As we took off on the final leg from RAF Akrotiri, my keyboard player sitting beside me said cheerfully, "Well it looks like you will get there this time! Third time lucky, huh?"

Third time. I have travelled with soldiers en route to Afghanistan three times. I have spent seven full days in the hands of those whose job it is to get men and equipment into battle. I have done so of course unpaid and at the request of the Armed Forces. And every single time, myself and the soldiers I have been travelling with have failed to get there.

The first time, we'd flown from London to Dubai, and sat on a runway for three days while they tried unsuccessfully to fix our broken aircraft or find another. The soldiers I was with said they were very used to it. In a way, they didn't mind - it was three less days being shot at, but for the soldiers who were at the other end being picked up to come home with wives and girlfriends anxiously waiting for them, and until recently, those lost days cut from their official R&R (Rest & Relaxation) allowance, it must have been wildly irritating. And for those soldiers going into battle that day without their buddies who are delayed in Dubai, it must be life-threatening, to the extent that the Special Forces soldiers I was with went online to buy civilian flights into Kandahar with their own money.

My second attempt was at Christmas over a year ago. Snow was putting added pressure on the task of transporting manpower. Check-in had moved, along with the soldiers, from Brize Norton to East Midlands airport, but boarding was initially delayed due to difficulties with loading the packed meals (I struggled to fully understand this, and can't believe it was true. Surely just give the guys their packed meals as they climb the steps? But that was the reason given for the initial delay). When we were eventually bussed across the apron, I saw an old charter plane in the distance and laughed internally at whichever poor buggers were going to end up on it. We did. For seven hours. Of course it didn't work, so a replacement part was sent for and flown in, and we stayed on board because there weren't enough buses to take us to the terminal, so the crew had to stay on board with us, so that when the part had arrived and been fitted and the plane was fixed - the crew had done too many hours and the flight was cancelled. I was told it took the soldiers three days to get into theatre that time. They were paid during this time, by you and I, the taxpayer, and I'm sure they're grateful. But I'm also sure it's not how you and I wanted our tax money spent.

And now here I am, with more soldiers, failing to get to a war we have been fighting like this for 10 years. And although the military says they are under-funded, and more funds have been sent, I have to wonder if the funds are being spent in the right place? Sure, the soldiers are much better equipped, I can see that. But they can be as well dressed as you like sitting waiting on an airfield in the middle of nowhere, but it's not going to scare the Taliban that much. And you can ask me to come and raise (or perhaps lower, in my case) morale as much as you like, but if you can't get them home to see their families on time, you've done that for me.

And so, as I write to you more than six miles above the desert in the Middle East, we learn from the ever-calm Loadmaster that this iconic old aircraft we are in, the same era as the Triumph TR6, that we bought second-hand to get us to the Falklands War in 1982 from British Airways, has got an air leak. It has become very cold and we've put combat jackets and overcoats on, and eventually flown the four hours back to Cyprus to land. The soldiers were led away to a hanger for their overnight stay - this happens often enough that the hanger is pre-prepared as temporary accommodation.

The next day we are led out to a different Tristar which takes off, but soon develops a problem with the undercarriage. It won't close properly and after several attempts, we fly out to sea to dump our fuel before returning to Cyprus. If I'm honest, I'm scared. I don't need to be here. I have a very happy life on a safer kind of tour. Maybe this is why I left the army to inflict you all with my music? Blame the RAF. Right now, I blame Catherine Jenkins (she's on the plane too). For a second day in a row, we're circling in a knackered old plane hoping to get down alive.

And as we land, and say we've had enough, and get a Monarch flight home the next day, leaving a bunch of Great British soldiers sitting on the runway beside two broken planes that should have been decommissioned well over 10 years ago, and as two hundred soldiers sit in Camp Bastion whiling away the hours hoping their wives frustrations aren't boiling over into anger, and as the few thousand remaining soldiers in theatre advance to make contact with an enemy you and I will never meet, in a country I will never go to, at a cost in life and limb to a brave few and vast sums of money to the nation at a time when we hope our institutions are spending money as wisely as possible, I ask what's going wrong? Why can't we deliver people to the front line as required? Have we bought too many fast jets and not enough transport aircraft? Is it down to mis-management of resources, or painfully enacted bureaucracy at senior level? I don't know. I know I can see huge inefficiencies in deploying man-power and huge amounts of money being wasted. The fuel we dumped over the Mediterranean was worth fifty-five thousand pounds at the pumps alone.

I know that every soldier, airman, Non-Commissioned Officer and Officer that I met was professional, hard-working and keen. Every single one was charming and a pleasure to meet. Every single one made me proud to have met them. But every single one was also resigned. Resigned to the fact that someone, somewhere has constructed a vastly expensive system that simply doesn't deliver.

Either that, or they REALLY don't want me to sing to them in Afghanistan.

Broken down in RAF Akrotiri after developing an air leak over Dubai. (Mon 27th Feb)

24 Hours later, we have a new (well, different) 40 year old Tristar.

After takeoff, we had a problem with the undercarriage and had to dump fuel before we could land

Two broken 40 year old Tristars

http://www.jamesblunt.com/news,third-time-lucky-in-afghanistan_119.htm?pg=1&f=all

From The Vaults : James Blunt: Return to Kosovo - Revisiting the Villages

This is why he wrote this song.

No Bravery Lyrics

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery, 
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families' turn to die.

A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel to accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate
says, he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.



[- From :http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/james-blunt-lyrics/no-bravery-lyrics.html -]

How James Blunt saved us from World War 3

Singer questioned US general's order while serving in Balkans

BY TOM PECK  MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2010

Kosovo, June 1999. Serbia has withdrawn from the campaign. Hundreds of thousands of refugees wait over the border to return to their homes. A column of 30,000 Nato troops is advancing towards Pristina airfield – a crucial strategic position.

Unexpectedly, the Russian forces, reach the airfield first; Russia, Serbia's patron, is hoping to stake a claim in the occupation. The soldiers are pointing their weapons at the incoming Allied troops. "Destroy!" orders the US general over the radio – instructions from the very top. World War Three is on the cards. Enter crooner James Blunt. Crisis averted.

Blunt was then 25, a captain in the Life Guards and the lead officer at the front of the Nato column. He risked a court martial by refusing to obey those orders from General Wesley Clark to attack the Russian forces.

In a BBC radio interview last night, Blunt said: "I was given the direct command to overpower the 200 or so Russians who were there. I was the lead officer, with my troop of men behind us... The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight.

"The direct command [that] came in from General Wesley Clark was to overpower them," he said. "Various words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as 'destroy' came down the radio. We had 200 Russians lined up pointing their weapons at us aggressively ... and we'd been told to reach the airfield and take a hold of it. That's why we were querying our instruction." The end result was a victory for British common sense. "Fortunately," Blunt recalled, "up on the radio came General Sir Mike Jackson [commander of the British forces], whose words were, 'I'm not going to have my soldiers start World War Three.' He told us, 'Why don't we encircle the airfield instead?' And after a couple of days the Russians there said, 'Hang on, we have no food and no water. Can we share the airfield with you?'"

Blunt told John Pienaar, on Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, that even without General Jackson's intervention he would have refused to carry out that order given by Wesley Clark, who was at that time the Supreme Allied Commander of Nato forces in Europe.

The stand-off lasted two weeks. Russian forces continued to occupy the airport, until eventually an agreement was secured for them to be integrated into peace-keeping duties, while remaining outside of Nato command. The row had seen General Sir Mike Jackson come close to offering his resignation. General Clark was eventually relieved of his position earlier than expected – his boss Hugh Shelton, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, later cited in a public debate "integrity and character issues". He went on to mount an unsuccessful challenge for the US presidential nomination for the Democrats in 2004.

Capt Blount, as he was then known, spent six years in the Army – two more than the minimum he was obliged to serve after taking an Army-sponsored place at Bristol University, where he studied aerospace engineering and sociology. He left the forces in October 2002, after standing guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother at her lying-in-state. He had only been back on civvy street a few months when he recorded his debut album, the soft rock Back to Bedlam, which contained the surprise hit song "You're Beautiful". (Some critics dismissed it as a cruel assault on rock sensibilities).

His song "No Bravery", on the same album and written in Kosovo in 1999, was taken up by the anti-Iraq war movement. Blunt has said he was deeply affected by his service in the Balkans. "For me, if anyone wants to be labelled pro-war, they would be obscene," he said. "War is an absolutely terrible, ghastly thing. I wouldn't bother describing the things we saw."