As the man said ...

"Vanity of vanities, sayeth the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." -- Ecclesiastes 1:2.
Or maybe these days: "All is Narcissism." That's what this stuff is all about -- "I think" or "I believe." Truth is, most people don't really care what I think. My wife, sure, but she's my wife. I care what she thinks. She is, after all, the most intelligent woman in the world.

This is the "About Me" part. Native Texan. Lived outside Texas four years in the Army, including 1965-66 with 1st Cavalry Division and 2nd Infantry Division in Korea; 1966-67 with 11th Armored Cavalry at Fort Meade, Md., and in Vietnam; 1968 with 6th Armored Cavalry again at Fort Meade, as well as 2 1/2 years attending Harding College and Arkansas State University. BS journalism (appropriate, the BS part). Worked for five daily newspapers in Texas. Fired by three (so I must have been doing something right), twice for insubordination, the third time in an out with the old, in with the new housecleaning.

Priscilla and I have been married 37 years. We have three children. Michael is a platoon sergeant with an Army aviation brigade, two Iraq tours and he's going to Afghanistan this summer; Kathleen is an Air Force captain and RC-135 navigator, three deployments to a desert location we're not supposed to identify; and Casey is a squad leader in a Stryker brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, on his second Iraq tour.

Priscilla and I live in Arkansas, a few miles south of Little Rock. She is a Girl Scouts VP. I hope we go back to Texas when Priscilla retires. But that's a few years away.

I had 12 years with the Texas Army National Guard, including almost nine years as an Active Guard/Reserve training NCO. The other years I was in intelligence, 18 months as brigade-level S2 NCO. A cerebral aneurysm in 1986 brought problems. Surgery successful, in that I am alive. The Army put me out after diagnosis of "Organic mental disorder, characterized by depression, emotional lability and personality decompensation." I'm still not sure what those last two are.

I chose the name Ittai because Ittai was a soldier who took seriously his oath to David. In 2 Samuel 15, David fled Jerusalem upon the rebellion of Absalom. As those who remained with the king filed before him, David saw Ittai, his soldiers and their families. David said to Ittai, "Wherefore goest thou also with us? ... Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? ... return now and take thy bretheren ..." Ittai replied, "As the Lord liveth, and my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in life or death, even there also thy servant will be."

I hope to write what might be called essays, but more like columns I once wrote for newspapers -- reflections on kids and family in general, Vietnam things, cross-post from other sites. Enjoy the reading. Drop a note now and then.

SgtBob