Now with that said let us begin. I won't give too much away but I will say that the movie and the book are a bit different but the beauty is they get the same true story across the screen. The movie focuses mainly on the fire fight of the four SEALs on Operation Redwing. In the movie and in real life, the battle did not last long. Three brave and valiant men were killed but in the process they took out over 100 Taliban fighters. They were torn to pieces and shot lethally yet continued to fight with vigor until God took them away.
The book spends a huge portion describing SEAL training, Hell Week and the extreme duties it takes to become a Navy SEAL. One chapter is dedicated to the fight and the rest of the book is Marcus Luttrell's nearly 6 day battle to get out of the Hindu Kush mountains where Taliban were literally hunting him. I add that because I read a review where someone was mad about that and said Luttrell was just trying to talk about himself and that he was being narcissistic.
To that person I would like to say please kindly shut the f*** up. That is how it went. When the men were attacked it happened quick and it happened fast. You cannot spend too much time describing people tragically and heroically dying before it gets depressing. The book also focuses a lot of time discussing how he got out of there because he was stuck in those mountains for NEARLY 6 DAYS! seriously people 6 days pf being broken, battered and shot.
With all of that said the book was an excellent read and the movie compliments it very well. I will warn you that the movie and the book are quite a bit different but the movie has to be. In order to portray the heroics of SEAL Team 10 the movie had to make changes. The way the movie made me feel is exactly the way the book made me feel. When you can take a movie and make people believe they watched real and raw emotion of a battle like that then you did a good job so please don't get caught up on the differences. Especially since the families of the men were involved and approved of it.
Last but not least this book or valor, sacrifice and dedication made me extremely proud to share my home state with state with Petty Officer Danny Dietz. Even after getting mortally shot he continued to fight and provide cover until the life was completely gone from him. It is an absolute honor to have his memorial here and a highway dedicated to him. He makes me have an unwavering patriotism to my country and those that serve it. Thank you to the 19 men who paid with their lives that summer day in 2005. I owe my freedom to you. Also thank you to Robbi Floyd, Andy Montoya, Nena Philips, Verity Rogers, Chip Lowe, David Holter (my awesome grandpa), Al Clark and Adam Krueger for your service to your country. If I missed anyone I am deeply sorry and I want to thank you as well.
Now I would like to welcome you to my stories. Please enjoy. I am holding back tears and can't write about the military and the book anymore.
28 March
2014
Patriot
Honor and
duty,
You wear with
pride.
Valor and
obligation,
It's how you
serve us.
Though not a
soldier,
I stand by
your side,
To thank you
with all my heart
For your
service to us.
I cheer for
your homecomings
And mourn
your losses,
You make me
love my country,
I am a
patriot because of your sacrifices.
To the men
and women
Who serve our
country,
I am so proud
of you
And salute
your bravery.
29 March
2014
The
Bachelorette and the Bacon
This day 2
years ago was the day my friends were going to help me celebrate the
fact that I was about to be married. Now how would one go about
celebrating such a thing? Well first of all, we went and had manis
and pedis while we sipped champagne. I had a bridesmaid who was under
21 so I wanted to make sure we did some fun, minor friendly
activities. We had an absolutely charming time and my 2 best friends
were being absolute champs when it came to dealing with me, the super
stressed out bride.
After we got
our nails done and handed out “Bride” and “Team Bride”
t-shirts made by my Maid-of-Honor, we headed downtown for some dinner
and dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. I must say that being in a
bachelorette party makes you the cool kid. Everyone wants to say hi
to you and most people are genuinely kind, but more on that later.
After a special congratulatory piece of delicious cheesecake a a
couple of cocktails, we headed to the hotel to relax and drink some
more champagne before we headed out for the night.
This is
where is begins to get hazy. You see I was already pretty warm and
toasty come bar time and we were headed to Jackson's. I am a bar
girl. I like to sit in a booth with my friends and drink in my own
little of a bar. I hate clubs. The beauty of Jackson's is that when
you drink too much at their bar they have a dance floor for you to
dance on because I mean come on, who doesn't dance when they drink?
It is engrained in white people to do that. Anyway, Jackson's is a
magical place where they offer a special at the door, $10 all you can
drink until 1 am. Sounds like a great idea for a bachelorette party.
The night
started out extremely calm. We ordered up a couple of mixed drinks
(something fruity for me) and sat down. I had on my white “Bride”
shirt and a necklace of mini sharpies. The goal was to get people to
sign my shirt and I had to get at least 44 (I think...) signatures, 1
for every month Scott and I had been together. I had all my girls
sign it of course. After not making an effort to get a signature from
a stranger, Robbi decided that needed to change. She got me a shot
then marched me over to a table of men (boys? They were seriously
babies and looked barely old enough to drink). She encouraged me to
profess my undying need to names on my shirt and the dudes kindly
they signed away. They were incredibly nice, congratulated me with
high fives and genuine happiness. People can be amazing sometimes.
Suddenly my
world became a storm of signatures. The funniest part is that I began
getting shots bought for me left and right (they were safe I promise
Robbi and I watched them get it and hand it to me plus I had a 3
woman escort) and most of those shots came from other girls! These
women were buying me shots and drinks and giving me hugs and
congratulating me. It was surreal. I spent most of high school
getting tormented by girls and now I felt like spirited comradery was
amongst all of us. Men don't quit understand this but women have a
hard time being nice to each other. We should all be kinder and lift
our fellow woman up but that is a different story.
As the
festivities wore on and the nice girls moved to other bars, I found
myself being hounded by jerks. All of them asked the same question.
Why on earth would I ever get married and was I truly prepared to be
with 1 person forever. I even had 1 dude tell me I was making the
worst mistake of my life and I would regret it. I told every single
last dude that I was blissfully happy. I hate somehow managed to find
someone in life who (bring on the cheese) completes me. I had found
that magical and wondrous thing called true love that they talk about
in all the movies. He is my soul mate and why trash a person for
finding that one person who you can trust and honor in this world?
Why dog someone for being happy? Probably because they have been hurt
before but who hasn't really? Be happy for someone and shut your
mouth if you aren't.
The rest of
the night is completely gone from me so I will recount it as I was
told about it. We left the bar at closing time and headed off to
Denny's because I was apparently not done partying. I was banned from
the window because I kept yelling out the window about how I was
getting married. I was REALLY excited! I did not stop being excited.
Poor Robbi had to put up with now infantile me. She was an extreme
champ. Like gold medal Olympics champ. She wanted me to drink coffee
and stuck a straw in it to help. I proceed to blow into the straw, I
am assuming to make bubbles and cause chaos.
The people
at Denny's are truly wonderful people and thought I was the funniest
thing in the world. My friends ordered me food and the server just
thought I was hilarious. If I remember what I was told correctly, she
congratulated them on succeeding at getting me wasted. She even gave
us a huge discount on our food! I repaid everyone by throwing bacon
at them. Yes bacon. I decided I wanted to throw bacon at my friends.
This was followed by me needing to go to the bathroom. On the way to
the bathroom I handed (did not throw) bacon to other patrons at
Denny's. I just wanted them to also enjoy bacon.
After a long
night of taking care of rowdy me, we headed to the hotel where I fell
asleep. My friends managed to get my contacts out and change me into
my pajamas and tuck me into bed. We then spent the entire rehearsal
day in the most extreme of extreme hangovers of our lives. It was a
great day that my 2 best friends (Nikki and Robbi I truly and deeply
love you for being my friends and sisters) put together and helped me
celebrate. I had so much fun, from what I remember, and I will always
cherish that day of celebrating and female comradery.
No comments:
Post a Comment