Well, the official announcement has been made, and my departure is coming up fast! Once again, this trip is the culmination of months of work, hours of phone calls and forms, and calling in every favor that I could think of! I am so thankful to everyone who is involved with this project, and believe me… there are a lot of people on that list!

There’s the obvious… everyone here at WAAF, Mike my producer, who volunteered to go with me. Without him, there would be no trip! Believe it or not, there was not a HUGE line of people begging to head into a war zone! The staff at the Mass Army National Guard have been amazing. They’ve been coordinating from which units I will visit, to printing T-shirts, and helping me track down the necessary gear. The EMBED office in Afghanistan, has been amazing as well, leading me through the paperwork process. I can tell you that after 2 trips to the Middle East, my record is CLEAN! I must include the Commanders and the members of the 182 Infantry, and the 26th MEB for accepting my EMBED application, and taking on the added responsibility of having a purple haired, rock DJ tag along during their deployment. If they felt that it would have a negative impact on their safety or impede their performance, they had the right to say NO. Thankfully, they didn’t. I also have to thank the list of sponsors who stepped up to help cover the costs, of such an ordeal. Since the list of things provided to EMBEDS is very short (shelter, food, protection, and emergency medical) there are a lot of expenses involved. Flights, armor, medical costs, equipment,  and fees, just to name a few. Thanks to the Mass Association of Realtors, Porter & Chester Institute, Manchester/Nashua Harley Davidson, DCU, Boston Firefighters Union Local 718/Boston Fireman’s Post #94, Vater Drumsticks, Lane Printing, New Balance, and of course the Mass Army National Guard have all played a part in getting this trip off the ground! To all of them, I am eternally grateful!

Once the paperwork process began, and the expenses started to be taken care of… The uncomfortable conversations begin. There is nothing more ‘fun’ than having meetings about worst case scenarios. Sitting down with my bosses here at WAAF, to discuss injury, kidnapping, and death is no way to spend your lunch break. These meetings are enough to keep any boss from letting an employee head overseas. Thankfully, this was just an uncomfortable meeting and we’ve moved on. They know that I will be with the best, brightest, and bravest!  I understand that everyone here is worried, but there are hundreds of families going through those very emotions everyday while their loved ones are deployed.

I spent the last couple of days making sure that I have everything on the ‘required pack list’, washing all of the gear, and going through my personal paperwork to make sure that everything is in order before we leave. All this, for 2 weeks! Now just imagine being one of these brave soldiers, or married to one! How do you plan to have your spouse be away for over a year? It’s just mind boggling to think of everything you would need to do before they leave! How do you say “I love you” to the people in your life enough, to take care of an entire year of being away? The answer? You can’t.

This is the reason for this trip! AAF to Afghanistan, is all of our way to say “Thank You” for everything that our troops go through to protect us, and everything that they give up to do their job! There is no way to say “Thank You” enough, but we’ll try!

I’ll start checking in, on the air from Afghanistan on Tuesday September 6!

Inside Tom Morello’s The Nightwatchman: World Wide Rebel Songs by FMQB Productions

BIG thanks to The Morning Show at NECN for having me on!

Click here to read the online article.

There’s a “Perfect Storm” brewing over immigration in the Commonwealth, and the news that Barack Obama’s illegal immigrant uncle got busted in Framingham for a DWI last week is only going to make it worse.

For most of last week, I spoke to callers on the show who were outraged that an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, Nicolas Guaman, struck a Milford man,  Matthew Denice , while he was riding his motorcycle, and dragged him a quarter of mile under his truck, eventually backing over and killing him.  This ass-hat was, of course, hammered at the time, and it was not, shockingly, his first run-in with the law.

The Governor’s office issued a lame statement and Do Very Little Patrick was able to avoid comment, until Friday, when the intrepid John Keller of Channel 4 pressed him on it during an “Irene” press conference.  “Illegal immigration didn’t kill that man, a drunk driver did” was the ingenious answer our Governor chose to give.  Wonder how he would feel it was his family member who was mowed down by a drunk illegal who should have been tossed from the country years ago?

Now we learn that the President’s long lost uncle, Onyango Obama, was arrested in Framingham last Wednesday for nearly running into a cruiser.  When asked if he wanted to make a phone call, he is reported to have, of course, replied “I think I’d like to call the White House”.  Of course, who else would come to the aid of someone who was ordered out of the country years ago but stayed so he could commit crimes?

Is any of this surprising?  Illegals choose Massachusetts because our Governor wants it to be a safe haven.  How safe is it?  Is it surprising that those who have already broken the law by coming here will continue to break it and expect no consequences?  Is it surprising that President’s uncle (and aunt) who were supposed to be deported years ago are still living here, threatening to call the White House when they get yanked over for seeing double?

We only hold you accountable in this country if you were born here.  Otherwise, it’s a free ride.  Here’s hoping the “eye” of this Perfect Storm of immigration settles right over the Governor’s mansion in the Berkshires and it’s one he is finally unable to “ride out”.

Thanks to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the nice article about AAF to Afghanistan!

The countdown in on!

I’ll start checking in on WAAF from Afghanistan on Tuesday, September 6!

Click here to check it out!

What exactly is the thought process here?  Are you so fucking important that you can commandeer two spaces for your shitty ride?  We’ve all seen this before.  Usually the toolbag has a new Lexus or something he doesn’t want dinged up so he takes up two spaces.  But these fucks don’t even have that excuse.  Did the “No Child Left Behind” program find it’s way into the Registry too?  You have to be a real arrogant ballwasher to just pull in and not even friggin’ care.  The most fucked up part about this is when I came out after about 90 minutes the Honda was in the same space, parked the same exact way.  Then I thought there might be something in the way.  But there was nothing!  The reserved for shitheads sign must have fallen down.

 Or maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe this is a new program by the state to give blind people the chance to drive?  It wouldn’t fucking surprise me.  We let child rapists back into society.  I mean really!  Were these people transporting fresh organs for transplant?  Were they being chased by Ninjas?  I always consider vandalism when I see this but that wouldn’t prove anything.  They would be too stupid to make the connection.  And leaving a note just doesn’t get across the rage.  It would probably end up on some Tumblr blog titled, “Bitchy Messages From People Giving Me A Hard Time About My Organ Transplant Delivery Job”. 

I was too busy paying attention to the kid in the diaper.  I see this as an amazing art project.  The girls are America’s Financial Institutions and the blobby kid in the diaper is our Government.  Bloated and helpless.  Falling on it’s face when trying to take action. Or…they’re Circus Folk. What do you make of this?

Visiting Our Troops: Mistress Carrie: MyFoxBOSTON.com

A HUGE thank you to Gene Lavanchy and the Fox 25 Morning Show staff for having me on the show this morning! AAF to Afghanistan is a very personal journey for me, and it means a lot that you guys were willing to have me on! I will definitley come back with great pictures and stories when I return from Afghanistan!

Check out the full article here!