Yesterday, I made a comment on a post that the MOAB bomb dropped in Afghanistan may have been made in my wife’s hometown in Oklahoma, and how proud the local denizens are of their bomb factory.
I was not wrong. Today, on Facebook, I saw this picture posted among several of my Oklahoma friends pages. They’re proud of their bombs.
It’s insane to me that they think this way. I guess it’s ok if bomb making provides lots of good paying jobs in an otherwise depressed economy. If you’re only choice of a job is to ring the register at Wal-Mart or stamp out the fins that make the bombs fly straight…..
McAlester, OK is a delightful little town. I’d move there tomorrow, if my wife would let me. She said to me, more-or-less, “I moved away from there 30 years ago, for a reason. I’m not moving back.” Over the years, as we’ve talked about it, the questions always come to, “Yeah, OK. But what are you gonna DO? How are you going to feed my kids?” There’s no good, solid answer to that question.
This has often comes up in conversation with friends, locals, when drinking beers or hanging out. A common suggestion I get from the locals is to go down and get on at The Depot, “if you know somebody.”
To them, the greatest gig in the area is to be a night-shift truck driver there, making $17.25 per hour, and you can take naps between loads. No shit. I actually had that very conversation with a guy one time.
I don’t necessarily want to alienate all of her friends, because, for the most part, they’re good people. I have a hard time telling them, “I wouldn’t step foot inside that facility to cut the fucking grass or clean the shitters out, much less drive the fucking bomb-parts truck around the site.”
Ah, well. No malice here. Just thought it was interesting that Nowheresville, Oklahoma now has a certain degree of notoriety because of the bomb factory.
I share in your pride and delight at knowing these troglodytes got the shit bombed out of them. I hope there will be repeat performances. 🙂
I know active duty personnel are pleased to also know that their CiC has their back.
In other words, the folks of the town are willing to sell out for about $700 a week. Sadly, your wife is right: McA is fugged, but perhaps not for the reasons she has in mind.
If she would “let you”? Sorry, sir, but you’re fugged as well. ‘Murica is a place that appears to have exceeded my worst nightmares since I decided to bail on it.
Yeah, well Tim, you can go ahead and put down these good folks who work hard at producing a quality product. While I don’t know how much of the products’ design, testing, chemical handling, machining, foundry, electrical and myriad other technical specialties go into such a device are actually done there, I would imagine that working on something that contributes to the defeat of the enemy and keeps our troops out of harms way by not having to do direct assaults on caves, makes them proud to be part of a successful effort, much less American.
I detect a note of derision that I am sure your wife picks up on also. She knows you are not serious about “moving” there. Instead of making snide remarks about those “hicks” who don’t have anything better to do, why don’t you just simply say “Thank you” for making a product that works. There are many other contractors that don’t even do that and suck on the taxpayer tit for much more. And as success breeds more success, I wish these people well as the orders come in for more MOAB’s that can do a great job as part of an arsenal that our military can call on when needed.
‘I would imagine that working on something that contributes to the defeat of the enemy and keeps our troops out of harms way by not having to do direct assaults on caves’
You act as if those are the only options, drop bombs or do direct assaults on a bunch of caves. They aren’t. We could just leave those people to their own devices. You must not have been paying attention for the last decade and a half. We constantly blow shit up, and STILL lose American troops there, and yet the situation never really improves. We always ‘have them on the run’ and are allegedly making progress, yet the enemy always remains. Lets say we drop enough of those to kill off every ISIS fighter in country. Guess what, something else just like them will spring up to take their place. As Tim probably realizes, the war isn’t meant to be won, its meant to be continuous.
There is no doubt weapon production earns big dough all right. But not the measly $17.25-$36,000/year (hardly a living wage) you cite for those who work there, but for the gang that owns the factory who pay their maids more than that.
Tim,
We retired out of Tinker AFB after working there far too long and seeing far too many people sell out for the “good-paying job at the Depot.”
Personally, I’m quite proud of the fact that I got suspended as a union steward and was abandoned by the IAM union upon filing charges because the union thugs are literally wining and dining with management, so when I was suspended for filing a grievance, it was with full agreement by the big IAM thug himself. I would name names if I thought anyone cared.
They don’t.
I also had to leave two different high paying positions because I refused to change data on reports. ($30 + per hour… I was an edumacated military industrial complex worker who could do more than drive a truck and nap. I tracked financial MISMANAGEMENT of government funds. You must realize I was too busy to nap much, but since no one read or responded to my reports, I might as well have been napping.)
As for Oklahoma? They get excited if someone mentions driving through the state. I can’t tell you how very sick of the “Oklahoma tie-in” we heard on the news.
As for the manufacture of weapons in Oklahoma? What else do they have? Really. Think about it.
When I moved out west about 15 yrs. ago, driving a rental truck loaded so heavy it was down on the helper springs, the stretch of interstate 44 (?) through OK was a joy. It was a toll road, but my kidneys were forever grateful for the break.
A few years ago I asked an acquaintance who worked for Raytheon how business was. He said it was exploding.
Trump’s Covert Plan Against The Deep State Is Going To Make America Great Again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D7QGBUFxJs
Trump Prepares The US For The Collapse Of The Central Banker’s System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxe-wL2Z5o
Yeah, right! Mr. T is going to bring down the West-destroying financial system that has prevailed for centuries! Maybe you’re right, but I for one strongly doubt it. Mr. T made his fortune manipulating the debt-money system and it’s a bit of a reach to believe he wants to see it destroyed. One never knows,but…
You should take the time to listen to the video above that one (Trump’s Covert Plan). It explains all the deep state machinations Trump is working to destroy, his agenda is on track.
The banks are insolvent, broke and won’t last no matter what else happens. This system, you seem to love, is falling apart before your eyes…..see what’s going on?
SJW It seems you are still holding out hope for Trump to be the real deal. I think the window for action on trumps part is almost closed. The system is falling apart before our very eyes, however in light of trumps action on syria it would seem delusional to think that trump will let those fuckers fail (as they should have in 2008) As for his covert plan he may be smart, but no way is he that smart. It looks as if the deep state owns him just like every other president.
You will see that’s just a smokescreen, if you take the time to listen to this while you surf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D7QGBUFxJs&t=0s
You go ahead and listen for me. And keep hope alive. Because Trumps words have electrolytes and that’s what americans crave. At this point for me actions speak louder than words. I would love for you to be right, hell I will even say I was wrong.
And I am not saying we don’t need a military or to build bombs, but for fucksake I can’t remember the last time our military was used in our national interest. Maybe you can enlighten me.
When the dinner is done, we’ll call you in and you can have your fill of good news. Everything is in flux right now, Trump is smoke screening the uniparty and the MSM douche bag fags. He must belay their din of stupidity and anti-Americanism.
In the beginning, the patriot is a lonely fellow, and it’s very hard. Once the battles are won, everyone is a patriot, for then it costs them nothing.
You guys will all find that you’ve been “fair weather friends” that ran away when the going was tough.
Sam Adams said it best: “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. … May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”. … Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you …”
Occum’s razor still applies, you should keep that in mind. He is either running the most convoluted, long con ever conceived and is playing all the neocon/deep state for punks, or he is giving in to the huge amounts of pressure to just go along with the washington establishment. Which one sounds simpler to you?
SJW, you’re a little behind on current events. Trump turned out to be a neocon mongoloid. I don’t know how you missed it. It was all over the news.
You’ll just have to go to your church on that, and I’ll go to mine. Trump (and I) are so far ahead you couldn’t see us with a spotting scope.
All is well, just hide and watch.
Say what? Love the debt-money system? Read the comment again, please! I detest the system and while on a far-lesser scale than Mr. T profited from it, I’ve spent the past 13 years trying to avoid it like the plague it is. I’d love to believe you and that video are correct, but I’d also like to believe that hawthorn tree I’m looking at will suddenly start to sprout soundly backed currency; not holding my breath until it does, however.
What would you suggest? If we took down the military industrial complex tomorrow, we would have that many more unemployed. Honestl work, honest pay, what is the alternative? Government tit? They are still working for the gov. The alternative is no more bombs or planes, but will that help us resist anything? Those people have jobs, and are not asking for a handout, would you rather they work for Monsanto?? They could hire illegals to work for peanuts, with no benefits. What benefit would that be for American towns and people. There are towns and cities all over this land that are related to military things. Should they all be ashamed for having jobs and making a quality product. If we need bombs, should we get them from China too?
McAlester…dated a woman from there 20+ years ago. I was too dumb to marry her. Went there w/ her once, and it was depressing, sorry. I remember a decent BBQ place out from town and her mother’s frined (Pansy???) that had a ladies shop downtown.
What can one do for fun there other than the prison rodeo? Ride around Henryetta?
Noone needs to do anything to make the debt system implode. It will do that on its own. The most you can do, is to be in a good financial position when it does go ….. BOOM.
I grew up in McAlester on super steroids: Los Alamos, NM. My dad did above ground atomic bomb tests in southern Nevada before we moved to Los Alamos. They may have killed him; he died of prostate cancer. We used to drive by fields surrounded by barbed wire with the radiation signs where they buried atomic waste. The whole time I was living there, I don’t recall anyone talking about the moral implications of designing and building weapons that could literally destroy the planet. It was challenging, high-paying work for PhDs physicists and engineers in a beautiful town in the New Mexico mountains and with all the government funding, their kids got a world-class education. I didn’t even begin to realize what an odd place it was until I left and went to California for college.
Problem : to large a disconnect between the people fleeced by government and those enriched by government !
Problem : no parity between a government job in wages and benefits and private sector jobs . This creates indentured servants to the government employees .
Those forced by law to support the government should at least reap the same benefit for doing so . Union wages did this at one time so then powers that be wiped them out and the thieves circling between WALL STREET , K-STREET & CAPITOL STREET cooked up a FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM that did exactly what Jefferson warned us it would do . It will turn our future citizens into indentured servants on the continent their forefathers conquered !
A fair living wage to supply what a 20 to 30 year government employee receives be it a school teacher to a fireman to police to a social security paper pusher is a minimum of $65 dollars per hour to start at a 40 hour per week job and rising quarterly . Don’t talk silly shit about $17 per hour and part time Walmart and Home Depot stuff . All this war on drugs / terror / poverty / homelessness blah blah . Look at the cost benefit analysis and you will know why the average American working persons asshole whistles when the wind blows
“ITS A BIG CLUB AND MOST OF THE AMERICAN POPULATION ARE NO LONGER IN IT”