Jessica Scott's Blog, page 22
November 13, 2012
Esquire Americans of the Year
So apparently earlier in the year when I went on my epic rant about birth control, some folks noticed. The team over at Esquire has decided I’m one of the Americans of the Year. I’ll post more as soon as I can but right now, here’s the link.
If you scroll all the way down, you’ll see me listed below Chief Justic John Roberts and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.
November 11, 2012
Veterans Day and the Burden of Vigilance
I’ve been trying to come up with something profound to say today but words are escaping me. So to honor my brothers and sisters in uniform, I’ve decided to repost a piece I received by email this morning because I thought it particularly fitting.
Veterans Day and the Burden of Vigilance
by LtGen Robert B. Neller
SWJ Blog Post | November 10, 2012 – 7:34pm
Veterans’ Day occurs on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a date stemming from the Armistice Day of the First World War. Unfortunately, “The War to End All Wars” did not live up to its title, so we honor the veterans of many more conflicts: the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq; in addition to the many other actions of the Cold War and our new post-Cold War world. In peacetime and in war, members of the military are the sheepdogs of American society, always on the watch for predators that lurk in the night. And the burden of this vigilance is high.
One day in the fall of 2006, I met a young Marine lance corporal who shouldered that burden—the burden of the watchstander. The burden of those left behind, wondering why it was their buddy, and not they, who paid the price. I was traveling the road from Fallujah to Habbiniyah that day. Although we had three observation posts—OPs—on the road, it was still littered with IEDs. The first one was called OP Redskins, located on an overpass over a railroad track. I had visited the OP before and planned to push through it this day as we were running late. Engineers further down the road were still sweeping for IEDs, though, and we had to wait until they were complete. So, we entered the serpentine of concrete jersey barriers and made our way into the OP to wait. On our way in, I noticed a blackened hole in the road surface, surrounded by pieces of shattered concrete—a reminder of the constant threat.
Once we were inside the OP, I got out to stretch my legs and noticed that most of the Marines were sleeping, obviously having spent the previous night either on post or on patrol. Doing my best not to disturb them—and hoping that no one would start waking them up because “some General is here”—I headed to the guard tower at the west end of the OP. I could see the silhouette of a Marine standing watch so I decided to go up and say hello. I approached the ladder, sounded off, “Neller coming up” (it is not good to sneak up on a guy with a loaded weapon) and climbed up into the post. As I entered I was greeted by a Marine Lance Corporal. He was about six feet tall and lean, with a scraggly moustache. His gear was clean and neat and he was clearly wide awake.
Being wide awake as a watchstander is no small thing. First off, being on post, especially if you are doing it right, is an exercise in interminable boredom. Second, this Marine had probably been up most of the night on patrol, as he had been for nights on end. When you are in combat the first thing you notice in men is their eyes. The eyes of a combat Marine, regardless of their age, are usually somewhat recessed and dark underneath. These are the eyes of men who are tired, have seen hardship, danger, and sometimes the carnage of combat. This Marine had combat eyes.
“Who are you,” I asked.
“Lance Corporal Christ” he said.
I paused.
“No sir, I am not kidding. My name is Lance Corporal Christ. C-H-R-I-S-T.”
“What’s your first name?”
“Tyler.”
I had just met Lance Corporal Tyler Christ, USMC.
“OK, LCpl Christ. Tell me what is going on.”
He proceeded to tell me his sector of observation, the responsibilities of his post and gear he had with him. I asked him what the daily routine was in the area and he gave me his thoughts on that.
Tyler was 23 years old and had been a student at the University of Minnesota. Although there are quite a few Marines who are college graduates or have some college it is not something you run across every day. I then asked him the usual question. “Why does a guy going to the University of Minnesota join the Marines?”
His immediate response was, “I needed a challenge.”
I asked, “Did you get one?”
“Yes sir, and more.”
We talked about a few more things—family, home, the small talk of normality.
Then I asked him, “I know you guys had a Marine hurt by an IED the other night. I thought I read it was to the southwest,” and I pointed in that direction. In reality, I knew he had been killed.
“Did you see the shot hole on the side of the road when you drove up,” he said calmly. “It was there. That was my squad. Do you know what happened?”
I said, “No I don’t. Do you want to talk about it?”
He paused for a moment and I could feel the memory of the event coming back to him. Then, in a calm clear voice, he told me the story of what happened that night. He recounted the name and position of each man in his squad on the patrol. He was the last man, rear security. At the bottom of the road one of the Marines in the middle of the formation stepped on a pressure initiator, triggering an IED hidden behind a jersey barrier. The Marine was badly hurt. Christ ran up to him, applied a tourniquet, and administered immediate first aid. A medevac was called and the Marine was taken to one of our surgical units which was nearby, but it was too late. His injuries were too serious and we lost him.
Christ paused and neither of us spoke for about a minute.
“You know sometimes you can do everything right and it just doesn’t work out,” I said. “If your buddy were here he would tell you that you all did the best you could and that you needed to press on and accomplish the mission. That you and the rest of the squad need to move on as best we can and take care of today. To do otherwise would be to dishonor his memory.”
We talked about how the squad was dealing with the loss. They had taken it pretty hard, he said, but people were adjusting. We talked a bit more, but the hour was getting late and I had to go. I thanked him for his service and I told him how proud I was to be able to serve with men like him.
He thanked me and we shook hands. I climbed down the ladder, got into my truck and we drove away. He remained on post; vigilant and upright, despite the weight of the gear, the heat of the day, the boredom of watchfulness, and undoubtedly the ceaseless memories of his deceased friends. As I reflected on what had just transpired I realized I had just experienced something extraordinary. I had met a young man who had faced death and given his all to save his brother Marine. A man who mourned the loss of his friend, but still had the discipline and perseverance to get up the next day, strap on his gear and do what he had to do in a very dangerous place. To accomplish the mission. To take care of his fellow Marines.
He shouldered the burden and carried on. And he will carry that burden for the rest of his life, just as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines of every generation have done. You see, that is what makes our military and our Nation great. People talk about this generation or that, but the truth is that America has called a portion of every generation of Americans to serve. Every generation has answered that call and answered it honorably. It is not the career officers or the generals that make our military great. It is the young men and women like LCpl Christ—citizen soldiers who serve with a pureness and innocence of dedication to the mission and to each other that only the young can have—who have always carried that burden and always will.
November 8, 2012
Men & Women of the Military Hop
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I’m giving away a copy of BECAUSE OF YOU and UNTIL THERE WAS YOU to one lucky winner! Both books are in my Coming Home series, books that explore life after the war. I hope you’ll check them out!
Be sure to check out these other sites participating in the hop!
November 7, 2012
Thankful for Books Giveaway Hop
I love bookstores. I’ve always loved books. So because I’m thankful that we still have bookstores, I’m giving away a Barnes and Nobel egift card for this hop! I hope you’ll enjoy!
October 31, 2012
Dystopian Giveaway Hop
I love a good dystopian novel. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that finding the Hunger Games as one of the prizes is not going to be unique on this hop. But in addition to the Hunger Games ebook, I’m also going to give away another great dystopian novel PARTIALS by Dan Wells. I can’t wait to see how that series turns out!
Enjoy!
October 26, 2012
Freedom OF Religion or Freedom FROM Religion
I’ve been thinking about religious freedom pretty much all year. It started earlier in the year after the first birth control flare up and continued as I grew more and more frustrated with my church for conflating the ideas that abortion and birth control were morally and ethically the same. It continues now as I watch Twitter blow up with shock and horror that politicians who call themselves Christians say horrific things about women, women’s rights, and abortion.
This post is NOT about abortion or women’s rights. Or maybe it is. But bear with me a little bit because I am neither a Constitutional scholar or even really that smart but well, when has that ever stopped me before. So here goes.
I *think* the underlying debate about all these so called social issues is one of religious freedom. Practitioners of various faith groups all like to point to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment which says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” and therefore I get to practice my religion as I see fit and you can’t say jack all about it. Except, I can. Maybe. Because the freedom OF religion and the freedom FROM religion are both promised in the Establishment Clause, at least from this layman looking at it. And I don’t think that even legal scholars have really sorted this out to everyone’s satisfaction.
In theory, the Establishment Clause says that you can practice your religion and that Congress shall not establish one religion for the nation which means that if I should decide I don’t want to go to Church, you don’t really get a vote. Shouldn’t be a really big deal. Except that America seems to have a fun little habit of saying something to the effect of follow my religion or we’ll cast you out/stone you/burn you at the stake/wipe your people out.
Things get a little more dicey when we start looking at health care, reproductive rights, and women’s medical treatment. Broad generalization coming up but I don’t think that there are any male health issues that are moralized like the decision of a woman to have a baby or not. Like it or not, our uteri are a moral and ethical battleground because reproduction has almost always been controlled (dictated) by religion.
So when we sit back and try to have a common sense discussion about women’s health care but then we have religious employers like the Catholic Church saying, we don’t want to pay for birth control because it violates our religious freedom we actually have a very legitimate discussion on our hands: what is the role that your employer’s religion should play in your medical decisions? If they are paying the bills for your medical care, are you or should you be subject to their religious beliefs?
Further, what constitutes legitimate religious beliefs? I can say that my religious beliefs include dry humping turtles in the rain on a full moon. Does that make it a legitimate religious belief or does it make me just crazy? Who defines what a religious based organization is? I’ll give you a hint: the IRS has a big vote in it but they only establish what a religious organization is not what it believes. (For the Army, a deeply held religious belief is one that is not “illegal and contrary to defined public policy” (DoDI NUMBER 1304.28).
Then there is the problem of revelation and being called to preach. As a very bad Catholic, I recognize that my priests are trained by the Catholic Church to adhere to the doctrines as defined by the Vatican. But I also recognize that there are many Protestant groups where anyone can pick up the Bible and be compelled by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word. Who am I or any of us to call bullshit and say you’re smoking something? And just because something is mainstream does not make it legitimately found in Scripture either. The entire discussion about the Rapture – spoiler alert- is based on ONE line of Thessalonians. And yet, recent polls suggest that belief in the Rapture (for those of you not familiar with it, it’s the belief that the righteous will be removed from the earth prior to the Tribulation which is a really bad hell on earth) is held by around 55% of the country.
So while we can question the validity of beliefs all day long, you cannot negate the fact that these beliefs are deeply held and sincere. The politicians who believe that babies born of rape are a gift from God did not misspeak. They truly believe that and they are setting policy for ALL of us, not just those who share their faith.
But therein lies the heart of the problem (I think). If your faith holds that all life is precious, then feel free to practice it how you see fit. But don’t then tell me that I must adhere to your faith (and please don’t cite the whole I don’t want my tax dollars to pay for abortion argument. Medically necessary abortions are already a tax write off according to the IRS). That, I think, is the heart of the debate.
I think we are at a point where we need to have a concerted discussion about the freedom OF religion and the freedom FROM religion and what role religion can/should/does play in public policy such as medical care. Because if we don’t have a concerted effort to discuss a way forward that we can all agree on, we are only going to see further fracturing of our society and a breaking apart of the diversity that makes us great.
October 25, 2012
YA Fantasy Giveaway Hop
Another awesome giveaway. I love YA books, primarily because they’re not as restrictive as some genre fiction. The rules there are much more wide open. So for this giveaway, I’m giving a copy of ANOTHER FAUST by Daniel and Dina Nayeri, a really great story about what you’re willing to sacrifice to have it all.
Hope you enjoy!
October 24, 2012
Masquerade Giveaway Hop
It’s Halloween Hop time! This time out, I’m giving away a copy of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU and BECAUSE OF YOU but also a digital copy of my friend Shawntelle Madison’s debut Urban Fantasy COVETED because what’s more Halloween than werewolves?
October 22, 2012
Wicked After Dark Hop
It’s Halloween! Time for some dark and dirty fun. In addition to a copy of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU and BECAUSE OF YOU, I’m giving away a 
! How fun is that?
And make sure to check out the rest of the sites in the hop!
Spooktacular Giveaway Hop
More Halloween giveaway fun! I’m giving away a copy of my friend Shawntelle Madison’s debut novel COVETED in anticipation of her upcoming follow up KEPT! You’ll also win a copy of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU and BECAUSE OF YOU from yours truly.
Have fun!
