New Job update.

I was told today that I'm picking things up quickly. Still not dealing directly with customers on the phone, but I'm getting good at entering the reservations on both the paper form and in the computer. Today was also the first time I was allowed to answer the driver's phone line. Here's how it works:

• Driver gets his runs the night before.


• Driver calls in "10-14" when he has the passenger(s) boarded. I mark the time on the res slip and move the slip from the table to the hot board.


• Driver calls in "TC" (trip complete). I confirm this and the driver's next assignment, mark the TC time on the slip, mark the run on the driver's log sheet, and put the completed run slip in the correct cubbyhole.

There's a lot of other things going on. I have to update arrival times for multiple airlines that we have passengers arriving on, so the driver knows when to show up, check our email regularly for email reservations, and check this special booking website that sends us a good amount of business. Plus paying attention to the love-starved office dogs. I'm still making silly errors, and the sheer number of special cases for different accounts is staggering, but I'll learn.

My commute isn't bad. About 20 minutes driving each way.

Tomorrow, I go in from 1500-2000 to spend more time with the evening dispatcher and learn a little more and practice my skills. One thing I need to concentrate on, my crappy writing.

My thoughts on the pissing Marines video

I haven't seen it and have no desire to do so. But if this was a five-man sniper team from the 3/2 Marines as has been reported, each and every one of these Marines needs to be charged and, once convicted, thrown out of the service with a Dishonorable Discharge.

This is a hard concept for a lot of civilians to get. "Wait, blowing someone up with a cluster bomb is fine, but peeing on a corpse is wrong?" Yes. American soldiers will strive to kill the enemy with all the tools at our disposal. That is our job. We, from a grunt Marine Rifleman to an Air Force Missileman in a silo, are there to Kill People and Break Things. This is what we do. We are very good at it. But we are also trained in the tradition of mercy to the enemy wounded, fallen, and to those who have become our prisoners.

Respecting your enemy is perhaps the hardest thing a soldier is asked to do. The enemy is trying to kill you. Odds are, the enemy comes from an alien culture which may be offensive to the average American. At worst, the enemy may be seen as a cheater who refuses to stand up and fight. When you actually get your hands on the enemy, alive or dead, the urge to take out your anger or frustration is near-overwhelming.

But we have to resist that urge. Because we are supposed to be better than that. The difference between a mob and an Army is discipline. We treat enemy wounded. We protected captured enemy troops and treat them humanely. And we treat enemy dead as we would one of our own fallen. With respect. To see that respect fail so spectacularly among an elite group like a USMC sniper team is sickening. For all the legends that surround snipers as merciless death-dealers, we're still humans. We are just held to a higher standard since we are expected to operate outside the normal chain of command much of the time.

Some will blame the high operational tempo, the endless and repeated tours. Bullshit. Every single service member serving today, a decade after we entered Afghanistan, knows what they were getting into. Stress is not an excuse. There is no excuse possible for the complete breakdown of discipline to the point where United States Marines would desecrate an enemy's corpse. None. These five Marines need to be loudly and publicly thrown to the wolves pour encourager les autres. If we're really cutting back on the military and making training harder, I suggest tightening the screws on discipline as well.

In my perfect word, once convicted, these five losers would be paraded in dress blues before as many of the 2nd Marines as can be gathered. On a stage, every piece of rank, insignia, awards... anything that makes the uniform a Marine uniform, is ripped off. The discharges are read aloud. Then the entire regiment turns their backs on the malefactors. I'd also deny any government benefits to those dishonorably discharged. That includes unemployment, Medicare, and Social Security.

Yes, I'm furious about this. These morons just handed the enemy a propaganda coup.