this Jeep is well outfitted with period correct military paraphernalia

Must have been built to accomplish a lot, it's got ski's on the front, tracks on the back, and a boat on top

Dodge Power Wagon is my best guess. Found on http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i - Hail to the Chief

It's Fleet Week in New York City this weekend, so it only seemed fitting, with just a few Hawai'i posts remaining, that we share the following offering from Jack, a Chief Petty Officer (E7) in the U.S. Navy.

Jack's was the final tattoo I spotted at Pearlridge, on what turned out to be a record-breaking detour for me (five tattoos from five different people in just under two hours).

Jack's tattoo was fresh, as he had just completed a sitting less than a couple of hours before I ran into him, so the tattoo had that film of ointment that added a little glare to the picture:

The skull at the center of the tattoo is wearing a hat similar to those warn by Navy chiefs.

The artist for this piece is known as "Buddha" out of Liquid Metal Tattoo in Aiea, Hawai'i.

Thanks to Jack for sharing this, his newest of over ten tattoos, with us here on Tattoosday.

We here at the site salute not only all the men and women in uniform visiting New York during Fleet Week, but to everyone in all branches of the Armed Forces as we enter into Memorial Day weekend. Thanks to all for their service to our country!

Tom's Sleeve is Based on Faith

I don't know what it was about March, but this final post of the month is the third featuring ink from a member of our Armed Forces.

Tom is eventually going to have a full sleeve that accentuates his faith. The top of the arm is done, with the main focus on the guardian angel on his bicep:


His grandfather passed before he was born and he has always thought of him as the guardian angel that watched over him.

This piece was inked at Aces & Eights Tattoo in Augusta, Georgia.

He also has a couple of tattoos featuring angels on the inside of his bicep and on the outer section of his upper arm as well:


These were done at Third Dimension Tattoos in Marshalls Creek, Pennsylvania

Tom is a member of HHC 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.

Thanks to Tom for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Not a Holiday Destination

contributed by Laura González

Former Marine Becomes Face of New Vieques Battle

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 11, 2009

Marrero is a key witness in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in compensation for illnesses that past and current Vieques residents have linked to the bombing range, where the U.S. and its allies trained for conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq. ... Marrero, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York City, has had colon cancer twice. He is losing his vision and suffers from more than dozen other illnesses, including Lou Gehrig's disease, that he believes are lingering effects of his 18 months at Camp Garcia. He said he was recently diagnosed with a new bout of cancer that is inoperable in part because of a lung disease that requires him to stay on oxygen around the clock."

Click here to read the entire article on 'The New York Times' website.
Read Laura's article about Vieques, 'Paradise Lost,' in the latest issue of The Yale Journal of Human Rights.

A Predictable Future

By Ashley Gutierrez, Filipina

Silliman College, Yale 2010

Will the Philippines put its foot down against the United States (U.S.)? The Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines) is reviewing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which governs the treatment of American troops engaged in joint military exercises in the Philippines, after recommendations from the Senate and the House Human Rights Committee. There are complaints of the VFA being a "downright unconstitutional treaty" and that the Philippines has been getting the "short end of the stick." Highlighted by the case of the American Marine placed under United States' custody last year instead of in a Philippine prison after raping a Filipina, the claims of the VFA being "lopsided" is a fact that I personally believe most Filipinos know about - and have chosen to ignore.

Or will that now change?

Re-evaluating or possibly terminating the VFA is a bold move. Yes, it will do a lot for Philippine sovereignty. Yes, it will affect RP (Republic of the Philippines)- U.S. relations. But the VFA is also necessary for stability in the region and the fight against terrorism.

That said, I am almost positive of how this will turn out: The review will indeed find that the VFA is lopsided. There will be many recommendations for change. The U.S. is getting the most out of this deal. But nothing will change. Because at the end of the day, the Philippines is still too dependent on the U.S. The country is too unstable at the moment given the conflict between the government and the Muslims in Mindanao. President Arroyo is trying to forge a strong relationship with Obama before the 2010 Presidential elections. The Philippines needs the U.S. much more than it needs us.

In short, once again, the Philippines will bend backwards to accommodate the U.S.

Read more on this issue here.

Nuestros Desaparecidos

Contributed by Jason Ketola
GEOVISION Production Company

(San Francisco CA) OUR DISAPPEARED/NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS is the heart-breaking chronicle of director Juan Mandelbaum’s personal search for the souls of friends and loved ones, idealistic young students and activists, who were caught in the brutal vise of the right-wing military and “disappeared” in his native Argentina during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. OUR DISAPPEARED/NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS will air nationally on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, hosted by Terrence Howard, on Monday, September 21, 2009 at 10PM. Find your local listing here.


Mandelbaum’s quest was triggered by a recent and very painful revelation. Through a Google search, he made the terrible discovery that Patricia Dixon, a long lost girlfriend,was among the desaparecidos. Almost thirty years after he left at the height of the repression, to escape the pervasive climate of feat, Juan returned to Argentina to explore her story and the stories of other friends and loved ones who had also disappeared. He learned first-hand of the horrors that befell them and the almost 30,000 people who were kidnapped by agents of the military government, secretly detained without trial, brutally tortured and then killed, never to be seen again.



Although idealistic and involved in community organizing, Mandelbaum was not willing to join the more militant and radical groups that were recruiting many of his friends. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and the election of Chile’s Salvador Allende, the first democratically elected Socialist president in the Americas, many of his fellow students at the University’s School of Philosophy and Letters were willing to support an armed struggle for a cause they believed in passionately -- that former President Juan Peron, who had been exiled to Spain, would lead Argentina on the road of socialism. It was a hope that was quickly crushed when Peron returned in 1973, and disowned the young radicals who had fought so hard for his return. Instead, right wing death squads began to pave the way for the military regime that, after 1976, targeted thousands of leftist activists for annihilation. Over 250 of Mandelbaum’s fellow students are among the disappeared.

In OUR DISAPPEARED, NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS, Mandelbaum meets with the parents, siblings and children of many of these old friends, piecing together their dramatic stories through reminiscences, home movies and old photos. The film also uses rare and extraordinary archival footage (including an appearance by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1977 endorsing the military president) to bring the energy and tension of the time and place to life. It is a quietly devastating story of young lives viciously ended and the unending pain suffered by their families and their country.



To learn more about the film, visit the OUR DISAPPEARED, NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS interactive companion website (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/ourdisappeared/) which features detailed information on the film, including an interview with the filmmaker and links and resources pertaining to the film’s subject matter. The site also features a talk back section for viewers to share their ideas and opinions, preview clips of the film, and more.

An Atypical Facebook Chat

By Sarika Arya - -

Summer brings with it bad habits: namely, relapsing into Facebook time wasting. In the face of Facebook (Ba-dump ch!), my summer reading list appears daunting rather than enticing, the prospect of calling up old high school friends to see if they are in town becomes tedious (Why pick up the phone, when I can just stalk them online?), and the idea of checking out that one photo exhibition at that one museum less educational (and definitely less entertaining) than flipping through photo albums with titles like ‘What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico!’

Becoming easily bored with my friend’s album (Nothing happened in Mexico.), I scroll through the list of fellow Facebookers online … a-ha! Lior* is online! Lior is 18, and has just begun serving his compulsory time in the Israeli army. He is a good friend of mine, and I’m surprised to see he is on Facebook rather than at the military base. (*Lior is a pseudo name to ensure the anonymity of my friend, especially in light of his opinion being posted online.)


The conversation speaks for itself.

11:25am Sarika:
lior?

11:26am Lior:
hi

11:26am Sarika:
hey! how are you? im sorry we never got to meet up when you were in ny

11:27am Lior:
im ok… yeah, well that was a long time ago…what have you been up to?

11:27am Sarika:
im done with my second year in college, now im home in london i think im going to cairo how are you? in the army?

11:28am Lior:
you are so lucky… yes, i’m in the army

11:28am Sarika:
are you liking it?

11:30am Lior:
well, i finished basic training yesterday, which could’ve been a bad experience but i took it positively
and with humor
so it was actually kinda funny

11:31am Lior:
but i had a pretty serious breakdown in the course (which took place between november and april)

11:32am Sarika:
wow
what happened?
congratulations on being done with basic training!

11:34am Lior:
thanks… well I had a really big ideological crisis. the war in gaza didn’t really help as well…

11:35am Sarika:
the war in gaza was…
unbelievable
what kind of crisis?

11:45am Lior:
well, think of yourself now as you are…

11:44am Sarika:
yeah

11:45am Lior:
cosmopolite, free to change your views, not obligated to ideals, not responsible… and then you become part of something, part of an army, part of this army
you’re not just yourself anymore…

11:46am Sarika:
did you disagree with the war in gaza?
wow lior i think you’re one of the smartest people i know.
you have such an amazing sense of self-awareness
i think you would be a much better cosmopolite than me haha i don’t know what to do with my freedom
you know exactly what to do

11:48 Lior:
im sorry but i really have to go…
i didn’t agree with killing so many civilians
and im really sick of this never ending conflict that takes so much blood

11:49am Lior:
i really have to go now but i’ll be home tomorrow so we can talk about it… bye, please appreciate the fact you can just live your own life and go to college

11:50am Lior is offline.