Cousins Gathering

<-At Ricky/Pauline's house, with their two children, my big sister, Gary, Grace, Richard, and Jerry...



Every once in a while the cousins from my mom's side of the family (most of them are in California) would get together and have some chat and fun, usually during holidays. Three days ago I went to Ricky's house in South San Francisco for the gathering. Not a lot of my cousins were there, but Jerry was there.

Jerry is the only cousin in the family who goes to military academy. He graduated from West Point last year. This October, he would be sent to Iraq for a year. He said he will be doing computer stuff in Iraq, but wants to go to the front line!

How brave...

He wants to be in the CIA or FBI eventually. I think he can do it.

I don't know what makes him so eager to be in the military and in combat...movies? toy guns? A while ago I was looking at photos of me when I visited him. I was about 6 years of age and he was 9, and we played various toy guns, running around his house using furnitures as obstacles. But I wanted the games to stay games or even simulated situations and not become real life.

However, I think every guy should go through some time in the military, 過著一個有規律的生活. 有些人認為是浪費時間, 可是台灣現在只當兵一年, 以後也變募兵了, 所以我覺得如果跟別人有關係的話當個兩三個月的兵也不錯, 而且不用真正上戰場, 實現一下小時候的夢想

Good luck, Jerry! We all appreciate your courage and your service and dedication to the United States.