I Heart West Point Interviews Dot Net.

Theoretically, I could have gotten different interview subjects. I am in preliminary negotiations to get Joe Mazzello from Jurassic Park to do one, but he's been ignoring me so far. Fingers crossed. Anyway, tonight we did our second West Point interview and added another West Point cadet, Liam Walsh, to our panel for more perspective. I had to edit about 50 pages of Drunk Erin babbling about Angela Lansbury, but the purity of the interview has been preserved et cetera.

For your added understanding:
MyDadIsAWeenie - E. E. Grimshaw
BRags753 - Bobbie Ragsdale
bellasnodoubt - J
NYStateofMind623 - Morgan G.
LiamWalsh2 - Liam Walsh
HurricainFran - Drunk Erin
LadyKim1 - Kim Wong
KranBerrii - Sarah Alfone
QuietAmerican283 - Maximillion Bojangles

You have entered room "iheartbloginterviewsbojangles."
BRags753 has entered the room.
bellasnodoubt: this is sooooo awesome
bellasnodoubt: lets make out
BRags753: let's not
NYStateofMind623: oh god emma, whats this about now?
MyDadIsAWeenie: okay people
MyDadIsAWeenie: settle down
MyDadIsAWeenie: we are blessed with the presence
MyDadIsAWeenie: of TWO west point lads tonight
LiamWalsh2: ah yes
HurricainFran: Jocelyn and I are west point lads
MyDadIsAWeenie: we have bobbie ragsdale and liam walsh
bellasnodoubt: so bobbie whens the wedding
MyDadIsAWeenie: you can't just say that
MyDadIsAWeenie: you have to provide background so people know what you're talking about
Lady kim1: im confused
LiamWalsh2: i'm confused as well
bellasnodoubt: bobbie is engaged to this chick named grrrrl vicious
BRags753: not quite
HurricainFran: Someone named their kid grrrrl vicious?
BRags753: sigh
MyDadIsAWeenie: does anyone have any questions for the west point men? i feel we're very fortunate to get them tonight
Lady kim1: west point men: coke...or pepsi?
BRags753: coke
LiamWalsh2: coke
HurricainFran: Bobbie with an ie, heroin or coke?
BRags753: coke
MyDadIsAWeenie: this hurts my head
LiamWalsh2: i feel you
MyDadIsAWeenie: okay bobbie, since we last talked
MyDadIsAWeenie: you had plans to go down to new orleans and help out
MyDadIsAWeenie: what happened
BRags753: beaucracy and sensationalist people with no sense of commitment and short attention spans
BRags753: people stopped caring very quickly
Lady kim1: west point men: do you think emma was justified in her hatred of the rally monkey?
HurricainFran: Is the rally monkey what gave her a rash?
Lady kim1: yeah
LiamWalsh2: sure she was
LiamWalsh2: thing tried to kill her
KranBeRRii: just to let you all know
KranBeRRii: jocelyn is losing her mind right now
HurricainFran: she had one to begin with?
MyDadIsAWeenie: liam, many of our blog readers are familiar with bobbie from the previous interview
MyDadIsAWeenie: could you give us a little personal background and why you're at west point
LiamWalsh2: i come from a pretty broke family and wanted to be in the army
LiamWalsh2: college wanst going to work out otherwise
LiamWalsh2: and i wanted to be in the army pretty much
LiamWalsh2: west point sounded cool
LiamWalsh2: so then i went to school in roswell, nm for a year to get in here
HurricainFran: Did you see aliens?
MyDadIsAWeenie: i assume not everyone at west point does the same thing in the army - what do you and bobbie do respectively that differentiates you
BRags753: I try to be more social than most Cadets and more involved, and I also really try to embody the values and the mission. For me, it really is about service and people see that.
Lady kim1: ooo! west point men!! do you think that james van der beek and katie holmes would have an ugly child if they had one?
BRags753: Do I care
bellasnodoubt: listen bobbie
bellasnodoubt: when is your wedding
BRags753: I'm not engaged!
MyDadIsAWeenie: liam and bobbie - explain this whole non-marriage at west point thing
LiamWalsh2: it comes down to the fact that if the man is going to pay for you to go to school, they expect you to give it your all
BRags753: You can't have any dependants at West Point. That way nothing gets in the way of our studies and training
bellasnodoubt: yeah, but can you have sex?
BRags753: you can get laid, just not in the barracks
BRags753: and try not to have babies, cause that creates problems
MyDadIsAWeenie: but sneaking off to binghamton every weekend to your girlfriend is okay?
LiamWalsh2: yes
LiamWalsh2: if you are of the classes that have those privileges
BRags753: Actually, she lives across the river now. It's only 30 min. away
MyDadIsAWeenie: bobbie, you were saying something last night about an old school taco bell by west point
LiamWalsh2: is there a taco bell around here?
LiamWalsh2: cause that would change my life
BRags753: it's across the river, but yeah, it's got the old yellow sign and decor
LiamWalsh2: really?
BRags753: yeah, it's in Cold Spring I think, on Rt. 9
LiamWalsh2: bad ass
KranBeRRii: where is west point
LiamWalsh2: 50 miles north of nyc on the hudson
MyDadIsAWeenie: do you like the new supreme court nominee
MyDadIsAWeenie: because i think she's a cunt
LiamWalsh2: i really dont have too much of a stance on it
BRags753: I'm not sure she's qualified
MyDadIsAWeenie: based on what you do know, do you think she looks like swoosie kurtz
LiamWalsh2: well yeah
LiamWalsh2: i can agree on that one
BRags753: I as well
MyDadIsAWeenie: when you leave west point, you're obligated to be in the armed services for five years, correct?
LiamWalsh2: more like 8
LiamWalsh2: it's a 5 year active commitment
BRags753: 5 active, 3 reserve
BRags753: but the reserve is activated
LiamWalsh2: it's pretty much 8 years now
MyDadIsAWeenie: based on what you know about current events, where would you most likely spend those years
BRags753: Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea
LiamWalsh2: well, that's interesting, it depends on who you talk to
MyDadIsAWeenie: why does it depend
BRags753: what unit you go to
LiamWalsh2: also depends on our ability to keep these numbers up for that long
MyDadIsAWeenie: do you think you can
LiamWalsh2: as far as 150,000 in iraq
LiamWalsh2: we dont want to
MyDadIsAWeenie: but will you
LiamWalsh2 the time needs to come for us to pull out gradually, otherwise we get another ARVN on our hands that cant do anything without us
MyDadIsAWeenie: bobbie, last year we were talking about a possible draft and you said it wasn't a real possibility. why
BRags753: politically unfeasible
LiamWalsh2: i concur
MyDadIsAWeenie: why isn't the draft politically feasible
LiamWalsh2: think about it
LiamWalsh2: this is not a popular war in the least for a great deal of the country
LiamWalsh2: say what you will about kicking the vietnam syndrome
LiamWalsh2: but it hasnt happened
BRags753: beyond that, a draft Army is 10 fold harder to manage from the inside than an all volunteer one
MyDadIsAWeenie: with the elections and saddam on trial now, do you see that perception changing at all
BRags753: no
LiamWalsh2: no
LiamWalsh2: perceptions wont change
LiamWalsh2: i mean, what do i know, i'm a 23 year old college student
LiamWalsh2: but i dont see us doing it
BRags753: when people are forced to serve, morale is much much lower
LiamWalsh2: and the training wouldnt be as good because you force more people through than you can handle
MyDadIsAWeenie: how come you don't really hear about low army morale in previous wars, except for vietnam
LiamWalsh2: because we won them all
LiamWalsh2: flat and simple
LiamWalsh2: morale is always an issue
LiamWalsh2: but history is written by those who win wars
BRags753: Morale was a serious issue in the Civil War
BRags753: That's half the reason they blew up the slave thing... it was a motivator to tell Union Soldiers they were fighting to free a people and not just to keep a political entity united
QuietAmerican283: emma ask them if we're going to invade syria
MyDadIsAWeenie: you ask them
QuietAmerican283: are we going to invade syria, west point people?
QuietAmerican283: i saw the interview thing with condoleeza rice the other night and she wouldn't say yes or no, one way or another
LiamWalsh2: we dont have the troops to do it at all and the international reprecussions would be so high
MyDadIsAWeenie: why would syria even be an issue
LiamWalsh2: because they fuck with lebanon all the time
LiamWalsh2: if there is a country in the middle east that has the ability to sustain democracy, its lebanon
LiamWalsh2: but its been occupied for so long now
MyDadIsAWeenie: what about israel
LiamWalsh2: well, that's part of the problem there too
MyDadIsAWeenie: bobbie, weren't you saying that we should invade, theoretically, about six or seven countries
BRags753: If we could, resource and morale-wise, then yeah
BRags753: I mean, there are lots of countries that could use a good ass whoopin and restructuring, but it's just not feasible
MyDadIsAWeenie: which countries
BRags753: Sudan, Syria, N. Korea, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran...
QuietAmerican283: why china?
LiamWalsh2: they're commies
LiamWalsh2: i'm just kidding
LiamWalsh2: i'm a big cold war history major
LiamWalsh2: so that's my reason for everything
BRags753: actually, it's half the reason. They are politically oppressive to their people and do not properly provide for them. The censor thought and ideas and art and they are America's greatest threat over the next 20 years
MyDadIsAWeenie: but when you lay it out like that, you're talking about a LOT of countries
BRags753: well, yeah
MyDadIsAWeenie: new question. 2008. who are they going to send out there to beat my bff
QuietAmerican283: hillary is about as likely to win as geena davis is
MyDadIsAWeenie: based on what
QuietAmerican283: on everything
MyDadIsAWeenie: i want to ask about condi
MyDadIsAWeenie: do the west point guys like her
BRags753: I like her
LiamWalsh2: i'm impartial
LiamWalsh2: again
MyDadIsAWeenie: liam, why are you impartial on life
LiamWalsh2: not life
LiamWalsh2: i think just most political issues
MyDadIsAWeenie: are most west point guys interested in politics?
LiamWalsh2: yes, most are i'd say
BRags753: I would say most, as well
LiamWalsh2: i remove myself from it most of the time because, just in my opinion, as a soldier, you are there to carry out policy, i have faith that the american public will put the right people into office and those people
LiamWalsh2: will make the decisions that are fight for the country
MyDadIsAWeenie: bobbie, is your view different from that in any way
BRags753: No, I agree, I'm just too opinionated to voluntarially not care
QuietAmerican283: ok west point guys....hillary-lesbian, or repressed lesbian?
MyDadIsAWeenie: STOP
MyDadIsAWeenie: SHE IS NOT
MyDadIsAWeenie: LEAVE HER ALONE
QuietAmerican283: hahaha
MyDadIsAWeenie: liam, when people argue with you about this war and the casualities, what do you tell them
LiamWalsh2: i tell them that they volunteered to join the armed services, it is a risk that you take. the mission we are pulling in iraq is one of worth
LiamWalsh2: it's tragic that you have soldiers dying over there, but it is a war and that happens
MyDadIsAWeenie: i assume most people at west point are fairly conservative and share a lot of these viewpoints
LiamWalsh2: yes
LiamWalsh2: for the most part
LiamWalsh2: its like one big damn group think
MyDadIsAWeenie: i'm interested in why there would be any liberally-oriented people there
BRags753: because conservatism and patriotism and duty are not synonyms
LiamWalsh2: because serving your country, i feel, is something that doesnt have to be tied to the red state/blue state feeling
LiamWalsh2: the military has always been conservative
LiamWalsh2: always will be
LiamWalsh2: just the nature of it
BRags753: Why are actors and rock stars liberal?
MyDadIsAWeenie: good question
LiamWalsh2: that it is
BRags753: the thought processes in acting are inherently biased to liberal thinking. The opposite is true with the military
MyDadIsAWeenie: britney spears is a republican
MyDadIsAWeenie: but she grew up in your state
BRags753: don't remind me