As you can see I decided to add some new color to it and spice it up a bit. I hope you like it and I look forward to your feedback. Is it easier to read, cleaner, hard on the eyes or do you not like change. Let me know by posting a comment to this post.

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Between making Bin Laden into fish crap, Arab Spring uprising, Japan almost getting taken off the map (and this time not by us) and the supposed end of the war in Iraq 2011 has been a very eventful year.

In 2011 I was lucky enough to be part of the film project Happy New Year (www.happynewyearfilm.com). I was privileged to host a screening of it at the 2011 Milblog Conference in Washington DC and of course have stayed very close to my friends, Michael, Lorrell and Joe in promoting it and getting the word out. I am also always talking to my good friend Mike Scott from the film Severe Clear (www.severeclearthemovie.com) and am working a couple of different projects with him. I also worked very close with my good friend Matt Goss (www.mattgoss.biz) on an awesome Veterans Day Show I helped host by giving almost 100 Veterans and their guests a great night out with Dinner (thanks to Caesars Palace) and a show in Matt’s theater, The Gossy Room.

Matt and I are already working with Caesars for an even bigger show in 2012. In addition I am working on a new film project in 2012 which promises to be an awe-inspiring full-length independent  feature film called Bards of War. Produced and Directed by one of my closest friends, Scott Kesterson it will no doubt be an eye-opening experience for most of America on what the real stories are coming out of Afghanistan as told by the Bards, the soldiers. Tonight at midnight the Facebook page for the project will go live and within days the website should be up and developing also. Until then swing by the twitter page at www.twitter.com/bardsofwar and follow. For anyone that has followed Scott’s work in the past, you will be very pleased with this project and the film.

So as you can see, Bouhammer.com is already very active in several big things for the new year and it has not even started yet. Who knows what else is in store for the site and the blog. Then again who knows what is in store for our country and our military.

Thanks again for taking the time to care and read this blog and I hope you continue to follow it and like what you see into 2012.

Happy New Year,

Bouhammer

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Sorry I have been away, but the Bouhammer is back…. 

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Mario Launi, a WWII veteran who served in the Pacific, will be turning 100 years old on January 26, 2012. He is currently at the Hollidaysburg Lutheran Home, 915 Hickory Street, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648. His family and caregiver have requested the community and all veterans to come together and shower him with cards. So what I am requesting that every patriotic and freedom-loving American in the area join in thanking him for his sacrifices. This will be a small token by letting him know how much we appreciate his selfless and dedicated service. Thank You so Very Much.

So if you get the chance and can add one more card to your mailing list, please send Mario a card.

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Honestly it was not until I was in the middle of Church Sunday that I realized why. As I sat next to one of my sons, I looked over at him and realized it was becuase of him. Maybe it was a realization or maybe God opened my eyes to it, I am not sure. But it hit me like a ton of bricks. Ever since I thought I almost lost him the week before last, I had taken a step away from blogging. I really had no interest in it for a while. 

The evening hours were spent more with family and even doing mundane things than they were blogging. Which I am sure many will think “well that is where they should be spent”.

I haven’t talked a lot about the accident or anything since it happened but it came to me on Sunday that now is the time and this is the place. Why here, on my blog? Because when bad stuff happened when I was deployed, this is where I would turn. It gave me a release, an out if you will. It allowed me to lightly vent here and relieve some of the burden of stress in combat, so why not here at home like so many other non-milbloggers do (i.e. regular bloggers that write about whatever). 

So almost two weeks ago while visiting a military base where I had some meetings, while on a con call, my wife called me. Since I was on the con-call I let it go to voicemail, with a plan to call her back later. But then a second call came in from her back to back, which is our internal way of saying PICK UP NOW! I answered and in a bad cell area in the building got enough of the message from her to know that a friend of mine drove by the intersection where my son was just T-boned at a high rate of speed by someone running a red light. She knew they were taking him by ambulance to the hospital but did not know much else about how he was. She was on her way home to drop off our other son and race to the hospital. She told me she would call when she knew more. 

I know the intersection well where he was hit as it is near the house and is a very popular intersection for accidents, especially those that are caused by running red lights. As I signed off the call and told the guys I had to go and a quick summary of what happened, I grabbed my stuff and raced up the stairs. I found myself half-walking and half-running down the hill to my rental car and then recoginized that familiar old feeling of Mr. Adrenalin running through my body. My mind was racing 1000 mph thinking all sorts of things (how bad, was he dead, was he maimed, was he a vegtable, would this keep him from starting college this fall, was anyone else hurt, was he somehow at fault, was the other guy drunk, etc. etc). Imagine all those thoughts and quesitons running through your head in a matter of 1-3 seconds. Well that is the way it was as I headed to my car.

I was also thinking about how I would need to get back to the hotel and start packing, call the airlines and explain the situation in case I had to go back, and who I would have to notify that I would not be where I planned to be for the rest of the week. Again, all of that processing at the same time as everything else. 

Then about 2/3 of the way to the car, I sort of paused..just slowing to a stop and a slow walk and the worst came to mind. I remember praying “Dear God, please don’t let him be one of those front page headlines and statistics BOY WHO JUST GRADUATED KILLED A FEW DAYS AFTER GETTING DIPLOMA”. See he had just walked the stage a few days before and has an aspiring college career in front of him and it always seems to be those types of people that get killed and make the headlines so the public can say ‘what a shame’ or ‘what a waste’. I soooo feared he would be that kid and instead of celebrating at his Grad party we would be making funeral arrangements. 

As I slowly walked to the rental car (almost as if I didn’t walk fast then the inevitable would never happen) my eyes filled full of tears as I thought those worst of things. But as I put my stuff in the car and then sat in it for a few minutes, an idea popped into my head. I was imagining all these terrible things becuase I had no idea what the situation was. But my good friend did know, becuase he had called my wife. At that point I sort of snapped out of it and realized I could just call him. 

So I called him and left a voicemail asking him to call me back. Which he did about 30 seconds after I left the message. His words were very re-assuring, that my son was up and talking, a little confused and banged around but my friend had a conversation with him and felt my son would be ok, ot at least appeared to be. Those were awesome words to hear because it allowed me to put things in perspective and think more rationally. It appeared be was not so close to death as I feared and that since he was up and talking and held a conversation with my friend that he must be fairly ok. 

Bottom line is compared to what happened and how destroyed the car is, he came out pretty good. He was injured, but was not on his death-bed as I feared. 

So as I sat in the church pew on Sunday and looked at him sitting next to me, and I realized that was one of the biggest reasons why I had not blogged much lately. In the grand scheme of things it was not near as important as spending some quality time with my family and especially my son. 

It was also a reminder not to take people for granted in this world. Not to ever miss the chance to tell a loved one “I love you” or to take a moment and talk to a good friend (and not just email or txt them). It doesn’t matter if they are heading to the store real quick or taking an extended trip. Never forget we can be gone in a second, so make every second count. 

With all that said, I will continue blogging and hopefully writing decent stuff about topics that people care to read about. I just hope if it is not as much as normal that you bear with me and keep checking in every once in a while. 

Thanks for reading….

Bouhammer

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U.S. Army 1st Lt. Theo Kleinsorge (left), with 1st Platoon, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, and Spc. Kaleb Ivanoff take cover behind a hill while receiving enemy fire near the village of Mereget, in Kherwar district, Logar province, Afghanistan, on May 10, 2011.   DoD photo by Sgt. Sean P. Casey, U.S. Army.

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Enjoy the day with your family and friends.

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I realize some people are very busy and they don’t always have time to sit in front of a computer to read blogs, etc. Last year I made the Bouhammer.com blog mobile-friendly by making a “lite” version of the site for people that access it via mobile phones, tablets, etc. Now by providing a Kindle subscription service I am hoping it gives readers and fans of the site just one more option to read the site on the go.

Head over to Amazon.com and put bouhammer in the search box or CLICK HERE.

Thanks for reading…

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In addition to this new change, I have another one coming in a few days. Stay tuned to twitter.com/bouhammer or facebook.com/bouhammer to get the early insider information.

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