On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dogface

Well, she's back . . . I got an email today, pointing me to a few posts (in the comments on this blog, apparently devoted to trashing some guy called Ducktape Fatwa - visit if you want, but if you're like me, you'll want a long soapy shower afterwards) by militarytracy (you remember, the one who celebrated the deaths of contractors in Iraq on dKos, apparently on the grounds that they made more money than her husband did.)

It seems militarytracy a) knows me, and b) has found my awful secret - I'm not really a soldier (I seem to recall my drill sergeant expressing the same opinion, years ago.)

My post about her comments on Daily Kos made it into a running battle over on the Ducktape Fatwa site. Militarytracy's response:

Hey Catnip, that blog you linked to isn't a soldiers blog. The guy has never served in the military but adores special forces. He's part of the 101st fighting keyboardists, you know those guys who are the war loving bloggers. I stand by what I said and I think just about every soldier I know would stand with me. Dynacorp, Blackwater Security, Custer Battles they have all murdered innocent Iraqi civilians at will and there is no recourse. My post from Kos was attempting to explain to other posters who these contractors are and how they conduct themselves in Iraq, which is above the law. Markos was one of the first people I ran across who understood what the contractors were doing and how horrible it was, but I guess he would since he lived in a war torn country as a child. I pick on the war bloggers when I have PMS, it's a personal problem.
and

He's a skydiver Catnip and he claims to have done jumps with different forces from all over the world, you can pay to have those experiences. It's part of his worship of special forces thing, he arranges to have jumps with them. He would never put his real ass in the line of real fire though or sign on a real dotted line and maybe get killed. Lots of cheerleading though and love of the bloodlust. He doesn't recognize the difference between a soldier and a soldier of fortune (mercenary) either, that was why he was offended by what I wrote about the contractors that were killed in Fallujah. He thinks that once you have been special forces you are GOD and anything you do to anybody after that is an act of GOD and if you were a mercenary when you did it that's even cooler.

Let me make a few points - first, everything in my prior post about her personal issues with contractors still applies. She's still speaking about things that she knows nothing about, and, judging by her posts, she's still a reprehensible human being.

Second, although I'm tempted to quote the old Airborne saying that starts "I don't care how many skydives you've got, . . . ", I won't. Skydiving is not the same thing as jumping (skydiving is, in fact, much closer to Military Freefall - I'm not going to express an opinion as to whether civilian freefall jumping is more or less dramatic than a military Airborne operation, but its a very different attitude. I will say that I think I would know if I knew Tracy, since I'd probably be appearing as a witness in a commitment hearing. And as far as "once you have been special forces you are GOD", hey, Tracy, you said it, not me.

But, more important, while I appreciate the "heads up" about what's being said about me (and the opportunity to make a few snide remarks), I really don't care. Life is too short to get drawn into the personal problems of someone like Tracy.

It is an interesting problem, though. Since I'm not going to publish my name, rank, or current unit of assignment, a reader here can choose to believe that I'm in SF, and that I've put my "real ass on the real line" or not. For those who enjoy what I have to say, welcome. For those who have concerns about whether I'm making it all up as I go, I can only refer you to the subtitle of this blog.