By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… After reading last week’s PROGRESS I guess I am a week late as Vernon has already reviewed 2011. I, too, would review what happened last year, but I am not sure what happened last night let alone last year. All I know is as I have grown older, the years seem to go by faster. I remember a few sad moments as some old friends passed. Boyd Applegate, a real patriot died as did Wes Adams, a man who always supported the valley. Linda Bohn, a dear friend and neighbor, also went to be with the Lord.

I remember some happy things, too. Our neighbor kids Kyler Freeman and Jeff Humes came home from Afghanistan. Twyla and Charlie Pulsipher celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. Elijah Llewelyn Moses was born. Moapa Valley High School won the state basketball championship. The class of 2011 graduated on the football field and the weather was good. While the school’s football team lost to Tahoe-Truckee, California, in the Nevada State Championship game, they were still the best team in the state of Nevada.

My wife and I were able to travel over ten thousand miles throughout the year. We spent sixteen days in the mid-west for a reunion. I believe it rained or snowed the whole time. It made me remember why I live in Southern Nevada.

We were able to attend the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Fort Bridger, Wyoming. It was a great adventure with friends. In August, we went with our friends Anna MaRie, Ace, Jinx and Audrey to Cedar City and saw the stage plays, Music Man and Noise’s Off.

Speedy our Chihuahua-dachshund mix died. Speedy was a very special dog. He was fifteen or so years old. He died as he lived:on his own terms. Speedy was abused as a puppy and was rescued by my son. He had a tough life, but was a great little dog. My wife’s cockatiel, Spike, left us after eighteen years. He was easier to bury than Speedy.

I guess we had better remember 2011 as the Mayan Calendar tells us that it will be the last full year because the world will end on December 21, 2012. Yippee! No need to shop for Christmas.

On a little more serious note, this is the beginning of the fifth full year of writing this column for the PROGRESS. It is usually this time of year that I try to explain what this column is and what it is not.

I am assuming that I have the same agreement with the editor of the paper that I have had for a little over four years now. I will write the column, he will read it and decide if it meets the standards of his paper and if so, he will print it.

“No one asked me but…” does not claim to be anything more than the ramblings of an old man who has more time on his hands than is healthy. It is designed more for the enjoyment of the writer than any supposed readers. I do know that I have three loyal readers, my older sister in Des Moines, Iowa, and my sister and brother-in-law in Texas.

No one asked me but… Wahoo! America has declared victory and has pulled troops from Iraq.

I am not sure what victory means anymore. We have withdrawn our troops but have left 16,000 Americans in the country. These people are either working directly for the United States government or under contract to the government.

Five thousand of those left behind are mercenaries hired to protect the other eleven thousand Americans while they go about their daily duties. While victory has been declared, it is not safe to walk the streets of Bagdad. However, that is also true of many of the major cities of America.

The withdrawal will give little relief to the American taxpayer. An unmarried soldier receiving combat pay and holding the rank of sergeant cost the American taxpayer roughly $85 per day. If the soldier was married, that pay doubled to $170 per day. At the top of the pay scale was a General making $493 per day, which is about $180,000 annually.

Private security firms are now filling the role of the American military. The average pay for a mercenary operative is roughly $815 dollars a day. For a middle manager, the average fee is $945 per day; senior managers are paid $1,075 a day. US taxpayers are paying senior managers of private security firms overseeing a team of just 34 people more than double what they were paying General David Petraeus who oversaw all the American troops.

If we privatize our military, one must wonder who will control them. The President is Commander In Chief of the military. The military’s loyalty is to the United States. The mercenaries’ loyalty is to whoever pays them. Does anyone else see a danger to American sovereignty here?

While the government has been quick to declare a victory in Iraq and the troops have come home, it has been very quiet about the sixteen thousand Americas still in the country. They have said little of the hundreds of billions dollars to be spent each year to maintain a presences in a country that has no idea of what a representative government is all about. It is merely a matter of time before one or the other of the militant Islamic groups, through threat and terror, take over the country and we will be back to square one.

When the US went into Iraq, it knew there were two religious divisions of Muslims, the dominant Shiites, and the less populous but ruling Sunni. In the less than a month after pulling troops from Iraq, the struggle to see which religious group will control the country and impose its peculiar band of Islam on the other has begun.

However, Iraq will still be used as an example and victory will be declared in Afghanistan. In 2014, American troops will come home leaving Afghanistan in the control of some band of Muslim extremists.

Thought of the week…Be careful that victories do not carry the seed of future defeats.

– Ralph W. Sockman