Flags of Our Fathers, abbreviated

I got to go see an advance showing of "Flags of Our Fathers" tonight. Cinemark Theaters offered the showing for free to any and all ROTC cadets and cadre members, so kudos to them.

I don't have time to do a full review because it's late and I have PT in the morning, but I will say that you need to go see this movie. Clint Eastwood does a masterful job of bringing their story to the screen. It's a great war movie, yet less than half of the movie actually features "war" scenes, which is why it's such a great war movie. You get to see what went on after they returned home and were held up as heroes even though they didn't consider themselves as such. Anyway, I'll have a more detailed review posted later, but go see it. And make sure you stay for all the way through the credits, because they are well worth watching.

Also, Col. Otero's lecture last night was amazing. He seems like a great guy, really knows his stuff, and was more than willing to stay after and discuss with a group of us for another 40 minutes. I took 8 pages of scribbled notes, so I'll have plenty to talk about that later as well.

Finally, in case anyone was doubting that winter has arrived, the current wind chill in Ames is 18 degrees. 18 flippin' degrees.