From "Pot-Head", to "Preacher", to "Pundit" (My Introduction)

Greetings to everyone here on "Pundit Press"!

I've been asked to start with an introductory bio of myself, and my reasons for wanting to post here. Gladly - But I suggest you grab your coffee, and pull up a com-fie chair, with your favorite blanket as I begin; this may take a bit...


While I often post as the "Desert Paladin" these days, I am an old hand at using the internet for communication. My experience dates back to the days before Al Gore "invented the internet" (said very tongue-in-cheek), in the by-gone days when all we had was the "Mil.net", and the "Edu.net", and Mae West was the "Holy Grail" only a select few could access. We had "bulletin boards", and while clunky in comparison to what we can do today; in many ways we had much more freedoms than people today would believe. But, I digress...

Today, as never before, there is a need for a clear & concise exchange of information between like-minded individuals. Society is in upheaval, and behind it are forces which are well organized, well funded, and focused like a laser in their intentions. The only way to combat such a threat to traditional Americana is to adapt ourselves to the same technologies, and to organize and commit ourselves equally to the task. To this end, I looked for a means to help equip others with the information, tools, and insight necessary to join the fight to save America from the barbarians at the gates, and now in our streets.

Thankfully, if you haven't already discovered it: "Pundit Press" provides just the vehicle needed for that, and much more.

It won't take long reading through their insightful posts to realize that they mean business; especially where that "business" is saving America from it's enemies, both foreign and domestic. As a Marine Corps. Vet, that means a lot to me.

What the nation is in dire need of now is not more "political hacks" who spend endless hours postulating the obvious; but men & women of action! And here, I do believe we can do much more than rehearse America's obituary.

As for my own Bio: I am a Fifty-something year old conservative Christian; Marine Corps Vet; Father of Two, and soon to be Grandfather! As a young man I learned the value of hard work at my own Grandfather's side cutting sugar cane, and horse-high "elephant grass" in the humidity & heat of Louisiana. Yes, I am a "Bayou Boy" aka "Cajun". And I make a mean gumbo both figuratively and literally, if I do say so myself.

Aspiring a better life for us, my Parents moved us to the San Fernando Valley in Southern California when I was 9. Even then I held various part-time jobs while attending school, such as being a Paper Delivery boy for the "Valley Green Sheet". Being in a large family of seven left little to "luxury" that was not earned.

Then, owing to such factors as puberty, and the enormous hedonistic cultural influences prevalent in SoCal at that point in the late 60s and early 70s; I gradually rebelled against the values and morals my Parents had faithfully instilled in us, and became a full-blown "Hippie" Kid. I questioned everything, and "sampled" not a few "forbidden pleasures". In short: Let no-one think... as Jimi Hendrix used to say... I am not "experienced". I am ashamed now to admit, I am. I in fact became so unruly that my Father discussed enrolling me in Military School (a thing he could hardly afford) to straighten me out. And as I reflect upon that, I now know that would have been a very good thing for me. Like so many Kids today who roam the streets today as disgruntled "protesters" in search of a cause; what I really needed was structure, direction, and discipline.

Well, when I learned of my Father's intentions, I ran away from home, not to return until I was of the legal age for self-determination at 18. During this time, I began what was to become my greatest educational experience in the real world; and without argument - There's no school like that of "Hard Knocks"... and I am an "Alumni".

I nearly killed myself through drug abuse, self-indulgence, and sexual promiscuity.
I lived like a vagabond hobo, and took to a life of crime in order to survive. And, "But for the grace of God...", I should have been killed on more than one occasion.

"Experienced"? Oh yeah... I got to know America as few others ever get a chance to, and it's no boast. Once you are bereft of all support mechanisms, and the shelter of friends & family you so take for granted growing up: Only then do you realize how truly vulnerable you are, and your own self-estimation undergoes a radical reevaluation.

Upon returning home to the welcoming safety & shelter of my Parent's home, it was immediately apparent to all that, for better or worse, I had undergone a radical transformation. No longer was I the easy-going, cavalier young lion driven by naiveté and liberal group-thinking. I was hardened, grim, and cynical far sooner than normal youth should allow. But I had seen and experienced things a normal youth in America should never have to. I think the dramatic changes I underwent are best reflected in the pictures I have herein posted from those times.

This was me in 1973, just before my leaving home to pursue the "Hippie Life" romantically portrayed in so many songs and movies of the time. Like all too many kids today being suckered into "protesting" what they know not: I was a fool in for a rude awakening.

Here, in 1976. I had just returned home, and it was my 18th birthday. Here, at a time when most young men had bright hopes and prospects in a world they had yet to explore; I had neither, and felt "burned out".

Thankfully, due to the intervention of an Aunt & Uncle whose loving intolerance of my self-destructive
"tolerance", I once again learned the value of hard work, honesty, and the family & friends I had taken for granted.

In 1979, I did something a few short years earlier I would have scorned as "unthinkable": I joined the military. And not just any branch, no, I had to join what I thought to be the "toughest" of them all... I joined the Marines. (Can I get an "Ooh-Rah!"?) I never made a better decision in my life up to that point. Here again, only pictures can do justice to the changes this made in me.

Until recently, I would have had no hesitation in highly recommending a tour of duty in our Nation's Armed Forces to help a young man find purpose, direction, discipline along with the self-confidence that comes from it.
In recent years however, our young men & women have become "guinea pigs" for the most outlandish social experimentation ever suffered upon our military, and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone except a Liberal.


It was during my time in the Marine Corps. that I found, or rather was found by that seemingly elusive answer to the meaning of life: Jesus Christ. So many many gnawing questions about the world, humanity, and my place in it become resolved at that instant; Well, I've spent the rest of my life explaining it to others. It's just too bad so many like Bono of U2 "...still haven't found" it!

Anyway, it was at this point that my life had truly taken a 180 degree for the better. It's no mere "coincidence" that while the remnants of liberalism still clung to me, I voted for Jimmy Carter before entering the Marine Corps, afterwards I would ever vote my conservative, Christian conscience; and so first voted for Ronald R. Reagan, a man I previously, mindlessly despised.

After leaving the military, I entered the workforce where, unlike before; I found immediate and lucrative employment in Law Enforcement at the local Air Force Base. I used this time to continue my education via long distance studies in pursuit of a degree in theology. I now had a goal... a "calling" if you will, and that was to be a minister.

From that time, up until a few short years ago, I continued to work full-time while pursuing my calling. I got married; fathered 2 wonderful children; and eventually became an Associate Pastor before health complications arose which forced my early retirement. I know the heartache of an unwanted divorce, as well as the struggles in being disabled.
Happily, I have learned how to transform such things into assets as opposed to deficits.

Despite the many hardships, and my own current inability to "take it to the streets", as I once did to challenge the voices of anarchy which threaten our beloved country; I do not count my oath fulfilled, nor my duty acquitted to defend and uphold our Constitution, and this Nation, from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Neither should anyone else.

That is anything but sappy sentimentalism, or nostalgia speaking; these things are what makes me "tick".

My hope is that through my own admittedly limited efforts to reach others through my contributions here at Pundit Press, I can find genuine camaraderie with like-minded Patriots whatever their skin color, religious affiliation, gender and age.

And if you have tolerance for a long-winded old patriot like me, then I have great hope that we can together stand against the forces which now threaten our home... America.

God bless you one & all for your kind patience in reading this, my introduction to you.

This has been Troy Frugé, aka "The Desert Paladin"
Reporting in from his bunker, somewhere in the High Desert regions of Southern Kalifornia.

God bless America, and long live the Republic!