Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Tears for Fears

There are a few rules you are expected to know and follow when you find yourself stranded in the desert. They are basic fundamentals that are more common sense than anything else, Rules such as conserve water, try to avoid travel during the hottest part of the day... And never travel alone. There are 0ther rules as well but they are escaping me as of right now. The reason I bring this little bit of common sense to your attention is to let you understand how very quickly that things that seem so simple, become so confused. For the the last three days that we have been in country my unit has been attempting to acclimatize to the surrounding climate, they have been doing this mainly by sleeping in their mildly air conditioned tents and drinking a lot of water. Yesterday our leadership in a moment of obvious lucidity (read insanity) decided that between the hours of 10am & 2pm ( the hottest part of the day) we were not aloud to be in any tents, or other air conditioned buildings. Now I understand that you aren't going to adapt very well if you don't subject yourself to the conditions of your surroundings, but it seems to me there is a better way to go about it then just dropping you in the thick of it. Enough ranting, so the title of today's blog is a non sexual double entendre, (it has more then one meaning) It has come to my attention that a lot of the soldiers both male and female deal with with their fears and frustrations by giving in to their emotions, now please don't think I am implying that these people are weak by any means. I am merely commenting on their choice of dealing with their fears and frustrations. Over the last three nights I have awoken to a number of different muffled sniffling and an occasional light sob. The more I look around the more I realize I am surrounded by soldiers who a little over 1,2 and three years ago were still in high school. It is truly a testament of the pride of our nation has been handed to a younger generation. That isn't to say there aren't a few of us that are a tad bit older, I am nearly 26 and out of roughly 70 odd people I'm like the eighth oldest, there are five or so that are in their late twenties early thirties two in there late 30's 1 in his early forties and the rest are all under 22. That is just in my platoon... If you look at the face of our military it is of a young soldier... The point of all this really really boring information is that once again our country is being defended by its children. The second meaning of the title (and the reason it is capitalized) is Pv2 Fears this soldier is making me looney he is one of our newest soldiers and by far one of the biggest problems, he is 31 years old and has pretty much run his life how he felt for most of it... Fears hasn't quite adapted to the military way of life as of yet. So basically I find myself constantly pulling my hair out because he has chosen to do the opposite of what ever it is we are supposed to be doing... He really isn't a bad guy but he has a huge issue with authority and respect. On a completely different note I was recently the victim of a horrible theft while I was sleeping a friend of mine decided to help me keep cool by SHAVING ME BALD.... Obviously I didn't sleep through it but once the damage had started I let him finish it... So now I am as bald as the day I was born... Sigh.... Hope to hear from some of you soon.....
James
Random thought of the day: Sex is a lot like the game of Spades, if your partner is no good you had better have a great hand.

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