Anniversary 6-1-07

Anniversary 6-1-07
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It's hard not to get obsessed with time here. People are always keeping
track of things like the days they've been here, how much time until
their next break, what time the chow hall closes, and how many months
until they rotate back to the land of the big PX. If you are smart, you
try to ignore these things and just stay busy so that clock will move
forward without giving you any notice. If you're not smart, then you
have a stupid donut spreadsheet on your computer that pops up each day
to remind you that you have over 7,500 hours until you go home. I am
not smart!
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In any case, I got up this morning and saw that the date on my watch had
changed to 6-1-07. Now, this date doesn't really mean much to my
deployment here. I already had my 1 month anniversary in country and
according to my "donut" countdown, I'm only 9% through my deployment.
What makes this day significant is that 11 years ago today I donned a
uniform and swore an oath to join the ranks of the US Army as a young
strapping second lieutenant in the US Army Corps of Engineers (well, at
least my mom thought I was strapping). Also, six years ago on this day,
I hung up my rifle, hardhat, castles and my BDU uniform and opted to get
out of the active duty Army to put my regular life in order as a
civilian. One could argue if I ever really did get things together in
those 6 years (some would argue that I made them worse), but regardless
here I am, wearing a uniform again. The uniform is not the same but the
requirements of the job haven't changed much. The peacetime Army I left
is doing a much tougher job now. It can be a dangerous and thankless
job at times, but I still believe in what the military stands for, and
so do most around me, regardless of their political views. I'm still a
little bitter when I have to salute my oak leaf clad classmates, but I
give them props for sticking with the job when so many of us were
jumping ship for the civilian sector.
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Did you know that the appropriate gift for one's eleventh anniversary is
steel? Looks like Uncle Sam had this in mind when he gave me 210 rounds
of 5.56mm ammunition with, ironically enough, steel tipped penetrators.
Oh that crazy Uncle of mine! He's so thoughtful!
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Interesting fact of the day: Even though English is my second language,
I don't speak like Brendan portrays my voice in his blogs. He is my
round-eyed brother in arms and he's pretty funny at times, so we'll hold
off on the flying round kicks to the head...for now.