A Happy 4th

Happy Independence Day everyone.

I haven’t had time to write or to use my new fang-dangold computer much. So, in the absence of me thinking up something original to write about, here is an amusing observation that I made today when I rolled into the “office”. Because I work for a multi-national headquarters, I fight along side members from many different branches of service, as well as different countries who make up the coalition force. At one time I was working for a Navy Captain who is equivalent to an Army Colonel. This made for interesting conversations.

Me: “Good morning Captain Smith (not his real name).”
Smith: “Good morning Captain Glen (my real name).”
Me: “Captain Smith sir, we need this requisition signed.”
Smith: “Sure Captain Glen, where do I sign?”
Me: “Sign over the signature block that says ‘Captain Smith’.”
Smith: “No problem Captain Glen.”

After a while he just called me by my first name and I just called him “sir”.

When we would talk about him in his absence, we usually referred to him as “the skipper” and we were all his “little buddies”.

In any case, the skipper went on to another section and turned our team over to a British Colonel. Now, as I have written about before, the English are a lively lot who have a very different outlook when compared us Westerners. They love them some tea, they say “cheers” a lot, they have amusing names for everyday things, plus they just flat out talk funny. Working for one is not too bad, as I can’t help but laugh at his accent, even when he’s chewing someone out for messing up. So, I strolled into work this morning and opened up my email to find this message from my new foreign boss:

“Happy Independence Day to one and all. The deal we struck last night in the absence of any guidance from PB (the general) is we will work normally this morning. Provided there are no commitments, this afternoon and evening are relaxed to do whatever you want within reason - burning a Brit or chucking him into Boston harbour (note correct spelling) are not options.

I'm also celebrating the fact that before 1776 everything that went wrong in the world was blamed on my country, but afterwards the blame gradually became your problem, letting us off the hook very neatly. So I'm sitting here drinking a lovely cup of tea and toasting King George III.....you know the mad German bloke!”

He’s a funny guy, and I had to laugh out loud at the fact that a Brit was wishing me, an American, a Happy Independence Day, a day celebrating our independence from British rule. And here I am today (an American) fighting in Iraq (what use to be a British colony) under the reign of a limeys boss! By the by, we didn’t get the afternoon off because, well, we just don’t get holiday’s off here.

Since the 4th has fallen on the middle of the week this year, I assume the rocket-light shows, concerts and BBQs were all crammed into last weekend, so today probably isn’t that big of a deal for most stateside dwellers. If you work for the government or a bank (or for my civilian company), you’ll probably have today off to go take advantage of Independence Day sales and work on the lawn. As for me, I’m going against the norm and hoping for a peaceful night absent of fireworks. I guess I’m just getting boring in my old age.


Interesting fact the day: The Declaration of Independence was adopted by 12 of 13 colonies (New York did not vote) on July 4, 1776, but it was not actually signed by all of the delegates until August 2, 1776. Personally, I think this is grounds to have another official holiday 29 days from now as there are no national holidays, and subsequently no days off from work, in August.