11 September 2007

What. The. Fuck.

I just walked from the gym here. It's a nice, large gym with lots of good equipement, and I have lots of time to use it, so I'll likely be going twice daily whilst I'm here. On my way there I passed a lot of people just sort of hanging out at some tables and there was a speaker system set up playing country music. Nothing too odd, but it reminded me a lot of parks in Walnut Creek at night in the summer - nothing to do, so you hang out and bullshit, without, to use a cliche, a care in the world. Not what I expect in the Army, but I'll deal.

As I left the gym, though, the music was still going, and the area in front of the speakers had become an outdoor dance floor, with couples slow dancing, like a fucking high school dance. These people are all dressed in civilian clothes - a thing my guys haven't worn in over a year, short of very brief periods on leave - and they're are working tax free and collecting combat pay. Most of the people on this FOB don't carry weapons, half of them don't wear uniforms. I'm sure they provide vital services to the war effort, but it rubs a little that those people dancing get the same benefits and wear the same combat patch as my men who sifted though rubble and trash for the body parts of their friends in Baqubah.

posted by Interested Soldier @ 14:32