5. Cadence-
A few weeks ago, there was a Groundhog Day 5K run that started at about 4:00 in the morning. Since I work the night shift, I got to see a constant stream of soldiers run past my shop. One unit was running together, doing a cadence. This was not my first exposure to cadence, having deployed with the military before. However, it is something I always thoroughly enjoy. I never know what it is they are saying, and really it doesn’t matter. To me, this act symbolizes the solidarity that the soldiers have, which is, of course, one of the reasons the US military is the greatest in the world. I almost wish I was cadenceing with them, if I didn’t have to run.
4. Soldiers can (and do) sleep ANYwhere.
In 2004 when I was here, I remember a soldier telling me that he slept for 20 minutes every five hours when he was on a mission because that is all the body needs to refresh itself. Now, I am sure that was an extreme case, but can you imagine? 20 minutes every 5 hours?! I would be dead on my feet after two days! Not only did he have to do this, but he was expected to be alert and accountable for his team mates as well!
I have seen soldiers sleep on a C-130 during a combat landing, in the mud in all of their gear while it was raining, in a busy airport on the floor at the gate, in the DFAC (that guy was probably straight exhausted!), packed in to various other aircrafts, on any surface, at any temperature, in any condition, without complaining. A comfortable bed is a luxury to these guys most of the time, and when they get one, you better not bother them! Anyway, I admire the fact that they can sleep like this, because if a mouse sneezes or there is a tiny crumb in my bed, I wake up instantly.
3. Soldiers pray, cry and hug each other openly-
Here they are, the toughest, saltiest dogs on the planet, in a freakin war zone. How would you expect them to act? Like John Wayne in The Green Berets? Me too. Except it’s the complete opposite. Being away from your family, enduring extreme conditions and being faced with your mortality on a daily basis doesn’t make you a hard-nosed, emotionless prick. What it does is it completely cuts out the bullshit façade completely. These guys don’t give a crap if you don’t think they are manly for praying at the dinner table or hugging their buddy, they do it anyway, because dammit, they might not get to do it tomorrow. They cry when they get care packages from their kids and tell their wives and girlfriends they love them on the phone every single time. They do this without being afraid they have to somehow defend their sexuality to their battle buddies and without any ego.
2. Soldiers motivate and care for the people around them-
When I first got to CRC, there was this big ass hill that we all had to walk up to get to some of our briefings. I suppose it really wasn’t that bad of a hill, but I was ridiculously out of shape and it was about 85 degrees in Georgia, so I had a hard time making it up the hill. There was one point when I really, honestly and truly thought I was going to pass out. Another contractor and former solider, Oz, slowed down a little bit to walk with me and carried my backpack, so I wouldn’t fall out of formation and I wouldn’t pass out. (WHY were civilians in formation anyway? Who knows!) Not exactly one of my finer moments, admittedly, but it forever cemented my friendship with Oz from that point on. Aside from being horribly embarrassing, this is a perfect example of the types of things that soliders will do for you. We had to walk up that hill every single day, and every single day Oz would grab my backpack and walk with me, giving me a motivating pep talk the whole way.
Just the other day, another soldier did something nice that surprised me. I have had a particularly nasty hacking cough for about a week now (something to do with inhaling large amounts of sand) and my CHU neighbor showed up at my door with some cough syrup and some Halls cough drops. That means he actually walked all the way up to the PX to by them for me and walked back to give them to me. I have to admit, I was really touched that there was someone out there who did something nice without asking still. The same guy has been driving me nuts for months with his loud tv and phone conversations while I am trying to sleep. But now, when I hear his tv, I just smile and go back to sleep. A little courtesy goes a long way, and this soldier knew that.
2. Soldiers motivate and care for the people around them-
Not only do they do it right, they do it right the FIRST time. Could this be a product of months of psychological conditioning that if they don’t, their NCO/CO/ETC is going to come down on them hard? Probably. However, I prefer to think that they actually take pride in doing their job and doing it correctly. For every lazy bad apple there are one thousand dedicated, hardworking men and women who know their jobs inside and out, can do it better than most civilians with 5 times the experience in the trade, and do it more efficiently. The standard shift for most soldiers is 12 hours., but most work between 16 and 19 hour days, because they want to get the job done. At least here anyway.
There are so many other reasons I love soldiers. One of the main reasons not mentioned here is that they have greta senses of humor and don't mind when a wily civilian pokes fun at them. So please, don't take anything I say here seriously, because as you can see, I really do admire the soldiers a great deal.
No comments:
Post a Comment