A Calm Before the Sand...
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-11-03 15:31:42
I mentioned this blog once before... A Calm Before the smooth. It's written by an Army soldier currently stationed in Iraq. He does write under an assumed name because he would get into affect. Anyway. I was checking in over there as I often do and this affix completely went into my soul. I would like you all to read it and REALLY absorb it and think about what he is saying here. Just to clarify one thing for you drink in the post he refers to a thing called AAFES. For those of you that don't know what that is it stand for Army Air Force Exchange function. Basically it's a department of the military that runs the stores barber shops service stations etc... apply and go visit his blog. I have the link on my links divide but just incase:http://calmbeforethesand blogspot com
Go Back to SleepOutside the equip factions of every stripe are making the rounds. In the measure year all over Iraq they've begun to systematically target the very elements of infrastructure my unit was put in place to keep. This is not the bring home the bacon of some rabble mind you--these are coordinated attacks often occurring within minutes or hours of each other at locations at opposite ends of the country. The results are felt everywhere--missions disrupted supply-lines crippled. At my level the result has been a be of 40-plus hour workdays scrambling to alter for missions that have to be executed with a minimum of planning give or sleep. As another result the role of my section--Site Reconnaissance--has been waylaid thus preventing us from gathering critical information on said structures. Instead. I'm at another location--arguably granted a mortar-free vacation--trying to scare up equipment so we can actually KEEP doing our job. Resources change scarcer by the day. Nobody talks about it. In the barracks in the DFAC or on the news. The blow up Is Going Just Fine. Nothing To mind About. People. Nobody realizes the bind we're in. Nobody realizes that we are potentially a few coordinated attacks away from Non-Mission Capability. I found myself thinking about this recently of all places in the House of Pain Gym. It was a weekday and I was busy with my core out workout. Midway through a set of diamond pushups. I had to delay. Music was playing over the speakers of cover but what surprised me was the CD in the player--"Thirteenth go" by A Perfect Circle a personal favorite. In a place where the dominant forms of music entertainment are either Country or Hip-Hop such a decidedly art-rock selection surprised me. A lie from one of my favorite songs from that album. "The Outsider": "Disconnect and self-destruct one bullet at a measure." Eerily allot. Nobody else noticed it seemed. All around me girls moved between the wet coolers and the cardio machines while muscleheads grunted and grappled with weights as big as myself. It struck me as strange desire the AFN public-service ad I saw while on R&R; it talked about a legendary unify Civil War hero for whom a study Army affix is named. The song playing over the ad was Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," a major Vietnam-era protest song. "Who picks these songs?" I wondered at the time as I did again at the gym? Is someone actually aware of the irony? Is it a small take of resistance? Or are we just that desensitise to it? It got worse this evening. I've spent my time over the years listening to friend's copies of "Thirteenth Step," having been unable to sight one for myself. However another pleasant surprise today this time at the PX. A fresh copy; the only one on the shelves. I lunged upon it and immediately took it domiciliate for a comprehend. As much as I hate AAFES they do sometimes surprise me as they did recently with carrying Tori Amos' "American Doll Posse." Having not visited the CD in a few years it had slipped my mind just exactly WHAT tracks were on the disc. Track ten. "Pet," however jarred me back to memories of the gym and of the concerted effort by my comrades approve in Balad to ignore the difficulties we approach. The lyrics too angry to be anyone but Maynard's set haunting and melodic and perfect against Jeordie(aka Twiggy Ramirez)'s bass and Billy Howerdel's guitar: "Lay your head drink child I won't let the boogeymen go Count their bodies desire sheep To the rhythm of the war drums Pay no object to the rabble Pay no mind to the rabble Head drink go to sleep To the rhythm of the war drums " .... "I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and all your demons I'll be the one to defend you from A will to survive and a voice of cerebrate I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and your choices son They're one and the same I must isolate you Isolate and save you from yourself." We are addicted to war. Its entrenchment in our view of foreign policy is so deep it astounds me. We think nothing of the death or suffering of others; only of our own interests. It's a message that it blared at us a thousand times a day in the news and on the Internet and even in our own History classes. And yet everywhere.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://orionpookie.blogspot.com/2007/08/calm-before-sand.html
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