Generality

The General spoke with clarity and conviction, but lacked a certain level of sincerity. Perhaps it was due to him, this man I’d never seen before, trying to portray an aura of familiarity and friendship with everyone forced to listen to his drivel. Perhaps my disbelief in his legitimacy stemmed from an intangible hunch I’d gotten. Or perhaps I just hate listening to diatribes by anyone who isn’t comedic in nature.

This was a few hours before we boarded the plane to Maine, and eventually Kuwait. My battalion, roughly 200 soldiers, sitting on the hard top indoor basketball court at the Texas gymnasium we were trapped in. All of us sitting around lazily and then in walks this commander. This Army suit reeking of clout.

His speech wasn’t a total shock to me though. General So-and-So, introduced by my commander as someone who could often be found conducting PT with us. Really? I’ve never seen him before. Especially not exercising with us “soldiers”. In fact, I’ve never even heard of someone seeing him before. What crap.

But on came the general, and on came his speech. It was a four point assessment of things we should rely on in Iraq. On things we need to follow, tidbits of advice just waiting for us to recall them so that everyone involved can be triumphant. So he started to speak on the subject of trust, and I had heard it two days prior.

“Check it out, I know exactly what he’s going to say.”“No way! How?” The interest was evident in Thin Mints voice, and I knew it.

The first of his four points, it didn’t make much sense. Thinking back upon it now, his four points were all crazy.