“I don’t know what’s going on with you lately Alpha! Less than 5 hours in country and you’re already losing sensitive items! You’re not showing up on time for formation! And now you’re standing around in formation talking and having fun! This isn’t the Alpha I know!”
Seriously? Do the members of my chain of command actually think before they speak sometimes?
Old White Man exclaimed rather gleefully, “Hurray! No more fun for our Company!” He wasn’t the only one echoing those sentiments, and I was exceptionally guilty of wondering just what our 1SG was thinking when she said that our company, having fun, was something bad.
But the truth is, we did lose something valuable, and a couple people failed to show up. But who imagined that showing up on Camp Buehring in the middle of nowhere, Kuwait, would also mean that we had formations every few minutes for what seemed like no reason. Although we were in a war zone, which to be honest I never thought of Kuwait as, we were also in a salute zone. The possibilities were endless.
Shoot. Salute. Dodge the enemy. Greet an officer. Stand at attention while returning fire. It’s all wonderful in the strange way the military has of contradicting itself. While I’ve gotten used to the insanity of following orders after four years in, I’m still taken back when something as stupid as saluting in a “war zone” is deemed necessary.
You’re an officer? Got it, I can see your rank. I’ll call you sir or ma’am, no problem, but grow the fuck up. Stop trying to compensate for never being a part of your troops. If you’re worth it, we’ll respect you. And if you’re not, being a prick won’t fix it.
As far as fun goes though, we still laugh and joke. How can we not? We’re at war…Sir.
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