Headline, August26, 2013

''' !!! ? WAR & PEACE ? !!! '''

Many nights in L.A. I would wake up when i heard the ghetto bird circle up above the building, with its spotlight sometime beaming down through the lone window in my room. In Iraq, Kiowa attack helicopters would fly above us constantly on combat missions, and I loved that sound.

For a year straight after I came back, I hardly ever left my room, and the only walking I did was to the liquor store and back to numb myself in my room. I found that I was no longer interested in going out.

Nothing interested me, even butterfly collecting, and I found myself not interested in meeting or talking to new people, either. Why should I? I had already met a lot of the best people you will ever meet, in the military.

So, when a friend of mine from the Army who I still kept in touch with told me that the days now went on and on and on and every felt like being placed on QRF and waiting for something to happen, I told him, I felt the exact same way.

Quick Reaction Force means you sit around all day, sometimes for several days and wait for an attack and/or a mission to happen. After some encouragement from this friend, I had decided to go to the VA. He told me that you have to go through a lot of bullshit, but once you do, it's worth it, especially if the Army called you back up to active duty. Rumor is PTSD can get you out of redeployment.

But now, with the memory stream riveted, finally, a lady came out and called my name. She asked me what my Military Occupational Speciality was in the Army. I told her 11 Bravo. Her eyes widened up a bit, and she said, ''You must of saw a lot.'' I didn't say anything, and she told me about how she gets a lot of infantry guys now.

''There are two things I tell every OIF/OEF veteran not to do when they return home,'' she said. ''Don't drink any alcohol or take any drugs whatsoever. Number two is to not watch the news or any movies that might remind you of the war.'' An example she gave was Black Hawk Down.

I gave the nice woman a smile. Beside the drugs and alcohol I was a-OK. I don't pay attention to the news, and I actually don't care too much about Black Hawk Down. 

Personally I think the flick's a bit overrated and essentially just a stylish two-and-a-half hour ad for the military. I knew of so many guys at basic training who enlisted because of that movie and had pipe dreams of being a Ranger or D-Boy. I'm more of a fan of the Vietnam era Hollywood movies.

Their war was a bit more rock'n'roll and the sound track a bit cooler as well. I also pick on the antiwar messages in those films, something unfortunately I didn't quiet register prior to enlistment. However, after scheduling an appointment to see somebody about PTSD, I thanked her, and on the way out I put on my sunglasses and lit up a smoke.

The sun was out, the grass looked freshly mowed, a veteran was playing his acoustic guitar on a bench, and I was now feeling a little hungry, so I decided to walk on over to the PX for a bite to eat. 

On my way there a vet from previous war walked by. He had a Hat on that advertised that he a Vietnam veteran, and I could see that his viewed the combat pin on lapel and he gave me a subtle head nod and said,

''Welcome Home.''

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Thailand. See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless : '' A`World Of difference ''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless