On Apr 26, 5:29 pm, Curtis L. Russell wrote:
On 26 Apr 2007 12:10:20 -0700, Bill C wrote:

Even with everything, if I could, I'd
go back if they called.

Man, that's a thought that never crosses my mind. If it did, I'd kill
it like a rat. Let's see:

Military (U.S.Army)
Slept in barracks with a bunch of guys
Sometimes got to work seven on, none off,12 hours a day, weeks and
even months on end
Went to work in the dark, a lot
OK, got to work in the dark, by the Army's intention
Top had such a great attitude about life, especially the portion still
living...
I had such a great attitude about life, living and dead
Traveled in the back of a truck, way too much
Why does putting peas in Jello make it its own food group?
And really, that was coffee?

Civilian
Sleep with my wife, occasionally visited by Scotties (the Australian
Shepherd was worse)
Rarely work over 50 hours a week, at least not by much. And have the
weekends off.
Generally go to work in daytime, although DC and Baltimore traffic
aren't especially fun
Pretty much no longer in the dark at work, which is a good thing when
you are both the controller and the HR manager
Boss has a suspiciously good attitude toward fellow human beings (OK,
unlike Top, he is easily identified as a fellow human being)
And I'm thinking much better about most human beings, although I make
exceptions
Mostly travel in the Prius, which is good because I'm not sure I'm
still able to navigate the back of the truck thing
Have recognized pretty much everything I've eaten and drank over the
last few years, and not once has my wife made Jello with suspicious
vegetable additives. We tried the Jello-vodka thing once and it is
nothing like peas or lettuce. A couple of suspicious looking beers and
wines, maybe...
Coffee isn't always perfect, but I've never left cleaner in the pot
before making the first pot of the morning.

Advantages, military:
Got to see the world, at least the part where some of their people
were trying to kill some of ours and vice versa. Universal health
care, including the doctor that misidentified which ankle was
sprained. Local idigenous women, followed by locally applied medicine
by injection (and this was when I was stationed at the Monterey
Presidio...). Reenlistment bonuses paid in cash while surrounded by
guys getting $ 67 a month (You got it, now get it home). And my very
own M16 with my name taped to the stock.

Nah, the only thing that would make me go back is the fact they have
the weapons and seem to be willing to use them damn near anywhere.
OTOH, I'm even more useless to the Army now than when I was 23. Which,
I guess, makes me promotable right back to SSG.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Yep, I used to enjoy waking up, hung over, to the noise from the Army
folks running in formation. We'd hang out our AF dorm windows and give
them ****. They used to give me **** because they made e-4 under 2
years. Hell will be frozen solid before that happens in the AF, or
anything even close. That's also a big part of the reason my wife
went Army. Both my wife and I have been at co-located bases everywhere
except my tour with the 1916 Comm. Squadron at Pease AFB in NH,
supporting the 509th Bomb Wing. Got nephews in everything but the AF.
I'd go back for the same reason I went in, in the first place. The
country needs people to stand up while the idiot politicians sort out
the **** they got us into.
This is an incredible country, no matter how you look at, and we owe
it a lot for the privileges it gives. Whether you give back at a
shelter or whatever we all owe it to ourselves to work for it.
That and it's a huge family we've never really left who speak our
language, understand the things we do, and the things we say that
shock civilians.
Or I could just be brain damaged and in love/hate mode. Looks like
our daughter isn't going to go to West Point since she struggles with
the math, which I'm fine with, though she really wanted to.
Bill C