Pillowcases

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, for which I apologize.

Things remain busy for the company and the tempo of things is only getting more frenzied.  We've had more ceremonies than I can count over the last few months.  Whether it be for actions taken over the course of missions or projects undertaken back in Hawaii, there have been few Soldiers, if any, in the company who have not been recognized for going above and beyond what is expected of them. 

We had a change in leadership as well, with the arrival of our new First Sergeant and First Sergeant C going back home to Hawaii.  Our Company Commander too has left us, passing on the 95th colors to a new commander.  On top of that, we've been digging in to our new company area, a place to really stretch our operational legs and feel a little more at home.  The other medics and I even have a nice new office complete with our very own refridgerator stocked with, well.. just water for now.  Better than nothing though, right? 

Seven months into any deployment, tempers start to run high and arguments seem to explode at the drop of a hat, but for the most part, no one lately has found themselves wanting for help and support.  No matter what our differences in opinion or background, we all have the common ground of being in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet and holding each other up because of it.

Mail is still flowing in each day and the acquisition of a perfumed letter from home is the peak of anyone's day, such as it always has been.  As each Soldier gets closer to his designated time to head home on R&R, the only words that seem to pass their lips are statements of desire to see their familes, to the jealous lamentations of every other Soldier around them. 

"She's everything," someone told me the other day, completely at a loss for any other words to describe his love.  Words are paltry things.

 

Today, packages came through the mail addressed to the entire battalion.  We were gifted with three boxes chock-ful of... wait for it.  Pillow cases.  They're all very different and very colorful and made by the good people of Tucson, Arizona.  They are very much appreciated.  It's nice to have some color in our rooms other than green, brown and black. 

Superman

Dear Soldier,

I'm writing to say good luck and to show appreciation.  Let me tell you something about myself: My name is Abigail, but I like being called Abby.  I'm 13 and I go to Teague Middle School, but I'm not very good at spelling or grammar.  My handwriting isn't very good either.  Although I am writing a book about a girl who lost her memory and is going around attempting to get it back.  Halfway through writing the characters, I realized they all sound Japanese.  Everything seems fine here, school homework is hard.  Hey, what's black and white and green and black and white?  Two zebras fighting over a pickle.  You are all like a superhero, even better than Superman, immune to cryptonite.  Superhero's are real and you are one.  It may not be like spiderman, but it is still a hero.  Good luck to you all. :)

                                    Signed,
                                         Abby

Be

Kiss your loved one, now.

Kiss all of them.  Find them, now.  Kiss them, hug them, tell them you love them.  If they laugh at your silliness, laugh with them and tell them you don't know what came over you. 

Read a book.  Read two.  Today. 

Feel the sun.  Lay in the grass and appreciate the air around you, cool and soft and constantly moving.  Pick a flower and give it to someone.  Pick another and put it behind your ear.  Forget it's there. 

Don't argue.  Don't complain.  Don't hurt. 

Take your kids out somewhere they always ask to go and when you get there, take pictures.  If you don't have kids, call your niece, your nephew, your little brother or sister.  Do something nice for them. 

Donate.  Adopt a pet.  Adopt a classroom.  Adopt a new way of seeing things. 


Write, even if you're terrible at it. 

Find a cause.  Live for it, fight for it, be loyal to it.  Write your congressmember.  Tell him if he can't stand for you, you'll find someone who can.  Realize that's only possible through you.  Buy a pitchfork and light torches.  Storm something.


Educate yourself.  Don't be stupid.  If you follow, follow someone worthy of you.  If you lead, make yourself worthy.  Don't just stand there. 

Find a job.  Find a hobby.  Find Waldo. (finally)

Do a puzzle.  Do a crossword.  Give up halfway through but feel good for trying.  Frame your puzzle. 

Always be aware you're alive.  (at least)

Walk somewhere.  Run somewhere.  Hop on one foot down a hill.  Thank the paramedic.  Don't call him an "ambulance driver".  Make a crossword on your cast but only finish it halfway.  Feel good for trying. 

Organize.  Recycle.  Clean your fingernails.

Make something. 

Listen to music you hate.  Listen to music you love.  Compare the differences. 


Be strong, be fair, be loud.  Do something you're afraid of.  Teach someone else how to do it.  Don't miss out.  Ride a bike with someone.  Take pictures. 

Make your own jerky.

Appreciate trees. 

Think about the universe.  Find a constellation.  Find God. (if you want)


Never pour salt on a snail.  Never say never. 

Write a stream of consciousness.  Don't run out of things to say.

Honor

      I received a letter today from my father.  When I created this blog, I had decided not to post letters from friends and family because I didn't want to reveal what was meant only between myself and my loved ones, but I couldn't stop myself from allowing this one to be read.  It's message is profound and it makes me think of a time far removed, when I might have been reading words from home hunched over in a cold rain, my rifle leaning heavily against a tree as I eyed the treeline between sentences, waiting for the first skirmish line of grey uniforms to appear like ghosts in the gathering gloom. 

Zeb:
     I think about you often.  I think about where you are and what you are experiencing and I realize that in many ways it will change you forever.  Not necessarily in any visible way, but profoundly change the way you view things.  I hope this is not coming across too dramatic or philosophical but it brought to my mind an excerpt from a Bruce Cotton book.  His trilogy on the Army of the Potomac, is is from the preface to the first book, Mr. Lincoln's Army.  It is, in my opinion, one of the best and moving of all of the collections of words that anyone has ever written. 

    "The books which make up this trilogy began, very simply, as an attempt to understand the men who fought in the Army of the Potomac.  As a small boy I had known a number of these men in their old age, they were grave, dignified and thoughtful, with big white beards and a general air of being pillars of the community.  They lived in rural Michigan in the pre-automobile age and, for the most part, they had never been fifty miles away from the farm or dusty village streets; yet once, ages ago, they had been everywhere and had seen everything and nothing had happened to them thereafter that meant anything much.  All that was real had taken place when they were young, everything after that had simply been a process of waiting for death, which did not frighten them much.  They had seen it inflicted in the worst possible way on boys who had not bargained for it, and they had enough of the old-fashioned religion to believe without any question that when they passed over they would simply be rejoining men and ways of living which they had known long ago."
     I love you and long for your safe return.


                                                                             Papa

     When I visited Washington, DC before I left for basic training, one of my favorite monuments in the entire city was the one erected in memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, which I thought sounded like something from a world so different from ours as to be almost made up.  One of the ways we as a society should be judged is in how we honor those who came before us, showing us the right and the good.

Mountain Dew

To a 95th Route Clearance company soldier, This is an 8th grade middle schooler.  I go to ------ Middle School.  I have recently moved from -------, Fl to -------, Fl.  I am 14 years old.  I'm a very swell dude.  Some of my hobbies are reading, writing and arithmatich's, I also like to play a nice, yet clean game of b-ball occasionally.

(roflsshmarnfoomhasotcaihtciuwav)

(rolling on the floor laughing so super hard my ramen noodles fell out of my hands and spilled on the carpet and I had to clean it up with a vacuum)

Hop on my bandwagon, bro.  Do you Mountain Dew?

Sincearly, Gavin.