September 11... 9/11. What a day. Can you remember where you were when you heard? I'm sure you do. (Saying this as I'm writing, the lights just got turned off on me, and now I'm in the darkness.) We had a small gathering today to remember it. The event wasn't well advertised, so we had a small crowd. It's weird - we were reflecting on the event that led to us all being here in this place. It was pointed out to us by the speaker that we are now stamding on ground that was the Taliban's last stronghold. It was also pointed out that we in uniform are the only thing standing in the way between the Insurgents and the freedom loving people of the world. It was a sobering thought. Many people scoff at such a remark back at home, but the flares going off in the distance, the sounds of helicopters and jets, and the sight of all of us with weapons, plus the events of the past few days remind you that - this is really no joke. We're at war... and so is everybody else at home - except that those at home have the luxury of seeing it on TV.
On a more happy note - today I was scrambling around like everyone else. In the morning all the troops were quite eager to get going on the many tasks we had. People were purposefully hustling and bustling around with meaningful purpose. Four of the group - me included - had serious looks on our faces and were determined to get on with winning the war from our own responsibilities. I gave the word 'right - LET's GO!', and the four of us scrambled into our vehicle. As we began driving, I noticed that the guy driving was going in the entire WRONG direction from where I wanted to go. Then, I noticed that for where I wanted to go - he has never before been there, AND the guy who usually acts as my driver was sitting in the back seat! I began to shake my head like in the movies how the actor looks back and forth while that sound of a cowbell clanks. I stared at the guy driving and exclaimed: 'Oi - where are you GOING?! We're supposed to be going to (Destination A)'. He answered: 'What?! I thought you guys were coming with me to help at (Destination B)!'. As I thought that was bad enough - the guy who usually drives for me, with a contorted look on his face piped up from the back. Apparently, he was tasked by someone else so HE said: 'But I was told to go to (Destination C)!'. Right then we were all confused, and I was a little miffed as to how we were going to solve this problem of all 3 of us needing to be at three different places - all at the same time! Then I remembered the fourth guy, and then I shot him a glare to see if he would pipe in another destination and compound the already growing complexity of the problem. He just looked at me with that 'I dunno - don't look at me!'-look while shrugging his shoulders. 'What?!' I exclaimed. The driver hit the brakes and the vehicle's tires ground to a halt with the sound of gravel crunching under the tires. All of us stared at each other with dropped open mouths in complete disbelief from behind our ballistic eyewear. An energetic discussion followed. In the end - we ended up going to (Destination A), one guy walked, and one guy had to buckle... and the other guy just tagged along.
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