HALLO BLOG!
Weather Documentary provided by Karmella: Rain. Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. And I don't like the rain, not a big fan of getting wet.....
Exchange Rate: Same!
Since I left ALASKA, rainy days have been scarce.....And I never thought that I would wish for a rainy day....but....Today, I am happy its raining. Growing up.....if was nice outside.....WE WERE OUTSIDE, because our nice days were so few and far between....The Daddy used to say, if you wait on the weather to do things in ALASKA, you will never do anything.....
When I moved to Alabama, I was like....seriously? It was sunny every damn day! I got so sick and tired of the sun...everybody said, the heat would bother me, it didn't bother me, just the absolute reliable weather bothered me.....
And when I moved to NEVER NEVER LAND, it was cold and cloudy, but I was in transition, so I didn't have all the things that make me feel at home, like my couch, fluffy blankets, and tea...
When the weather is nice, I feel an obligation to get out and enjoy it....which means, I guilt myself into being outside, working out outside, working in the yard, even eating outside....
I never get to enjoy, work, or experience any of my indoor hobbies. Cloudy, Rainy and Cold days give me an excuse to escape into my own little make believe world (just like when I was a kid) of Opera, Tea, Reading and Writing, Knitting, in fluffy blankets and with Karmella.
Did I say that I was so happy it was raining outside!?!
ARMS' BookShelf:
As stated in a previous blog, in an effort to get closer to LEGS, understand the WARS better, and sympathize with my husband and his counterparts, I have been reading the book WAR by Sebastian Junger. I have gained a significant amount of insight, learned things I did not know, and have reflected on my own role in this world by reading this book.
Some things I did not know:
Nearly a fifth of the combat experience by the 70,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan is being fought by the unit that I am reading about.
Some Insight:
The embedded reporter who authors the book said that it wasn't 'pretty' in the Korengal Valley but the fact that it might be the last place he see's alive gives it a certain glow, he also says a coping mechanism of survival for him was fantasizing about the attack that would kill him....it made me wonder do our soldiers do this too?
One of the soldiers is quoted in the book saying " If you sleep 12 hours a day it's only a seven month deployment." I Never would have thought about it that way.....
For every technological advantage held by the Americans, the Taliban seem to have an equivalent countermeasure. How very frustrating....
It is easy to go from living to dead. :(
My Reflection on MY role:
One thing that I found heartbreakingly helpful at this juncture in my own life is the idea that : The Choreography of WAR always requires that each man make decisions based on what is best for the group, if every one does that, most of the group survives and if no one does the group dies....
How many of us in our daily lives, consider what is good for the "group"? I mean everybody belongs to a group of people, whether it be your coworkers, the people at your gym, the people on the same train or bus, your team members, book club, or family, or in my case The Military Wives......
Last week there was turmoil among the wives,.....while reading this book I realized even though I wanted to be done with all of it.....even though I wanted to wash my hands and walk away, if I did.....If I didn't make decisions based on what was good for the group, the group would die, not physically, obviously, but.....metaphorically....
Or how about an intense loyalty?
During the air war of 1944, a four man combat crew on a B-17 bomber took a vow to never abandon one another, no matter how desperate the situation. The aircraft was hit by flak during a mission and went into a terminal dive, and the pilot ordered everyone to bail out. The ball turret gunner discovered that a piece of flak had jammed his turret and he could not get out. The other men could have bailed out but they stayed with him until the plane hit the ground and exploded. They all died.
How come there are not stories like this anymore? I wonder if the men my husband goes to WAR with will show the same intense loyalty, bravery, and raw emotion that these men showed each other??? Is it wrong of me to wonder this??? Perhaps....but not based on recent happenings in the Company.....
Last night, LEGS and I were on the couch, he was on facebook and had watched one of the video's that Memorialized the fallen.....he turned and looked at me, and said.
'I'm about done with this WAR.'
My heart broke into a million pieces.....I have never heard him say anything like that. I knew right then, his heart had finally broken, after everything he has seen and been through, all these years in service, all the friends he has watched go, seen damaged, and injured, and watching his wife change, cry, and fall apart had finally gotten to him......
I don't mean to be a debbie downer, and I know that everybody is well aware of the WARS, the sacrifice and heartache. And I know I have been talking about it a lot these last few blogs, but......I just wanted to give a genuine, personal perspective that you couldn't possibly receive from CNN.
As far as my opinion on the WARS....
Ever since it began, I have adopted a policy of SUPPORT. For several reasons.....I could not live with myself if I were to be against something my husband and friends were sacrificing so much for, believing it was the right thing, no matter how complicated was a serious coping mechanism for me. And then it morphed into, a belief that we had to finish what we started, because if we didn't we would be wrong, and if we lost we would have given up.......and giving up wasn't an option for me especially when people had sacrificed so much......
There are times when I feel lost, I think we should just pull out and never look back......but then......I think that....god forbid....if I EVER lost my husband to one of these WARS, I would want to see it through, so that his death was not in vain.....so that something good would come out of his effort, legacy, and sacrifice.....at the same time, its hard not to get tired, and weary, and sick of it all......
Guilty Pleasures:
Look who I got on the cool whip light!
I realize my husband looks hammered in this photo, but he is just tired...I don't know what it is but every time the camera comes around he makes these faces like he is loaded.....
Random Thoughts:
I never knew breasts could be.....that.....low.......
Don't you hate it when you call people, but they don't answer, but then you don't even get a courtesy call back? THE NERVE!
I was on base yesterday and I drove by the Elementary school, on it it said 'Striving to learn, learning to care'....I get the striving to learn, its a school right!?! But are they learning to care, because they didn't in the first place?
OVER & OUT
Just another day in the life of an unlikely military wife....**
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