Actions being taken against me by the Army (for my own failings, admittedly) led me to be at the clinic this morning for Sick Call. I managed to stick around work to watch the brief, encouraged by greywar that the clinic wouldn’t be open until 0730, regardless. While I was certain it was open at 0700, I felt it wouldn’t be a big deal to get there a few minutes late, at any rate.
Of course, the doors opened at 0630, and there was a line over a dozen soldiers deep when I arrived. A mix of uniforms, PT gear, BDUs and DCUs adorned this ragtag bunch of sick call rangers… The line moved so slowly that a Doc on duty, a Captain, started pre-screening these troops before they checked in. The six in front of me immediately had RTD (Return To Duty) scrawled on their sick call slips, and were directed to the “self-help” section to retrieve Tylenol and Dimetap.
But it was my encounter with the soldier behind me in line that was the interesting bit, at just after 0700 this morning…
He was a Specialist, apparently an Engineer in the Cav, wearing DCUs and looking a little tired. He noticed me reading a book, backwards, filled with scribbles, and decided to strike up a conversation.
“So, you can read A-rab-ic?” (You know, spoken by A-rabs.)
“Sure.” Nose in the book.
“That’s not the Koran, is it?”
“No,” laughing, “it’s actually a kids book. Little more my speed.” Nose back in the book.
heh
silence
“So, is that a hobby of yours, or something you picked up in school…?”
“No, I’m a linguist.” Nose back in the book.
“Oh, yeah?”
“It’s good work, if you can get it.” Nose still in the book.
“So when’re you going over?”
”I’m not going over.”
silence
And then he talks to the guy behind him. Of course, I listen. That’s my job.
Both of them aren’t active duty. The Engineer is activated Reserves and the other gent, a Sergeant, is activated National Guard. Engineer just got back a few weeks ago, Natty Guard is heading out in December, still wearing his BDUs at this point.
What was interesting about this guy was this excerpt of story: “There we were,” no shit, “we had Fallujah cordoned off. We had it surrounded. We had even pinned some of those guys down in a Mosque. We were just waiting for the word to go in and get them… and that’s when they gave the order for us to pull back, turn it over to the Iraqis. And those bastards came strolling out of that mosque, smiling and waving all polite-like.”
This, coupled with, earlier:
“Some of the nicest people you could meet over there, some of ‘em.”
”Who, the Iraqis?”
“Yeah. They smile and talk to you nice. Of course, some of ‘em’d do that, and then they’d be shooting at you that night…”
He also characterized the Iraqi National Guard and other security forces as “not worth a shit.”
Always nice to get the “man on the street” perspective.