The connexes full of our company's miscellaneous gear and sensitive items are all sealed and ready to be shipped ahead of us to Iraq. But until they ship they have to be guarded 24/7...which is were I was this fine night from 21:00 to 01:00. My shift was shared with Specialist S____, my squad's designated marksman and oldest soldier at the ripe old age of 43, and Sergeant W____ who lives in the room next to me and is 22.
Rank is a funny thing to deal with for me. Being a very independent 26 years old and only a private first class puts me in a peculiar position. Some of the E-5 sergeants in my platoon are 3 to 5 years younger as my superior NCO's. It's a dichotomy of consciousness and propriety that keeps me on my toes. For all of my life experience hitherto I am but an infant in the ways of the Army and Infantry in particular.
On guard Sergeant W____ and I covered everything from WW I to Jack Kerouac to Star Wars to Radiohead to his mother's involvement in the organization of large scale war protests. As we smoked and sipped Monsters and paced to stay warm we swapped stories and shot the shit, waiting to be relieved. But come Monday morning I'll be the private at parade rest saying, "Roger Sergeant," when he addresses me. In the Army there is a very defined time and place for everything. The sooner one learns to discern the difference the sooner he finds his place among the ranks and begins to blend in.
Rank is a funny thing to deal with for me. Being a very independent 26 years old and only a private first class puts me in a peculiar position. Some of the E-5 sergeants in my platoon are 3 to 5 years younger as my superior NCO's. It's a dichotomy of consciousness and propriety that keeps me on my toes. For all of my life experience hitherto I am but an infant in the ways of the Army and Infantry in particular.
On guard Sergeant W____ and I covered everything from WW I to Jack Kerouac to Star Wars to Radiohead to his mother's involvement in the organization of large scale war protests. As we smoked and sipped Monsters and paced to stay warm we swapped stories and shot the shit, waiting to be relieved. But come Monday morning I'll be the private at parade rest saying, "Roger Sergeant," when he addresses me. In the Army there is a very defined time and place for everything. The sooner one learns to discern the difference the sooner he finds his place among the ranks and begins to blend in.
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