Stick it, Don’t Pick It

Today is an important day for me. I only have 45 days till my life can be somewhat normal again. That’s right; September 5th is my soldier’s D day. It really has seemed to go fast. I don’t know why that is. Before the time happens it takes forever, once its over, looking back it wasn’t that long.

Last night I got a text from my soldier. He was not in a good mood again. It seems from the sketchy details I could glean from the message there was a “disagreement” with this 18 year old Hispanic guy about how the beds should be made. (It seems really stupid to me, but like I said I don’t have many details.) There was some throwing of pillows and blankets and someone came close to getting their ass kicked I think (no matter what happened I would say “you should have seen the other guy when I was done.” Anyway this is the kind of shit that my soldier can’t stand. He really isn’t into playing games with these people. He’s there to do a job and get out, not rule the world or act like he rules it in the barracks.

Once again I got the inevitable text saying he wants to come home. This time I think I was prepared. I responded with the tell me about what you are feeling/doing attitude rather than a mother who wants her baby to come home. I really don’t know if this worked or not. I haven’t had a chance to talk with him today yet. Sometimes I sit and wonder what he is thinking. There isn’t any chance to get a real conversation where you could figure these things out and make a plan. I just want to tell him that this isn’t how it’s going to work once he’s out of Fort Jackson. This isn’t the “job” he will be doing. This is a continuation of high school for most of these guys and that means acting stupid.

So here is my little soap box moment. I know that the real world is full of people that piss you off and we all have to learn to deal with it. It’s really disappointing that people who join the military don’t have a better, more professional attitude as a rule than they do. I know the Army will build character in these men and women, but why can’t we as a society start this building process before they get there. It does seem that there is a higher percentage rate of people who lack basic social skills and manners. I witnessed it when I was there. There was a guy who was picking his nose about 2 feet from me. This really took me aback. Here was this guy that represents America to the rest of the world picking his nose in front of a total stranger only 24 inches away. No wonder the French hate us.

Ok, so back to what was going on last night. After I got this message about the fight I tried to send encouraging messages. He had his duty last night so all I got were one word responses. He’s not allowed to be on his phone, but he must have been sneaking me texts. It’s so hard for me to get a clear picture of what he was thinking. I know at that time he was telling himself there has to be something better than this out there. There is I’m sure, but this is where we are at, at this moment in time.

We are in the Army and it may not be pretty all the time, but that’s the real world. I guess the Army really does prepare you for the real world. Let’s hope that these 18 year olds can finally get some of what their mothers didn’t teach them and not pick their nose. They may need that finger to pull a trigger someday.