Noch einmal für Thucydides

"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors has its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

--Thucydides, classical era Greek historian

My good friend in Afganistan

This video maybe best explains my mixed emotions about getting out of the military. Joey and I went to Officer Basic Course together and I spent almost all of my free time with him, his wife, and his two boys. I was miserable at the time, since my wife had to stay home and work. As a result, I became very good friends with his family during my four months at Ft. Huachuca, Az. I honestly struggled in the Army. I am not the best around authority figures, the culture often runs counter to my family values, and the Army never fit into my long-term career goals. One of the things we used to joke about together were the "rules" that we developed while at OBC, one of which was, for example, "never confront a military situation with logic." or the Military corolary to Occam's razor: "given two possible solutions in a military situation, all things being equal, the most complcated, dificult to understand option will be the one chosen." Good memories.

Now Joey is in Bagram away from his family for Christmas, and I think pretty lonely. He is not your average soldier--although there are more like him than you would think. Joey is mild-mannered, never seems to raise his voice in anger, a loving father and husband, a democrat (and from Utah no less) and one of the most intelligent people I know. But he has put himself in harm's way and I did everything I could to stay out of it. A fellow ROTC cadet that we both knew, Bill Jacobsen, died a few years ago in Iraq when the mess hall he was eating in was attacked by a suicide bomber. I really appreciate the contrast of the music with the military equipment in the background. He is due home in March. I hope everything goes well and he returns safely.