And now for something completely different This is an e-mail from a regular reader:
On September 11 I called the Navy’s mobilization office and asked if I could return to active duty. Sadly the answer was no, they didn’t have a pressing need for 46 year old guys with my eclectic skill set (combat logistics, search and rescue, and information systems management). Had I read and spoken Arabic, or known Osama bin Laden’s ATM code, it would have been a different story. I had no illusions of me parachuting into Kabul with a knife clenched in my teeth and photos of Osama and Mullah Omar in my pocket, but I had hoped to do something, even if it only freed up somebody Stateside to go overseas.After much thought and anguish, I considered the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command. They were hiring at their entry level - Ordinary Seaman. It was a huge pay cut (over 50%) but it meant that I would actually go overseas aboard Navy support ships, such as Oilers or Ammo Ships or Combat Stores Ships. I won’t be on the tip of the spear, but I’ll be the gun bearer for those that are. So next week I am reporting to Virginia Beach for my physical and in processing. Shortly after that I will be assigned to a ship, preferably one in the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, or Persian Gulf. This is, looked at logically, the stupidest decision of my life, yet I have no regrets at making it. As Dirty Harry says, a man’s got to know his limitations. As John Wayne says, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. At any rate, I still feel bound by the oath of enlistment first taken in 1975 despite having been a civilian for five years.
I will no longer be reading you daily, and making my inane or inflammatory comments on your sites, or pestering you with e-mail. Whenever I can find an internet café, whether it be in Singapore, Australia, or the UAE, I’ll try to catch up on what you’re writing, debating, and just plain arguing about.
So thanks again. If for no other reason, for helping me keep my frustration manageable for the past eleven months.