From the Peanut gallery - 04/07/2005

After a long hiatus the Peanut Gallery is back -

Q: Where did the Peanut Gallery go? The Peanut Gallery is my favorite part of your blog.

A:
Well two things have happened. One, I have been on the road a lot. I have been given a lot more responsibility. Two, I haven’t gotten as many questions and comments as I used to which is a good thing because I have less time to answer it now. I still love your emails so keep them coming it makes the days go by.

Q:
When are you coming home?

A:
Soon, the exact date is classified, well the amount of time I have left here isn’t classified but travel dates and routes are classified. Since I move via the grace of the USMC I honor their restrictions on speaking on travel.

Q:
I see you have a gun.

A:
I don’t see a gun.

Q:
In that picture there is a gun behind you.

A:
I don’t see a gun behind me.

Q:
Well, what is that black thing behind you?

A:
Do you mean that rifle? That is a rifle not a gun. As far as it being mine, do your part for America and ask any Solider, Sailor, or Marine if that is my rifle and they will all say no. Then ask them why.

Quite frankly I don’t see the need for me to have a weapon. I know you all back at home find that an odd thing to say from someone in the dead center of a war zone let me explain. If I were going to get harmed by anything it would come from being a rocket or a mortar. This isn’t Contra, I’m not going to shoot a rocket out of the sky with a M-16 set to a 3 round burst.

On top of that I don’t have a hard-on for guns and rifles. Holding a gun doesn’t make me feel big or strong. I realize that no matter how cool movies make guns look; in real life they are designed to violently remove the fleshy connecty parts that make the human body operate. Once you realize that you hold a device that controls life or death you take (or should take) that responsibility seriously.

Also I don’t believe that any yahoo should get a gun, not out here at least. I mean if all the civilians who are 1) untrained and 2) Not bound by the Geneva Convention are armed then you have the possibility of mass chaos or mass calamity. I’m a supporter of arming only the necessary personnel. Hell, could you imagine the firestorm if some clown had an accidental discharge and harmed another person?

Finally, not having a gun doesn’t mean I don’t know how to operate one. If there is ever a situation where I would NEED to use one I’m sure there would be one readily available on the ground locked and loaded.


Q:
What is the first thing you are going to do when you get home?

A:
You know that’s a damn good question. I have no clue, I never really thought about it I mean I know I want to see my folks and all that jazz the first thing however I don’t know. Heck, my first thing is find a way home, my whole Iraqi trip was based on the fact that T-Money was going to come and pick me up from the airport but, that bastard up and moved on me. So, finding a way home will be the first thing I’ll do. But, I think probably sleep getting a good night’s rest in my own home and just decompress will be the first thing I do. I know I won’t be able to face the world right off the bat. I’ll probably get a haircut, facial, and pedicure. I’ll pamper myself for a second.

Q:
What would you say is the most significant change you have made? A change you have noticed and welcome.

A:
This is another good question. There are two things that I think have the same billing. The first one would be that I have reconnected with people from my past that I grown away from and speak more with my family and friends. I think my communications are more meaningful and I’m more grateful to the people who email me and send me packages. The second thing is that I have increased my skill set more in the past t months than I have in 6 years of being out of school (or is it 7 now)? Technically I’m a qualified diesel mechanic and Cisco certified when I go back home I’ll have to get the “paper” to make it all official. I’ve been to Iraq, how hard can anything else be?

In closing I welcome the growth that I have gained in the past 5 months.

Q:
Do you miss me?

A:
Everyday, Honey. Everyday.

Q:
Is it cool knowing classified information?

A:
Only to people that don’t have a clearance. To be honest with you I don’t really care about the information. When I say I don’t care I mean it is not interesting to me; it’s part of the job. No more, no less. What is important to me is that my customer can get the data in the way they want and at the time they want. I’m more concerned about the availability of the data more than I am the content. I try to spend as little time around classified information as possible.

Q:
I think it’s great that you are able help your family out, it seems like you really made something of yourself, from the surroundings you came from.

A:
Surroundings I came from, huh? My surroundings were upper middle class America. This comment is really a combination of several similar comments. For some reason people think I came from the ghetto or something like that. I’m from the heart of suburbia. My parents bought all my cars for me up until about the year 2000 (When I was 26). I’ve lived a pampered life. My life story would be better told by John Hughes than John Singleton. This is a good time for me to put out my life story so you all can see how this runs full circle. Actually, I’ve been working on this for a bit. A friend of mine Sara asked me a few questions that ended up giving me the idea for the Peanut Gallery and one of the questions she asked was if I had high school to do over again would I. Well, I got to thinking about high school and I ended up writing almost all of it but I stuffed it away. With this comment I’ve decided to fix it up so I can post it.