Friday, January 30, 2009

HURRY UP... now wait.

This is common for the military. Since the very first day I began my military career I have been told to rush a hundred miles an hour only to find myself sitting for hours twirling my thumbs and whistling out of boredome for something to happen.

A decade later I find myself doing the same thing. It's something I feel no ordinary person can become sensitized to. There's been days we wake up so early we can't even put on our boots, or even worse, you put on your bunk-mate's boots (gross I know). Then we run around and dash into formation, grab accountability then haul butt as fast as we can to our training site.

We're met with the barren nothingness requiring paitence in extremely frigid conditions. Range control hasn't shown up yet, probably waiting in line grabbing Starbuck's coffee and donuts. A half hour goes by and the temperature decreases. An hour goes by and the temperature has now fallen ten degrees, the wind has picked up and the wind chill cuts right through several layers of clothes meant to keep you protected from them.

An hour and a half later they show up and ready! We scramble as fast as we can into the warmth of a building, prepping our equipment and double checking our weapons. We're told to stand-by again! Setting up the ranges, getting safety briefings, drinking more coffee. At least we're in the warmth now.

Three hours later we perform our mission! Three hours. Three hours we could have taken our time getting ready. We could have shaven properly instead of having patches of fuzz and razor burn under the chin. A bit more sleep so we wouldn't share boots. A bit more time for relief.

I find myself in that same predicament now! We've finished all our training. We've packed up our gear and we're now in another waiting mode. Waiting. Waiting. We rushed and now there's nothing more to do. It's silly really, but it's how the military has always operated. At least from my experience.

Hurry up! Now wait.

** UPDATE **

We have confirmed dates and times that I cannot disclose on this unsecured blog. The unit will be leaving sometime mid-week (closest I can tell ya). Here I am in limbo waiting... waiting... on Monday I'll be running around again like a maniac! We'll see what happens then!

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