This post is, of course, a nod to the Bill Murry flick of the same name. Life while deployed is much like the movie, same thing day after day. Wake up, drink a pot of coffee, shower, shave, go to work, come home, gym, eat, go to bed. There is no discernable weekend with a 7-day work week. Nothing really to break up the weeks. Each day rolls into the next. You try not to look to the end. It's like running on a treadmill. You don't really have anything different to look at and your only frame of reference for when you'll be done is the clock, a clock which seems to tick slower, and slower, and ssslllllooooowwwweeeerrrr...
Occasionally there are little episodes that bring a spark of life to the monotony. The other night we flew into an airfield in Iraq. The pilot I was with called to the tower and asked if the "Gunshow" was available. In that part of the world, in these days and times, my mind was running away with the possibilities of what this could possibly be. The control tower called back and said they were coordinating and for us to standby. As we taxiied by the tower, the pilot told us to look up at the control tower. The tower was all dark except for a few rooms where several large gents were posing "Arnold-style" with several of their less muscular friends shining flashlights on them. A "gunshow" a la Will Ferrell of "Anchorman." Very funny. You have to admire the American spirit and young men and women that can find humor in a place like that.
2 comments:
Be careful out there. I still remember when the most dangerous "gun show" was lobbing bottle rockets between your yard and the Dixons across the street.
Ah, Grounhog Day. That movie has some of the greatest quotes. Here's a couple I really like:
"When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter." - Phil Connors
Phil Connors: Do you ever have deja vu Mrs. Lancaster?
Mrs. Lancaster: I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
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