Memoirs written in prose of Sergeant Robertson, Damon M. USMC while in Iraq | ...with frequent appearances of King Hammurabi.
If you are new to this journal, make sure to start reading in chronological order by scrolling down to the bottom of the oldest post in October 2004. Damon's letters from August 20th, 2004 - October 23rd, 2004 were all added to this blog on Oct. 23rd, 2004. All subsequent letters are posted in real time.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Hammurabi, USMC - DMR
The Best Thing To Happen Since Women: [this is a hard category to fill. I've considered nominating guns, which despite the NRA's claims are the coolest *toys* ever made, but they are made expressly to shoot people, which all things considered is not in and of itself very neat, the apparent expedience and utility of that function notwithstanding.] Ever type a sentence and then look at it, eyebrows arched, not really sure it is what you've said and not being able to remember what you set out to communicate? Nah. Never. Today is thanksgiving for you all. Yesterday in the chow hall they threw some above average quality meat at us and, in keeping with capitalist marketing tradition, had already begun to play Christmas music before we were done eating. ... A related subject. The music they play on the Armed Forces Network Radio basically amounts to all the hits from the past 30 years. Pretty good stuff, though having been here for a few months i can say there weren't really that many cool songs in three decades, having heard them all about 50 times. I suppose it's Coca-Colonization all over again, with the Arab youth listening to DefLeopard and Hoobastank and the Doors, bobbing their heads while they look at a picture of Britney Spears that fell off a seven ton truck as it rumbled through the village on a convoy delivering diet soda. But do we ever hear the end of the "baby i miss you" songs, or the one that says "I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-- I know, right now you don't care-- but baby in a while maybe then you'll see a different side of me. I'm not crazy..." Are they trying to put us in touch with the indecently huge longing we all have for something more normal, a place where water runs clear, where toilets flush, where the dirt doesn't naturally smell like crap, where there aren't angry, uneducated, disenfranchised mullahs running around lobbing mortars out of religious buildings? I mean, Hippies in frisco are a pretty violent lot if you count the way they talk. Let's not even get in to how badly they smell, which is worse in my opinion because they were raised in the greatest nation on earth and should damn well know better. Yes. I said it. USA, USA. Now the patriotic "propaganda" can cease, right? ... Or take it as an advertisement. "Just look at the muscular American Marines... taller, healthier, more educated! Follow our social example and some day you too could be occupying a "third world" nation, running around teaching them how to do stuff!" ...
# posted by chevas @ 1:59 AM 