You know, there are some people who spend their entire tours in
Kuwait. I occasionally wonder if those are Soldiers who were ASSIGNED
to this country, or whose travel just got delayed long enough that the
Army put them to work here.
I'm actually not suffering any sort of maltreatment or major delay,
but once one arrives here, one is shuffled into a process of
twice-daily formations to be told if one has a time at which to
report, with all gear, for a flight.
We all assembled this morning, lined up behind blue and white signs
with major destinations printed on them. Our group was approached
first.
The troop handler (who had a soft, high, mumbling voice that increases
my suspicion she was not selected for the job so much as randomly
given it when someone noticed she'd been hanging out here for two
weeks) read off the last four of each of our social security numbers.
"Here!" we replied in turn, fairly enthusiastic. Perhaps, we hoped,
we were being called first because we have a TIME.
"You all come back in twelve hours. No gear necessary."
[sigh]
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