3-17-05
It’s Saint Patrick’s Day, and like last year I won’t be celebrating one of the best holidays at all. A pity, and pretty much sacrilege to the Irish heritage of the family. Last year I spent the evening studying or working on a paper, this year I’ll spend it working on bullshit gunnery stuff. Awesome. I doubt I’ll even feel like making up for it this weekend. I foresee another easygoing Saturday and Sunday spent just trying to get caught up on what I feel behind on during the week. I’m not sure if I’m angry or happy for my peers back home that still get to do the college thing. Lucky fuckers. Even though I’m spending St. Patty’s Day at home (again), there is a semi-cold Guinness stout next to me. I got out of Gunnery study hall pretty quickly, so let's drink to one more day that I’ll never have to spend at OBC again.
But mom and dad sent me a care package with a lot of cool things in it, which was above the call of duty. It did make thing reconsider a few things about my own existence at the moment though. With all the various forms of BS flying (almost literally) at the Lieutenants, it’s easy for us to forget that we are here to do a very important job, and not one that many others are willing to able to do. So sometimes forgo the fact that we are the guardians of the liberties most take for granted. I wonder how it will feel when I look back on the things I am doing right now. How will I react? Will I feel that my time here was well spent, or that I got set on some weird tangent with too little foresight and not enough common sense to do anything else? I really do miss the Boulder Bar Scene, and well, a lot of other things that were native only to the college life in Boulder. Of course, one never knows what he/she is missing until it has been given and taken away again. I seem to feel the need to re-learn this life lesson all the time. Maybe I can convince some kids to head out here before I head off to Ranger School. If that doesn’t happen, then I guess I will see them after I get situated at Bragg- I’m definitely taking a few days of leave when I get the chance. Like college, I really hope I look back on the next few years of my life and think, “Damn, that was a good time.” LT W
