New Years on the Edge of Forever
Well if I said I enjoyed myself on Christmas it was a major overstatement! Now I know for sure that I enjoyed myself on New Years. First of all the S-3 section I’m in is well known to by a wild pack of lushes back in Germany. Here in Iraq booze is a no no so we were all pretty bummed about New Years because to our Temporal Void addled minds is just another day. However, just knowing somehow that we were supposed to be drunk brought the whole section down. Even those of us who have slowed down or vowed to stop drinking for a spell were nostalgically upset.
Our section is responsible for running several different vital operations that are really important to our Brigade. It’s amazing that so much is put on to such a ragtag crew and it’s the same way in all units I’ve ever been in. The S-3 section is usually the craziest bunch of guys assembled and man do we know how to make the best of a bad situation. I guess it’s this innovative attitude that makes us good at all the different jobs the Brigade puts onto our back. When we got to Ramadi we built an ice coffee bar onto the building we live in so that we can earn some cash and throw a huge S-3 boozefest when we get back. As the year dragged on we upgraded the place until finally we had the perfect set up. We call it the Underdog Café because we are the unappreciated underdogs of Brigade. It made sense at the time. Now we are a hang out and escape, at least for a moment, from the craziness that is Ramadi. When the guys from the line come in to refit they can come to the Underdog and relax before they have to go back out into sector. Everyone can come to relax. Rank isn’t an issue at the Underdog. Officer and enlisted mingle together in a rare goulash of conversation that wouldn’t normally happen outside the walls of the Underdog when everyone’s about their job. It has a ”hole in the wall” type pleasantness to it. Every Band Day (Thursday for those of you who remember what changing days are like) we have a live band play usually from 0900 till about 2400. It’s a wonderful release especially for someone who loves music as much as I do. The S-3, various officers, various enlisted, the Ramadi Fire dept., and several other civilian workers attend and really just have a great time rocking out, taking their little “time out” from the war. It’s kept the whole lot of us sane in this hole of a country that for all intents and purposes shows us everyday that the people here are too stubborn to rebuild their own country let alone let us help them.
Today of all days our military intelligence (oxymoron) section has deduced that it is something called the first day of the twelve month calender, roughly translated to New Years. Apparently this is a mark that time is moving somewhere if not for us. So in celebration the band performed at the Underdog Café. The band has members from the 1-77 Steel Tigers and members of my own unit the 1st AD. The band takes away all the stress that I build up during the week and lets me release it through the waves of music streaming over me like a soothing balm. Unfortunately, our heater is broke so the crowd really needed to get active to help heat the joint. With the band ready with their hand warmers (yes it is that cold here) and not near enough beer and the rest of us with our beverages be it ice coffee, regular coffee, near beer, and tea we were ready to get down to some serious New Years rockin’. As the music started and the cigar smoke start to plume around the joint got warmer. The crowd was loving it and I could tell that the night was going to be a smashing success. SFC Taylor, surly and sarcastic as always, stood station behind the bar handling the orders with ease dishing out is special brand of bartender knowledge in the form of a barrage of insults at anyone who came up to order. It’s all part of the appeal of the Underdog. No matter who you are you’re on equal ground in there. It’s a place full of regulars that all know each other by name like the song says. Anyone who’s new to the café gets called up to the front and has to introduce themselves before they are welcomed into the family. The energy in the house tonight was intense and the band was really putting it all out there. They normally come acoustic but for this occasion they whipped out the electric sound and what a sound they made. They played old favorites that are well known and they threw in some new songs much to the delight of the crowd in attendance.
When my good boss and fellow mischief maker showed up at around 2300ish it was time for the devilment to begin. The above mentioned SFC Taylor had been involved in several tie down, shaving cream, draw on, and shavings of chests this whole trying year. To read about my chest being shaved check out “Welcome to the Freak Show”. He had also pulled his share of jokes on my boss as well since we all have really good senses of humor. So SFC Williams the lead singer of the band called up all the S-3. When we got up there he asked SFC Taylor to sit down. He replied with, “Not around all you guys not after what I’ve done.” So SFC Will goes through a heartfelt speech about all that the S-3 has done, is doing, and will do for the Brigade which he really did mean. At the end of the speech The Frog AKA Casey the Bastard Lepew yells, “Get him!!” The whole lot of us rushes forward and grabs the already suspecting old man. My boss grabs him in a loose choke hold so as to not really choke him just restrain him. I grab his legs and we start to tape and tape and tape and tape. Using his old man strength he kept kicking away our tape and eventually destroyed the plastic chair we had seated him to. However, the damage was done. He was covered in shaving cream laughing like a crazy evil warlord the whole time vowing vengeance. It was glorious. Shortly after that we all ushered in the New Year sober but happy. The Underdog Café’s spell to take our troubles away had worked again when we needed it most. One of the most amusing parts, if I wasn’t one of the afflicted, is that several people have phantom hangovers like they did drink last night when in fact it was as dry as the desert. Well all that aside it was a good time and a fitting way to start the year that will see our return home to our family and friends.
I’ll see you all further down the road.
Mike
Our section is responsible for running several different vital operations that are really important to our Brigade. It’s amazing that so much is put on to such a ragtag crew and it’s the same way in all units I’ve ever been in. The S-3 section is usually the craziest bunch of guys assembled and man do we know how to make the best of a bad situation. I guess it’s this innovative attitude that makes us good at all the different jobs the Brigade puts onto our back. When we got to Ramadi we built an ice coffee bar onto the building we live in so that we can earn some cash and throw a huge S-3 boozefest when we get back. As the year dragged on we upgraded the place until finally we had the perfect set up. We call it the Underdog Café because we are the unappreciated underdogs of Brigade. It made sense at the time. Now we are a hang out and escape, at least for a moment, from the craziness that is Ramadi. When the guys from the line come in to refit they can come to the Underdog and relax before they have to go back out into sector. Everyone can come to relax. Rank isn’t an issue at the Underdog. Officer and enlisted mingle together in a rare goulash of conversation that wouldn’t normally happen outside the walls of the Underdog when everyone’s about their job. It has a ”hole in the wall” type pleasantness to it. Every Band Day (Thursday for those of you who remember what changing days are like) we have a live band play usually from 0900 till about 2400. It’s a wonderful release especially for someone who loves music as much as I do. The S-3, various officers, various enlisted, the Ramadi Fire dept., and several other civilian workers attend and really just have a great time rocking out, taking their little “time out” from the war. It’s kept the whole lot of us sane in this hole of a country that for all intents and purposes shows us everyday that the people here are too stubborn to rebuild their own country let alone let us help them.
Today of all days our military intelligence (oxymoron) section has deduced that it is something called the first day of the twelve month calender, roughly translated to New Years. Apparently this is a mark that time is moving somewhere if not for us. So in celebration the band performed at the Underdog Café. The band has members from the 1-77 Steel Tigers and members of my own unit the 1st AD. The band takes away all the stress that I build up during the week and lets me release it through the waves of music streaming over me like a soothing balm. Unfortunately, our heater is broke so the crowd really needed to get active to help heat the joint. With the band ready with their hand warmers (yes it is that cold here) and not near enough beer and the rest of us with our beverages be it ice coffee, regular coffee, near beer, and tea we were ready to get down to some serious New Years rockin’. As the music started and the cigar smoke start to plume around the joint got warmer. The crowd was loving it and I could tell that the night was going to be a smashing success. SFC Taylor, surly and sarcastic as always, stood station behind the bar handling the orders with ease dishing out is special brand of bartender knowledge in the form of a barrage of insults at anyone who came up to order. It’s all part of the appeal of the Underdog. No matter who you are you’re on equal ground in there. It’s a place full of regulars that all know each other by name like the song says. Anyone who’s new to the café gets called up to the front and has to introduce themselves before they are welcomed into the family. The energy in the house tonight was intense and the band was really putting it all out there. They normally come acoustic but for this occasion they whipped out the electric sound and what a sound they made. They played old favorites that are well known and they threw in some new songs much to the delight of the crowd in attendance.
When my good boss and fellow mischief maker showed up at around 2300ish it was time for the devilment to begin. The above mentioned SFC Taylor had been involved in several tie down, shaving cream, draw on, and shavings of chests this whole trying year. To read about my chest being shaved check out “Welcome to the Freak Show”. He had also pulled his share of jokes on my boss as well since we all have really good senses of humor. So SFC Williams the lead singer of the band called up all the S-3. When we got up there he asked SFC Taylor to sit down. He replied with, “Not around all you guys not after what I’ve done.” So SFC Will goes through a heartfelt speech about all that the S-3 has done, is doing, and will do for the Brigade which he really did mean. At the end of the speech The Frog AKA Casey the Bastard Lepew yells, “Get him!!” The whole lot of us rushes forward and grabs the already suspecting old man. My boss grabs him in a loose choke hold so as to not really choke him just restrain him. I grab his legs and we start to tape and tape and tape and tape. Using his old man strength he kept kicking away our tape and eventually destroyed the plastic chair we had seated him to. However, the damage was done. He was covered in shaving cream laughing like a crazy evil warlord the whole time vowing vengeance. It was glorious. Shortly after that we all ushered in the New Year sober but happy. The Underdog Café’s spell to take our troubles away had worked again when we needed it most. One of the most amusing parts, if I wasn’t one of the afflicted, is that several people have phantom hangovers like they did drink last night when in fact it was as dry as the desert. Well all that aside it was a good time and a fitting way to start the year that will see our return home to our family and friends.
I’ll see you all further down the road.
Mike
posted by Mike | 5:03 PM
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