War Can Get Messy

There are two sides to every war, theirs and ours. There are also two sides to every soldier, deployed and stateside. I've heard people revert to their primal instincts during war turning them into "animals". I used to think this meant the soldiers lost respect for human life, killing every living thing in their path.

I can tell you, from my Iraqi Freedom experience, it carries over to the way you live "over here" as well. Many young, impressionable minds pick up many bad habits. I have seen this with young troops' respect for property.

The picture above was here for over a week before my troop, Tom, and I cleaned it up. Tom has taken this garbage out so much he should get paid a garbage man's salary. I am not going to be busting my head open tripping on garbage running to the bunker in the middle of the night.

A day after cleaning up there was more garbage and urine bottles from people too lazy to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night because its cold outside. Boo-hoo, as Martinez would say, "This is war, it's suppose to be rough!" At the very least dispose of your waste properly.

We have it good with a hard roof over our head and a hot meal every meal. We could be in tents, eating MREs (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) three times a day. Instead we get people complaining there isn't a certain flavor Gatorade or people throwing their trash everywhere expecting others to pick up after them. War is messy enough with the enemy, we can at least try and live like civilized human beings inside the fence.