Hadda Be Playin' on the SAMS Box
“Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something great.”
-last words of Pancho Villa
We have these fake surveillance cameras that the old unit left behind. I have no idea why they had them, but they look pretty real. Somebody put one up in the latrine, pointing right down at the urinal. I got a good picture of it. I love how soldiers pass time when they’re bored. Cards are a staple of life here.
Last night we were playing spades around the table, and the door of the bunker opened about a foot and then closed again. That door is too heavy to open because of a breeze or something, so we all kind of looked at it confusedly. Then we all looked at each other. Then, all at the same time, we went and got our rifles and a magazine and went out and looked around the area. We didn’t find anything, but to somebody watching with NVGs it must have looked hilarious. Five or six guys in boxers, flip flops and night vision goggles stalking around the bunker with night vision goggles on. It kind of made us nervous, the door opening and closing like that. The guys on the two guard points nearest us are not from my company, so we don’t really know them. Who knows if they were sleeping while Haji jumped the wire right underneath them. Also, the locals around here think our FOB is on the site of haunted ground, or something. The point is, it was eerie and in retrospect, kind of funny. I’m still nervous, though. I slept with my rifle last night instead of hanging it on the hook by the door like I normally do.
We’ve had several soldiers become fathers in the last week or so. I can’t imagine knowing you have children and never having seen them. And knowing that it’ll be almost a year before you meet them for the first time. Hell, by then the kids’ll be able to drive you home. I should probably stop thinking about it so I don’t jinx myself. It may be me getting a Red Cross message in a couple years telling me I’m a dad, in the middle of the night in Syria or North Korea or France.
Tell me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that DC Sniper guy caught using satellite photos? If we can do that with a guy in America, why can’t we do that in Iraq? I know satellites are expensive, but imagine how useful several geosynchronous spybirds would be. A convoy gets hit on a road, and you call up the satellite imagery to see when the bomb was planted, where the guys came from and where they went afterward. We’d be able to find anybody that way. Maybe it would make people too uncomfortable, contemplating the various evil implications of such technology, but those people can come here and drive our convoys for us if they want to.
People are always so worried about The Man spying on them. They love to paint these slippery-slope dystopian panoramas of evil 1984-ish fat cats putting cameras in every room of your homes. What kind of ego must you have to think that a government agency cares what the hell you do with your spare time? I’ve even heard people say that there’s a constitutional right to privacy. I took all the required government and Poli Sci courses in school, and I never remember reading that. Honestly, what does anybody do in their house that is so secret? Everybody gets sick, and spills food on themselves sometimes, and drinks, and scratches themselves, and has bodily functions. It’s not like it’s a big secret that you go to the bathroom or have relations with your spouse. I don’t know, maybe I’m being simplistic, but it seems to me that the only people worried about privacy are the people who are breaking the law in the first place. People who abuse their kids or have child porn or smoke grass. Kind of like how the only parents that get upset over mandatory student-athlete drug tests are the parents who know their kids use drugs and are okay with it. Those parents should be publicly flogged, by the way. But the point is, putting satellites in orbit to catch criminals doesn’t mean the government is going to put surveillance cameras in your bathroom.
Which brings us back to where I started, I just realized. That camera in the can is hilarious. I sent the picture to Jen. I’m too easily amused. Maybe I’m just starved for entertainment.
Thanks to Mom for the extended version of Dances With Wolves, by the way. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but soon, I hope.
-last words of Pancho Villa
We have these fake surveillance cameras that the old unit left behind. I have no idea why they had them, but they look pretty real. Somebody put one up in the latrine, pointing right down at the urinal. I got a good picture of it. I love how soldiers pass time when they’re bored. Cards are a staple of life here.
Last night we were playing spades around the table, and the door of the bunker opened about a foot and then closed again. That door is too heavy to open because of a breeze or something, so we all kind of looked at it confusedly. Then we all looked at each other. Then, all at the same time, we went and got our rifles and a magazine and went out and looked around the area. We didn’t find anything, but to somebody watching with NVGs it must have looked hilarious. Five or six guys in boxers, flip flops and night vision goggles stalking around the bunker with night vision goggles on. It kind of made us nervous, the door opening and closing like that. The guys on the two guard points nearest us are not from my company, so we don’t really know them. Who knows if they were sleeping while Haji jumped the wire right underneath them. Also, the locals around here think our FOB is on the site of haunted ground, or something. The point is, it was eerie and in retrospect, kind of funny. I’m still nervous, though. I slept with my rifle last night instead of hanging it on the hook by the door like I normally do.
We’ve had several soldiers become fathers in the last week or so. I can’t imagine knowing you have children and never having seen them. And knowing that it’ll be almost a year before you meet them for the first time. Hell, by then the kids’ll be able to drive you home. I should probably stop thinking about it so I don’t jinx myself. It may be me getting a Red Cross message in a couple years telling me I’m a dad, in the middle of the night in Syria or North Korea or France.
Tell me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that DC Sniper guy caught using satellite photos? If we can do that with a guy in America, why can’t we do that in Iraq? I know satellites are expensive, but imagine how useful several geosynchronous spybirds would be. A convoy gets hit on a road, and you call up the satellite imagery to see when the bomb was planted, where the guys came from and where they went afterward. We’d be able to find anybody that way. Maybe it would make people too uncomfortable, contemplating the various evil implications of such technology, but those people can come here and drive our convoys for us if they want to.
People are always so worried about The Man spying on them. They love to paint these slippery-slope dystopian panoramas of evil 1984-ish fat cats putting cameras in every room of your homes. What kind of ego must you have to think that a government agency cares what the hell you do with your spare time? I’ve even heard people say that there’s a constitutional right to privacy. I took all the required government and Poli Sci courses in school, and I never remember reading that. Honestly, what does anybody do in their house that is so secret? Everybody gets sick, and spills food on themselves sometimes, and drinks, and scratches themselves, and has bodily functions. It’s not like it’s a big secret that you go to the bathroom or have relations with your spouse. I don’t know, maybe I’m being simplistic, but it seems to me that the only people worried about privacy are the people who are breaking the law in the first place. People who abuse their kids or have child porn or smoke grass. Kind of like how the only parents that get upset over mandatory student-athlete drug tests are the parents who know their kids use drugs and are okay with it. Those parents should be publicly flogged, by the way. But the point is, putting satellites in orbit to catch criminals doesn’t mean the government is going to put surveillance cameras in your bathroom.
Which brings us back to where I started, I just realized. That camera in the can is hilarious. I sent the picture to Jen. I’m too easily amused. Maybe I’m just starved for entertainment.
Thanks to Mom for the extended version of Dances With Wolves, by the way. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but soon, I hope.
posted by Battler03 at 2:03 PM
3 Comments:
On the DC sniper case: They tried using aerial surveillance but it wasn't effective because it was publically announced and he moved his area of operations plus the authorities were looking for a white van. In the end, it was good ole fashioned police work with a key tip from the public that led to their capture.
As for the idea of aerial surveillance in general, from what I've read we've got several new and smaller drones coming online at the regiment and brigade levels over there and here at home they're adapting them for border and port patrol duties. Hopefully they'll get enough of them deployed ASAP to help you out.
Do you remember the morning you took me to school in just your boxers and letter jacket? That is why I can just see you and your band of foo-er, friends-wandering around in the dark. For Heaven's sake, be careful, not just of terrorists but also of shooting yourself with the gun in your bed.
Love you, old man.
And I thought it was something to see on of the units at Forest Gates Apts on fire this morning. I took my miniDv and took footage of it. Sounds like I should of had it with me for the interesting bunk manuvers over there instead. Jen might come to be with us for Turkey. Luv ya bro, Charlotte
Post a Comment
<< Home