Small Doses of "Reality" Really Are Helpful

Too much coffee or too much reality? The second is my guess:
“The thing with the army is, you have to keep up. It don’t matter if you’re not as fit as the rest, if you can take the pain or can outdo your peers, you’re ok. The army’s all about being there for each other, we push each other. I’d do anything for my buddies. Back before we deployed, we’d get up at 4.30 and run for 8 miles. I hate the cold, but they stationed me in Alaska. WTF?”

“I love jumping, but jumping out of a plane in Alaska in winter? WTF? I love to surf. I’m from California and me and my buddies surf all the time. You gotta get on the board right. I can’t snowboard though. I get back from surfing all day and I watch TV.”

“In Alaska when you go running when it’s negative 30, you can’t touch your eyelashes ‘else they’ll just fall off.”

clipped from captaincat.typepad.com Conversation with a young American soldier He furrowed his brow and spat, taking a swig of water then pulled out another cigarette. He told me his parents couldn't afford to send both of their kids to university, so he signed up. He hopes to go to school (university) in a few years' time. I believe the military help pay for their recruits' studies once they've served for a few years, but it’s so sad that he was in that situation in the first place, that he didn’t feel he had a choice. “The thing with training, when they train you to become a soldier, they f***k with your mind. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all brain games.” Mike pretty much talked at me for 45 minutes without stopping. He talked quickly and earnestly without ever making eye contact, as if he were on ecstasy. He hopped from one topic to the next, I couldn’t follow his train of thought, but I sat and listened.