I often go to lunch late, which affords me a table to myself and time to read.
I’m reading and munching, reading and drinking today when a gaggle of soldiers sits down at the next table and begins horsing around and talking loudly. From the snippets of their conversation I hear, it’s obvious that they’re new in country.
The first thing I think is that I don’t remember what it’s like to be new in country. I’ve been here just shy of 6 months now, which is a good chunk of time – more than some deployments in their entirety.
They start talking about what they brought with them. One mentions he has a guitar that he plans to learn while he’s here, and another says he brought a harmonica. It is not, I’m sure, that they won’t be busy with their jobs here – almost everyone is – but there is always downtime, and they’re smart, I think, to make good use of it.
I always deploy with grand thoughts of what I’ll do with my spare hours – I’ll write or learn a foreign language, I’ll take classes online or workout more. I never do them, though, or at least never to the extent that I planned when I was still in the States.
It’s like being in prison, I think. If you’ve got to be there, you might as well make use of the time as best you can. I work, a lot, but I do have free time. I write this blog, though not nearly as much as I should, and I workout, though again not nearly as much as I should.
I think sometimes that I’m just doing my time, but I don’t want to just survive this (though that is the bare minimum for a successful deployment). I certainly have learned a lot, and of course I have a job I’m proud of and which is important, but there’s always something more I could be doing, something more I could take home with me.
I’m spending an awful lot of time out here in the Middle East, and am sacrificing a lot more than just time to be here. I should strive to make the most of the opportunity presented me, away from all the distractions of home.
