So, I was on the way home from drill last night when I pulled in for gas and a death dog w/ jalapenos. I'm still in my ACU's.
I pay for my gas and am eating my dog while pumping my gas. The next pump over a gentleman asks if I have some money for him to buy gas (figgurz!). I respond, truthfully, that I don't use cash, just the (debit) card. He says, "thanks any way."
As he's waiting for his next prospect he says he hopes I don't have to go back to Iraq. I mention casually that I haven't been yet and he re-affirms that he hopes I never have to go at all.
I reply that it's a great way to escape the wife and kids.
Apparently the joke sailed over his head because he let it go.
I then mention, truthfully, that our unit was asking for volunteers to deploy in March and they got more than they needed.
He seems mystified by this revelation and comments that Iraq isn't so bad now that things have quieted down. It must of been quite a dilemma to have to choose between acknowledging that troops volunteer to go and that Iraq is stabilizing.
But he reiterates that war is bad and nobody should have to go.
I agree with him, war is bad and the people we're fightig will never stop making war and even Iraqis want to live in peace instead of watching their families get blown-up in marketplaces.
"The people we're fighting are savages and they won't stop. They aren't like you and I."
I finish pumping my gas and he once again laments the horrors of war as I wish him good luck and leave.
