Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Now we know!S was wondering why we weren't really fighting the War on Terror and now we know: 5:20:50 PM |
"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated
FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at
headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any
more resources for espionage." Thank God. Now S won't have to go back to Afghanistan at all. He can
stay here at home with me. The war's been won. I'm so relieved. (Hat tip to The Heretik for this hearty laugh, proving once again that real life is far stranger than fiction.) 
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Odyssey Redux: The Long Trip HomeI forgot to include this little nugget in my post yesterday, so here it
is. It took S over 60 hours to get home from Afghanistan. The military
sent him on a C-130
to Kuwait, where he and the other soldiers going on leave got to wait
for almost 24 hours until they were wisked away on their private air
carrier (ATA -- "on ATA you're on vacation!") to
Budapest, Hungary. From Budapest they were flown to Shannon, Ireland.
It was a packed flight, every seat taken up by an American soldier, so
the duty free shops, restaurants and pubs were no doubt extatic to have
so many shoppers deplane for no other apparent reason other than to
spend money. From there they were flown to New Foundland, Canada, where
they got to get off the plane again to a completely empty airport where
S was told he couldn't drink the water (who knew?). Finally, then, they
were flown to the United States, to the beautiful Dallas airport,
which, in my experience, is one of the worst airports in the country,
significantly less fun than Austin's where if you're lucky you can
catch a local act playing near the bar in the center of American's
terminal. In Dallas S got to find his own flight home
to Chicago. 4:53:17 PM | For every leg of the trip, more money to the gas companies, to the airline, and to the airports (duty free shopping!). What other reasons could there be for such a long, zig zag trip? A trip so different than the one S's dad took from Vietnam yeras ago? From Afghanistan to Kuwait to Budapest to Shannon to New Foundland to Dallas, no one got on and all of the passengers were soldiers going home on leave. Ah, the beauty of privatization. What were the benefits again?
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Last update: 10/2/05; 7:48:38 PM .
