The Pillow of the REAL 1%

This is a very demanding job. We are the real 1%. During a time of war we volunteered to be on the front lines of a war that has claimed the lives of thousands of our brothers and sisters. Funny as it sounds, we love doing our job--protecting the rights of crazies back in the US to sleep in tents in parks who claim that being the 1% is real hard.

Let me tell you what the real 1% did the last 2 weeks.

2nd platoon has spent the last couple of weeks sleeping on dirt floors, rooftops, and every smelly corner of a small town in Southern Afghanistan. This was one of our more important missions to this point. To give up our position could be detrimental to the larger mission. Dealing with terrible mosquitoes and sand fleas which seemed to cause every person to break into terrible fits of itching and scratching, we soldiered on. There were guard shifts. 4 hours on...2 hours off. Night and day, 24/7 we stood guard. 8 times over 5 days we took contact from the enemy. Those who were asleep were quickly thrust into the fight. Nobody complained. We signed for this. We love this.

The infantry pillow is a unique one. A rolled up t-shirt is a luxury. On a mission like this there is no room to pack extra clothes. What you wear out there is what you wear all week, or longer if necessary. It is more important to pack food, water, and ammo. While we're outside the wire a typical pillow consists of a piece of equipment--perhaps a metal ammunition can. One of my battle buddies actually used a belt of machine gun ammo because he claimed it was softer than using the weapon itself. We signed up to do this. We love this.

On the news recently there was a report about an ugly protest against this war back in the States. The protesters held signs calling soldiers "murderers" and damned our actions as unjust. I know there are a few bad apples over here that have made our cause look bad. But if you could see what we endure on a regular basis to provide those protesters the freedom to peacefully assemble, I think their minds would be changed. I hate those protests. I think movements such as the "Occupy" movement is misguided. However I am happy to fight for their right to party because it means there are still 50 United States to be defended. As long as there's something to fight for I'll keep doing their dirty work. I signed up for this. I love this.

Until next time...

Chris