(no subject)
Backstory - So if you leave the computer on for a while without doing any work on it, it will time out. When this happens you have to type in a password and the screens reactivate and you are right back where you were.
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So Im sitting through another goddamn briefing that I dont care about and that isnt really for me but they want me there to sit through it because they think I know something about computers and projectors that they dont.
They are mostly wrong about this.
Anyway we are sitting there bored, me and this civilian guy to my left. And the briefing goes on.
And it goes on.
And still it goes. (Is 'goes' a word?)
And the computer times out. Civilian guy types in the password and the screen pulls back up. This takes no more than 10 seconds. So there were 10 seconds of not being able to see the brief on the screen.
And the brief goes on.
-------------
Afterward Major Burns comes up to me.
"Hey, come here Sudik. This is the second day in a row that theres been a one star[General] in here, and its timed out in the middle of a brief. What do we need to do about this?"
"Ill take care of it, sir."
"Whos job is it to move the mouse every 8 minutes? You or him?"
"I will, sir."
"No, which one of you is responsible for it. Is it you or him?"
"Roger, I got sir. Ill take care of it."
"What can I do to help with this? Do I need to bring you an alarm that goes off every 8 minutes?"
"Yessir." (Ask a stupid question...)
...
"...You need me to bring you an alarm?"
"Yessir, please."
"Are you giving me attitu..."
I leaned closer so I could keep my voice down and he would understand that I am a gentle person despite the fact that I started shaking, "Im not trying to give you any attitude, sir. You're the one coming at me saying 'do I need to bring you an alarm' when I've already told you I'll take care of it."
"Do I need to go get your Master Sergeant about this?"
"Sure, do that." At this point I feel fairly confident that I can make my case to just about anyone I need to. In this particular instant, Im not the asshole.
"...No ones ever said to bring them a clock."
"Well, then, you shouldnt ask,... Sir."
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Thats the hardest part of the Army for me now. I learned almost immediately in Basic that the very worst they can do to me is yell. The WORST they can do is yell at me.
And so now that Im officially a 'shitbag' for doing drugs, I just dont care. These people arent scary. And they arent scary because everyone is running around looking busy so someone doesnt come and bitch at them.
"I dont want to get my ass chewed"
Why?
Are you a sensitive Susan?
Are you prone to crying fits like so many teenagers on the Maury Povich show whose parents just cants seem to set them straight?
--------------
Army people are children. They envelope themselves in a structure that perhaps they were missing as children or perhaps they began to miss as adults. They need someone else to look up to, someone else to tell them what to do and what not to do.
They need regulations telling them how to trim their mustache.
The need regs telling them that they arent allowed to have their hands in their pockets.
Unless they are giving a class. In which case they can have one hand in one pocket.
They need a group of people around them who look just like them and because they look like them these people must also think like them.
They need a family.
One with a strict set of beliefs that they can subscribe to.
---------------
For some this can be great. It can keep the criminal mind out of trouble, for a time.
But this family, and these parental figures are hollow and false. The leaders arent necessarily so. And the concept of respecting the rank, despite the person wearing it only goes so far for people with self-respect.
--------------
So Im sitting through another goddamn briefing that I dont care about and that isnt really for me but they want me there to sit through it because they think I know something about computers and projectors that they dont.
They are mostly wrong about this.
Anyway we are sitting there bored, me and this civilian guy to my left. And the briefing goes on.
And it goes on.
And still it goes. (Is 'goes' a word?)
And the computer times out. Civilian guy types in the password and the screen pulls back up. This takes no more than 10 seconds. So there were 10 seconds of not being able to see the brief on the screen.
And the brief goes on.
-------------
Afterward Major Burns comes up to me.
"Hey, come here Sudik. This is the second day in a row that theres been a one star[General] in here, and its timed out in the middle of a brief. What do we need to do about this?"
"Ill take care of it, sir."
"Whos job is it to move the mouse every 8 minutes? You or him?"
"I will, sir."
"No, which one of you is responsible for it. Is it you or him?"
"Roger, I got sir. Ill take care of it."
"What can I do to help with this? Do I need to bring you an alarm that goes off every 8 minutes?"
"Yessir." (Ask a stupid question...)
...
"...You need me to bring you an alarm?"
"Yessir, please."
"Are you giving me attitu..."
I leaned closer so I could keep my voice down and he would understand that I am a gentle person despite the fact that I started shaking, "Im not trying to give you any attitude, sir. You're the one coming at me saying 'do I need to bring you an alarm' when I've already told you I'll take care of it."
"Do I need to go get your Master Sergeant about this?"
"Sure, do that." At this point I feel fairly confident that I can make my case to just about anyone I need to. In this particular instant, Im not the asshole.
"...No ones ever said to bring them a clock."
"Well, then, you shouldnt ask,... Sir."
--------------
Thats the hardest part of the Army for me now. I learned almost immediately in Basic that the very worst they can do to me is yell. The WORST they can do is yell at me.
And so now that Im officially a 'shitbag' for doing drugs, I just dont care. These people arent scary. And they arent scary because everyone is running around looking busy so someone doesnt come and bitch at them.
"I dont want to get my ass chewed"
Why?
Are you a sensitive Susan?
Are you prone to crying fits like so many teenagers on the Maury Povich show whose parents just cants seem to set them straight?
--------------
Army people are children. They envelope themselves in a structure that perhaps they were missing as children or perhaps they began to miss as adults. They need someone else to look up to, someone else to tell them what to do and what not to do.
They need regulations telling them how to trim their mustache.
The need regs telling them that they arent allowed to have their hands in their pockets.
Unless they are giving a class. In which case they can have one hand in one pocket.
They need a group of people around them who look just like them and because they look like them these people must also think like them.
They need a family.
One with a strict set of beliefs that they can subscribe to.
---------------
For some this can be great. It can keep the criminal mind out of trouble, for a time.
But this family, and these parental figures are hollow and false. The leaders arent necessarily so. And the concept of respecting the rank, despite the person wearing it only goes so far for people with self-respect.