WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
“Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit there from.” -Baha'u'llah
Mankind is forever impressing me, forever causing me to tilt my head with wary, weary, fascinated eyes as my mind adapts to the ever-changing organic kaleidoscope. Just when I have life figured out, I'm humbled by circumstance. Just when I think I know someone, they say or do something that reveals another facet of their own perspective, twisting my idea of them into an algorithm that becomes exponentially more complex with every realization. When this happens, it chips away at my ego, leaving bare the reality of my own place in this world.
Leaving bare more facets of myself.
So there was this one sonofabitch, Navy, but that was okay. He was one of our corpsman (Marine Infantry Medic), and they're as much Marine Infantry as the rest of us. Plus, he eventually manned-up and joined said infantry in spite of his Naval handicap. He's now a sergeant, as of this post.
Anyway, a skinny ginger scrapper, this man's eyes held the culling of entire civilizations, tethered back only by a sense of duty and an armada of competing madness.
He fit right in, save that he was carrying first aid and we were carrying ammunition. It must have driven him crazy on a level "normals" can't understand.
This was a Christmas card he sent out one year...
And we bullshitted, because that's what you do when you're sitting in a fighting hole.
We'd exchange stories of triumph and shame, violence and debauchery, where "pushing the limits of taste" was an emphatic understatement. I've spoken with plenty of people who say "Try me," a coy smile plastered over a blissful ignorance.
Just trust me.
We, each of us, became Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, and Kurt Vonnegut all rolled into one.
And sometimes... just sometimes... we'd embellish.
So when Doc "Deep Ass" Dickens (don't ask) told me that he was a ninja, there was bass in my laughter. It came from my diaphragm like cannonballs until everyone joined, with him the loudest.
"Nah, but seriously!" Eyes lit up, clever smile splashed on pale skin.
"Fuck you, Doc! You're a ninja, I'm an elf, and these guns are for shooting vampires if they get too close to our pirates booty."
"I'm serious! We were taught how to jump fences in order to tuck, and roll forward without losing speed, how to sneak up on people in woods or the snow, how to climb walls with these special shoes-"
"Ninja shoes!!!"
More cannonballs.
Doc shrugs, drinks his beer.
"Alright."
Flash forward 6 months to the American Embassy in Kabul. It had been snowing pretty heavily for several days because God loves us and fuck easy.
We'd been on a shift where we were on post for 4 hours, then had to be ready for drills or live combat during Quick Reaction Force, then we had 4 hours of off time, where you could eat, sleep, exercise, or call your folks. Then back to post for another 4 hours. We did that for 5 months in the heart of Taliban country, having been the company that retook the embassy in the first place.
So when I say we were on our toes, ready to kill at the slightest movement, prepared and alert for any sound that meant something living was around us AT ALL TIMES, know that this is not a hyperbole.
Such was the case when I first pointed my rifle at Doc Dickens.
There was an alley that we patrolled between the retaining wall of the embassy and another inner wall set up to confuse aggressors. When you patrol, there's a cadence to your movement.
A slow step forward, then another, then another, and a forth, followed by a slow turn around to check what's behind you, then another slow step forward.
I was roughly 40 yards into the alleyway, having walked this pattern so often that it was second nature, the crunch of ice underfoot the only sound in an otherwise noiseless vacuum. And then I heard something and turned, gun up, weapon loaded and set to fucking kill.
And Doc "Deep Ass" Dickens was maybe ten feet from me, arms raised, smiling like Satan, having snuck up on me in the snow of a combat zone.