an encounter with a member of the air force
I live fairly close to the Los Angeles Air Force Base.
A couple of days ago while walking my chihuahua (wearing
a knee-length nightgown, jeans, and a sweatshirt), i crossed
paths with a young woman wearing camouflage fatigues. Think
they call them fatigues.

Anyway. I stopped and asked her, "Are you in the military?"
By the time we parted ways, I saw that her uniform identified
her as Air Force, but as ignorant as I am, I don't think I
expected that particular uniform to belong to someone in
the Air Force. She said "yes."

"Have you been overseas?"

"Not yet." She was blond, beautiful, petite, and omigawd
too young to die...I said, "Maybe it will end before you
have to go." This was like Monday, I think - post election,
definitely.

"Probably early next year, maybe January," she said.

I told her my son was lucky, "He got kicked out of
the Navy before he had to go." (Last October my now
23-year-old son tested positive for marijuana in one
of the two branches that still hold to a zero tolerance
policy: The Navy).

She said, "I would definitely consider that lucky."

Walking on I found myself in tears, then wondering if i should
run after her and tell her i know where she can get some dope!
then i thought how dire the military situations is; if she was
tested and came up positive, they'd probably just shove her into
the Army and deploy her straight away to the war zone.

It was a short encounter, but i found it meaningful. This was an
active duty member of the military and it was clear to me that
she recognizes the wrongness of the war in Iraq.

Gawd i hope she'll be okay. why can't they all be?
- posted by barbara @ 11/17/2006 11:40:00 PM