Sometimes the best and worst part of your job is the people. I've been learning alot how to deal with people, from all sorts of life. I've been learning alot about how to assert myself and not let people walk all over me. I've also learned alot about how to see the good, the bad, and the ugly side of people. The military gives you many opportunities to experience this very challenging aspect of life. It's the main reason I named this website Desert Drama.
As like my last trip to Iraq, I dealt with more drama than I had my whole high school experience. I feel like I deal with more 90210 drama than war drama over here. In some ways I'm glad that is the worst of it, but other ways it's kinda embarrassing to admit that I've been involved or been in middle of something that seems so childish. But when you stick so many people from so many different backgrounds and make them work together, eat together, and live together, it's no wonder that things get stupider than MTV's The Real World. At least we don't have cameras constantly in our face and having our reality dictated by what a producer thinks will bring in the most ratings.
Some of the problems I dealt with, but not limited to, having to fight for my job to get done, banging heads with my roommate, reverse racism, being the lowest person on the tottem pole, jealousy, empty threats and intimidation factors, hipocrasy, the constant lack of common sense, disrespect, and dealing with others emtions especially because of the high rate of sexual frustrations.
One of my friends asked me if people seem to change who they are when they come over here. I told him no, I think it's more of people allowing themselves to explore aspects of themselves that for whatever reason they felt like they couldn't. I think the actions they display here is in them and it's in them even if they were in the US but there are factors that stop them. For example, we're in a country and we are away from everyone and everything that we know. Any daily responsiblities that we have back at home, we are exempt from while we are in country. The ratio of guys to girls is like 20:1. Then you get these older married women who want to explore. Their husbands won't know, they don't have to make sure their kids are taken care of, they don't have to live up to the reputation of everyone they love, they are free to do what they want. Maybe they've never had the college experience, maybe they've never had an abundance of guys checking them out, maybe they've never had so many good looking guys check them out, maybe their marriage is on the rocks, maybe they want it to be on the rocks so they can have an excuse, whatever the case maybe they feel like they have a get out of jail free card that expires when they leave here. And they take advantage. They become whores so to speak.
Do I judge them? Not really. I'm not in their shoes, I don't know the exact reason they do the things they do out here. In one aspect I think it's stupid because now they've created all this baggage and they're going to take it home and they're marriage is ruined. (But then I think their marriage is ruined in the first place because they feel they have to run ramped in Baghdad.) Another aspect I think it's stupid because they are trying to fill the holes in their lives and they pick guys where all they want to do is have someone to screw and the pickings are slim so the guys will say whatever the girl wants to hear until it's time for them to leave and the girls are dumped and crying their eyes out because they thought this guy was in love with them. But then I look at another aspect and I think it's great that they get this opportunity because maybe they'll learn something about themselves and not let these stupid guys dictate the way they feel.
It's funny to see how the drama unfolds here in the desert. The things I've seen, the shit I've been apart of, the emotions that fly, the shaddiness people seem to want to pull over other peoples eyes is so damn entertaining. The Real World should come over here and take some footage.
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Anytime you get anyone on a trip anywhere out of their city is when they "truly relax." That's why vacations at home aren't really relaxing. You do not really relax. I used to go on marching band tours, and ... it's really where the phrase "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." It's because you don't really become you until you get away from all the watchdogs.
Also, people aren't really their true selves until they are under pressure. I'm not impressed with someone that is great when everything's going their way, and I sure as hell do not have one damn ounce of patience for someone that can be described as "Oh, you have to get to know them."
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