In the military, we like our acronyms.
There are acronyms for where we sleep, eat and where we work — with even more acronyms for equipment and for events. My most-used acronym stood for none of these things; INTS — it’s not that serious.
I clung to this statement, repeated it in my head as a mantra and made myself believe. I had to, to stay sane.
If you think that war is a serious business, you are right. But when a soldier is trained, they are honed to a knife’s edge of sharpness, alertness, readiness for action. Thus, the big things, the important things, the business of war, get executed.
Unfortunately for my hypothetical sanity, this also applies to the little things — those minor annoyances and irritations that normal people brush off as part of life.
A printer out of paper, dust in your shoes, your boss asking you to finish just one more thing before you leave for the day, these type of things might annoy a civilian to the level of grumbling and complaining to their friends, or even shouting a bit.
A soldier’s responses tend to be along the lines of their training — violence. It is almost insanely hard to stay calm, to keep a level head. Under that much stress, that much tension, sooner or later the wire’s going to snap.
Normal stress relief is not available to deployed soldiers. No relaxing, no family, no sex, no alcohol, no wearing non-uniform clothing. Even music and movies don’t provide enough distraction to drown out the sirens announcing yet another mortar attack with the scream, thunk and boom of the mortar itself punctuating. This is the only break into the unbroken colorless stretches of monotony.
Same uniforms, same chow, same faces.
Faces — trapped just like you. Hating every moment, hating you just as much as you hate them.
INTS. It’s not that serious, got me through that long, long deployment.
Students are welcome to submit their own “This I believe” writing pieces.
The Clarion is open to other student-written opinion pieces that may have been written for a class.
If interested, submit your piece to clarion@sinclair.edu.
If submitted, we reserve the right to edit the writing piece before it is published. Students should also keep in mind that submission does not guarantee publication.