A short thing about Afghanistan, and an update on Salvation · 2:44pm May 23rd, 2014
Most of my posts on Afghanistan -- the exciting ones, basically -- have been about my time in Gardez. That was my second deployment -- I'm currently on my fifth. Unfortunately, the work I do now isn't anything I can talk about in public, even anonymously on the internet. The closest I can come is this short little sketch.
Perhaps Zeus
I was in the JOC today
(that's a Joint Operations Center),
watching a dozen windows on the world,
when a stray motion by a technician
sent a mouse cursor
across one of the feeds.
For a moment it was as if, somewhere
over Kandahar or Ghazni or Mazar-e-Sharif,
(I think it was Kandahar)
a pixelated arrow chose to
float in the air like a crow,
until another tap of the wrist
sent it away,
and our view of the world
regained its lucid clarity.
What would it be like, for those ants on our screens?
To look up and see us looking down?
To feel the breath of our attention,
to see the chevron shadow
of a mouse pointer
above their ants-nest cities,
there and gone,
with nothing to remind them of us
but the low buzz of an unseen drone.
Do I see as Argus saw?
A hundred eyes, eyes or windows,
filled with static snow and the fog
of ten thousand meters' altitude,
never sleeping, always staring,
night and day identical
in black and white.
My friend, what you would say
if you knew,
in the seconds before
impact
that the eyes of a god are upon you.
Can you feel the weight of the crosshairs?
Can you see the infrared laser
as it lights the Hellfire’s way?
Is this how Zeus felt, when
he hammered men with thunder?
Did he squint through clouds,
and puzzle at the mess
of trees and rocks and shadows,
wondering where among them
was his foe?
Perhaps Zeus was not a god.
Perhaps he was a man,
sitting in a windowless room
with two dozen windows on the world,
a cursor at his fingertips,
and an MQ-1 Predator
to hammer ants.
Perhaps he tuned
to CNN the next day,
to learn who he slew,
and watch dark blobs
on the IR feed, dark
blobs that are women
and children,
searching the woods
for all the pieces
of their fathers.
The next Salvation update will be posted tomorrow. It will actually be in two chapters: The Gift of the Magi, parts 2 and 3, which will finish up that arc. Once those chapters go up, I'll be taking a short detour and publishing one of those short stories I mentioned working on in my last blog post. I hope everyone will enjoy it.
Finally, a quick shout-out to Corejo, Ponydora Prancypants and Filler for helping edit that poem. Thanks guys.
That is an awesomely good poem, both conceptually and stylistically.
Like Zeus.
Damn, brother. That left an impression on me the first time you shared it, and it still does.
Just admit it: Your work over there is to hold back the hordes of timberwolves coming out of yet another portal from Equestria, right?
Yow.
That poem is excellent. And I can't wait to see whatever you bring us with Salvation. Fuck, that story is one of the best I read here on fim.
Please stay safe.
It's interesting to me to compare this poem with ones produced in the wake of, say, the First World War. There's a hundred years between them, and a world of difference in the experiences being related, but the feel is familiar.
The powers wielded by man today are the stuff of yesterday's legend.
I can not help but fear for tomorrow.
My respect goes to you, not only for the beautiful poem, but for what it says about its author.
Oh, how I wish favoriting blog posts were possible! I guess I'll just save this page instead.
+1
Damn. Just, damn.
You're like my dad, except my dad isn't on fimfiction. Just the stuff about not telling me about his service. IT'S BULL, I WANT NUCLEAR MOSS CODES!
It's like a point and click adventure game, except the only options are "use drone on man".
2138337
The world is a vastly better place for it. A vastly better place. Our power has allowed us to become what we are; vastly better people than we once were. Violence is down. Crime is down. Productivity is up. There is more peace in the world now than there ever was before. People live longer, healthier lives. We are bigger. Stronger. More efficient. We understand our world and universe vastly better than has ever been possible before.
And it is only getting better.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or trying to sell you something.
So I gather you enjoy your drones?
People of the ancient world believed in gods as a remedy for inequity, a force to protect them, and a surefire way to make the wrongdoers pay for their crimes. Now that the gods are gone from this world, who do you think replaced them for some of the Afghan people?
You comparing a drone operator to the ancient Zeus wielding the mighty thunder might be closer to the truth than you would like to.
2138836 I couldn't agree more.
But!
The world today is far more fragile than that of yesterday. Ignoring the looming catastrophe of climate change, there exists technology today that could kill you without ever knowing why. One needs only to look at events like theBhopal Disaster to know that your life could end in an instant. Every day I'm thankful that Vasili Arkhipov was aboard that submarine instead of somebody else.
I generally use these grim reminders òf our own mortality as positivity boosters, to remind me to live life to the fullest everyday in our generally safer, better world.
We really should do something about that climate thing, though.
2138888
That reminds me of a joke.
Who died and made America God?
Hitler.
2138958
Well, the thing is that as we gain power, we greatly reduce the ability of anything to actually end us. Even nuclear war wouldn't really do that. Maybe some sort of bioengineered plague...
But we're getting to the point where we can feasibly do things like deflect asteroids. Once we start colonizing other planets, it seems like it would be very likely that humanity will persist indefinitely.
Climate change is certainly inconvenient, and will cause all sorts of nasty problems, but I don't think it will end humanity. We'll have to redraw all our maps and figure out what to do with a billion people, though...
Mmm. Must be tough. Also yay for non-shippy stories? Maybe?
Reading your stories here inspired me to look for more stories from active servicemen and vets alike.
One of the places that I like is the Military Stories subreddit: /r/MilitaryStories
It's still pretty small so most of the stories are from regulars, but its a gem for those of us curious about military life outside of official releases and Hollywood stuff. It'd be super cool if you could post some of your stuff there. The more stories posted, the more it inspires others to share their experiences.
Many of 'em aren't too fancy either. It's amazing how compelling a story about finding a place to take a dump can be. Or one about making coffee. Maybe you've got some stories like that. Not directly related, but a snapshot.
Wish you the best, CiG. There are others out there with the same questions as you.
2139934
Those are the best stories. One guy told me about how ranger coffee, stack coffee, shitting between the tires of his truck, and... crap, I can't even remember half his stories off the top of my head. Probably my favorite one was when he pulled his knife and walked directly at some civilians crowding around his convoy out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing else would scare them off, since they knew American soldiers weren't allowed to shoot them. A knife, though? That sent them packing.
CiG, that poem reminds me a lot of Rendezvous With Death. Sobering to think this generation's soldiers will be next generation's famous writers and poets.
I think the important distinction is that Zeus didn't have a conscience to go with his power. He'd be the sort of guy who would click the cursor, throw the thunderbolt, and not bother watching CNN.
The ants would remain ants. He would be a god, and not a man.
Better a man than a god, I reckon.
Pretty boring work these days, huh? But I guess that leaves you time to write?
Either way, stay safe and thank you.
2138283
Quite. It reminds me of parts of "On Seeing a Piece of our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action"
*sigh*
2138888
I am supremely conflicted over the wisdom of some of the things we do over here. That's about all I can say.
2138958 2138971 For an opposing view, see Exterminating Life is Rational. It starts like this:
2149509
I ended up replying on Less Wrong.
And Athena advises him through his headset.
Hey, I just want to let you know that I read this poem at a local Cafe, and a local k-12 English teacher was so impressed that he asked for a link to your blog.
2182414
Did you tell him I wrote about ponies? That part might surprise him.
Thanks for liking it enough to try reading out loud, though. That's always nerve-wracking, for me.
2183494
I didn‘t get a chance to tell him, so I will say so in the e-mail. I imagine he will be quite surprised.