Yin Yang

In the Army, you pick up a lot of injuries with no known origin. Personally, if I put any pressure on the lateral aspect of my left foot, my leg crumples. Last time I jumped out of bed and landed slightly wrong, my knee buckled from the pain and I hit my head on the ground. Kranda, a battle buddy, has a huge lump on his wrist. It looks like his bone dislocated and is sticking out.
These injuries start to separate the people you are with. You learn alot about a person by seeing how they handle these inconveniences. Kranda still passed his PT test with his wrist, including his pushups. I ran my fastest time so far on my two mile. Houlahan actually fractured his ankle about 6 months ago. Instead of going on profile, he told the sergeant that he got a RTD (return to duty) and kept going. It hasn't healed yet, he has to wear a wrap on it constantly. He didn't report it because he wouldn't have been allowed to finish training while on profile, so he decided to just get surgery once his training is done because of how aggravated his ankle has become.
On the other hand you have people like Lyons who never does PT with us because she is constantly on profile with her crutches. She never does anything. As soon as her profile runs out, bam, back to the med station to get a new one. People like Jean who escapes from doing any work what so ever. Tomorrow is a CI (command inspection) with a LTC and CSM from Battalion HQ. Jean came in 10 minutes past bed check when everyone had been in the bay cleaning their butts off.
The Army doesn't allow you to do things half way. You know where people stand. Either they will be like Kranda or they will be like Lyons. You don't talk about people behind their backs. You say it to their faces. If you think someone is a douche bag, you tell them. Feelings are not at all spared. Its nice really. I don't like Jean. He is a Blue Falcon (Bravo Foxtrot/Buddy F****er) to the highest degree. And he knows I don't like him. Like I said, quite freeing. There really is no grey. And after listening to our sergeants rant about war enough, you start measuring everyone by "Do I want them watching my back in Iraq/Afganistan?" Everything goes to the lowest common denominator. The Army makes everything so simple. I can understand why so many people start out with a 4 year contract and end up staying in permanently. The civilian world is kind of messy and scary compared to the Army. You know who is your superior in the Army, and people tell you when you messed up. Things can be taken at face value.
--Andy
Well, everything is simpler, but harder. Like the 3 hours of sleep I get tonight thanks to a 2.5 hour fireguard shift, followed by a ruckmarch followed by a test followed by our inspection. YAY.