gorgeous,,, i have equal obsessions with ireland and old world france.
of course the first thing i notice besides the landscapes and eye for juxtaposing, way the war time or "junkie"stare, the crook of your arm, then bad ass tromping bike.
some one was posting pictures of camel spiders, some became curious!?! some ran!! others didn't believe, and i don't think their ' burrowing ' tendencies were brought up!
i will add NSFW tags or tag to your, art, so it doesnt slow the page,& more pics can fit.
Thank you, a lot. One of the big reasons I'm going clean for good now is because I want to eventually go back there and really do some work in photography & history, with the end result being a book on the subject. I can't do any of that still tethered to junk.
BTW as an item of some interest (to me at least), I noticed a while ago the similarity between the junky-stare and the 1000-yard-stare. It's that overriding numbness we get from seeing really horrible shit that's an analogue to the numbness provided by opiates. Trust me... I had the former stare long before I had the latter. Not that it's anything to be proud of. In fact, it scares a lot of people when they see me looking *through* them, instead of at them. Kinda rough on my socializing.
oh, and thank you for doing what was needed for us..!
i know lots of guys thought we (liberals?) dishonored or do not appreciate their service. no, my wife and i watch various personal videos from over there, and it is either the guys playing around with the kids , or its full on. i understand that for those filming or playing with the kids in the streets, its full on all of the time.
although i live in chronic pain and psychosis, that all falls back when i really think of my lil bro in law, and his friends out there, full on all the time.
You're right about it being "full-on" all the time.... I still get really antsy in crowds when people are walking or lingering behind me or in my blind-spots. Those little dirt-gobblers were a hoot though (most of the time).
They'd crowd near the front gate to beg for treats from the convoys & patrols going in & out.... and one time there was the cutest little girl of about 9 (too young for the veil) in a ragged floral dress. She wasn't begging, just standing there watching us, waving a little wave, and smiling ear-to-ear. So I threw her the half-bag of Tootsie-Rolls I had with me up in my M2 ring-mount. She made a perfect catch (good reflexes!), and had just given me the thumbs-up, when an older boy of about 12 came running up behind and straight cold-cocked her into the dirt.... and then grabbed her candy.
I swear, if we hadn't already been moving out, I wanted to jump down there and pound that little shit-eating brat into the same dirt he made that poor little girl eat. I kept a package of D-batteries with me to chuck at the Iraqi vehicles that wouldn't get out of the way, so I managed to fast-ball one at that kid's head. Unfortunately, my aim with Tootsie-Rolls was better than D-batts, and they snatched that too. They gave me the thumbs-up, and I got to show them the other American finger-gesture.
Grrr.....
And please... no thanks are needed (although I do appreciate the sentiment), just have some rememberance of my brothers & sisters-in-arms who've gone before and given everything they had to give, so we can enjoy the freedom we have now.
And political or idological leanings of other Americans made no difference to me when it came to why I chose to serve. When we were viciously attacked by a ruthless and determined enemy on 11 Sept. 2001, it was an attack on all of us. Although I may not have agreed with the manner in which we went to war (i.e. Iraq), it was still my duty as an American to man-up, put down my pen & pick up the sword.
While not as overt & widespread as during Vietnam, there are still many who choose to disparage us and America. However, whenever I encounter someone who does, I don't argue and I don't get mad. I am just saddened, yet I still have my pride in the knowledge that we've chosen to potentially sacrifice our all, so that those who so choose CAN voice such opinions freely.
I think a lot of people here would be quite confused by me..... as I'm quite a conundrum.
Before the war, I was a total raver and had become a party DJ. Before that, I was a complete rivethead/goth, and an anarchist. William S. Burroughs was my "bro", and loved making chemical cocktails for rarified highs. I much preferred LSD and bud over coke & H.
During my service, I drank hard, and once while in Amsterdamn I smoked a little Coffee-shop bud (hey, I HAD too!). But I was still a rather antisocial rivethead at heart, and gained a reputation for being the crazy mofo in the platoon/section. I started collecting firearms, and turned into quite the Conservative Constitutionalist (not libertarian or Republican! ick!).
Yet I've been a solid agnostic forever, and even while in the shit I never found god. So while there may be no atheists in the foxhole, there may be one or two agnostics..... we just decide once the golden-BB comes for us. LOL
Normally..... I wouldn't be talking this much about my personal beliefs & such-like. Except this holiday is one very close to my heart, and it gets me all woobly.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
he is spending much time in germany, doing the same, seeing the world i nstead of the floor of a bar, getting in fights (young turkish men)
Ah yes..... the Turks and their damn whistle. I swear, if we were in a brawl and that whistle sounded, they'd start coming out of the woodwork & gutters, and were hungry for American GI blood. Next time you can ask him about the Turk's whistling for reenforcements during a fight. LOL But that's why when we rolled out to the bars, we rolled *deep*.
The one thing we feared more than the Turks & Moroccans though? The Polizei. :D
