Desert desolation meets the old school

Besides spending the last week laying in the sand everyday getting sandy, reading, and burning my skin I went to a benefit this past Saturday for Iraqi veterans Against the War. It sorta knocked me out of my happy sand bubble to hear people talking about being trapped in the military making a hundred bucks a week building the same bridge for a whole year. Never have I felt more ignorant about what is going on and the benefit was in part an art exhibit showing photographs taken during one vets year tour of duty so that helped a little. 1 of the pictures in particular was called desert desolation and showed two marines in a little lean-to in the middle of the desert waiting to be brought into action or the "theatre" as the photographer called it. I asked this GI what he meant later and he told me thats what they call going into active duty. Another photograph showed four GI's rushing around one Iraqi civilian who got a nail in his foot. In the caption the photographer talks about it being of the utmost importance to win over the respect of the town that your stationed. You could see it in the before mentioned Iraqis eyes. A look of total disgust mixed with a little sympathy and a whole lot of anger. During the Q+A part of the benefit old Vietnam veterans looked on with a sort of a "I understand completely" solitude. It was interesting seeing old vets talk with vets my age and pooling their mutual interest at ending this terrible mistake. If there is one thing I took out of my evening it was the terror in the eyes of these people who returned home from serving their country. You could tell their eyes had pooled with tears many times that day alone but have kept composure due to their mental training.