first the plane sat there for an hour cuz of the rain. I was already needing a ciggerette. and I could tell half the other passengers did to by the coughs and tapping sounds of ainxiousness. so we finally take off then the captain keeps scareing us that are just going to LA to catch another plane there saying "well we're gonna land in bout 30 minutes and the plane to kansas city leaves in 45 minutes so youll be fine". "well we're gonna land in about 20 minutes and your plane leaves in 15 minutes so you should be able to make it".
But then when we got to LA X the plane hadn't even arrived yet. In fact it didn't show up for a whole nother hour. Luckily I seen a kid that had some dip so I tapped him on the shoulder and asked for a dip and he kindly obliged me. He was with a few other guys and they were all wearing "marine corp" t shirts and camo back packs so naturally I asked "so you guys are in the corp" and they proudly said "yea" and so I shot the shit with them a little bit about my thoughts on our military and I asked them about their pay and if the rumors that boot camp was shortend and they laughed at me and said hell no. I was wearing my army jacket and bag as I always do in cold weather and they asked me if I was in the army and I said No that I've got health problems. I mentioned MIke Gravel to them and when I told tem about how he ended the draft the one kid that was the most gung ho of the bunch said "wait he's against the draft?" and I explained why I thought it was best that we don't have a draft but we both agreed that countries like france and spain where they have 2 year mandatory service time was a good idea and would be good for America.
We sorta bumped heads a little about the Iraq war when one of them said "they've got it coming to them" to which I explained that well If someone invaded us we'd defend ourselves too." then he said something that made me REALLY bite my tongue. he said that in boot camp that they showed them a moto (motivation) film that was expressing how "if you feel remorse for your enemy?" then theyd show clips of 911. thesepoor kids were from the smallest towns of America. The kind of towns that dont have local news. that only have farm reports on their TV. These porr kids man. stuck out there in no mans land and then in training told by their leaders that 911 is why we're in Iraq. Its just really sad. But I let them know without saying that I appreciate their service and that I respect the military I just wish they'd stop giving all of our military budget to weapons manufactures and instead take care of them like they're supposed to.
That was one thing they said that also bugged me. One of the guys was a legistics guy and he was talking about the tomahawk missle and how he described it waslike he was playing a video game. it's just so strange to me that these kids have no empathy for their enemy at all. They're not totally ignorant though. When I brought up Iran they definately understood the ramifications of what going to war with Iran means and they were not at all in favor of it. oh and they all said they hated Bush which made me feel a little better.
So we finally got on the plane and a guy that was eaves dropping on my conversation with "the troops" sat by me and we had a stimulating conversation all the way there where I informed him about how Our presidents grandfather instigated world war 2 by laundering money for Hitler. and about how we're losing the war of global economics because Americans are stuck in the past thinking they can win any fight just by killing people. It was a good conversation. He invted me to stay with him and his friends next time I'm in LA and I'll probablly take him up on that seeing as I've got shows to play down there that I havnt been able to make happen yet because of not yet having a place in LA where I can stay for free.
Thats the short and skinny of it. well I'm in kansas city now. visiting the family. Going back home on christmas eve. should be a fun flight. ugh...
