4th of July

As I walked from the dorm to the park to watch fireworks, some drunk local started talking to me. He mentioned that his license was taken away.

“If you walk down the street and kill someone, what happens?”

“You go to jail.” I answered.

“But in Afghanistan, what happens?”

“They give you a medal”

“I joined the navy in 1994 and I got a medal. They gave it to me because they just changed the name. This is the longest war in history. They just keep changing the name. Persian gulf, dessert storm…”

“Why’d you join?”

“Well, I wanted to join the marines, to travel over seas.”

“Why?”

“Because I hate this place and wanted to get the heck out of here.”