He calls me at 3:00 a.m. now to say he is having a good lunch and all is well. He also calls his Grandma but she's not nearly as easy to wake up, nor as likely to really put much emotion into the conversation. He asked her about it - she said "Reuben, it's 3:00 in the morning!" to which he replied "No it's not Grandma it's 11:00 o'clock and besides, Mom never complains about what time I call her." You know Grandmas do love their boys, but she asked him to try to call her just before he goes to bed.
Oh, I don't care when he calls - just as long as he actually calls. The reception is a little bit better than what we probably remember from watching M*A*S*H but not that much better. Phone cards are expensive and when a soldier gets one without many people to call back home he or she lends it to someone else - I think when I get really rich I'm going to donate a bunch of phone cards to the soldiers and call it "Operation E.T." It's a good plan! Maybe I can get a break if I buy a 1,000,000 of them at at time!
So, all is well in the Middle East in case you haven't heard. The soldiers are bored and that's a good thing. They have been sitting around the pool playing cards and listening to their iPods. They go swimming still, they don't have the Memorial Day to Labor Day schedule where he is - and they tend to care less if you wear Boomer Sooner basketball shorts for swim trunks apparently. No one really keeps an eye out on you I'm told, but since you're old enough to go to war I guess they figure you're old enough to swim without a life guard. Who would guard the guard at that point? What would that look like?
Baby boy has been given a new assignment - I can tell you all about it since you'll never see him - - he's stealth. He's quick. He's agile so - he's been chosen to drive the medics from Point A to Point B. Please God, tell me one of the medics is going back in the humvee with Reuben to get back to his base. I realize he'll have no problem actually making it to Point B because he'll be driving at least one medic at that time who will probably or certainly will know where Point B is exactly - but getting back? Getting back could pose a problem - he'll need someone to navigate - or perhaps he'll just stay put and become a medic's assistant until such time that one or the other of them needs to get back to Point B! That seems like a more likely scenario.
Reuben called me to day to say he and Lucy were back together. I have my Steve, my little Ford Focus, and Reuben has his Lucy - a big monstrous tank type vehicle with eight wheels and she's huge!!! He said she missed him, she had one flat tire that was adjusted and replaced, but other than that she was a little dusty but good to go. You know he missed her too. He actually sleeps with Lucy - or did in Alaska, I don't know how he'll fare sleeping inside a tank in the desert heat? Maybe he should consider popping the top since he may actually want to breathe again - his Lucy can hold a few men/women, but because he's the driver she belongs to him. He won't have her when he's driving medics - but when he's knocking over buildings, rolling over trees, doing all the things he's been looking forward to - he and Lucy will be an unstoppable team. Some of the officers in his unit swear he duct tapes his right foot to the pedals...it just seems that way.
Before the boy went into the Army he had 8 speeding tickets - the Army simply put that information to good use. Who says they aren't efficient? Well, I got the call this morning around 11:00 a.m. CENTRAL time saying he was retiring, putting Lucy up, and headed for last chow - as opposed to first, second, third and fourth chow I'm told. At least they feed them over there! I told him it would be OK to go ahead and call his Grandma now if he wanted to....mid day is fine with old people.
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