“IT’S ALL SO TRANSPARENT”
by OPOVV, ©2016
(Sep. 21, 2016) — “What’s the point? I mean, are we here to gripe and that’s it? It would be one thing if our dissatisfaction with how we’re being treated would lead to a positive response, but all I see is just more of the same, day after day.”
“Look, you got to be a little bit more specific. See, the rest of us don’t know if your gripes are about the general condition or a specific condition.’
“General, I’d have to say.”
“So overall you’re dissatisfied with the way things are going, is that it?’
“I suppose. I mean, what in the tarnation are we doing here, I ask you?”
“Don’t look at me: way above my pay grade.”
“We’re not doing nothing, and we’re to keep on doing nothing.”
“Where you come from? I thought you were sawing Zs. Why, we could hear you snore from up on the ridge.”
“Ah, it weren’t that loud.”
“Listen: I’ve made a study of it all. The best complainers are the Navy deck apes, followed by the Navy’s snipes.”
“Navy has apes and snipes?”
“A ‘deck ape’ is another term for boatswain’s mate: a lowly soul who scrubs the deck, polishes the brass and is actually more expendable than a Boot Marine, believe it or not. A ‘snipe’ is one step above a bilge rat, which are the sailors who keep the propellers turning.”
“Where do we fit-in?”
“We come in at number 3 on the list. It’s Navy first, Army second and we’re third. Air Force and Coast Guard are tied for 4th place. At one time the Navy was going to start a whole new rate for complainers but they couldn’t agree on what to complain about. Some wanted to complain about going to sea and spending all their time steaming around in circles while others wanted to complain about parking in the middle of a harbor when they could see a bunch of empty piers.”
“How come we’re not #1?”
“We have better-looking uniforms than the Navy, for one. For another, the Army thinks it’s normal to hike 20 miles while all you got to do is take a bus or a bunch of guys could pool their money and take a cab.
“Don’t get me wrong, some of our Boot Marines can go toe to toe with the best the Navy has to offer; only trouble is the Navy has always had more experience than we do.”
“I think you’re right. Why, look at how the Navy turned tail and ran away from those little boats in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. It’s pathetic, I tell you. Remember the USS Cole? Sailors died because their Captain followed the stupid Rules of Engagement and never issued ammo to the sentries. Turned out the Arabs could’ve inner-tubed the explosives to the side of the ship and probably have sunk it; maybe even sunk it like the Japs did to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. What a joke.”
“I heard once that if the troops don’t complain, something’s very wrong, somehow.”
“Complaining is healthy.”
“Right, but if it’s not original it can get awfully boring real quick. Like now.”
“That list was pretty entertaining, though.”
“To a point. What do civilians complain about? I mean, besides being even more defenseless than we are.”
“’More defenseless than we are’? What, you nuts? Look around you. Why, even the so-called ‘moderates’ want us the heck off their so-called ‘sacred land.’”
“And dead.”
“That, too.”
“They all hate us. They hate everything. And I’m not going to keep on keeping my mouth shut whenever I see an old man with a little kid. These people are really Hillary’s ‘deplorables,’ you know.”
“We know; we all know. What the heck are we guarding? I mean, we’re not doing anybody any good here, especially us.”
“You got that right.”
“It’s like this: Hillary’s mindset is one of a thief that’s been cornered: she’s got no place to go. She tried to lie her way out of it, but she can’t because it’s all so transparent. There’s just no way to cover up for the horrible death of Ambassador Stevens.”
“He didn’t realize he was expendable until he was dying, poor guy.”
“And the whole fiasco of Libya was uncalled-for, and now look at the place. It used to be livable before Secretary of State Hillary stuck her nose in; now it’s as bad as every other Arab country we’ve ‘helped’ to get at the terrorists.”
“Right. We get deployed overseas to wipe out the terrorist camps when there’s 22-plus of them back home. It doesn’t make any sense, I tell you.”
“We hear you.”
“You know what’s audacious? It’s Hillary just walking around out in public. It’s like she’s daring the cops to arrest her. Now that’s what I call audacious.”
“Well, it would be if the whole government isn’t in the pocket of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“You’re wrong there. It’s not the ‘whole government,’ okay?”
“Okay, not the ‘whole government,’ but only the ones that count: like the FBI, DHS, DOJ.”
“Okay, okay, we get your point.”
“I’m sick of this ‘Hearts and Minds’ idiocy.”
“You remember what Obama said about ‘fundamentally changing‘ America?”
“We remember.”
“Well, I was thinking. What I think was that he was using some sort of code, as in ‘FUNDAMENTALISTS.’”
“Oh, right-on. As in ‘Muslim fundamentalists,’ right?”
“Give that man a cigar (pronounced ‘see-gar’). Hey, look who’s in view: our reliefs. We’ll pick up where we left off next time we stand guard at this God-forsaken outpost.”
“We’re with you. Ciao.”
“Navy Blue” Diane Renay