Out on the town...

I spent most of the afternoon wandering around a very nice European town with some of the guys. I guess some people decided to hole up in their hotel rooms and flick the 10 AFN channels and CNN International, but there will be plenty of time for that later.

Some of the guys had been through here before and so we followed their memory to various little bars and the like. Nothing too crazy, but very relaxing. With their scruffy beards, ball caps, and rough civilian cloths, most of the guys could pass for backpacking students. They were teasing each other for taking some of the same pictures of old churches and scenic views that they took the last time. They tried to take a group picture of Guinness foam in their mustaches, but it didn't really work as a group picture. Most people would never guess that these are experienced combat veterans, some of whom have been awarded our top awards for valor. Somehow when you meet a "veteran" on the street they will too often claim to have been some kinda of Super SEAL Sniper Hero. The real ones don't need to bring it up.

And, well, by most people being unaware, I mean most people who don't live near one of the major transit bases for guys headed into the war zones. Our waiter at a small cafe instantly pegged us for Special Operations types because of the beards and the interest in coffee. Our waiter even understood the distinction between Special Forces and Special Operations, which few people even in the military seem to know. He also told us that the Starbucks on this post is terrible, which was a great tip.

At that cafe we were joking about how no one knows what we do. Not because of the secrecy but because the Air Force Ground elements jobs have very specialized niches that can be hard to explain. He has pretty much given up and just says he is an Air Traffic Controller when people ask. When his parents try to tell people they say he is an Air Traffic Controller but he drops bombs.

I told him I pretty much do the same thing and just say I'm a weather guy. The only problem being that some of my friends and some of my family do not believe me. People have actually told my wife that I'm not really a weather man but some kind of spy because of the whole jumping and advanced training thing and not getting why a weather guy would need those skills.

Hopefully most of the guys don't get in to too much trouble in town. They work. They play hard, but now isn't really the time to play hard. People get in more trouble on their way to and from the theater than they do while actually there. They are big kids. They should figure it out.

Anyway, in a few hours we find out if our bird is in working order so we can fly into Iraq. I wouldn't mind a little more time here. I'm sitting on a deck outside, it's a beautiful night, the room is nice, and the weird coffee machine in the lobby that magically spews out multiple types of liquid from the same orifice has a pretty good Cafe con Leche.