Entertainment

Apparently there is a band called "Dos Gringos" that consists of a bunch of F-16 pilots that actually have a sense of humor about themselves. They have a song called "I'm a Pilot" that makes fun of all the pilot stereotypes such as having no regard for the maintenance personnel.

If you've worked with fighter pilots, it's really funny. If not, then it makes no sense.

I was also showed a video where Quentin Tarantino asks "How Gay is Top Gun?" Based on how they cut and edited scenes... very. Looking back, I feel the same way watching the volleyball scene in "Topgun" that I do when I see He-Man cartoon re-runs. Funny in ways I didn't see when I was five.

Other mature things that we do to pass the time including making "Your Mom" jokes on our internet chat program. Many are horribly obscene. I had a great one but couldn't laugh because it was the middle of a big update brief for the boss. Somehow not being able to laugh and show it off to people made it funnier.

I am also happy to report the Yussuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, is back in the game. I'm looking forward to hearing his new stuff. Last time out I discovered that not only do I enjoy his music but "Peace Train" is the best soundtrack to an airstrike being watched live via surveilance video.

There was a song on the network credited to him that sounded like him that was a call to jihad in Afghanistan (from the 80's) that was actually very moving and haunting. I have no idea who actually recorded it.

In any case, supposedly on this new album he has a song about being turned away by TSA because he was on a no-fly list. It was a mistake, incidentally, as his alleged radicalism has been way overblown from what I can tell.

I haven't really been that up on new music. Something about this return after so many years intrigues me and I want to hear what he has to say.

In other news, as a sign of the dark humor pervasive in the military, or at least in my experiences of the military, we have added jokes about stress. It is not that we take the concept of stress lightly since many of us have had friends cope with PTSD and other bad situations before, during, and after deployments. It is that everything is fair game and nothing is sacred.

I was being given a hard time by the others in my row for not wanting to put a thin sheet of plexiglass on my desk. The idea is that you can put a bunch of common reference sheets under the plexiglass without your desk being a mess. I don't have that many reference sheets and didn't feel like messing with my set up. So they gave me crap for it because that is what we do. I said they should be nice cause I'm feeling stressed. One guy pretended to duck. The other jumped toward the (unloaded) sub-machine gun on the shelf. Then we all laughed and debated whether rules would now come down mandated full armor all the time just in case.

I debated about sharing that little incident, but figured that is what this little blog is about. A little window into the mundane and sometimes absurd routine of a staff officer here.

I will also point out that whenever updates on the shooting incident in Baghdad come on AFN news on one of our flatscreens, everyone pretty much stops to watch/listen.

She'll be embarrassed that I mention this, but tomorrow my wife is heading off to present a poster at a medical conference. People are paying to fly her to a major tourist destination in order to hear what she has to say about her research findings. As well they should.

Tomorrow is also a big day for my partner. Test scores are being released and he finds out if he is getting promoted. Wish him luck.

One of the other guys in my little Iraq team is officially being promoted later this month. I'm hoping one of his can get to him and make sure some kind of ceremony is performed. I'm not sure, however, if that hope is more driven by the need to support a friend or the desperate need to get out of the JOC for just a little bit.