Spagbook

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

I was always happy to listen to my buddy's stories. The shit he had to do haunted him. You just gotta listen and let 'em know they're still people, still human - and they are - by not freaking out when they tell you what it's really like, out there. It's a heavy fucking load for one person to carry sometimes, so shut up, top up the glass, and wait.

[Jez]

As someone who has been to a different there and has the nightmares and flashbacks to prove it:  good on you.  If more people knew how to shut up and let us talk or not as we can, the whole PTSD thing would be a lot easier to handle.

[East Coast Hustle]

View from my balcony:


Mt. Pilchuck. Probably won't explode and kill us all with lava.


Mount Baker, looming ominously.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Wow, that's pretty fucking sweet. The pics probably don't do it justice, either.

[East Coast Hustle]

No, they're taken with my shitty phone camera and they really don't. They look HUGE AND RIGHT THE FUCK THERE in person.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My son's best friend, who also went into the marines.  He's been in Afbagistan for a very, very long time.

He's too fucking young for the 1000 yard stare.

Of course, they all are.

Been sitting on this one for a week.

I have a son. That kid could be my son. I don't ever want my son to have that look. My brother came home with that look.

Fuck. He's just a fucking KID.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

They go from 13 and playing video games to 18 and sent to war. And they come back with almost nothing in between those experiences, and they're supposed to just pick up lives and be men.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Fuck. He's just a fucking KID.

Get 'em YOUNG.  You can't get an adult to do that shit.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

My son's best friend, who also went into the marines.  He's been in Afbagistan for a very, very long time.

He's too fucking young for the 1000 yard stare.

Of course, they all are.

Been sitting on this one for a week.

I have a son. That kid could be my son. I don't ever want my son to have that look. My brother came home with that look.

Fuck. He's just a fucking KID.

Yeah. All the kids I used to work with when I had that shit job, who signed up because they didn't want to be stuck in the shit job for the rest of their lives, came back looking like that.

Good thing they came back at all, but still.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My son's best friend, who also went into the marines.  He's been in Afbagistan for a very, very long time.

He's too fucking young for the 1000 yard stare.

Of course, they all are.

Been sitting on this one for a week.

I have a son. That kid could be my son. I don't ever want my son to have that look. My brother came home with that look.

Fuck. He's just a fucking KID.

Talked to him via email.  He thinks he's smiling in that pic.

[Don Coyote]

My son's best friend, who also went into the marines.  He's been in Afbagistan for a very, very long time.

He's too fucking young for the 1000 yard stare.

Of course, they all are.

Been sitting on this one for a week.

I have a son. That kid could be my son. I don't ever want my son to have that look. My brother came home with that look.

Fuck. He's just a fucking KID.

Talked to him via email.  He thinks he's smiling in that pic.

Looks just like a friend of mine in the Marines, and yes that is a smile.

[Suu]

I know that look.

BF's been in the Navy for 9 years. He's 32...joined up after he realized college wasn't for him. But the kids, no...BABIES I see at his base at A-School. Fuck. You forget how young 18 is until you see it in dress blues.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

I am getting less cyberpunk as time goes on.

[Richter]

How does that work?

Two old vets get the young guy drunk and then just listen.

Best fix there is, really. Aside from not having to go.

Yeah, it would be.

Anybody else would be too sheltered. It wouldn't work.

Well anyone can listen. But it's hard not to flinch sometimes, unless you've been there.

It's hard to SAY THINGS to people who haven't been there, if "there" is sufficiently horrible.

But you don't say.  The only thing you say is, "So, Snake, where ya been?"

Then you shut up and keep the tumblers full.

"Just get your ass back and we'll figure out the rest."  - To my buddy before he went off.  He did, luckier than a lot, and doing OK since. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I am getting less cyberpunk as time goes on.

1.  You were never cyberpunk.

2.  THAT'S THE SAME GODDAMN FACIAL EXPRESSION YOU ALWAYS HAVE.  ALWAYS.