This image was taken yesterday as a rain/sand storm made it’s way across central Baghdad. The storm lasted several hours, and strong winds turned the sky a color I’ve not seen before. The accompanying thunderstorm sounded like the biggest mortar barrage I’ve ever heard.
Earlier in the day, I had heard several car bombs go off, and they were puny in comparison to the power of nature. The violence and energy of one thunderstorm kind of put things back into perspective for me. Thunderstorms, however, do not intentionally target human beings for death. They are blind and furious but they are not malignant and evil as the lesser beings who live below them can tend to be.
Today, in its infinite wisdom, the Army forced me to submit to a "random" urine donation exercise. That’s a fancy way of saying blind bureaucracy wants some sort of tangible proof that I am not participating in the ingestion of prohibited substances. Luckily, I somehow managed to avoid using black tar heroin while I was home on leave so I am quite sure I passed this particular "test."
The amount of time and energy spent testing soldier’s urine samples could be invested in something worthwhile, like stopping insurgents from planting IEDs. But hey, that’s just me, a guy who thinks the drug war is a colossal waste of time and energy.
Taking a few hours out of my busy day to pee in a small plastic cup only to prove what my chain of command should already know – that I’m not using any illicit substances, is just part of the brave new world of bureaucracy we’ve all come to accept. I suppose one day when we’re all forced to wear a microchip that monitors our every moment of existence to ensure that none of us is doing anything Uncle Sam doesn’t approve of, well, we’ll all be the better for it. Or something.