Stop Drop and Roll

Yet another invaluable training exercise conducted by the Army. Had they never showed me I never would have known what to do with a fire. Using valuable resources yet again after multiple instances where, when a fire was actually present, there was nothing to combat it. Just proof that when you give that kid who ate glue in kindergarden the ability to teach the class, everyone starts consuming arts and crafts supplies like candy.

Koncept Productions Presents:                        

A Day in the Life Episode I                                 

"Hooligan Shenanigans"                                    

Waiting for a bus that never came.

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."

- John Lennon

   Hurry up and wait... Something I had heard many times growing up but never truly had the chance to understand until I joined the Army in 2012. Granted it is a motto, or slogan of negativity, or maybe just a coping mechanism created out of the twisted humor that being in the Army causes one to have. This phrase can mean quite a lot to anyone when put in the right context. However I have found my own meaning to the simple phrase.

   Upon your initial entry to the army you get a wake up call when you go through something called in processing. Only to be defined in my words as... Waking up earlier than what should be legally permitted, rushing with a dire sense of urgency everywhere gripping a stack of forms and papers you will never understand or have the time to read, melting in un-air conditioned hallways that seem to be flooded with fluorescent unnatural light, and the smell of a nervous sweat. For some reason you always get a hint of a cigarette being burned just around the corner, but never see where it is coming from. 

   Duffle bags are issued to you, as you scribble your name on a stack of forms and receipts and you slowly crawl down the line further into the depths of the building where the odd smells permeate the air as you realize that you are going to be filling that issued duffle bag you have been clutching to its limit. In actuality the reality of your situation is really not that bad, nevertheless perspective clarifies this differently for each individual participating in the discomforting, timeless, humiliating, and punctual line that is reception.

   Unknowingly I had agreed upon consummating a contract in a dusty decrepit old building in the downtown district of my city USA, to not just joining a organization, but a way of life. Further and further I traveled into this world of regulation and standards and the whole time I felt like I was often enough just waiting around. Little did I know that there was a lot more to it than just the phrase 'hurry up and wait' soon to be discover right then.

   'Prae' the Latin word meaning before, and 'parare' the latin word for make ready, together formed the word 'praeparare' or... As we know it today the word, prepare. To hurry up and wait is to agree that you will do your best to quickly prepare yourself to be of service to the military. Deemed a phrase used when we are stuck waiting ten minutes early to a ten minute early formation for a ten minute early formation. 

   Coping mechanisms come in many shapes and forms but this one is one of my favorite shared such mechanisms. Using humor, practicality, and sarcasm. We can now say we can hurry up and wait for anything, allowing us to understand situations we don't like in the Army better. 

" Hey I heard that your platoon had to be at formation two hours early when the rest of the company got to sleep in?"

"Yeah we had to hurry up and wait, you know how it goes..."

I guess it goes to show you can take a phrase, and depending on the kind of person you are decide... Am I an optimist, a realist, a pessimist? Should it matter? As long as you are optimistic and enjoy the time you are spending doing something you might not particularly want to do, you are wasting no time. So the next time you find yourself in a long line, or in a crammed little room where they issue you Antarctic Tundra attire in the middle of the summer in South Carolina, or at Disneyland waiting for your favorite ride with friends or family, know that hurrying up to wait is just being excited to have a chance to stop and smell the flowers in life.