Three weeks in the Mojave drives you insane

Foto.Feola.Friday for February 9, 2024

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset
Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid git

You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

Foto.Feola.Friday

The 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) was part of the Rapid Deployment Force, so it rotated to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA every few months for war games in the Mojave Desert. The peacetime army, famously, is all about Hurry Up and Wait. The wartime army is hours of boredom interrupted by bouts of sheer terror. These war games were somewhere in the middle. Modeled on a worst-case Soviet breakout, we faced five-to-one or worse odds and were routinely wiped at for the first week or so. So soldiers would head into the desert, fight non-stop for 24 hours or more, then fall back into desert camps, crash and chill while the brass after-actioned the latest disaster.

The Mojave is made up of an endless supply of fine grit that got into everything. When you got home after a month in the Mojave you’d bath non-stop for days until you could chew gum without it crunching. Vets knew to get their hair cut high and tight before heading out; hair would get so caked with grit it was impossible to clean. Rookies routinely begged for disposable razors to shave their heads.

Photos by Specialist 4 Feola (These are from before I made sergeant.)

Next on Perfecting Equilibrium

Sunday February 11th — The (old) media is dead; long live the (new) media. The last vestiges of the old media are dying, and not quietly. But the overall media landscape is healthier than it’s been in many years. It’s hard for the old guard when they are passed over by the new, but evolution is natural and healthy. Great new things are being born.