Today was/is my birthday. I woke up at 445 to get to work by 530 to run a range. Sweet. Awesome. For those of you who aren't in the Army (all of you?) that means, basically, you go out all day, sit in the sun, repeat yourself a billion times and have a hundred soldiers angry because you're being too hard on them and a few officers (who can get you in real trouble) angy because you're being too easy on the soldiers. If you're a cadet, it's a bit like being the BDO. You didn't do anything wrong, but it's really a lose/lose situation designed to make you fail. Maybe that's a stretch...but it's close (most Lieutenants would agree, but most Captains would disagree. Much like plebes saying how hard their lives are--LT's--Captains, like yuks, don't see it as such). Anyway...that's what I did. It sucked.

But, there was a silver lining. Instead of celebrating my birthday on Saturday, I can celebrate it on Sunday because Saturday night...I'll be working!! (Wait, is that a silver lining? nope...guess I had my colors confused). That's right. Saturday, I'll be walking around to make sure a bunch of soldiers who aren't mine aren't getting drunk and raping/pillaging/stabbing themselves in the leg (one of those three really happened and, to give you a clue, it's not raping or pillaging).

The worst part is...I still love this job. Seriously? How brainwashed am I where I write what I wrote but still can't imagine doing anything else?