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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

in the army

 Twelve degrees this morning.  We have had just short of a week now of below zero temps.  Last evening the ice had crept past the locks and up the river and very thin transparent sheets had appeared beneath my balcony.  We will have to wait until the sun rises to see how far the ice has advanced overnight.  That will be 7:18 and it will not go down to 7:17 until January 8th.  By then we will be a week into January thinking of the thin young girl in the yellow green gown.  It will be like 9:15 on a Monday morning looking forward to the first beer of the weekend come Friday.

I trust we all had sufficient Christmas's, Beagles staying between the snow covered lines as he traversed the rivers and woods on the way down to Pestosky, Old Dog, I imagine some form of public trans, a warm but wobbly bus with some baked goods on his lap, the mere scent of which enlivened the senses of his fellow travelers, myself a push of the elevator button and there I was.

Thursday before the storm hit I was out to the new Whole Foods on Chicago and State picking up a couple pies and some cookies, and all the way back people were waving at me in my Santa hat and snazzy white beard, and it was great, like a corny movie.  So I thought well let's go to a couple bars on Christmas eve and spread the cheer there, but nobody hardly even looked up, it was like, oh, are you here again, and then right back to their phones.  My sister suggested maybe they were watching Zoom sessions of Christmas eve church services, bowing their heads in reverence to the Christ Child before  a quick glance up to ogle the barmaid and take a sip of Christmas cheer.

Watched From Here to Eternity the other night one of those movies that was famous when I was a child (1953) but I had never gotten around to seeing.  Not that hot, all those movies from back then are all so stilted and stereotyped, and even though the book sounds like it might have been pretty good, everything is muted in the movie because they figured, like Jack Nicholson in that movie, you can't handle the truth.  

But I got to thinking about you vets, who I am guessing were privates (correct me if I am wrong).  What was it like with all those corporals and sarges and Lieutenants and what was it, captains, majors, colonels, and generals (If I remember my ROTC correctly), as far as people pulling rank and being assholes or maybe just plain folk with an extra stripe.  What was the gulf between officers and enlisted men like?

Okay 6:29, I am beginning to see a thin pale line between the clouds and another day is beginning. 

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