Rocket attack, smocket attack

September 11 came and went. There were various small ceremonies around the base. I stayed back and took care of the clinic while the staff went to the "flag pole" for a ceremony at 0517 Eastern time. Apparently there were three speakers who talked about what the attacks meant to them. They talked about Jesus and God and played "I'm proud to be an American." Sounds perfectly harmless and patriotic, but the crowd was made up of Hindus, Muslims, and a large portion of non-Americans. Yes we got attacked, but other countries get terrorist attacks all the time. Say, oh I don't know, Afghanistan, for example. Sometimes we Americans just don't get it. There is more to the world than the good ole USA. Don't get me wrong, I AM proud to be an American.  But we have our faults, and one of them is our ability to be culturally insensitive. We don't mean to be. We all know some dumb ass who starts statements with, "I ain't prejudice, but..." And then tells a really bad, really unfunny racist joke. But his also the same guy that   would run into a burning black church in the South to save someone of color, or gives money to feed starving children in a third world country. Or comes to Afghanistan to build a clean water plant. We are a quirky little country, ain't we?
On the 10th we had a band called Goldilocks come and perform. The world is cursed with bad sound men. No different here. All we could hear was the base player. Then we barley heard the singer who was singing her heart out. The show was sponsored by Outback steak house who has gone around and taken over Difacs and cooked big juicy American steaks. Plus chicken and pasta for non-steak eaters. There was also a comedian, but I was tired and went home before his set. Of course there was a rocket attack right in the middle of his set. Apparently nobody "hit the deck" until the Commanding General did. That's leadership for you. On the day, last night, it was our turn for steak. We all loaded into two vehicles, one being our ambulance, and headed off for steak night. There was a huge line, of course, but that's what we do, stand in line for stuff. And guess what happened.  Go ahead, guess, you'll never guess. Wow, good guess, a rocket attack. We hit the deck. We waited, and we got up and were supposed to go to the bunkers. Nobody moved. This was an opportunity to get a better position in line. Two or three people did the right thing. Me, not so much. I am a Caplin, and this is free steak. Good steak. Amazingly good steak. I ain't going nowhere. No siree. Plus there wasn't room for all of us. I will take one for the team. The amazing thing was that they just kept on serving. We had our dinner and half way through they sounded the "all clear."  The crowd erupted in applause. Cheated death again. Man, I am proud to be an American..