Culture Shock

The first days back in the US were a bit more of a shock than I had expected, which I suppose is good training for when I'm home for leave and then home for good.

The first, most noticeable and most irritating aspect of returning to the States was the presence of cell phones. The constant use of cell phones in public places annoyed me even before I deployed, and 4 months away from cell phones, Blackberries, pagers, etc has only strengthened my distaste for hearing someone else's phone conversations in public places.

After checking in to our hotel, the next order of business was to obtain additional civilian clothing. None of us on the trip had more than one set of street clothing, and we wore that on the trip home. I started my shopping at the PX of the base where I was training. After nearly 7 months of wearing nothing but Army uniforms, I was a bit overwhelmed by the opportunity to choose what I wanted to wear. I came to my senses and quickly decided that whatever I purchased would look as little like "issue" clothing as possible and would NOT include the colors green or brown.

My first sit down meal (at a local Applebees...not exactly haute cuisine) was also a real pleasure. It was a huge relief not to have to carry a tray and have a relatively wide selection of food. I enjoyed real beer, too, though my first "real beer" was about 20 minutes after take-off from Kuwait.

I also found myself "jumping" at loud noises a bit, which was not a reaction I expected. We live in relative safety a FOB Enormo and I was surprised by my startled reaction to a muffled but very noticeable "thud" during my workout at the base gym. Apparently I am staying much more alert at FOB Enormo than I had realized.

Driving was far less eventful than I had expected, probably because we do have "non tactical vehicles" (pick-up trucks, SUVs, etc) to get around FOB Enormo and I do get to drive occasionally over there at greatly reduced speeds. We have traffic on Enormo too, though not the kind of traffic I'm used to at home.

At this point, my trip is over and I am sitting in an airport in the mid/southeastern US enjoying a last cup of Starbucks and decent Internet bandwith. In a couple of hours, we will start the long journey back to the desert and I will be back to my usual 16 hour days soon.