11/24/2025
Heading to Toronto from Calgary, going on an eight hour delay and it's got me thinking. Most people would be bored. Not me.
I think it was March or April 2003, I had been at my first duty station at 2nd Marine Division Combat Camera for a few months. I was tagged to go to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. I'm not going to lie, I was scared. I was willing to do what I had to do, but I didn't want to have to do it. We go through all the packing, inspections, briefings, etc. Every step was new for me, every step closer to a combat zone.
My anxiety peaked on travel day. The tension was palpable but we were all trying to play it cool. As we traveled by bus to the military airfield, I had no idea what to expect. Were we going to travel across the Atlantic on a C-130 or C-5 cargo plane in a jump seat with our packs in our lap like you see in the movies? Honestly, that's the only point of reference I had as I was barely into my second year of my enlistment. We're sitting on the tarmac, resting on our packs, literally "smoking and joking" as they say when one of my peers piped up "Just like the government 'Hurry up and wait!' Amirite?" I just shook my head and thought "Nobody's yelling at us, we're not getting shot at, we're not on some grueling mission. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. I'll take boredom any day!"
From that moment on, I've never been bored again.
