Happy Thursday wherever you are!!! I started to do my usual blog... my day this... and my day that... but then I got to thinking... why not something different today? There are things you see... that you just wonder... why the hell do people do that??? So that's what at least the first part of my blog post is about.
It makes me think back to when I was much younger, and when I say much younger I'm talking early 20s (ish). I'm thinking back to when I first went to Turkey over 15 years ago. I can surely recall one major thing about the base populace... about 90% MALE. Fast forward to Iraq now... it's the same thing here. I don't have to worry about this issue... this lack of females that the desert has to offer. However, I wonder how the majority of the single male population fares in this environment. It's a very interesting question to pose. At any given time you will see girl X hanging out with as many as 8-10 guys at once. That's a rather unusual thing to see back in the U.S., where the population is MUCH closer to 50/50.
Also, you have the issue of the "General Order" here, which is basically legislation to prevent any contact between males and females (at least in an intimate sense). IMO, you really can't legislate that because it's human nature, and they will find a way to "make it happen" so to speak, but God knows it does it's job for the most part. Again, it doesn't impact me whatsoever. I'm quite happy to see my wife on Skype, and that is enough to make my day complete. But... here's what I see... which for the most part makes me laugh.
I was walking to work... and back from work... at 2 separate times yesterday... and for whatever reason these 2 particular instances stuck with me. First, there was a girl sitting outside the female dorm on a bench, obviously waiting for someone (presumably a guy or mulitple guys) because eventually I did see 2 guys come up to her and her get up and leave with them. This, by the way, is a quite regular occurence here, which is why it's so funny to me. The second time it was a guy waiting on the very same bench later in the evening, which is obvious what he was waiting for. LOL Again... too funny!!! :) You see... the younger guys tend to follow the girls around like little puppy dogs here... and of course it's because the availability of women is quite meager, which has led to the age old term "Desert Queen". However... every once in awhile I see it the other way around still... like you would in the states... the girl following the guy around like a little puppy dog. It definitely makes people watching that much more interesting... seeing the interaction between members of the opposite sex and the manner with which they interact in an environment of what I like to call "sexual prohibition". Even married folks who end up deploying TOGETHER, civilians included, have to abide by these same rules.
I guess my real question is this... can you legislate this... and I would say love... but it's certainly not love that would drive any such relationship, even if the two people believed in it to the Nth degree. In an environment such as this it is not real whatsoever. 1. You're in such a close proximity to one another that it's bound to bring you and that individual closer than you ever would have been in a normal, more "free", setting. 2. The odds are tipped too far in favor of the fairer sex... enabling them to have the ultimate choice of whomever they want to "partner up" with... where the guys lack that ability simply because it's a numbers game. So even if 2 people were to claim they were "in love" after meeting in a place such as this, once they get home the freedom of choice of one or both of them will inevitably lead to the end of such a relationship. Again, it's a numbers game, and the numbers don't lie.
Ok... so I've managed to ramble in a big circle. What I'm presenting is basically a psychological argument here. Again, let me make it clear that this has absolutely NOTHING to do with myself. I love my wife... and we have done amazingly well together during this time apart compared to others I know. It's just something that intrigues me, perhaps because I was stationed in Turkey before as a single person, and I started to wonder if I did a lot of those same things. Now, you have to remember this, too. There was no General Order in Turkey. You could go in and out of whomever's room or home you so pleased... so it wasn't quite the same... but the "numbers" or "ratio" was indeed very much similar.
My real point... which I am working my way toward here... is based on everything I've talked about so far. I know what the General Order is in place, and it's only for one single reason despite whatever the powers that be might tell you. It's to prevent pregnancy. PERIOD! That much is obvious. Now... you will hear the stories... of how many military members commit suicide either during or after a deployment. This is 6 months for us in my unit. Army folks do up to 18 months! Can you really expect people to go against what is completely and humanly natural... possibly even NECESSARY.. for that long without serious psychological consequences stemming from it eventually? I would love to see a study done of this nature... and I'm sure there have been several over time... that could correlate the data. Everyone gets stressed during deployments... but the real bottom line is WHAT do they REALLY stress over? Is it honestly work? Or does it go much much deeper into the psyche?
Just imagine... if you were deployed for however long with your spouse... and you're not even hardly allowed to TOUCH them! I'd say that could be pretty damned stressful if I were in their shoes. Interesting debate isn't it???
Peace, Love, and Poker
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