Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Hola,

If you are getting this sitrep for a second time, I apologize for my laziness. But it sure beats writing all of your addresses over again. Once again, not much is going on here. But as usual, I tend to downplay events a bit. Lets see...I wrote last on Christmas...what has happened since?

Well, Mo and I took off on the 27th for a medical relief mission on the 27th. That same day, the rest of our Psyop troop (Steve and Steve) joined us in the left circle of this three ringed military circus in El Salvador. Mo and I headed up with a Civil Affairs team to a small town named Cara Sucia. For those of you who do not uderstand this wonderful language Spanish, the town's name means Dirty Face. I can't really make fun of the town, seeing that I'm from a place known as Barnhart.

The CA's commander, COL Adamson, is a great guy, but reminds me of Mr. Magoo. He doesn't speak much Spanish so he communicates the best he can: Engish, loud and slow. We Americans are great, arn't we? Once again, we got the oppertunity to see very poor people who don't know how poor they are. It's humbling...at least it is to me. We were doing the Med mission for two days. On the first day, one kid asked me for some water, so I gave him my water bottle. The second day, he repaid the favor by chopping me a cocanut. Now you all know how I am about new things...I don't groove on them. But I drank the cocanut milk anyway. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good mind you, but it wasn't bad.

As usual driving in this country is pure insanity. I LOVE IT! It's really not that bad. They drive by big boy rules. Drive however you want, but be curtious. Americans could learn someting from this. The road to Cara Sucia reminds me Hwy M back home...if it were set in the mountains. A good portion of the route paralelled the Pacific ocean. I only have two words to describe it. Beautiful. Beautiful.

The doctors we were with were not what I thought doctors were like. They were dumb. Now, I'm not saying that they did not know their professions, I'm saying they are idiots to the rest of the world. We were eating in a resturaunt called Steak and Chicken. No, I'm not traslating the name for you. There are El Salvadorian, Thai, Italian, and every other type of ethnic resturaunts in the United States. Likewise, threre are United States eateries in other countries. But I digress. There was a Major and a Captain sitting across from me. They were Ugly Americans. They kept complaining that there were no chips and salsa on the table to munch on. Wake up people. The Captain of Mexican decent sitting next to me kept telling them that that's a Mexican food. Not Salvadorian. When the food arrived they commented that their food wasn't insanely hot and spicy, as they were expecting. It was the worst Mexican food they had ever had. Ugly Americans.

The Doctors were also complete ninnies behind the wheel. I'm sure that lobotomy pacients are more agressive on the road than these gutless wimps. Oh well. What can ya do?

We put the systems to good use on the 31st. We provided sound for a talent show. I just love all the unwanted advice I recieved from people telling me how to work our equipment. The crowd was complaining they coudn't hear the 800 watt system very well because it was pointed away from them. I'm such a fool! What was I thinking? So I turned it towards them and gave them a healthy 800 watt dose of feedback. For the love of Bob people, let me do my job. I sang American Pie for the last act. I forgot the word momentarily. Surprised, arn't ya. Oh well. I realized about the third verse that the song is too long for the the attention span of your average soldier. Live and learn.

I'm going to be going on another mission on the 5th. Same thing as last time. I'm just glad to be doing, instead of sitting around and starring at each other in the tent. We're having a push-up race. I'm in the lead with 700. I did them all in one day. I can't move my arms very well. Oh well. It's the best I can do without a gym. Not much else to tell about and Steve is waiting paciently for me to finnish this letter, so I shall bid you all a fond farewell. Adios, everyone and Have a Happy New Year.

Love,
Kurt

P.S. For those of you who have been writing me, you can stop writing to the Bohiem@yahoo. I've found I can get my AOL mail more easily. Thanks. :-)