Thursday
Jun092005
Off to the Wars
Thursday, June 9, 2005 at 10:49AM
June 17 - My little (half) sister turns 18.
June 29 - My little sister graduates from high school.
June 30 - My little sister, who is exactly half my age, gets on a plane to spend the next 7 or 8 years committed to the Canadian military.
The navy.
Logistics Officer.
With a BA in something or other through the Royal Military College of Canada.
Apparantly, this is pretty prestigious - announcements at grad, press releases, 3,000 applicants - 250 accepted. I'll be going to her swearing in this Saturday.
So much for getting to know her better now that I'm back in town.
I didn't know, actually, that we'd been going through the same process when I mentioned to them that I was applying for the Reserves so it's been a bit strange that we're going through the exact same process at the same time.
Sure, as an officer in the Navy, she'll be pretty safe in the war that gets closer every day, I think. In my case I'd be on the ground setting up command posts and, if required, fighting (with a gun, kids) if I chose to accept a posting so, I suppose I would be in more danger than her.
That's it though, that's the rub - I can *choose*. She can't. They blow up that big ol' boat you're on and well, Officer or not, you're still going to die like the rest of great unwashed non-officer rabble, screaming all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
She's never been away from home for longer than a week.
She'll never get to enjoy being out of school and 'free'. She'll be 27 before she'll have a chance to make her own next major life decision.
If I were her, I'd be scared shitless. I AM scared shitless.
We are doing it for such wildly disparate reasons, as well. Mine are here, but she's doing it to continue on the great family military tradition.
Of which there isn't one because it was all an elaborate lie my father told his whole 'second' family.
Some of you might know that story and maybe I'll tell it here someday but right now, I'm just not willing to. I've been feeling pretty good in my head lately and the occasional blip during which my family can hammer me back down will have to stay one of *their* weapons. One which, these days, I don't feel like using against myself by dredging it up and writing it down.
Although I think I've figured out why he did it, partly because I am just as much my father as I am my mother, I will never come right out and tell her. She loves him so much, in a way the first three of us never ever will and I have no desire to hurt her in any way, (nor him actually).
I'm proud of her. And I love her. More, I LIKE her.
It's strange to think that if I don't come back from my travels, I may never see her again. It makes me a sad that I'll miss getting to know her better.
It makes me even sadder that love can unknowingly breed such terrible things. That, in the end, that lie just might be responsible for killing her.
June 29 - My little sister graduates from high school.
June 30 - My little sister, who is exactly half my age, gets on a plane to spend the next 7 or 8 years committed to the Canadian military.
The navy.
Logistics Officer.
With a BA in something or other through the Royal Military College of Canada.
Apparantly, this is pretty prestigious - announcements at grad, press releases, 3,000 applicants - 250 accepted. I'll be going to her swearing in this Saturday.
So much for getting to know her better now that I'm back in town.
I didn't know, actually, that we'd been going through the same process when I mentioned to them that I was applying for the Reserves so it's been a bit strange that we're going through the exact same process at the same time.
Sure, as an officer in the Navy, she'll be pretty safe in the war that gets closer every day, I think. In my case I'd be on the ground setting up command posts and, if required, fighting (with a gun, kids) if I chose to accept a posting so, I suppose I would be in more danger than her.
That's it though, that's the rub - I can *choose*. She can't. They blow up that big ol' boat you're on and well, Officer or not, you're still going to die like the rest of great unwashed non-officer rabble, screaming all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
She's never been away from home for longer than a week.
She'll never get to enjoy being out of school and 'free'. She'll be 27 before she'll have a chance to make her own next major life decision.
If I were her, I'd be scared shitless. I AM scared shitless.
We are doing it for such wildly disparate reasons, as well. Mine are here, but she's doing it to continue on the great family military tradition.
Of which there isn't one because it was all an elaborate lie my father told his whole 'second' family.
Some of you might know that story and maybe I'll tell it here someday but right now, I'm just not willing to. I've been feeling pretty good in my head lately and the occasional blip during which my family can hammer me back down will have to stay one of *their* weapons. One which, these days, I don't feel like using against myself by dredging it up and writing it down.
Although I think I've figured out why he did it, partly because I am just as much my father as I am my mother, I will never come right out and tell her. She loves him so much, in a way the first three of us never ever will and I have no desire to hurt her in any way, (nor him actually).
I'm proud of her. And I love her. More, I LIKE her.
It's strange to think that if I don't come back from my travels, I may never see her again. It makes me a sad that I'll miss getting to know her better.
It makes me even sadder that love can unknowingly breed such terrible things. That, in the end, that lie just might be responsible for killing her.
Reader Comments (2)
Silly.
Or, alternatively, the ones that Canadians keep sending their troops to.