negative airways

Today traveling home from WVA I had two really strange experiences...

The first was when I was sitting in a people mover at Dulles waiting to be taken to my gate. It had 5 minutes to go until it left so I pulled out a book I'm reading about blackwater. Two soldiers got on the people mover and sat across from me. One was obviously a seasoned soldier and the other was a new soldier who had apparently never been on a commercial airplane before. The seasoned guy was explaining to the other guy how the airport worked.

He then noticed the book I was reading. The people mover started filling up. He felt the need to start expounding on americans who don't appreciate the war in Iraq and how they are just stupid liberals who don't know shit about shit, and how it should be illegal for someone to even publish such a book. At first I was going to just ignore him, but then I started getting mad. I put my book mark in my book and looked right at the soldier. I could tell the other people in the people mover were worried there was going to be a fight.

I looked at the soldier and I said "Are you talking about me?" He looked unsure as to how to proceed, and then he said "Yes". I said "You are offended by the fact I'm reading this book?" Again, he said yes. "Do you know me, know anything about me, or know anything about this book?" I asked him. He sat there and didn't say anything . So I said "Does it bother you when people see you in uniform and react negatively to that?" He answered in the affirmative. I said "So why would you do the same thing to me that you hate other people doing to you?"

I then explained to him that the most important point being made in the blackwater book is that the company has defrauded the tax payers out of a lot of money, for example, by bringing in people who aren't as trained as a soldier, to do the work of a soldier, and that those people make at least 4 times what a soldier makes. I offered to read to him sections of the book I had marked where high ranking soldiers complained that blackwater was shooting people and ramming cars for no reason, and how retaliation was usually directed at soldiers and that it unstabilized regions that had been stable. And that blackwater had bought so much equipment for their guys that the Army and Marines were unable to give all of their soldiers bullet proof vests and armoured cars.

"Does that bother you?" I asked him. He said "Yes." I told him I would mail him the book when I was finished with it, if he wanted to read it too, or at least the sections I had described since I had them tabbed. He said "Ma'am, you don't have to do that, I'll buy a copy". I then said that one of the things we are supposedly doing in Iraq is allowing the Iraqi people the freedom to read a book that may say negative things about their government, and that his comment about not publishing books like the one I was reading, or imposing negative consequences for people who read those books, was exactly against everything that americans are supposed to believe.

There was dead silence on the people mover for the rest of the ride. As we got to the gate I wished the soldiers good luck. I think the thing that most pissed me off about the whole encounter is that I've worked with special forces and the marines my whole career, doing things to support them above what I was required to do. Last summer after I worked with the Navy SEALs the captain who hired me walked me to my car the last day of my engagement and said "I just wanted to thank you for your support to the war effort. We get thanked because we're in uniform, and people like you are usually forgotten."

And, I just spent the past week working 14 - 16 hour days to support another military organization. I don't have to do that. I do it because I know if I don't do the work it won't get done, and I'm not okay with that. I'm sure in his head that soldier was thinking "fuck you" but maybe he really will buy a copy of the book.

Then, I got on my plane. There was a couple sitting next to me with a little girl who was around 3. They seemed happy enough. The wife was very attractive and she and her husband kept talking about her mom, whom they were going to visit.

The steward brought us drinks, and the husband asked for a straw. The steward gave him one of those straws that you use to stir coffee. The husband looked at it, obviously pissed. So I leaned over the aisle and said "I have some real straws if you want one". I have a hard time drinking out of a normal glass since I have limited feeling in my lower lip due to a bike accident so I always travel with straws. The guy said "That would be really great!"

I pulled out my straws and asked if the kid had a particular color in mind. The husband laughed and said "anything is fine". So I chose a pink one for her. He thanked me again.

A few minutes later I was reading my book and I accidentally knocked over into the aisle this little trash pile that had accumulated on the edge of my tray. The husband immediately leaned over to pick it up at the same time I did and we knocked heads. We both kind of laughed, and then he picked up the trash and handed it to me. I put it back on my tray, closed my book, and decided to try to get some sleep.

The next thing I know the couple is in this huge fight about me. The wife was asking what had happened when we knocked heads and why he was leaning over. She accused him of flirting with me. She said a bunch of other stuff I couldn't hear because he told her to lower her voice. I did hear her say some thing about him helping me pick up my trash being disrespectful to her. It was kind of insane. Then I heard her say "No, what happened was you put your dick in her mouth". I guess the guy had recently had an affair or something. I heard the word "attorney".

The fight lasted for the next two hours, and then the wife put on her headphones and ignored the husband for the rest of the flight. While I feel for her having to deal with her husband's infidelity, I was only trying to help by offering a straw. I would have done the same thing if she had been sitting on the aisle seat. I felt bad that an innocuous kindness had caused a big fight.

When we landed I saw them again at the baggage claim. The wife was sitting on the floor by herself sulking. The husband was walking around with the kid. I decided to wait outside until the bags came to avoid having contact with either of them.

And of course the baggage loader had a problem so it took 45 minutes for my luggage to come out...but I decided to not be unhappy about that. There are enough unhappy people in the world I think.