Major K. Blog

I read the Major K. Blog (http://www.visetveneratio.com/) whose author is a 35 year old Infantry Officer stationed in Iraq. The tone is almost too cheerful from what I have read: "The arhabiyin (plural - thanks to an e-mailed correction from a nice Dutch lady) always try to get in their last shots before we shut down the streets and the borders. It is the same stuff; IED's, a few mortars or rockets, and a sprinkling of small arms fire." In the same sentence he talks about being shot at and being corrected by "a nice dutch lady." He clearly is taking the getting shot at part lightly. Also, his word choice is a little bizarre as well. The term "sprinkling of" usually implies putting salt in a stew, not watching bullets fly in your general direction. The author is so optimistic about everything that you almost want to cry "Bullshit!" on the authenticity of his feelings. Either he is genuinely (albeit absurdly) optimistic and happy, or he is hiding his true opinions. I think the latter option is the more likely one, because it is generally accepted to hide feelings of despair/negativity and is seen as the manlier thing to do. However, the author is clearly very intelligent and is writing in a "Dear Diary" sort of style. His writing reminds me very much of "Heart of Darkness." It is deep and retrospective, but as stated above sometimes childishly simple: "The arhabiyin are lousy shooters, except for the occasional foreign-trained sniper. The other thing they can't seem to do is come up with an alternative to democracy for the Iraqi people other than more suffering death and destruction." This seems like something a school-child would say, not a battle-hardened officer.