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An American Cyber-Column
Regaining Reality
Rich Galen
Friday May 21, 2004
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- I promise not to wear you out about this but, as I type this, it is 7:30 on Thursday evening, I am sitting on the back deck of Mullings Central, the weather is, according to weather.com, 72� with 10 miles visibility and a gentle breeze from the South at 8 mph.
- As of this hour I have been home for three weeks.
- And they have not all been good. The decompression from my six month stint was harder than I thought it would be. And, having spoken to others with whom I spent time in Baghdad, I am not alone in this. And everyone I spoke with was either a civilian, or a military person in a non-combat position, so it is not a function of having been under fire for long periods of time.
- When I left for Baghdad I, in effect, pulled the sheets up over the furniture of the business known as Mullings.com like the staff at an English country home being shut down for the season. Effective three weeks ago, I needed to restart that business.
- In my zeal to re-introduce myself to Washington I have done the following since I got back:
- 14 business meetings (including one at the White House and one with a Cabinet Secretary)
- 8 business lunches
- 4 business dinners
- Three major social events: The White House Correspondents' Dinner, the RNC Summer Gala, and the Parkinson's Action Network Dinner
- One trip to the West Coast for the Dennis Miller show which was one of
- 10 radio and television appearances and
- One speech.
- Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was your vacation?
- The symptoms which appear to be more-or-less common are an inability to sleep, vague feelings of unease around other people, and a high level of snappishness over fairly mundane things like having to take the car in for routine service.
Dear Mr. Mullings:
How, exactly, did you distinguish your "high level of snappishness" as opposed to your " regular level of snappishness" with which you greeted the world each and every day before you went to Iraq?
Signed,
Archie Bunker
- Don't start.
- At one point I mentioned to the MD of S&P that I might like to purchase a 9mm pistol to, you know, just have around the house and maybe, occasionally, take with me in the Mullmobile as I drove around the Capital Beltway.
- She said I could buy a kayak.
- I asked if I could mount just a small .30 caliber machine gun on the bow.
- She gave me the look.
- Some things never change.
- I think a good deal of the problem for everyone who has been in a similar situation is a vague feeling of guilt that others are still there having eaten their zillionth straight meal provided by a subsidiary of Halliburton while I, for example, am sitting on the deck grilling a steak.
- Many of my friends and allies - Kristi Clemens and Traci Scott doing their best to generate positive press in the Strategic Communications unit; General Mark Kimmitt and his excellent team doing the nightly briefings; the psychological operations folks are facing danger every day as they help the Iraqis understand what we're trying to do - are still there.
- Another part of the problem is no longer being "in the bubble." Someone fed me, someone did my laundry, someone cleaned my bathroom, someone emptied the wastebasket next to my desk. It was a very highly regulated life, surrounded by people who were in exactly the same situation.
- Notwithstanding the occasional danger, there is a certain comfort in being "in the bubble." And when you leave it, when you are disconnected from it, it can be very disconcerting.
- Someone told me that they'd read it takes about three weeks to adjust to a major change like this. He was right. This is the three week mark.
- I'm happy to be home.
- On the Secret Decoder Ring today: Who is Archie Bunker?, a pretty good Mullfoto, and an over-exposed photo of Brad Pitt.
-- END --
Copyright �2004 Richard A. Galen
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