Ray Brady's First Letter

Dear Chris and General Outside World, --- Jan 4th 2004, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri --- People tend to tell yo uthat the army instills values, teaches lessons, and facilitates new life experiences. While this may ultimately be the case, and while I've enjoyed my 1st week as Govt. property, there are some notable caveats therein.

Values instilled in my 1st week:

1.) Don't stand out 2.) Don't stand out 3.) Do whatever someone tells you to do 4.) Look out for screaming adults wearing Smokey the Bear hats.

Lessons learned in my 1st week:

1.) When someone punches a wall thermostat and breaks their wrist, it's called "destruction of govt. property" (the wrist, not the thermostat...or maybe both, but I like to secretly believe that we're worth more than cimate control accessories, even if this may not be the case.)

New life experiences in my 1st week:

1.) Army food 2.) Listening to people who are physically shorter than me...and obeying

So as you can see, the list of new experiences here can only grow as I move forward... I mean, at this point, for it to shrink I would have to be comatose in a vegetative state. So seriously, what's it like? Well, we wake up at 4:00am every morning, dress in camoflauge uniforms and usher in a new day of drilling, shouting, and relentless memorization of facts and figures of extremely dubious value. But that's not why I like it. From what little I've observed, I like it because there is something comforting about an instituion that shares my complete lack of faith in human nature. The army knows what colleges and secondary education doesn't. In fact, the army has known for a long time: the only way to teach and motivate is to do it at a 4th grade remedial level. And let me put a long standing rumor to rest: people in the army are not stupid. They're just dumb. Not unlike students at top 50 universities that dress up, party, and drink themselves to DEATH on a regular basis. More than a few of the recruits here are unequivically brilliant and I've never met so many good souls with so much to offer. I can't subdue a sense of distress that some of these people are stashed away in barracks, on bases, and under the collective radar of the world that they should be running, not serving (as terrible as that sounds). One friend here, Pvt. Noor Mohammad, passed up a scholarship at Georgia Tech to be here. Others have similar stories. I can only imagine that he, like myself and the rest, believed in SOMETHING, which is becoming more and more of anachronism with each passing day. But none of this is to say that I don't miss you all, my home, my music, and all the material and intangible facets alike that defined my life before I decided to take a 5 month paid vacation from it all. I do miss all those things and more that are too difficult to even consider at this moment. I mean, in brutally honest self-reflection, who are we talking about here? I practically invented the pathological aversion to authority. I officially being basic combat training tomorrow, when I will be locked into a cattle car and driven blindfolded to an undisclosed location in the woods. Happy New Year anyone? Wish me luck and write back to let me know how things stand in the land of the free. --Ray

To reach Ray Brady by way of mail, mail all letters to: PVT Brady 1st PLT D. Co 795th MP BN 350th Nineteenth Street Unit 45 Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473

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