3 Lines, 4 Years

Occasionally you hear or read something that, for whatever reason, hits you hard. I was flipping around radio stations, since all the talk stations were boring the crap out of me. The song Breathe (2 AM) by Anna Nalick came on. I'm a sucker for pretty little girls with good voices, so I listen to it. About halfway through the song, she sings:

In May he turn 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
"Just a day", he sat down to the flask in his fist,
"Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year."

Wham. Three lines that sum up about four years of my life. The only major difference I can think of is my 21st birthday was spent in KSA during Desert Shield.

When I left Fort Bliss all those years ago, it was the last post in the continental US where the drinking age was 18. The Army would rather we got drunk on post than drunk in Juarez. It didn't help.