Some interesting coincidences…
I half expected to see someone I knew here in some way or another. I figured it’d be somebody I’d recognized but didn’t know all that well. I’ve been off active duty about 10 years. Imagine my surprise when I run into one of my old roommates! The funny thing is that we don’t work in similar fields, have like schedules, or anything of the sort but I run into Larry probably every other day now. He is a reservist and will be rotating out sometime soon. Given the situation, I wonder how long it might be before he gets called back up. Guard and Reserve – that weekend a month and two weeks a year don’t seem like much, but if you get called up it can really impact your life. Actually, the other can still be a pain in the ass too, but it’s a comparison thing. 
Another guy who was part of our bunch in Houston has another interesting connection – he’s about a month younger than me and we both went to the same high school in Atlanta. Not at the same time, he went there as a sophomore and I was there as a senior, but it’s still pretty freaky. We’ve both been here about a month before we realized that. He also speaks Russian, which would of course make the “now what are the chances of that happening?” even lower.
That’s the really good ones, but there is another guy here I recognize. I know I know him from somewhere, but I haven’t got any idea where from. There is also I guy that may have been a sergeant from Ft. Carson. He has an unusual name that I recall, but don’t remember his face enough to be sure. He was in another platoon and I didn’t ever deal with him much.
At the airport in Tashkent, while we were waiting for the flight to Karshi (the second time) we met a girl who was from Fergana but going to school at Texas A&M. Only very little trace of an accent, and you probably wouldn’t notice on the street for a while that she had one. Most of the guys are from Texas or Louisiana so it was more homey for them, but the odds were still interesting anyway.
February 2nd, 2003 at 8:09 pm
From Vermont Yankee:
Many people do not have much good to say about being in the Army. The one major advantage is the people you meet from all parts of the United States and then run into them again when least expected and in some really weird places. Even though you may not have known them very well, it gives a feeling of comradeship and having something in common at least allows the start of a conversation, even if it revolves around some of the less pleasant things you may have mutually undergone.
Foreign language training, either in school, college or the military, are avoided by many because they don’t want to put in the required effort. Look at the advantages you and other who speak at least some Russian have–being able to talk with the good looking young native ladies and by playing dumb, understand some very interesting conversation when the natives think you do not understand what they are saying. Just remember not to laugh, or gasp, at the wrong time during one of those conversations!