From the Soldier & Cop side:
For those who really know me, they know that I'm a pretty easy person to get along with. I can also be a sonofagun. I can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
I don't drink often, I don't gamble, I don't do many bad things....but I do have an addiction. I need coffee every morning. If I don't get a few cups, I have to call 911 and go to the E.R. at the nearest hospital.
A lot of the "modern" cops don't drink coffee. They have to drink some power drink, like Red Bull. I tried that shit one time...taste like gun cleaning solvent.
NO, I need real coffee. When they step into a coffee shop with me, they want to order some foofoo drink that cost 10 bucks!
When I was in Bosnia, I loved the Bosnia coffee. (Turkish coffee). Anytime you visited somebody in Bosnia, you had to have coffee. That was fine with me. Our "kids" couldn't drink it. I loved it.
When we deployed to Iraq, we had to waste a few weeks in Kuwait. I am not sure why we were in Kuwait, but if there is hell, Kuwait is that place you stop just before you get there. We did some training and got used to eating sand and dust.
We had a few days of training where we were "out in the field"....which to make it clear, we were living in crappy tents, so when we went out in the field, we were in crappier tents and had no mess hall or showers. The first night we were there, I asked the First Sergeant if they were bringing out breakfast. She said: "Nope." I asked if they were bringing out coffee for breakfast and she just laughed at me.
I tried to explain, that they would need to medivac me if I didn't have coffee in the morning...but I guess I told too many jokes and she thought I was joking. I told her I'd really needed coffee.
The next morning, we got up and ate MREs for breakfast. In the MRE package, is an accessory pack. In that pack is usually a little packet of instant coffee. I gathered up a few of these packets, dumped them down my throat and drank a canteen of water---cold.
It tasted like shit, but I needed it or I'd go into withdrawals. I had to lead too many troops that day to go down. I would have walked into a minefield for a Starbucks coffee at that time.
When I came home, I went to VA re-hab for my coffee problem. But, I quit re-hab.
Later in Iraq, my old police chief e-mailed me one day. He said he met a family that had been sending stuff to a soldier in Iraq. But now the solider was home. The nice family asked the chief if he knew any soldiers deployed. He said:"Yep, one of my cops is in Iraq."
I got an e-mail from this family. They asked if they could send me anything. I responded with: "Yes....coffee please."
They send boxes of Pete's Coffee. I had another family friend who's daughter worked at a Star Bucks. They sent bags off Starbucks coffee. I got a grinder and I had people coming from all over to drink my coffee each morning. A free Petebucks Coffee house in Baghdad, Iraq.
5 comments:
Mmmmm...such a good addiction. Glad to hear you quit rehab. ;)
I love coffffeeee. But you are one tough soldier to eat it. haha. See. It's true. You'll do anything for your troops.
So...I guess those medics, as good as they are, haven't figured out how to make a coffee IV yet, huh?
I think I might have to try some of that Turkish coffee one of these days...
B/P
1. It's an Army thing.
2. Maybe now, an Old Army thing.
3. Had an ancient first sergeant who set the tone for a lot of us.
4. The principal job of his orderly was to keep the coffee maker operational and full.
5. Used pre-ground coffee in shiny #10 cans -think Maxwells made it. Not sure.
6. This guy would grab a hand full of APC's from a gallon jar kept in his desk and wash them down with a cup of coffee.
7. That much aspirin would kill a normal human. If they were real APC's, the other ingredients would too.
8. He did that several times a day.
9. All were welcome to a cup anytime from that machine or the one in the orderly room.
10. Ruined me, of course.
11. Can remember saving up coffee packs from C Rations. Needed four of them to make a canteen cup full.
12. Always looking for a quick, easy way to get the water hot.
13. Did not use C-4, even though we sometimes carried some. Too chicken (sensible?).
14. In any case, the explosives were on hand for real uses, not field expedient heat tabs.
15. The next generation started schlepping out of my cup at a far too early age.
16. Decided to permit them that vice.
17. First booze, then smoking. Now they're yapping at me about coffee.
18. Despite the do-gooders best efforts, do not think I'm going to live forever.
V/R JWest
Wow, you're addiction to the devil brew is rather impressive! Maybe I should go to Kuwait if it is a coffee-free zone ;)
For the little meeting I went to back at Ft XXXX a few weeks ago, there was a retired Army 1st Sgt. He was telling me when he was a brand new private...he didn't drink coffee. His 1st Sgt had him make coffee each morning.
One day, the Private's 1st Sgt asked if he had cleaned the coffee pot (a big 30 cup machine) and he responded with: "Yes, the brush in the latrine worked great."
He never had anything to do with making coffee after that.
They have coffee chewing gum, now. But be careful, all that caffeine in a stick of gum and you might chew you tongue and a lip off.
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