A taste of academia

I just got out of an awesome class. And this time when I say “class” I don’t mean instruction on how to crawl through the dirt and shoot somebody. No, this was an actual university style lecture from an actual Ph.D. Anthropologist. I haven’t been to class in months and I really miss hearing normal people speak intelligently, without Army jargon or regard to rank or position. The professor focused on the pertinent history of the Middle East, and how that history has contributed to the current problems that we are now facing. I especially enjoyed his discussion of Iraqi culture and its similarity to contemporary western culture. So often these days people speak as if there is some inevitable culture clash between East and West. The interesting things to me are not only the differences between civilizations but the many parallels. The lecturer spoke of the cultural debt that we owe to that region. What are thought of us the western traditions of philosophy, science, art and politics were largely conceived by important Middle Eastern thinkers from Aristotle to Euclid.

In the middle of the class, while everyone was paying attention with interest, our Sergeant Major walked in and started yelling at us to change our seating arrangement. I was immediately ripped from my brief refuge in an academic classroom and thrown back into a world where people believe that the only way to convey something is to do it at the top of their lungs. Most of the people around me, including the Commander I think, saw the interruption as an unnecessary and inappropriate distraction.

Despite the unfortunate fact that the class was short and had to take place in a military chow hall, I think many of my fellow soldiers enjoyed it. We are all beginning to grasp the importance of being informed about the culture we are about to be immersed in and the benefits that arise from being respectful and understanding of the Iraqi people. Hopefully people will take more of an interest the next time we have a course on speaking Arabic, and will focus more time on phrases like “please” (min fad-lak) and “thank you” (shukran), and not just “stop or I’ll shoot you” (awgaf te-ra ar-mee). Most of my buddies here feel pretty motivated to make a good impression over in Iraq and I think that is definitely encouraging. The American people need to know that, while we are here to do a sometimes unpleasant job, most of us take our role as representatives of America seriously. For many of us, it is the friendships that we make with other soldiers and the positive interaction with Iraqi citizens that will make this experience worthwhile.