There’s Something About Army Boys…

I started my newest job this week, and starting a new job, as usual, comes with meeting all your new coworkers – in this case, 250 people spread out over a small city-square block-sized area. One of whom happens to be a guy in another department who is in the Canadian military reserves and has been in the forces for 7 years now.

This guy is not my type in a sexual sense, but I gotta admit, there’s something about the military that I find fascinating. For some reason I get along really well with a certain kind of military guy – the kind that have a sense of humor, question the politics of their government, and have a certain intellectualism that appeals to me. I’ve had some really great conversations with guys in the military: a former member of the Canadian Special Forces who was stationed in Cambodia and I hooked up with last year; a sniper less than 24 hours away from heading to Afghanistan who was having his last lay with me before he left; a certain Open Diariest who I met in person and keep in regular touch with (currently non-physical – get it! ha.); and now this guy at my new workplace.

Don’t get me wrong, this guy could totally end up to be a lame person. He makes me laugh with stories about getting into a cab drunk off his ass and trying to give the cabbie directions in Farsi, having not broken his habit from being in Beirut; but who knows, this is a first impression, and I’ve had enough of them to know that sometimes they end up being false. Mind you, I have gotten better at figuring people out quickly…

I read a book earlier this year called “Trauma and Recovery” and some of the content might help explain at least part of what it is about these guys that appeals to me. The book kept drawing comparisons between rape survivors and war survivors – both were used as examples for studies done on trauma. I think there’s more to it though, because in the specific cases of both prostitutes and the army, these are professions that, at least in most of North America, are both chosen careers. At some point these people make the decision to choose their profession, no matter how down and out they are. It’s also interesting to note that the military, which is primarily a male-dominated force is generally held in high esteem while prostitution, which is primarily a female-dominated field is looked down on. And, if we wanted to get picky, we could point out that the military kills people (admittedly, in other countries) and prostitutes have sex with people (in our own geographic area, no less), and look who’s the bad guy? But I digress…

The sniper who fucked me before he took of for Afghanistan made for great conversation and was incredibly respectful. He didn’t vote the same way I did (yeah, we really got into politics), but we got along great. He asked me how I could fuck people for money, and why; I asked him how he could kill people for a government going against the public’s wishes, and why. It was good conversation.

Army guys find me fascinating, and I find army guys fascinating. I think that part of it is that I’m not thrown off by the fact that they’re in the military, and that I respect and understand it. I just know the secrets, that’s all.

el capitan’s guide to how people who choose to be prostitutes or in the military are alike:

– low self esteem. If not currently, definitely when they first made the decision.

– need to prove something

– sense of unbelonging to general public

– emotional trauma

– inability to share one’s own background honestly and without judgement in general society

– ability to survive through experiences that not everyone could deal with

– quite commonly: childhood trauma and low socio-economic status