I have been feeling a bit lonely as of late...

The world has been getting a LOT more lonely as of late. There are multiple reasons why...

1.) Dating around here in Maryland has been a joke.

I tried that OKCupid site (which is supposed to be the 'Google of online dating') and found it to be rather lacking in suitable individuals. Other dating sites were even worse. I removed my profile from that site about a month ago, at least. No reason to be leaving that vaguely personal info laying around on the web unsupervised.

2.) Meeting people in the real world has also been speculative at best.

Even when I do encounter someone interesting, something always ruins whatever plans I might make: Already dating someone, not in a good place right now, et al. Feel free to pick an excuse. I've heard them all.

Sometimes however, I just change my mind after learning more about them. Being pretty on the outside does not necessarily equate to being pretty on the inside.

3.) Both of my neighbors have suddenly moved away.

One transferred to a new unit at Fort Bragg and the other has left the Army. I had no idea they were about to leave until about 24-72 hours before they left. That's pretty cold. I talked to them a LOT more than most other people in these barracks. WTF?

4.) I can count the number of lower-enlisted people on this base (and in my unit) that I could call a 'friend' on one hand.

There's a LOT of very untrustworthy assholes around here (including the guy I bought my used PS3 from back in June)... and many more people I just don't relate to very well.  This isn't much of a shock to me. The kind of people who join the Army are not my type of people. They can usually be quantified into one of several groups:

- Jocks that couldn't get a sports scholarship to some college or University
- Various social rejects who couldn't get employed anywhere else
- Kids looking for college money via the G.I. Bill and various Army programs
- People who genuinely do want to serve the Republic for various reasons, including Patriotism

Sadly, that last category has been the most rare in my Army experience.

5.) Regulations forbid socializing with NCO's under virtually any circumstances, so, that's out...

There are very few NCO's I want to hang out with anyway but, it would be nice to have more options. One of these NCO's has been a friend of mine since we were both in Korea and the other is one of the E-5's in my platoon. There's 1 or 2 E-6's that are also cool.

The same situation applies to Officers, except that I don't know ANY Officers that I want to socialize with outside of work-related functions.  I get the impression that they all have the attitude that anyone who isn't an Officer isn't as smart/worthy of them and thus, mere children to them. Funny, that's the way I tend to think of a great many of the Soldiers I've met over the last 4 years, regardless of rank. As much as the Army talks about their precious 'standards', Intelligence doesn't seem to be one of them. Such a shame...

6.) In fact, socializing with co-workers has almost NEVER been a very good idea with any job I've ever had except when I worked at my college as a Student Lab Assistant.

I'd rather not go into any details on why my previous jobs didn't offer good socializing opportunities. I haven't done anything that was illegal or (to my knowledge) immoral. However, I don't want to look like I'm bad-mouthing former employers, either. It's not professional.

7.) I'm not entirely sure how I should go about socializing with civilians in this area, either. Not that it matters anymore...

I should be leaving here and returning home to my old stomping grounds sometime very soon. I look forward to that day. I just hope it's not sometime in the late Fall or Winter time. Here in Maryland, that means snow on the ground. I despise snow. Besides, having that stuff all over the roads can make it difficult to drive out of here (and across the country) towards home...

- Lord Publius