Shut up, get out and help push

Matt Sanchez has a solid report from Iraq that ends on a phrase that I think Chap said to me early on in our relationship.

...stop pretending that whining gets anything done.

I had to laugh, because it is so true.

Matt hits on a note that everyone deployed will understand - the disconnect between being deployed and being home. Parallel universes. In doing that, he gives some time to a character that we all know. Back home, she gets carded for beer. She gets called a girl, chick, and oogled at truck stops. Deployed, she is everything. She is a Soldier. She holds victory in her hands - double-clutching hands - she is Sergeant First Class Jacobs - and if you oogle her you might need a MEDEVAC.

Sergeant First Class Shirley Jacobs said it best, “I had a choice, and chose the Army to make something of myself.” In three deployments, Sergeant Jacobs has successfully completed over 100 convoy missions into Iraq. Despite barely looking old enough to vote, the men and women SFC Jacobs has safely lead on and off of IED ridden roads call her “meticulous,” “demanding,” “tough,” disciplined, and motherly. Days are long and hard for a military convoy, especially during a time of war. I personally watched Jacobs adapt to unpredictable schedule changes, equipment problems and shortages.

Despite the obstacles Jacobs rose to every occasion—did I mention that the May weather was exceptionally hot? Jacobs called it “just doing her job,” a job that demanded 12 to 18 hour days. Yet the most extraordinary characteristic about Jacobs, ... was that she never once complained.