Not Born in the USA but bound for Iraq
My strangest cultural experience didn't happen while I was on exchange in the Great White North but south of the border in the US of A. I was visiting the super power when Bush announced 20,000 more troops were needed for Iraq. This call also coincided with the Democrats being recently and overwhelmingly returned to the Senate. These were interesting times which called for me and my travel companions to steer clear of politics.
At around 10pm we stumbled upon a gas station in some remote part of California - heading towards Arizona. It was like most other gas stations we'd been to in America - dirty and run down and always with an interesting cast of characters eating at the diner. At least it wasn't Nevada where every gas station had at least ten poker machines and the discussion extended to the odd murmur of displeasure or pleasure, according to what coloured lights buzzed up on the slot machine. In Arizona and inland California the topic of conversation was likely to be guns, ammunition and hunting. I am yet to discover what you hunt in the desert as we barely saw another car let alone an animal.
We had left Yosemite at the crack of dawn without taking a shower so by the time it hit 10pm, we were looking a mess. I did the true Australian (and lazy backpacker) thing and wandered into the petrol station without shoes, looking like I'd just rolled out of bed. Inside I noticed a guy in army gear from the local Naval Base (why he was in Army gear and not navy I'm not sure and we were a million miles from the ocean so I also no idea why there was a navy base there).
I asked him to pose in a photo with my travel companions and I. He willingly obliged and made the compulsory jokes about not expecting this and how he was flattered to pose with three smelly and false backpackers (we were driving a sporty hire car). The lady taking the photo rattled off some opinions about the troops being her heroes and what not, to which I nodded and agreed while keeping my opinions to myself. The clincher came when he said: “You girls should join up. We need college educated people.” I pointed out that we were Australian, Dutch and German and therefore not able to join the American Army. Without blinking he replied: “It doesn't matter. We'll take anyone we can get.”
- Annonymous
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