Frat Life 101: A Very Different Costume Party

In the summer of 1986 I attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training for the Oklahoma National Guard which was not exactly my idea of the perfect way to spend a summer. There's something about spending the majority of your time outside marching, doing pushups and so forth that kind of ruins the day. Still, it was required in order for me to get my bonus check and I thought it would be best to get all of the training out of the way at once. I came back in the beginning of October and at the end of the month decided to go down to NSU and see all of my friends in Sig Tau right on time for a Halloween costume party. Once I got to Tahlequah I hung out with some friends and we started planning on what kind of costume I could cobble together on short notice.

The key was to use what was on hand, buying things to use for a one time occasion wasn't really an option. What we came up with was very simple, I hadn't shaved so we put on my black military trench coat and my military glasses that I had tinted black and decided I would be a terrorist. Our only research material on the subject was having seen action movies and their stereotypical versions of what terrorists looked and acted like. Still, it wasn't enough, something more was needed so we took some penny rolls and filled them with something (don't remember what) and then taped them together. That was my explosives. An old stereo microphone was added as my detonator and the costume was finished.

Well I walked in to the party and loudly informed everybody that I was seizing it until my demands were met and was immediately taken down and "disarmed" by a few of my friends. This was the first they had seen of me for about five months and most of them didn't know that I was even coming to the party so they were happy to see me. Most of them anyway. The rest of the night was a celebration of friendship for me but it also was the beginning of the end. I chose not to go back to college and in a few short months I moved back home to Ohio and then ended up joining the active Army because I really couldn't see any future for myself back there or anywhere else for that matter. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life (some would say I still don't know) and the Army was a job, something that I could do for at least four years without thinking much about the future. My world was never the same.

This was twenty-five years ago and it shows how much our world has changed. Back then terrorism had not made it's way to our shores, it was an abstract concept to us. Sure it existed all over the world but it wasn't real to us because we had never experienced it, it had never touched our lives or anyone that we knew. For us it wasn't a big deal to dress as a terrorist, it was even considered funny, but a lot has changed over the years since then. We've had homegrown and foreign terrorist operations on our soil to deal with. The world wide web has shown us vividly how bad the rest of the world has had it. Now the very thought of wearing such a costume would be considered to be in bad taste. But back then it was a simpler time for us. There was no thought of how others would react to something that was only meant to be a joke, where no harm was ever intended. With the world we live in now I often long for those simpler days when my eyes had not been shown what we humans are capable of.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

What's The State Of Our Union?

Today is a day of reflection for many people, after all, it marks the anniversary of the worst terroristic event ever on U.S. soil. There have been and will be tributes to the people who died and all those that were affected by the events that occurred on that tragic day. Let me be honest and straightforward about all of this. Anybody who lost someone or even thought that they might have, anyone who who had to live with the aftermath, having it impose on their daily life, those people have every right to remember it how they wish. If they want to have a ceremony every day then so be it. After what they lost and went through I don't feel that anyone has a right to say a word otherwise to them. I myself did not know a single person that was in the Twin Towers, at the Pentagon or on United Flight 93. Nor did I know any police or emergency workers involved either. My admiration and respect go out to them for what they went through.

However, everytime I've gone online the past few weeks there have been constant stories about 9/11 and for the most part they all seemed to be sensationalistic. By that I mean they all are trying to upstage the other with intense images and gutwrenching stories. There doesn't seem to be any resolve to look at it in the proper manner. Instead it's as if all that is cared about is ratings or website hits and because of that these stories have the appearance of being crafted very carefully for maximum effect. It's sort of like in a movie where you're hit over the head with music at just the right moment in order to draw the emotions from you. Personally I hate being hold "Hey, this is the part where you cry." I kind of like figuring it out for myself.

What I find myself thinking is where are the stories about the real reasons that horrible day happened? Or how about stories reflecting on the state of our union now compared to then? Or even how about detailing the lessons we've learned after gaining knowledge from our past mistakes? Nothing. Instead the powers that be would rather we reflect only on the emotional part of the equation. That way we're all kept in our places. We only have these stories that distract us and keep us away from where our attention really should be. Like for instance why don't we hear about our soldiers in Afghanistan that are guarding poppy fields that belong to warlords we're trying to keep on our side? I might add poppy fields that produce heroin which is illegal to have/distribute/use in this country. A ton of money has been lost, totally unaccounted for and is there any question about the fact that we're paying them for their loyalty? Our forces are giving viagra to these older leaders because they have multiple wives and they need to show how viril they still are to their wives as well as their soldiers. Anything to get them on our side even though they have no real loyalty to us or our cause. If we have to pay someone to be on our side then they have no real stake in helping us to succeed with our mission so can we really depend on them when it counts?

I'd love to see them bring all of our soldiers home safely but there's too much money to be had in war so big business won't let that happen right now and the politicians will do as they are instructed. If this all sounds pessimistic I don't intend for it to, it's just that I'm a realist and that's how I see things, without the constraints of whether something should or shouldn't have happened. I don't want to offend or upset those that lost somebody a decade ago (and since) but as a veteran I have to say what I feel. There are far too many soldiers being shuttled between Iraq and Afghanistan on multiple tours, it's time to bring them home. Better late than never. I understand as well that my opinion might be drastically different if I had a direct involvement with anything that happened that day. The fact is however that I don't and so I write this on this day as I reflect on where I was ten years ago, where I am now and where I might be in another ten years. I can only hope that it all gets better.

Published by Don Leach

Late Thoughts On Osama Bin Laden's Death

I have intentionally stayed away from this topic since it happened so that I might approach it without falling prey to the hysteria that seemed to overtake a large percentage of the United States when it happened. That way I thought I might be able to look at it from various angles and perhaps gain some insight from it. Osama Bin Laden is dead. As pretty much everyone in the world knows Navy Seal Team Six launched an assault on a compound in Pakistan where Bin Laden had been living for quite some time and killed him even though he was unarmed.

Personally I have no problem with this. Hey, the guy was responsible for thousands of deaths and an untold amount of pain and suffering due to his leadership and masterminding of among other things, the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. There is no question about this either. He didn't go around saying that we had the wrong guy or that he was not involved or any such nonsense as that. No, he took credit for it and as such I have no remorse at all for his having left the world in such a violent fashion. You reap what you sow.

I also did not feel the need to cheer about it either. My first impulse was not to run out into the street yelling and screaming that "We got him!" For one thing, WE didn't get him. I was not involved in the planning, intelligence gathering or execution of this mission. Even when such an evil person dies I don't feel the need to gloat about it. Of course, I didn't know anyone that died in the attacks that he orchestrated either so take that for what is is worth.

The complaints that have been leveled about how his death has affected his family and his subsequent burial at sea and how it wasn't performed within the standards of his religious beliefs, falls on deaf ears as well with me. We're not talking about a person with even a whiff of a possibility of innocence here. As I said earlier, he crowed about what he had done, he reveled in it. He made violence a part of his life and so when he received said violence it seemed apropos. I'm fairly certain that he knew fully well what would happen to him if and when he was caught. He understood the consequences of his actions.

One thing that I don't understand is the belief that has been circulating that God was on our side and that God was somehow happy that Osama was now dead. Personally I believe that God has a lot more to do than worry about things like this. I don't believe that God takes sides no matter how evil a person may be. One individual said that it was God's hand that protected the Seal team from injury. What complete and utter hogwash. If God chose to get involved and protect the team then why did he not protect the Twin Towers in the first place? Why let all of that destruction take place? Because he doesn't take sides and let's us use our agency to make our own decisions even though sometimes they affect others negatively? Sounds about right to me.

A last thought here as well about conspiracy theories that have inevitably cropped up. No, I don't believe that Bin Laden had been dead and his body frozen for some time only to be thawed out and used for political gain. However, what if he wasn't really killed and instead was being held captive somewhere private? This way he could be tortured into giving up information like plans for future acts of terrorism or names and locations of top Al-Qaeda officials. Just a thought to stir the pot.

To sum it all up, Osama Bin Laden is dead and the world is a better place now. There will be more attacks abroad and on our home soil more than likely and the game will change accordingly. It will never be the same and indeed can only get worse. I don't see an end in sight but we can only move on and adapt and maybe overcome.

Published by Don Leach