What does it mean to you? (Beware! This is some heavy shit!)

[WaterManFitness]

--"When I started randomly smelling dead bodies I knew something was wrong. Sitting in that helicopter, resting on a transfer case that contained half the remains of an Air Force EOD guy; the other half was in the other helo. Why didn’t they put his halves together? I had picked him up earlier that day at around 2 in the morning. We were flying into the zone to pick up the "cat A" that was associated with his halving and “the big gun is ready” kept playing over icom chatter. Why weren’t the pilots acknowledging this? I stared out the helicopter into the dark night, illuminated by the fuzzy neon green glow of the nvgs. When? When was the big gun going to go off and end my existence? What will my kids think? Will Crystal be able to cope? Why am I here? Why are we here? What went wrong? Why in this day and age- an age of communication and global unitization- was this happening? We land, pick up his bros, fly away. I think I know that dude, where, when, how? Later I’ll come to remember that he was supposed to accompany us on another mission to shoot down a disobedient drone. Seems that our video game warfare and desensitization of murder has slipped away, so let’s go shoot it down! Oh what fun everyone reacts. Sitting back in the helo, resting on his transfer case the smell overpowers me; that fresh, irony flesh smell of a recently killed body. That lifeless scent of death. Do they reuse these containers? What is going on? Is he in there? Clawing his way out, "I’m not dead yet!". My head starts spinning, I’m nauseas- the smell of death is overtaking all of my senses. I crack the door and stick my head out of the helo. 120kts of cool afghan air doesn’t touch it. I vomit out of the helo, or dry heave really. I haven’t eaten since the day before. We came into work at 1 that morning, got scrambled, went and picked up this guy, his bros, and some others. I came back, wrote my pcr. The food had been eaten. We got tasked to take his remains, in two separate metal boxes back to Kandahar. We finally land and I run out of the helo. Everyone wants to do the dignified transfer and act like he died for something worthwhile. I just want to breath and not smell death. Finally, we packed up and flew back to Bastion. I slept the whole flight back.--

This is an excerpt from a journal I started after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan. Having been a "rescuer" in 2 war zones, I have seen the absolute darkest side of humanity. These experiences haunt me every single day. The only true solace I find is when I'm kiting. The complete zen of pumping up, pinching off the struts, walking my lines out, and bringing life into my kite calm my mind and bring me inner peace.

When I'm kiting, I feel in control of my thoughts. I leave the world's problems on the beach and boost away from the horrors I've seen. I'm never as free as I am 30' in the air, or powered up on the face of a wave.

On days that I have an epic session, I lie in bed at night and close my eyes, recreating the feeling of unhooking and getting ripped off the water. My dreams are usually uneventful, not the graphic recreations of atrocities that plague our society that I've come to know.

Kiting is my outlet. It's spiritual for me; the perfect meditation. It allows me to channel my energy in a positive and peaceful way, making me a better person for my family, friends, and fellow humans. I wish every person on Earth could experience a good kite session. Who knows, maybe we'd all get along a little better

So what does kiting mean to you?

(This news story was produced sometime during the 5 month period that that excerpt covers. I think it does a good job at portraying compassion in the most compassionless of places. Oh, and respect the 'stache )

[ChickenTikka]

That is intense stuff. Kiting is exactly the same for me. I've seen less terrible things but I definitely love kiting because I feel a isolation when I am on the water. The world ceases to exist, my troubles cease to exist. All I have to worry about is keeping that thing in the air. It's great!

[tautologies]

Hey thank you for sharing. I can't even imagine how it must be to experience such things.

For me kiting is also the pressure valve in life. I mean outside of working quite a lot going kiting is how I take my head out of the grind. I think that when I am in the water I get to think about nothing...which revives me. Often I go out during lunch and hit a few waves (kiting or surfing) and come back to my office refreshed, happy and ready to get back to it, which usually makes for a better working.

[Bille]

...
Kiting is my outlet. It's spiritual for me; the perfect meditation. It allows me to channel my energy in a positive and peaceful way, making me a better person for my family, friends, and fellow humans. I wish every person on Earth could experience a good kite session. Who knows, maybe we'd all get along a little better
...

MAN had reached full behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago :
We bin hitting each other in the head with sticks ever since.
Only thing that has changed : is the size & design of the sticks !!

I too know just how "Barbaric" Man can be; as i had the unpleasant pleasure
of serving in MI in the 70's. Didn't give Humans much chance of actually surviving
through the 80's.
But We Did, and we'll possibly make it for much longer if we can just hold it together
for a few more years.

It's sports like Kite-boarding, that help us All to join together for the purpose
of Having Fun, that make me believe Humans can eventually learn to break down
the barriers which make so-many just want to Hate. Kite-boarders from around
the world can read about each others Fun Filled days on the water because of
forums like This !!

Perhaps in another 1,000 years; man will be living in a state of pure Bliss ; but
that won't happen unless everyone living now is willing to stay accountable
for All their Actions done to others, and Stop wanting to control the lives & actions of
their neighbors.

Seriously --
In the Grand scheme of things , who should really Care what color skin Ya got
or what Religion you practice. But a "Lot" of narrow minded people on planet
earth think their way is the Best so anyone that matters should follow and the
ones that don't Want to follow should Die and go to Hell. That is actually in the
doctrine of some peoples self-efficacy !! ?
http://psychology.about.com/lr/self-efficacy/29342/1/

Bille

[sarc]

Wow my problems also go away when I kite and my mind is all clean and fresh afterwards but my problems are chickenshit compared to you guys! Respect and all the best to you all.

[windrupted]

That is one hard job you do. I was getting sick right there with you, all my respect for hanging in there. I know I couldn't have been strong enough. I can't even imagine it. It's hard to understand. Thanks for doing such a brutal, dangerous job for all us pedestrians, I see it's all for our eventual benefit, we owe you a debt of gratitude. ....You really have some balls, and I am truly glad you brought them home, well done! When you come back home, give me a shout. I would like to take you out kiting, you have sacrificed greatly for our free world....... In the meantime, I will try to stop whining about the dumb little shit I have to deal with every day.

[Kamikuza]

What waterman said, except my problems are piffle in comparison

[highairman]

Kiting certainly does the same for me and I am happy that it's helpful to you.
However, if you sign up and join the US military then I cannot sympathize with
the situation that you find yourself in. It's an imperial force with no other aim than
to protect and promote it's own (the USA) interests with no regard for international
law and human rights.

[poools81]

much respect waterman for what you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kiting for sure helps me escape a lot of things also but so much respect for what you do! Thank you for your service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[highairman]

Do unto others, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D0LEW6v ... r_embedded