02 June 2007: My thoughts on "Pirates of the Caribbean"

True to plan, I closed up shop early today so we could all go see the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. No offense to all you POTC aficionados out there but that movie stunk. I’m really glad it was free to watch. I couldn’t believe how long it was. There were long stretches of boredom. I couldn’t help but notice how all the pirates but one were always greasy, grimy, dirty, and unkempt. Who was that one “pirate” who was always clean and perfect? Keira Knightly of course! That was ok with all the Joes in the theater. I heard a lot of suggestive mumbling in the theater when she was on the screen. That didn’t make up for a bad movie though. My butt was flat as a pancake when the movie ended. By the way, that whole sequence where they “unleashed” Calypso was perhaps the goofiest, stupidest, and ridiculous sequence I’ve seen in any movie. Oh well, I can’t complain. None of my soldiers were unhappy about getting out of work early to see a movie. If you haven’t seen the movie yet I’d recommend you wait until it’s on DVD.

For the most part it was a busy training day. I had my team hard to work from around 0830 until we left for the movie at 1600. We did break for an hour at lunch and went to DFAC 1. It turned out there was a culinary training event going on for the Army mess cooks. They were being graded on various concoctions and specialties. This wasn’t what was being served to us – the standard mess chow lines were our fare. However, shortly after we arrived the grading event ended. The mess cooks then shared their creations with regular Joes in the DFAC. We were fortunate enough to be at one of the tables they brought their dishes to. I pushed my cheese steak sandwich aside and feasted on baked fish with pear-roasted polenta and mango salsa. One of my soldiers made short work of a shrimp burrito. The food was excellent. It was a lucky break for us. I asked the chefs when we’d see that on the DFAC menu and the answer was one word – never.

Once we left the Sustainer Theater everyone was released until Monday morning. I hit the gym for a little while and then chilled back in my room. That was about it for the day.

As predicted, June is rolling by at a steady pace. I’m proud to say it will be July before we know it. Oh, and the Red Sox thrashed the Yankees again.