DAY 91, BROMANCE

If you happen to read the few comments attached to these blog entries, you'll see that Nephew Noah has accused me of starting a "bromance" with my boss, the Army Colonel. Initially, I was offended and defensive in the stereotypical manly manner. I felt compelled to fall back on the golden rule of relationships: "admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter-accusations." Alas, poor Nephew Noah has enough going on that he doesn't need accusations from his favorite Uncle.

So, I went back to review previous entries. I have to admit, I do mention the good Colonel quite often - more often than I realized. That led me to begin asking why. Is it a jailhouse mentality and my wife is 7,000 miles away? Is it the fact that we have a few things in common? I think it's because he's the first person in my chain-of-command who has the power to send me home anytime he wants. Hey, who better to schmooze, right? Have you ever been stuck in Iraq?

In my defense, the dude runs all the time and encourages me to run (as if I needed it). Keep in mind, my running habit has created friction with almost every boss I've ever had in the past. This is the first time I've felt guilt free running during work hours, which happens to be totally messed up. I mean, look at the countless studies that link exercise with long, healthy lives. You would think EVERY boss would encourage their employees to exercise.

The dude also lets me hit golf balls into the lake (see picture - that's my "bro"). In exchange, I make sure he's properly prepared to brief the Army 4-star every week. That means hours and hours of PowerPoint chart building and report writing, but what the hell else am I going to do in between runs? He gets what he wants, I get what I want.

On top of all that, he and I are flying down to Tallil, Iraq in 5 weeks to do the Boston Marathon in Iraq. It's a cool deal. The Boston Athletic Association is waving the qualifying standards for anyone who can be in Tallil on race day. Everyone is treated as if they're doing the actual Boston Marathon. The best part is all finishers in Tallil get automatic entry into the 2010 race IN BOSTON! It's a race I've wanted to do for years, but have never been fast enough to qualify nor hooked-up enough to secure an entry. Guess I just needed to go to Iraq to run in Boston - who knew?

So, in the end, is it really a bromance if we're just using each other to get what we want?

88 days to go.