Armed forces day

Today was Armed Forces Day. Joe and I took a drive over to the open house at our neighborhood military installation to check out the Strykers and Humvees, then made it back in time for a few hours of the Lacey Spring Fun Fair. Joe climbed aboard an old Huey, waiting in line by a grey-haired counterculture-looking guy wearing a boonie hat and a dignified, far-away expression.

One of the things I hadn't been aware of before I moved here was the influence of the military on the place. My new town has a reputation as Lotus Land for hippies and bureaucrats. It's a partly true stereotype, but one which airbrushes out hundreds of local people directly connected to Fort Lewis. A few of them live on my street, and a couple are in my kid's class. Rarely, but often enough to notice, others wind up in Juvy as a new client or as a concerned parent with the other parent deployed. They also serve who only stand and wait.