3 lives ago (or how i came to h8): episode one

it was 1984 I voted for ronald reagan. i was a republican. it was 1985, i joined the rotc and enlisted in the army national guard- 1st of the 147 field artillery, ventura california. uc santa barbara. i was a pledge in a fraternity - sigma phi epsilon. the faculty advisor was the c.o. of the rotc. i lived in an apartment on sabado tarde in isle vista with three other guys. my roomate was a hippie surfer dude. on my wall i had an american flag and a peice of paper shaped like a human with bullet holes in it - a keepsake from my first training with the m-16 (i was a good shot!). my other two roomates were normal college party boys. nice guys introduced me to the beer bong. had sex with their girlfriends in the bathroom and all over all nite. usuall stuff. i'd come home from rotc drill or national guard weekend covered in mud, bleeding in my fatigues, exhausted, there would be a party going on. grab a beer, say hello, and pass out. came home one day and found a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. freaked out ran up and inside. it was a friend who fell down them and cracked his jaw open. college and drinking - it's bound to happen. he was ok. i understood the theory behind trickle down economics and i was studyiny econ. to get a degree and become a good corporate man or serve my country. i believed everything i was told while growing up. i was a lutheran and at one point i wanted to be a pastor. that's what my aptitude tests in high school said i was destined to be. but i wanted to serve my country. i loved my country and what it stood for. i hated the communists and what they were trying to do.