The Big Board

Every morning I drive past the ‘big board’ that tells me how many days have passed since the last auto accident, negligent discharge, incident of fire, and fatality.

I don’t know how I feel about the big board. When the numbers are low, it’s depressing because something bad just happened. When the numbers are high, it’s depressing because we’re due for something bad to happen.

Lately, however, I’ve started to lose my faith in the big board. Forgive my blasphemy, but I think the big board might be bunk.

Yesterday the 3rd Corps Support Command held a memorial service on Camp Anaconda for Maj. Stuart Anderson who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 7. Unfortunately, nobody told the big board. According to it, it’s been 101 days since the last fatality.

photo caption: I'm standing next to the big board on Jan. 12, the same day as a memorial for a soldier who died in a helicopter crash. Either the big board is load of crap, or it's moving closer to the speed of light than we are and therefore has a different measurement of time relative to the rest of the camp. photo by Ryan Poland, film genius