Man Love Thursday

DISCLAIMER: This contains sexual references and may be offensive to some. It is not intended any way to stereotype any person, religion or race.

“Man Love Thursday.” I got to experience my second one this week. I was so shocked and interested that I thought I would share.

No, I am not referencing a bromance or a guy’s night out. I am referencing something that our TCNs engage in. Most of our TCNs come from the surrounding countries and most of the surrounding countries have a heavy Muslim population. Within the Islamic faith, Friday is a day of prayer. While I was aware of this prior to my deployment, I never really thought a lot about it. More on this in a moment.

On my first full day at Leatherneck was Tuesday and one of the first things that I heard was that I got here in enough time to experience “Man Love Thursday.” Given that I was running on about 6 hours of sleep in the previous 94 hours, I didn’t think twice about it after my initial chuckle. Then Thursday comes. Suddenly I begin to notice things around the base that just don’t seem right. TCN men are being a little more affectionate towards each other. Holding hands, a swat on the butt every now and then and just generally hanging on each other.

Fast forward to this week. I was talking with some of the Marines and they were explaining to me that it is not unusual on Thursday nights to walk into a TCN tent and find them engaged in sexual acts. Sexual acts with other men. This was discovered but not initially by walking in on them, rather because some of the men needed medical attention the next day. I didn’t know what to say. For the first time in a long time, I was speechless.

So I set out to find out if this was true or not. I work at the SMU (Supply Maintenance Unit) and on the SMU lot there are the MedLog people who are in charge of ordering medicines and medical supplies. As a result, they have pharmacists and nurses on rotation in the MedLog office just to make sure the correct items and dosages are being ordered. I was chatting with two of the nurses and I asked them. They confirmed what I had been told. According to the two nurses I spoke with, around 8 to 12 TCNs come in every Friday with some sort of tearing. Yes, in the place that you are thinking of right now.

The Marines joke that because of “Man Love Thursday” they need to have a full day of prayer on Friday.

I have gotten my first illness out of the way, or mostly out of the way. Some type of stomach issue has gotten hold of my system and is starting to let go. Thankfully yesterday wasn’t as hot as it could have been and spending most of the day in the hot box wasn’t as unbearable as I thought.

My new office is finished and we are moving in this week. The commanding officers moved in their new office yesterday and it will slowly trickle down to us peons. I also find out about my new housing this week. I went by and saw it yesterday and it is really nice. It is almost like an apartment that you would find in the states. This week is shaping up to be a very busy week but it should help boost morale around here quite a bit.

My iPod Touch was stolen this week. I narrowed it down to when I went to lunch on Wednesday and it either fell out of my pocket and someone picked it up or they just took it off my desk. I am not too sure which one but it doesn’t really matter. I haven’t decided if I am going to get a new iPod or just an MP3 player. The reason being is that when I get home, I am getting a new iPhone so an iPod could be overkill.

The Marines continue to take me under their wing everyday and now I am playing cards once a week with some of the Junior Marines. I find humor in the fact that everyone here (officers, senior enlisted and junior Marines) seem to think that because I am not a Marine that they can gab about anyone and everyone with me. I know more dirt on these Marines than I ever wanted to know. It does make it more interesting when I see them interact with each other and I get a nod or a look that signifies that I really know what is going on or that they expect some sort of sympathy from me.

I read in the paper that the fireworks display that I witnessed may have killed quite a few Afghani civilians. While I hope that is not true, it was unique to have viewed what they were referencing first hand (at least the launching part). All is safe here at Leatherneck, at least we are launching things and they don’t dare come to us. I kind of like it that way.