Military life may have helped me relax in a strange way.

As a news person I'm always on a deadline. I need to know exactly what time it is and exactly how much time I have left. I'm usually trying to hurry up and get somewhere and then hurrying up to leave.

That's not how the military operates. They are more into "hurry up and wait." Every where we went we needed to stop some where else first or check with some one about some thing.

Going some place that was a five-minute walk had a way of taking 30 minutes. A flight that was supposed to leave at 7:30 would leave at 8:15 instead. It drove me crazy the first few days. Then some thing happened... Today we rode a bus to the military base to get back on the plane. The folks who operate it took every one's ID and left for a long time. I just sat on the bus and chatted with the airmen.

When we finally got through some one said "can you believe that took an hour?" I had no idea it took that long. The amazing thing is usually I would have timed it myself, but this time I didn't.

The military hurry up an wait philosophy may have been good for me. Now we'll see if it sticks.