Welcome to Ask Roulette. Ask Roulette was once a live show in which strangers asked each other questions live on stage. It may be again. For now, it’s a newsletter.
How does this work? Each newsletter you’ll see one reader’s answer to the previous week’s question. Then you’ll see the question they have for the list, which you can respond to if you’d like. Or you can just read and enjoy.
Previous ask:
Do you have imposter syndrome about anything?
Danny answers:
I deployed in 2013 to Afghanistan as part of a Security Force Advise and Assist Brigade, which meant that our unit's primary mission was to train the Afghan National Army (ANA) and provide assistance and support as they developed their forces to independently secure their country.
One significant threat for Soldiers like me that weren't running convoys targeted by IEDs was the chance of being hurt or killed from an incoming rocket attack that the Taliban would launch from remote locations targeting American bases. These attacks were not very accurate and varied in frequency based on location, but the first time I heard the alarm sound for an incoming rocket headed toward the relatively small area of our base, I definitely feared for my life.
The rocket actually landed harmlessly off-target and missed the base entirely, but the fear in the moment was definitely real. This was the only rocket attack I experienced at the small base before I transferred to a different unit at a much larger U.S. base. This larger base, however, was a much more frequent target of rocket attacks due to its location, with attacks occurring every three to five days.
The odd thing about this level of frequency and relative inaccuracy, was that my fear of being killed or hurt decreased with each strike. It got to the point where I would be taking a nap after a late-night shift, hear the alarm for an incoming rocket, and simply roll over and go back to sleep.
I hadn't realized just how nonchalant I was about such a legitimate threat until a late-night walk back to my bunk with another young officer that had just come from a much smaller base that was attacked on a daily basis. He never got more than an arm's length away from one of the sandbag walls, while I walked a more direct path in the open without concern. This definitely changed my perspective in all walks of life in how we treat different threats and behave in wildly different ways based on our lived experiences. Logically, I should have reacted with the same fear and vigilance as my fellow officer, but to survive emotionally - in so many ways - I could not.
At the very end of my deployment, we spent time on a massive U.S. base that is used to stage units going in and out of the country. One night while laying in my cot among a large contingent of other Soldiers in a canvas tent, the incoming rocket alarm sounded. I quickly grabbed my body armor and helmet and headed to the sandbag bunker to seek shelter, but as I arrived I saw it was completely full with no room for so many of us still on the outside. This attack was like nothing I had experienced as seven to ten rockets began impacting our base - it was out of sight from where I was, but it was close enough to hear the sound of the rockets slapping pavement before exploding. For the first time in a while, this again made me fear for my life.
The sense of helplessness was profound, and something I will never forget. Now as a dad to two small kids, I fear less for myself other than not being there for them, but every school shooting - which is tragically too common in our country - elicits a similar feeling of helplessness that I imagine those parents experience. Again, life experiences shape how we feel and respond to all sorts of situations, something I learned in the Army as well as becoming a father.
[[note: I edited this down a bit for length, it’s still long but very much worth reading. Thank you for sharing, Danny!]]
Danny asks:
Who is a person that your opinion of has changed dramatically — and do you feel it was more about a change they made, or you made?
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Bits and Pieces
From time to time, I’ll throw some updates, links, and other thoughts at the bottom of the newsletter.
The NBA can be tough to keep up with, and as we head into the playoffs, I’ll recommend what I think is, by far, the best way to keep tabs on the league. Tom Ziller’s snappy roundup of results, analysis, and highlights. Should be a fun post-season!
Loved this little tribute to Exrx.com. By the way, my latest favorite exercise, the lying cable-machine hip rotation. My kingdom for an extra five degrees of internal rotation.
Very fun to have Dan Pashman of The Sporkful on This Day recently to talk about the weird plan in 1910 to make Americans eat hippo meat. Here’s Dan on how our tastes are largely determined by context and circumstance.
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