Issue 30: Iraq War

Featured Response: Colby Buzzell || Author, My War: Killing Time In Iraq

Colby Buzzell

Usually the T.V. is set to the sports game, which I hate but on this particular night it was on CNN. The bar also had an election special going on- a beer and a shot of whiskey for $5.00. I was on my fifth or sixth special when they announced the winner. The bar erupted, shots were being poured, people hugged and high fived each other. I imagine this is how my parents must of felt when Kennedy won as I thought about the port a shitter I sat on a little over four years ago. I was in uniform in Iraq and with a sharpie somebody had written the words, “It doesn’t matter who you vote for, you’re screwed anyways. Hoah!”

I wonder what the guys are writing on the walls over there now.

But now, out of the military and sitting down on a bar stool in San Francisco I don’t know what I feel. Actually I do know how I feel, I feel… drunk. In fact I could barely stand. So before exiting the bar I ordered another special, lit up a smoke and stumbled home as people on the street cheered and cars celebratorally honked.

When I got home, I unlocked the door and passed out on the sofa with all my clothes still on and when I woke up the next morning I had a hangover.

Colby Buzzell is the author of the book My War Killing Time in Iraq. In 2004, Buzzell was profiled in Esquire magazine’s “Best and Brightest” issue and has since contributed frequently. In 2007, Buzzell received the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize. He currently lives San Francisco, California and recently attended his first and last AA meeting.

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Inaugural Insight

  • The inauguration for the first U.S. president, George Washington, was held on April 30, 1789 in New York City.
  • Should January 20 be a Sunday, the President is usually administered the oath of office in a private ceremony on that day, followed by a public ceremony the following day.
  • Immediately following the oath, the bands play four ruffles and flourishes and "Hail to the Chief", followed by a 21-gun salute from howitzers of the Presidential Salute Battery.
  • The inaugural celebrations usually last ten days, from five days before the inauguration to five days after.
  • Since Thomas Jefferson's second inaugural on March 4, 1805, it has become tradition for the president to parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.
  • According to tradition, in the first inaugural, President Washington added the words "so help me God" when reciting the oath, although there is no contemporary evidence of this.
  • In 1977, Jimmy Carter started a new tradition by walking from the Capitol to the White House, although subsequent presidents have only walked part of the way for security reasons.
  • The War of 1812 and World War II forced two swearing-ins to be held at other locations in Washington, D.C.
  • The new President assumes power at noon on January 20th, regardless of whether or not he has actually taken the oath of office.
  • There is no requirement that any book, or in particular a book of sacred text, be used to administer the oath, and none is mentioned in the Constitution.

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