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Comment by 2OEH8eoCRo0 | Hacker News Reader

Correct. It works in reverse too.

Anecdote: As I deployed to Afghanistan from my duty station on Okinawa things got progressively shitty. Okinawa -> Manas: Living conditions suck but they have a decent chow hall. Manas -> Camp Leatherneck: Crappy living, crappy chow. Camp Leatherneck -> FOB: wow this sucks. FOB -> combat outpost: holy shit this sucks! How am I gonna do 7 months of this?!

I did. Got used to it. Was actually kind of fun after awhile. Then after deployment you do it in reverse and feels like being upgraded to better and better luxury.

Soon enough you're used to it and living in the barracks on Okinawa sucks again.

Point being that you adjust to living conditions- good or bad. Don't derive purpose from chasing more because you'll always adjust to whatever you attain.

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> Don't derive purpose from chasing more because you'll always adjust to whatever you attain.

I'd rephrase this, or at least maybe this is what the intent was: it's not that bad to derive purpose from chasing more but it's probably bad to derive purpose from attaining. There's nothing wrong with being ambitious as long as the journey is how you derive purpose.

Yes, that's exactly it.

Also: chasing less has the same effect

Hah, slightly off topic, but I was there from 09-10 and remember that same journey from MCBH -> Manas -> Leatherneck -> COP -> Patrol Base.

I honestly think Leatherneck may have been the worst out of that experience. Some of the best times were having nothing on a PB for 10+ months (we were there for an extended period).

No sure why you’re getting downvoted, this makes sense. Humans are incredibly good at adapting to environments. From your perspective, it sounds like a change of pace kept things interesting.

You should write a book about that mental experience. I would read it

> -> combat outpost: holy shit this sucks! How am I gonna do 7 months of this?!

> I did. Got used to it. Was actually kind of fun after awhile.

Huge yikes. I can understand adapting to the circumstances, but the concept of combat deployment becoming fun is highly alarming to me. My most charitable interpretation—that your sense of fun was derived from camaraderie during downtime under difficult circumstances, not from actual combat action or from thrill-seeking in a defensive position—the most minimal yikes I can muster is “I would never wish to watch MASH on fast forward this way”.

I’m not surprised this is being downvoted, but I’d appreciate someone actually leaving a comment in case there’s something I’m not understanding about how seven months of combat deployment can be fun that isn’t some combination of monstrous/traumatic.

Your mistake was to take the word "fun" literally.

What he meant was some "possibly enjoyable" state which was different from the "bored comfortable tedium" into which he had settled in.

We all have had similar experiences. When you have too much of the same routine however comfortable, your mind craves some "new" stimulus which will break the tedium.

> your sense of fun was derived from camaraderie during downtime under difficult circumstances, not from actual combat action

Correct. I saw none. :)

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