Coffee is for old people

I love coffee, even more than ever after discovering flavored creamer! Mmmm, mmmm, good! I usually drink a couple of cups every morning and one of my most favorite things to do is have a nice, warm cup of coffee in a mug my daughter made years ago while sitting on my deck on a slightly cool Saturday morning. There's nothing about coffee I don't completely enjoy: the smell of fresh grounds, the warmth as it goes down smoothly, even the little bitter bite if I overload the coffee maker. But that's all just nostalgia to the young Soldiers here.

Coffee is simply passé. It doesn't have enough kick, flavor, whatever. The new drinks are all about the buzz. Every morning, heck all throughout the day, Soldiers are drinking all manner of energy drinks. Red Bull was the first one to make it to the mainstream, packed with sugar and caffeine it was how partiers continued all night long. Now there are whole new sensations with names like "Rip It!" and "Monster Energy Drink." These are the new get-up-and-go drinks for today. At morning meetings many are drinking Rip It Citrus flavor and for missions Monster drinks are a staple just like Gatorade and water.

There are a few of us still doing it the old way in the mornings, beloved coffee mug in hand. But almost without exception, those with a mug instead of an aluminum can are the few of us who were making deployments when some of these Defenders of Freedom were in grade school or still in diapers.

So, if you've lived in a time when Iraq didn't take center stage in the news, raise your coffee mug high!

Cheers, Pearl