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John73 said he was not 'mercenary'; but he is a 'mercenary'. In fact, he said he is far from mercenary; he is not concerned with making money at the expense of ethics per se. That said, he is indeed a soldier of fortune, a professional soldier hired in a foreign army. The Iraqi army. Mary1 is not convinced that he is not indeed 'mercenary' and a 'mercenary'. Ethics being the issue under review. But that is Mary1's opinion. The Iraqi 'war' issue is a hotly debated one; not suitable for a first date. Mary1 managed not to be too controversial. Her opinions are traditionally robustly presented.
To think that the lovely area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, known historically as Mesopotamia, think Hanging Gardens of Babylon, has been a war zone for over a decade; that parts of it lie in shambles and that several forces and groups continue to fight for control of large parts of the country. Supported by air strikes from US-led coalition warplanes, the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces have been trying to take territory from the ISIS armed group. Tragic really. Mankind. Ego. Same old. Same old. Childish really.
Mary1 does meet interesting fellows. She was fascinated by John73's job. She drilled him for every last drop of detail: where he sleeps, about the barracks, the big barbed wire fences, the lookout posts, the pipelines, is there wi-fi, his weapons, the weather, you name it. Mary1 was intringued. Intrigued from a job-interest perspective; not from a John-possible perspective. John73 spends chunks of time in combat and then has chunks of time back home to recover. John73 was in a hurry to meet Mary1 as he had to get back to Iraq. Soon. And he needed to get a relationship bedded down before his return so-to-speak; bad choice of words in this context, Mary1 means established. Every soldier needs a babe back home as you know.
Before they met, John73 had mentioned that he was a double, yes double, amputee. Mary1 was too polite to decline a date at that stage. She was concerned, however. She said nothing. John73 promised Mary1 that his amputations would not impact upon his sailing ability. Mary1 could not picture a double amputee leaping about a yacht. Let alone scaling up a mast. They met all the same. Mary1 surreptitiously studied John73 for evidence of which limbs had been amputated. John73 was seated upon her arrival at the date venue. She studied him seated and she studied him when he excused himself to pop off to the loo. It was not easy to tell. Clearly, prosthetics are really good these days. Then John73 divulged out of the blue that his baby finger had been chopped off. That was his one amputation. He said his second amputation would be divulged when absolutely necessary. On another date.
Mary1's imagination was rich and ripe with suppositions as to the nature of the other amputation. She even went as far as recalling a rhyme about Goring, Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels. Sadly, Mary1 will never know the nature of the second amputation. The mercenary part of the offering superseded the double amputee aspect in importance. Mary1 could not picture herself as an army wife. Although starring in 'Army Wives' may have been fun.