This was another man I had found on CouchSurfers -- a 27 year old military intelligence officer named Ross who lives on a sailboat down in the harbour. Thorsten, of course, immediately took to the fact that he lives on a boat and is eager to go visit him one of these days.
I'd say that Ross was one of the most interesting and likeable people we've met so far. We immediately got along with him, and the three of us spent a very enjoyable (if somewhat drunken) evening together. He told us a lot about what it had been like for him working for the army these last 5-6 years, and also his great disillusionment with what he had seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ross started out as something of a pragmatic idealist -- having majored in political science at Berkeley, he felt that he could contribute positively to what he generally saw as heavy and complex situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. By now he doesn't feel that he can condone working for the army anymore (even as a positive influence), and is now looking to go back to school and pursue graduate studies in something completely different (he's thinking about maybe studying music). In the meantime, he is commuting to Seattle every day for work, and spending his free time sailing.
We hope to meet up with him some other time, and are happy to have met yet another friendly local.
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