It seems like there are two types of people in camp, those who look forward to time away from the world, and those who cannot wait to get back to it. I am of the second group. I like the idea of a camp. I like the idea of camaraderie, of being away from the distractions and problems, and of working in the wilderness. Unfortunately, that idea is not how it usually works out for me.
Camaraderie in camps does not usually seem to work out. Some people make close friends, and treat the crew like their family. This is not my way, if I am going to adopt people into my family, I am going to choose them well. I look for certain aspects and characteristics that are rare in the world, and even more rare in a camp. I have made very close friends in camps, so I can experience the camaraderie that I imagine having in camp, but most of the time, I just feel annoyed with those around me.
After having been out of a camp for a couple of months, I start imagining camp as an escape from the world. It is not. The world keeps going. I still have all of the problems, chores and errands that I do when I am in civilization, but I have less ability to deal with them. For me, this compounds the stress these things cause me. For example, my visa was being held up because the immigration officer needed one further document for my medical examination (an unexpected certification from a physician). When I called from civilization, the clinic estimated that it would take two weeks, putting me in camp when I could expect to have them fax the document. They did not fax it after two weeks. It took two weeks of daily calling from camp to get them to fax the document. In civilization, that would cause me to be grumpy. In camp, that caused me a great deal of stress trying to imagine a contingency. The world keeps going, the fires keep starting, but I am without my usual tools to address them.
As for working in the wilderness, I am, but I am not. I am miles from anywhere, at times without communication to anyone, tromping about in amazing scenery. By most definitions, that is wilderness. However, I commute by helicopter, so every morning I am confronted by a machine that can be taken as a symbol of man's domination of wilderness. There are two camps on this landing strip, so at times it is deafeningly loud (this morning I was dispatching a telephone, and two radios, with four helicopters, two quads, an airplane, and a skid steer operating outside the office tent). Beyond the noise of work, the only thing that this camp has more than bear-anoia are small arms. They use firearms to haze bears, they target practice, and the camp next door does the same. I reckon there are areas of Baghdad that have fewer gunshots than this patch of nowhere. While out on traverse the trickle of water through boulders can take me to a place of zen, this camp, and my life however, are not in the wilderness.
As whiny as that all sounds, the point of this post is not to whimper to the web. Instead, I want to focus on the interesting ways in which people operate out here. I think it is a reflection of how they would operate in the world at large, but this is a microcosm of society, so everything that happens out there, happens in here.
Beginning with the attitude people bring into camp. I, for example, can overreact to things. It is, in some ways, a character flaw. Maybe in most ways it is a character flaw. Regardless, it is the way I work in the world. In the pilot episode of 30 Rock, Tina Fey's character battles this same issue when she "buys all the hot dogs," then is later ready to quit her job over issues that eventually work out. I have been on the brink of washing out nearly daily. It seems one of the pilots is too. Another geo has come close too, for him, it seems, especially the first week. Previously, in my life, I have bought all the hot dogs, and during many stages of my life, I have been on the brink. I am hanging in here just to get back to zero (a topic for a later post if I ever start posting regularly again).
Other people seem to relish the camp life, but I imagine that they would be happy (probably not the right word, content?) in most environments too. They become close to one another, and throw themselves at their work (not generally in a competent manner). Camp may actually be better for these people, because they would probably only work if they were not in a camp (essentially being in camp is being a workaholic, but you socialize at chow). A few people resign themselves to serving out their sentence without happiness or gloom. To me, these people are the worst, just as they are the worst in the world. Workaholics and quitters have passion, those who are just serving their sentences seem only to have fear.
In this camp, there are 24 people living in close proximity with one another, all bringing in their own attitudes and problems, working in psuedo-wilderness to accomplish a job. The interactions are great people watching if you could do it from your couch, but exhausting to be in. The camp manager and one of the pilots do not get along. The drillers (not here yet) and pad builders will faction into a group that are entertained at a different level. Permanent geologists live to work, and want to control every aspect of the project. Consulting geologists, like me, either have a clear mission, or are lost in the woods of a group of people (the permanent geos) who do not fully understand what they are doing, or how to delegate work load.
Inevitably, without strong leadership, the camp falls into factions. Little microstates in the world of camp. As of yet, it seems that this camp has only one superpower, but with time, all that will change (or people will leave). I will try to stay out of it because most of it does not affect me, and I have already done my best to be hands off after the first five days. My bet though is that the Millrock geologists will be/are the first nation. A second state will emerge that will be a loose alignment of grumpy folk. In response to them will be the camp manager with the drillers, pad builders, etc. A fourth state of soil samplers is forming around nightly card games with the cook, though this group will be mostly loyal to the Millrock geos. The remaining crew will be free agents who will eventually be claimed, or rejected, by factions until everyone is accounted for.
This microcosm is fascinating because it seems as though it is human nature in a power vacuum. I am reading a book about international law right now. It seems like the interactions of nations through international law is much the same as the people in camp. Allies, rules (that are frequently broken) and private interests dominate interactions. It must be innately human to want to behave this way. Until I am claimed, or buy the hot dogs, I will do my best to enjoy the wilderness, escape/deal with the outside world, and watch the show from the comfort of my tent, counting the days until I am back in civilization.
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