Two of the twisted minds behind Black Rifle Coffee Company have officially ventured into the music world, debuting a ballad just about anyone who has ever deployed can wholeheartedly identify with.
“Can’t Believe We Miss This” drills into the grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side sentimentality shared by so many suit and tie-wearing veterans who often express a desire to return to Iraq or Afghanistan, all the while blocking from memory the day-to-day tediousness that was once so conducive to a feverish desire for life back on the block.
The melody, harmoniously (and hilariously) performed by BRCC’s Mat Best and Jarred Taylor, brings to mind the many delectable symphonies concocted by legendary musicians and rock-wielding demon tamers, Tenacious D.
Missing out on weekend liberty because of someone else’s slip up, police calling, and enduring devastating stress injuries to the ankles, knees and back highlight some of the song’s monotonous topics the two bring to the table.
“Life was just a game of hurry up and wait," Taylor mournfully sings before reminiscing about counting down the days until attaining the ever-elusive DD-214.
Best, meanwhile, serenades ears while recalling a deployed life that included a highly specific, confined space of solitude (even if internal temperatures were comparable to the surface of Mercury).
“On this bulls**t FOB taking mortars every day. Had sex with myself in a porta-john ... just to get away.”
Having to adhere to strict gear requirements is also bemoaned by the mellifluous duo.
“This pt belt and eye pro will keep me safe ... from terrorism ... because that’s science.”
In a world in which the civilian-military divide is substantial and the “what civilians think I do in the military” meme often equates to some variant of a viking-bearded Rambo who incessantly fights, this song is a welcomed dose of reality.
Check out the video below.
J.D. Simkins is the executive editor of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
