X-Message-Number: 27750 Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:32:13 -0500 From: "Jonathan Despres" <> Subject: A letter to the Cryonics Institute from a Lieutentant in Iraq from: http://www.wordsmithatwar.blog-city.com/cryonics.htm March 2006 Experiment in Cryonics H Lieutenant K :: email link To: The Cryonics Institute From: Lieutenant K To whom it may concern, I am writing this letter in preparation for my departure from a combat deployment with the United States Army. Upon said departure from Iraq, I will have been in country for approximately 12 months and away from home for 18. This should occur within the next 6 months. I realize that Cryonics is "the preservation of legally dead humans or pets at very low temperature (below -200 F, -130 C) in the hope that future science can restore them to life, youth and health," but I would like to make a special request. It involves the transport of a living being. My expectations of home are so vivid, and my excitement so immense, that I would ask you to show your "support for the troops" by using me in an experiment. This will allow me to optimize the enjoyment of returning to my "normal" life from the environment that I've been in, which is, shall we say, less than optimal. Here's what I'm thinking: Once I am out of the Middle East, I will allow you to cryonically freeze my body so that time essentially stops. I would like some type of device that allows "push-button meltdown." In other words, I want to be able to wake up with the push of a button. This undertaking could bring your research and exposure to a completely new level, as it could be televised, recorded, and of course used in advertisements. I would request that you provide a personal aide to assist in getting me prepared for each new scenario. Perhaps we could get "Suspended Animation" involved? The following are just a few examples of the places and situations I'd like to "wake up" in the midst of, though I have many more, as you might imagine. And if you agree to this, we should consult further to finalize the specifics because I will most certainly have changed my mind by then: Push the button I'm sitting on a bus at 7:00 am in Salt Lake City. It is winter. I'm wearing a beanie cap, jeans, hiking boots and a jacket. It doesn't matter who I'm sitting next to, as long as they have a smile for me. My IPOD is in my jacket pocket and the ear buds are in and I'm listening to some new alternative rock song that mixes slow, clearly sung lyrics with hard, grinding guitar and drums. I wake up exactly five seconds before one of the parts where the drums kick in, and the song is like a soundtrack for my life. I'm feeling good as the bus takes a turn near the University of Utah and stops. I watch the college kids lug their backpacks off the bus and I can see their breath in the air as they trudge across the snowy lawns to their warm classrooms. I'll just hang around for a few more stops, and then I'll get off the bus myself and grab some breakfast. Push the button It's dusk and I'm sitting down leaning against a nice fat log in front of a campfire. The sun looks optimistic as it spreads its orange and red hues across the mountainous horizon, making absolute sure its audience does not forget it. There is a stick in my hand which is stirring up the fire. The weight of the stick and the heat from the fire feel good. My dogs are running around behind me, chasing something in the brush. I see my children five feet to my left sleeping in the warmth of the tent. The tent flap is half open, and swaying with a subtle breeze. My son is snoring. I look up to the horizon and smile with the realization that I'm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina . Push the button This war is over. Iraq is a relatively stable country with problems of its own, but it handles them using its security forces and military and political system. The world watches as waxes and wanes, but shows that it has its own identity beyond Saddam Hussein, and that its citizens are willing and capable of improving their quality of life day by day. Other countries in the area see Iraq/s resilience as an example of what they might do themselves. Push the button I'm standing on the highest point on the planet,Mt. Everest, stretching my arms up towards the sky, filled with wonder at the richness of life. Push the button I'm tucking the kids in. I tell them a semi-scary story. It's the kind that leads up to the tense ending in a whisper, and then actually explodes in a small scream. They both jump in fright. My son laughs. I laugh. My daughter laughs. We all just sit there laughing at nothing. Looking at each other and laughing together for no good reason at all. They want me to lie in the middle of them, so they can put their heads on my arms. After they fall asleep and I move silently out of the room, making sure the blankets are pulled up just the way they like them. I put on my favorite CD and spend a couple of hours writing and doing some on-line research. Before I go to bed, I check on the kids again. They're just fine. Push the button I'm sitting in a hotel room in London, drinking a cup of coffee, eating a bagel and looking out of the window at the Queen's Gate Garden as I write in my journal about all of my recent experiences. The pleasure of true relaxation is upon me. I've been home for six months, and have taken a vacation to London. I have absolutely nothing planned for the day, except to walk aimlessly around the Knightsbridge area, maybe do some spontaneous shopping - hit some museums. Push the button I'm handing a cute young woman who has her hair in two big ponytails on the back of her head and a lovely smile a five dollar bill for a couple of draft beers. She laughs when I spill some beer. I'm at an Audioslave concert at an outdoor amphitheater in California. It is a cool night, but not too cool. The huge crowds and the music are emblems of my generation, and I feel like a normal thirty-something, not a soldier who's been displaced from his day to day life. We did it. My unit went through 18 months of combat training and combat, and we're home now. We had a few losses, but we did the best we could and made our mark on the mission. It's something to be proud of. The kids are at the babysitters, I have a designated driver, and life is damn good. I sip my beer and smile at the people around me. They have no idea just how good they have it. Push the button I'm standing on the lowest point on the earth's surface, the North Shore of the Dead Sea, stretching my arms up towards the sky, excited about my long adventure home. I have a Camel Back on that is full of cold water, and I start walking to the nearest village Push the button The sun is in my eyes. I have retinal burn as I turn my head around to see where I am. I'm sunbathing on the deck of a large yacht in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti CD is playing. Not too loud though. I can still hear the water slapping the sides of the hull, and the sea birds trailing us for scraps. I smell like tanning lotion. I walk to the edge of the boat and I can see coral reefs way down in the crystal clear blue water. I have a frozen Margarita in my hand. I sip it. It tastes good. I place it on the polished wooden deck and it makes a satisfying dull sound when the glass meets the deck. I notice we're anchored, so I step onto the gangplank, put my arms up in the air, and dive in. The water is very cool and refreshing. Push the button I'm driving east down an unknown highway in a convertible Mustang. I have no idea where I am, but the red rock formations lining the road hint southwest, and that's a flavor I am familiar with and like very much. I can taste the arid desert air in the wind, and feel the chill that will accompany the retired sun when it departs my rear view mirror in the west, where it clings now only gently as a purplish stain that nevertheless colors my vision when I try to stare right at it. I'm driving blind into futurity and I like it. My smile personifies my hopeful mood, which is truly indefatigable. Please know that I realize these requests may seem a little unconventional. But I really think they could be great for Public Affairs, and possibly get the Cryonics Institute some national news coverage. I am still serving in Iraq, so e-mail is the best way to reach me. Thanks in advance for your consideration, and I hope your decision is an amiable one. Sincerely, Lieutenant K posted Sunday, 29 January 2006 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=27750