I’ll go out on a limb here and assume you’re aware that the economy’s not so hot. And that the likelihood of college grads snagging full-time employment that doesn’t require wearing a paper hat is pretty slim. One tried and true way for undergrads to improve their chances of getting hired after they’re handed a diploma is a summer internship. Sure, you probably won’t be paid, but at least you’re getting some real world experience, right? Chris Jeon, being the proactive type he is, decided to create his own internship fighting with Libyan rebels as his summer vacay wound down…
“It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels. This is one of the only real revolutions” in the world.
Sure, fighting Ghaddafi’s loyalists across the Libyan desert might not translate into the kind of employment a UCLA math major would find fulfilling, but with things the way they are, you have to do what you have to do.
Not that Chris had any previous military experience. This was strictly an on-the-job-training opportunity.
“How do you fire this thing?” he asked on Wednesday as a bearded rebel handed him an AK-47. Locating the trigger of the assault rifle and switching off the safety, Mr Jeon fired it in the air in two short bursts.
He did get to the party a little late, though. In fact, by the time he arrived, he’d missed most of the fun. But he still got to see and do some things his fellow Bruins probably missed while they were answering phones and building spreadsheets during their internships.
Although Mr. Jeon did not arrive in Libya in time to catch the liberation of Tripoli, he has seen history unfold. He was aboard one of the first cars to roar into An Nawfiliyah last weekend, armed with his shotgun and a camera that no longer works because the battery is dead. “I have great footage,” he said.
Fortunately, though, his fellow freedom fighters took to him right away.
His new mates have even bestowed on him a moniker that is a mish-mash of the names of local tribes and areas: Ahmed El Maghrabi Saidi Barga. When communication invariably reaches an impasse, he merely repeats his name and the rebels erupt in raucous cheers.
There appears to be no truth to the rumor that the name can also be translated, “douchey math geek playing soldier.”
The fall term starts in two weeks back in L.A. so Jeon will have to abandon his comrades in arms soon. And while mom and dad don’t know where he’s been, he’ll be able to write a pretty interesting ‘what I did on my summer vacation’ essay when he gets back for that last damned writing intensive elective he needs to graduate.