I think by now we’ve all learned that promotions aren’t always a good thing….
New story tomorrow — Stinz gets to play squad leader.
Oh, dear.
I think by now we’ve all learned that promotions aren’t always a good thing….
New story tomorrow — Stinz gets to play squad leader.
Oh, dear.
I remember when I was young and smart…. sigh….
Gift, at least, should know he’s dealing with a colt.
People faint on parade.
At a Fort Lewis Parade, a male company lost a couple guys who had just got back from Vietnam, where they’d become accustomed to a cold monsoon. They stood out in the sun on the parade field, and they went down like they’d been hit. A couple of our people — medics — broke formation to go help carry them to the shade and minister to them.
Our platoon lost a couple people because our captain left us at attention for an hour, and when the sergeant came out and called us to parade rest, the change in blood pressure — I suppose — knocked those two girls out.
The problem with Playing Army is you have to do it with real people, not those little green army guys.
Dan says, “That parade field was murder. The heat came up from the ground in waves. They were falling down like flies where I was. “ He’s still quoting stuff — he should write a book, damnit.
The thing was like a mirror. Dan was at the same parade. Our captain was an idiot.
The sergeant did not volunteer to be a drill sergeant. Those were the kind of DI’s I had — reluctant, pissed off, grumpy.
Though, being a man, I have no doubt Kirschen here got training and specialty pay; women are supposed to live on air, I think.
Stinz doesn’t realize it, but he’s gotten his people nudged closer to being a cache of bodies for the draft. With a war coming.
I already know some of you knew this was coming. All I have to do with you people is hint.
Well, the sergeant got intimate first. Stinz’s people are physically friendly, as are most horses. They’ll snuggle up to each other and nibble and shove. They often forget we’re smaller and do it to us, and we have to remind them we’re fragile.
Well, actually, not fragile — we’re superior, as in “herd leader.” If they find out you’re fragile, you’re screwed. First thing you should do in training a colt is pick him up the day he’s born and carry him around. He’ll be happy to accept you as his big strong leader from then on.
Might not be a good idea to do it to a racehorse, however. You’ll turn him into a puppy. But if you want a lovely riding horse, try it. It’s kinda fun!
Stinz is actually playing officer, taking over responsibility for his men.
Notice the Colonel is talking about the tractability of horses when he’s sitting on a perfectly calm one. No, I tell a lie — Stinz has human in him. A horse can be a reasonable person, but humans are barely-contained chimps. You’ll see what happens in an emergency when the two are combined.
Gift really wants to keep the Halfhorse in his company; it’s a bit of a star on his cap. Bringing a new population into a condition for drafting would be very good for his career.
Stinz is looking very smug, but the Sergeant’s turned him into just what he’s supposed to be.
I’ve heard sergeants in a club bragging over their platoons. It was basically, “Oh, no, you won’t believe what MY gang of idiot brats did!” “Hell, NOBODY could be as stupid as this — I found one of them hanging upside down out of a window, with her ankles held by another of ‘em.”
We weren’t allowed to take the grids off the outside upper windows to clean them — losing a woman, or even injuring her, in basic training, would have led to much screaming, clear to the Congressional level. But we decided our windows were just a shame to our honor (yeah, they’d trained us into their mindset just that deeply). So I ended up hanging upside down out a window.
Yeah, we got punished. But when marching away in the morning, we’d jerk quick glances over our shoulders, to admire OUR shiny windows in the sun.
Pitiful, huh?
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