Post date: Nov 12, 2020 10:38:51 PM
A series of facebook posts with his memories from basic & the army. This is one of the guys from the Terminators Platoon that was in my company during my basic training. (I've removed mentions of his name for privacy reasons and just replaced it with T)
Basic Training Story:
12 pm Take privates to the PX to get milkshakes
2 pm Take privates to the gas chamber
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AIT story or "How T learned to Just shut the Fuck Up sometimes"
Be in PT, Be running in formation....Stop running..begin walking....Sgt runs behind me..."T you better beat them feet"...start running again...soon enough start walking...Same Sgt appears behind me.."T why are you walking" Start running again but the cry of walking beckons me....like clockwork Sgt appears behind me...now this Sgt is mad "T, if I have to tell you to run one more time, we are gonna have fun time."
Now at this point any soldier especially a Ft. Benning Soldier knows the best thing to do is to just do your best....But I'm from Fst...and my nigga side always shows up at the wrong time.
I turn around and look at this combat tested veteran right in the eyes, stand at parade rest...and say
"Sgt, if I'm walking and your running...and your still behind me, one of us is doing this wrong..."
She smiled........
There were no walls to make sweat that day...
But in the summer...in July...in Georgia....when your face is inches from the asphalt...and you've prayed to your god that this bitch blows her knee out playing air hockey so when her friends ask she gotta make up some bullshit story....When your hands feel like that dude in that kung fu movie picking up that pot....if you look up there's a heat haze coming off the road....and it is so beautiful....or I might have been delirous....
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Basic Training Story:
I am an american Soldier
We have just finished range excercises and we are currently waiting for the bus. Let me explain what weapons count is. Soldiers hold their weapons at attention, call their number and take a knee. Sgt begins weapons count and I am number four.
One!....Two!....Three!...Fow!...Fi-...Sgt stops and looks at me..."T stand up and say that shit again"
I'm...confused....what did I do now I think...Stand up...Fow!...and kneel
Sgt stares....I stare back....sweat drips on my nose...
"T what the fuck is Fow"
"In my head its four, drill sgt, but when it comes out, its fow"
That day I learned that you can make a rifle weigh 1000 lbs
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AIT story: The Warrior's Ethos
Its 0400. We are on fire guard...Imagine 4 guys who have been woken up and then made to just sit there and stay awake...The door opens and Sgt Major walks through the door.
Holy Fuck!
We're up now....We make the appropriate call and stand at parade rest.....Out of habit we line up in formation as best we can with the desk in the way.
Sgt Major walks up to us. Now at this point I should tell you a slight benefit of being black in the military. Culturally we can get away with certain things because white sgts don't really know what to look for...but Sgt Major is black.....
Sgt Major stares at the first guy...."Where is your brush, soldier....I want you to learn that bitch like you do your weapon...you hear me"
Now its at this point that I'm alert and up that I realize Sgt Major is drunk as fuck....
Walks to the next guy...."Private...your trigger finger is your second best assest, after your mind.....Put some lotion on them things"
Now at the third guy he asks "What's the warrior ethoes"
Guy answers correctly and Sgt Major comes to me...
"T what's your third General Order"
My dumbass says "Shit that's the long one"
I get the first line and stumble....
He looks at me....and I look at him....and he just stares at me...
Now if you know me and my mouth you know that I know what's about to come.
So i hit a half-right face and I turn to look at him...he just stares...
I go to the front leaning rest.....I look at him....he still stares...
I do one push up...again I look at him....he wobbles a bit but still stares......then he squats down and is inches from my face...Smelling like Itawon at 1230
He says "You know what you did wrong T....3rd guy what's the third line of the Warrior ethoes"
Third guy says "I will never quit"
"You quit T...Now get up"
I stand up and he wobbles again...puts his hand on my shoulder and says...Get some damn chapstick
Then looks at us all and says I gotta go, my son is in the car....
Dude had been in here for at least an hour fuckin with us
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1st Duty Station: Lady I am a man....
In Itaewon there is a bar named Polly's. Polly's is at the top of a place called Hooker Hill...This is important to the story. Also just as important is that I am from the country and this is my first time in a big city. Now in life people describe things, but when you see them its usually an exaggeration. But you'll learn in the military that they define things as literally as possible. Hooker Hill was actually a Hill of Hookers.
So this is my first month in Korea and we are going to the bars..I go with 4 other people...but the clubs in Itaweon are packed and its easy to get lost and I got lost..and I'm good and drunk..but I remember that they said they were going to Polly's....So I ask around.
Now at this point I should also tell you what Itaewon on the weekends looks like....Imagine American soldiers, Native Koreans, Indians, Phillipinos, Turkish, Nigerians...all of us are DRUNK...and bar hopping...So when I ask a guy just points to a street that looks like how scary movies start...But I'm drunk...and I've walked past the sports arena at night before...so I start walking up this hill...I walk past a window and there's a girl dancing in it...I don't think anything about it...continue walking...
An old lady opens her door and tells me to come here...Now again I'm from the country, so old people equals help...I ask her if she knows where Polly's is...She grabs my hand and gives me her best grandma smile and pulls me into the building....I ask her again "Ma'am do you know where Polly's is?" Again she gives me the grandma smile and pats my hand...She takes me past a bar...my nigga sense kicks in when I see all the monitors looking outside. I snatch my arm from her and I say "Ma'am where is Polly's" She waggles her finger at me and shakes her head...I turn to leave...but before I do...She grabs an entire hemisphere of my ass...I mean squeezed that bitch....I jump and spin around..."Lady I am a man" and I storm off.....
I countinued up the hill drunk, mad, and newly molested....There are more girls dancing in the windows and I stop and look around at where I'm at....Shit it really is a hill....But i'm too far up and don't trust myself to go that far down this steep of a hill. So i continue walking....Eventually I make it almost to the top and I look to my left....And there is a woman with who looked a lot like a Korean version of Elvira...I'm tired by now so I walk up to her but I keep a good distance in case ass grabbing is a thing...My mouth is dry...I ask ma'am can you tell me where Polly's is....she points next door...I was so drunk I didn't notice the bright dingy sign that read Polly's I thank her and tell her her titties finna fall out and I walk into Polly's feeling victorious..
Except they weren't even fucking there...After everything that happened I just said fuck it and stayed there until I sobered up...
Watched a Korean man do a split...and he peed on himself...
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These are all true stories ya'll
1st Duty Station: Leave the turtles where they lay
It's winter in Yongsan Garrison...it is also early morning....we are also outside...with 50lb rucksacks on...
There is ice on the roads...
Now before I start this story let me explain what a rucksack feels like. Imagine that you have a board on your back that weighed 50 lbs. And it was strapped to your waist. Soldiers don't stand and walk straight because of military bearing. Its because a 12 mile march with that thing on will do that to you.
I should also explain what marching in the army is like...You don't stop..or the other person is just going to go around you...and your usually a little under the social distance space. I have a scar on my side that I got because my stap was biting into my side and I couldn't stop long enough to adjust it.
Lastly, the roads on Yongsan Garrison are horrible.
Back to the story
We are in formation with our rucksacks on and looking at each other in disbelief...1st Sgt has just said we are going on a 5 mile ruck march...on post...with ice on the roads...Lakes of ice....Ice big enough that 3 people could stand on the same patch with marching distance.
1st Sgt looked at us and then looked at his Combat Action Badge... And said "Even though you're in the hospital and you guys are support...You never know when your gonna get in a fight hoo-ah"
Out of habit we all answered back hoo-ah......but the looks never stop.
Suddenly 1st Sgt calls us to attention, then right face, and commands us to begin marching.
Its at this moment I realize a fatal error....You see Seoul is a very hilly area. Our barracks are at the top of on of those hills....either way we would have gone it would have been bad...but we make it...Maybe our new found confidence is what caused the calamity that followed or maybe it was fate...One of the Sgts get out to call cadence. The ice makes a mockery out of "Hey, Captain Jack." The 1st soldier to drop started innocently enough he wobbled and caught himself but slide forward and fell...we went around him, offering him words of encouragement to get back up...Next another two fell but they landed ruck sack down....We called these the turtles...We turned a corner and you could hear it...a quick shot and then a muffled sound like throwing your backpack full of clothes on the floor.
From the back of the line, I could see turtles everywhere...some soldiers had the dignity to slide themselves out of the way of the column before righting themselves. Others were lifting themselves up and we would offer a hand as we passed by.....and We were still on mile 3.
Suddenly my platoon Sgt falls...a man i respected and admired crumbled. He swung his pack so that he landed in the turtle position. Out of instinct I reached my hand out for his. He reached back, looked at me, and looked away. His eyes telling me to go on without him...I trudge forward....and soon fell not even 20 feet from where he lie. I righted myself and continued forwards...knees ablaze.
Now I told you that our barracks are on a hill...and we started by going down that hill.. We had to climb back up that hill. 20-30 bruised and battered soldiers advanced up this hill with military intentions. Scouts marched ahead to find the ice spots. Callers announced their locations to the rest of the formation. We marched closer to catch anybody that fell and those behind would stop the 3 from sliding further down. Those who fell were bodily picked. To fall was to have to start over....fuck that shit.
We eventually make it up the hill and back to the formation we started in...Our footprints in the snow still in the ground. Now I know when I tell stories..I exaggerate sometimes...Sgt didn't really look at me...he fell and I laughed cause he was talkin shit... and I did fall not long afterwards. but this really happened ya'll
We get into formation mad as hell. 1st Sgt makes his way to the front of the line and calls us into formation...we are a little slow getting in order. 1st Sgt says and I quote "See that wasn't so bad"
When he says this the post bus appears at the top of the hill and hits an ice patch...it veers right and hits the guard rail and slides about a good 30 feet before it stops...Now the bus wasn't going that fast to begin with and when it hits the rail its like an awkward slow.
Everybody sees this and looks at 1st Sgt who is still looking at the bus...
Dismissed.
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1st duty station: The Man-Love Champion Eternal
Its Fall in yongsan garrison...the monsoon season has ended and today we are doing combat lifesaver training as a battalion...but because we're support for a hospital its literally just around 40 of us.
My unit tended to stay in our own little group...While we wait...one of my guys whisper in my ear...."I'm going to hug 1st Sgt." I turn to look and its the man-love champion of 2011.
Man-Love Monday(MLM) is a game played in the military. It is both not as bad and as bad as it sounds at the same time. Man-Love Monday does not have to be played on Mondays. MLM is initiated when someone (A) does something to (B), instead of getting angry (B) will do or say something flirty. (A) has a choice..he can either back down...or escalate the situation. Both parties escalate this exchange in a strange game of chicken. Once one backs down the other is declared winner of MLM.
He looks at me...spits dip into his monster can and disappears into the crowd.
So we start running through the stations. I think i have some pictures in my album of it. I think its the first Mobile Uploads Folder.
Anyway its getting to the point that we're getting to the station that 1st Sgt is doing. Its fireman's carry. If you don't know what a fireman's carry is...Imagine Lex Lugar's torture rack..but for your safety.
There's a small group of us standing in front while 1st Sgt describes what we call the "crawl" phase of training where everything is broken down including instructions on accounting for size differences of the person that you pick up.
1st Sgt asks for a volunteer to show that you can pick somebody up who is twice your size. MLM champ volunteers
1st Sgt is roughly 6'2-6'4 and is built like a old football player.
MLM champ is about 5'5 and weighs around 140-150 (sorry if I'm wrong).
1st Sgt picks him up easily and is showing what to do to carry someone to safety safely
1st Sgt goes in to his spiel about the correct technique for a smaller person to life a bigger person.
1st Sgt leans forward to allow MLM champ to pick him up
MLM champ hugs him. both arms wrapped around him...head against his chest
"You do it with your heart Top.."
1 Sgt hugged him back....
On that day...he became the Man-Love Champ Eternal
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2nd duty Station: Nigga Batman
Ft. Riley, Kansas. Imagine if you took butner and put it everywhere.
I'm with a new unit. 601 ASB. It's an aviation site so there are no trees. For the first time in my line I have a tan line...and it feels good.
Today We are doing 3-5 second rushes.
3-5 second rushes are a tactical manuever that essentially means any forward movement is to be done in 3-5 seconds and coordinated with a flanking movement. You can do it that way or just straight 3-5s where your getting the technique down.
Today we are doing 3-5 second rushes with a M240 with that red thing on it to time the rushes...hoo-ah.
Now if you've seen that picture of me with those two big ass guns, those were it.
I was a part of the 1st iteration, and then took my turn manning the weapon.
Now i wait.
It begins to drizzle.
I grab my poncho out of my assault pack, put it on, and go outside, because I like the rain.
1st Sgt is standing at the top of a hill about 15 ft from the gunner, watching the 3rd round of soldiers do drills. this is a new 1st Sgt and tends to take my shenanigans with a grain of salt.
I stand beside 1 Sgt and for some reason I say in my best batman voice. "Top....it looks like rain"
1st Sgt looks at me...and then looks to the sky and says "T, the fuck you got your poncho on for"
Again in my best batman voice
"Looks like I'm the only one who's squared away Top....right place...right uniform"
1st Sgt looks to the sky...then looks to his phone....and then to the rest of the guys in line and yells "Last line do your runs and then we're gonna stand by and wait for the rain"
I say "hoo-ah" and turn around to go back to the truck. 1st Sgt stops me with a hand.
"T, since your so squared away...I want you to be Batman...You see that tree over....There's people over there that need saving. I want you to run to that tree and save those people."
Me realizing what's happening.....
"How many people is there Top"
"until you feel like a hero"
"Well Top I don't know if you remember but I looked pretty heroic standing in the rain"
"Then make sure your cape is blowing in the wind...hero"
And then the rain fell