Getting Closer

Today we finished up our official training schedule at Fort Jackson. I would like to tell you it is a bittersweet parting and how much I'm going to miss everyone. Heck, I am so glad to get out of here! If you live in South Carolina I have a little bit of advice for you...get out! I don't mean in an orderly fashion, either. I mean run as far as you can as quickly as your moped will take you. For the past two weeks my body has served as a Polish Buffet to all the ants, sand flies, and mosquitoes in a hundred mile radius. That is, except for Charleston where we visited on our one evening of liberty. Fact: Charleston is the reason the U.S. purchased South Carolina from the Japenese in 1928 for the meager sum of a toothpick, a ketchup packet, and a number one "Uno" card. Being buffs of history, my two friends and I braved the two hour car ride. As the Superfly, it was my job as Superior Party Requisition and Fun Liaison Yokel (SPRFLY) to find a classy destination for an evening with gentlemen and officers. We arrived at the Marketplace Saloon to find all the bartenders dancing on top of the bar Coyote Ugly style. We agreed this was up to par with our discerning tastes when one of the guys grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled, "this is the greatest night of my life!" I was able to help a number of young damsels in distress as a bachelorette party came up to me and asked to help them check off their scavenger hunt checklist because they needed a picture with someone who looked like Vin Diesel...or Mr. Clean...I can't remember.
We finished up our training pulling off a major convoy that was attacked. Despite strict instructions to treat the exercise as real, I was severly chastised when I ordered our armored Humvees to drive over the instructors dressed as gunmen. I was stopped again when after realizing our ammunition consisted of blanks I decided to exit the vehicle and enter into hand to hand combat.
The good news is we got back the results from our shooting days and I finally qualified as an expert on my pistol. Every time I took the test in the past the highest I could shoot was sharpshooter. Turning the gun sideways like my pal "Five-oh-Five" showed me really helped.

Superfly