We snuck out last night

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Well not exactly, but… We did get to go to a football game. Fourth down and two, ball is on the 43 and BAM! The quarterback is sacked, end of game… 13 to 3… The Minnesota Vikings whooped on the Indianapolis Colts but good!

Honestly now folks, this team of 13 soldiers with me here at lovely Camp Atterbury has been here for about 19 days without any time to relax, put their feet up or take a breathe that didn’t have something to do with paperwork, moving supplies or planning for our enormous influx of soldiers here in Indiana. Our schedules have dictated a 5:30 am wake-up, with a exercise plan for us all, the days have been filled with the chaos of meeting soldier administrative needs, picking people up at the airport, driving forklifts all around Camp Atterbury, and fulfilling the units every technology requirement. Then add every other little thing we didn't plan for that keeps us running at warp speed, and then by the end of the day most all have to force themselves to leave work by 9:30 pm. It has been long and arduous, the weather unforgiving and truthfully, we are just exhausted.

So when I requested for the soldiers to be allowed to attend the NFL football game on Friday night it was met with a positive and inspiring message. “Sure Frenchy, the soldiers can get off work early to attend, lets say…4:00 pm!” Happily bouncing out of the good Colonels office it dawned on me that we were being released from work early. Only a nine hour day! WHAT! I thought to myself, we have been working so hard that we were excited to be getting off work after only putting in nine hours at the office. Grateful, ecstatic, and overwhelmed with happiness the soldiers could hardly wait for the days to pass by! Only one thought in all’s mind. How in the world will we be able to get everything done by 4:00 pm? Gratefully, the colonel and the operations officer volunteered to not go to the football game and stay behind at Camp Atterbury just in case of emergencies. Sorry that only 11 of us could attend though.

It was nip and tuck on the timeline, but we all made it. We ran out of the barracks in our civilian clothes feeling freed from the confines of boots and heavy uniforms. Yippee, we were civilians again, if only for a few hours! We are only about an hour away from Indianapolis, so it was a quick trip. For some it was a reprise from the constant grind. Most all were asleep after a few minutes riding in the back seats of the vans.

As we neared the center of the city it became apparent that we were no longer in North Dakota. The downtown Indianapolis traffic was
atrocious, so we amused ourselves with the odd and unusual sights of the people who were spewing out of the Convention Center which was hosting a "Gamers Convention". Freaky costumes, high heeled boots, swords and tazers and capes of all colors seemed to be the choices of dress. We also ended up getting a little turned around as we navigated through all the one way streets and four lane roads. To add insult to injury the price of parking was the same as a half days pay for a private in the army.

As we walked to the stadium it was along streets crowded with people seamingly all dressed in a sea of "Colt Blue", which obviously was the color of the day and NOT Viking purple. Since us North Dakotans live right next to Minn-e-so-tta, it is fair to say that our viking fans were a little out numbered. Except for ONE...Not only are the Indianapolis Colts her favorite team, she has a colt horseshoe tatooed on her leg, brought her colt blanket to Camp Atterbury, and had her favorite colt t-shirt flown in from Cando North Dakota and we even gave her a hard hat to wear during the game that had the colts logo's all over it!

After walking up to our seats in the stadium we were ringing wet with sweat. Did I mention walking "UP"? The ramp was so steep and it went on forever, and ever. Next time I will spend the money to sit somewhere down close to the field because once I got in my seat I was almost scared to walk down the stairs again because it was so high up and at such a steep angle. We were only about 9 rows down from the top of the stadium and so I guess that's why they called our seats the "nose bleed seats"!

The game was great! I might not have been the best company since I fell asleep a couple of times and the soldiers had to nudge me back awake moments before I started to snore! Ugh... But it was worth every minute not to be trapped on the military post.

The halftime show coincidentally was dedicated to the military. The cheerleaders dressed up in little uniforms from each branch and then they brought soldiers, airmen, marines and naval personnel onto the field as they played the respective military hymns. The crowd was on their feet and it was pretty neat when they sang God Bless America. Some days it is a special feeling being a soldier and having the public recognize your profession!

We all kind of lost our gumption during the fourth quarter and so we started our trek back to Camp Atterbury ahead of the thousands of fans that would snarl up the city traffic for us. The drive was quiet again thanks to our sleeping soldiers in the back seats.

What a great opportunity our leadership provided for us to go out and have some fun! Only thing better would that it could have been a SEAHAWK game!

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