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Published: September 9th 2009
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Walking Tall
photo courtesy KFOR 12 PAO Wow! What a first day out training with the troops! I decided to leave Major French back in her little cubicle sitting in front of her computer. I know she is tied up doing that staff officer stuff so I didn’t want to get in the way. So I found the first group of soldiers I saw and decided to tag along and experience what a soldier goes through in a day.
I know I’m not a real army soldier yet, but maybe if I do enough army stuff with others then I can get an honorary membership? So I will try real hard to keep up and become proficient at all the Army Warrior Tasks.
Sadly, I picked a hard day to get started. It looked simple enough. Pick up a weapon, put on my helmet, put on knee and elbow pads, carry a water hydration system on my back over the top of my flak vest. Holy cow! All this fun army gear had to weigh over 25 pounds. What was I thinking? I was so tired after I got all geared up that I had to sit down and rest, then I kind of leaned back
and suddenly I became no better than a turtle. I lost my balance and just rolled around, all the weight was on my back side so instead of just popping up to my feet it took a couple of soldiers to help lift me up.
Once we started walking down the street I was surprised at how fast they all wanted to walk. My calves started to burn with each step I took, my shoulders began to slump and soon it was a mind over matter experience. My inside voice was screaming, “Don’t embarrass yourself, keep putting one front in front of the other.” My feet were screaming, “What in the world are you doing? Golly gee, maybe this soldier stuff is hard?
I could see the army men up in front of me and I was so excited when they started to slow down and then came to a stop on the edge of the field. Yippee! I finished the grueling walk and now we could rest. Just as suddenly as we had stopped they took off again. This time it was across the field and they were on their way to assault some imaginary enemy. Ugh.
Finally out of the woods
photo courtesy KFOR 12 PAO Not only was I getting my new army boots dirty, but it seemed as though I became invisible to them after I started screaming, “slow down, slow down…this is my first day and I can barely keep up.” The more I complained the faster they went, the faster they went the more I thought about my decision to be a new soldier in training. This soldier stuff sure is hard.
At day’s end we walked so many miles that I didn’t have a clue where we ended up. I know that we walked over the hills and through the woods and when I went to check my pedometer, it had somehow fallen off in all the excitement of keeping up with the real soldiers. What a putz I am. Next time I will know that the army just walks a lot and never mind keeping track, because they just seem to stop when they reach their destination and not before. Wow! After all that I am so excited to be going to Kosovo with soldiers who are so motivated and focused on their mission.
I can hardly wait until tomorrows training!...
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