Day 119

Day 124
One of our 105’s was firing when I wandered by their pit in a moment of boredom and decided to watch this afternoon. The guy calling the shots (pun intended) was one of the guys passing the peace pipe in my visit to the hangout bunker a couple of nights ago: Sergeant (I’m pretty sure his name was) Don. At some point Sergeant Don noticed me sitting there and I asked if I could pull the lanyard. He nodded and I may have pushed the other guy out of the way after leaping from my perch on the pit wall en route to the gun. They were setting defensive targets at the time, not a real fire mission so amateurs were welcome to participate. Defensive Targets, aka ‘Delta Tango’s’ were typically set by infantry patrols (in the field) before it got dark so they’d be ready if Charlie tried to swoop in under the cover of darkness. They’d identify places where he’d be likely to hide and zero in on them while it was light. Then, if he did attack after dark, they’d simply call in ‘Target Beta’. That target would already be dialed in and high explosives would be on the target in under 60 seconds. Now I’ve got the lanyard in my grasp – I am pumped! Don makes eye contact and gives the command: “Fire.” I am only too happy to comply. B O O M ! THAT WAS FUN! I’m not used to having fun here. I’m pretty sure that was the first fun I’ve had since getting here. They make some adjustments, reload and Don gives the command again: “Fire.” Okay, I admit, I’m not thinking about the destruction this could cause – I’m thinking how cool it is to pull the trigger on this beast. More adjustments and another BLAST! A few more pulls and we’re done – the targets are set and I’ve got a new way to pass the time in the afternoons. Hoo-Ahh!Day 220
I’m on my own for day number three of R&R. I perused the hotel’s little collection of travel brochures for suggestions of things to see. The Botanic Gardens looked interesting. It was mid-morning when I arrived and the big park was all but empty. I’m thinking ‘great’ I’ve got the place to myself. As I’m going through the turn-style somebody suggested I might want to feed the chimpanzees. They were selling bags of peanuts in the shell for a buck and I thought, ‘sounds like fun’. It turns out the chimps were not in cages or behind fences – they were allowed to run free throughout the park. Well, that’s ‘different’, I thought. Sure enough, I get about 200 feet into the park and there’s a small band of about six chimps trotting towards me. Great! As they approached I thought I’d feed them from my hand. I hadn’t received any instruction or caution regarding their ‘feeding’ so I thought ‘why not’? I held out a single peanut in the palm of my right hand while clutching the bag near my chest with the left as the group’s leader got closer. He got within about 6 feet and suddenly, with zero hesitation, like a lightning strike, he lunged at me, deftly snatched the bag of peanuts from my left hand and raced away with the other chimps chattering their gleeful approval. For the split second he was lunging at me I couldn’t believe what was happening – I was totally taken off guard. By the time I reacted it was over. I chased after them and naturally, that was useless. It seemed as though no one had witnessed me getting outsmarted by an inferior species. I guess I should be thankful the only thing they injured was my pride.Day 237
Boring is where lazy intersects the unimaginative. Unboring isn’t complicated, it just requires a little ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. The sign above the entrance to our hootch was boring, ‘mil-spec’ dreck and I decided to do something about it. By then I had forgotten the ‘awning incident’. Before enlisting I had studied a little calligraphy – Mrs. Zahler set that ball in motion in 7th grade at Central Middle School. Naturally, we had learned how to print in first grade, but Zahler taught us the proper proportions of each letter and helped us/me to appreciate the importance of a uniform style. My dad valued fine penmanship and loved the elaborate, Old English typeface. He had introduced it to me long ago and produced a signpost with our family name in Old English. Then, a couple months before getting on the bus to basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, I met a guy who taught me how calligraphy was done with pen and ink. I bought a book of typefaces and a set of pens and had learned how to use them. I took down the signboard above our hootches’ door with glee, covered it with a bright, red enamel and painted my old English ‘D’ in contrasting white ‘free hand’. Then, I added the decorative, psychedelic filigree, ‘elta’ to its center and the word ‘supply’ underneath.