The Graduate

No, not the movie featuring Simon & Gurfunkle but my eldest boy's graduation from Basic at Fort Benning on Thursday. And I won't lie, it was emotional stuff, beginning with the walk to the Parade Field. Keep it together, parents.

That achieved, we appropriately ended up at the front with the Padre and on it went. I know many of you have done or witnessed this very thing so I won't go over the detail, but I was more than proud at the march past. Well done.

#2

We met up in front of the National Infantry Museum later and got a guided tour from the newly minted Private. He was enthusiastic and more than a little in awe of his ancestors, and rightly so. I thought seeing Goring's Baton was especially neat; encrusted with Luftwaffe diamonds, thank you very much. Well, hubris met nemesis and Carinhall is notoriously no more.

After the museum we headed out to a pleasant restaurant in Columbus, there is one, and then the Private navved us to the mall for a dose of something not military as well as an iPhone. After that it was on to Sandhill Gate for a tour of the boy's billet and training ground. It was good to see.

We ended up in the car park outside 2/47's compound where everyone got a chance to meet, greet and congratulate as incoming recruits were being beasted (smoked) by their Sergeants on the way to dinner. The graduates looked on with knowing amusement, they'd been there before.

The party ended at 1800 with a final formation in the rain, and we watched them till they marched off to a final night at Benning and their next assignment, AIT. 

I tell you, it was a great day. Well done, boys.

LSP

Just Strollin'.

Some things you take for granted, like walking the dog to the nearest Pick 'n Steal, then boom, disaster falls, you've got three screws in your upper femur and you can't walk. All of a sudden you start to appreciate simple things, like putting one foot in front of the other. That in mind, I took Blue Eschaton for a walk today, the first since a crazy Arab kicked me off her back.

The Meth Shack

We strolled through the bucolic avenues of this rural Texan haven via the Meth Shack, and it's doing well with seasonal decorations and a fearsome clown dressed in a camo onesie. Not be trifled with.

Note Water Offering

I waved at a couple of Shackers, who seemed a little bit worse for wear after a hard night on the meth, then ambled over to the Shamrock. The Shamrock's an Irish filling station, owned by Nepalese and staffed by Mexicans, right here in North Central Texas. Benefits of multiculturalism aside, they have good coffee and I got a "refill" while Blue Guard sat outside, it's a ritual. Then we headed for home under an increasingly glowering Lone Star sky.

Mission Accomplished

Back at the Compound it was all well done, mission accomplished! and it felt good to do something so simple as go out with the Blue again. Result. In other exciting news, the Cadet's on his last stretch of Basic, Blue Phase, and he's done well so far. 

How Lovely

Still, he has to pass a final APFT (fitness test) and a field exercise to graduate on schedule. I don't anticipate a fail in either but hey, accidents and all else besides... so fingers crossed. 

Your Finally Walking Pal,

LSP

Cadet Update

Far-sighted readers of this inconsequential mind-blog might recall that my eldest boy walked away from a life of Canadian basements and Scandanavian Death Metal to a life in the US Army and, presumably, yet more Death Metal. Good call, kid, and he's in Basic right now at Fort Benning. How's it going?

Well, it seems. The kid's in White Phase, which is all about weapons and fitness, and he shot "expert." The Cadet wrote, "I can shoot an M4, apparently." 

And so you should. No excuses, only results, not that there's any, ahem, parental pressure. He can also run, he tells me, which is important in the Infantry and a miracle given sheer laziness leading up to his ordeal in Georgia. But hey, 19 years old and ready to go, well done.

Some kids, he writes, are so unfit they have to be recycled through BCT again, how did they get past the recruiters? Quotas, I'd imagine. Regardless, the boy's doing well and respect, he's made a good turn 'round. I do not say that lightly.

Signals

Next step? Blue Phase and Graduation, I'll be driving over to the Army in Georgia for the occasion. Of course he's fixing to go jump school... easy tiger.

God bless,

LSP

Basic

Finally got a letter from the kid, who's cleverly found himself part of an Armored Brigade at Fort Benning. Such is Basic Training, and stick with it Kid.

He writes, "Zero Week was lame as hell, all we did was hang around and get uniforms. Now all we do is work out and stay tired."

You know what they say, train hard, think positive, fight easy. 

Go Panthers,

LSP

Boy's At Basic

Joining the US Army's quite a process. It took my eldest son, the Recruit, four months and I have to hand it to the recruiters, they kept the boy engaged. Given the nature of the teen beast, things could easily have turned out differently. 

But they didn't, and the kid shipped out to Fort Benning yesterday to be with the Army in Georgia; he  left a very soldierly(!) sounding message last night, excited to be on his way. Of course he has the pleasure of looking forward to this:

Well you know what they say, character building, and in the long term so much better than sitting around playing Death Metal, awesome as that is. So well done Recruit, get through Basic and evolve up.

More on this exciting story as it unfolds.

Go Army, 

LSP

Well Done Boy

I know, it's been a protracted deal and you've probably had enough. But hey, whoever said it'd be easy. That in mind, the eldest LSP boy swore-in yesterday and now belongs to USGOV.

Random Waylon

Well done, "Nodal Systems Networks" and all of that, following Basic at Benning in August. In the interim we mark time. How, riding, shooting, fishing, hunting? 

Suggestions please.

Cheers,

LSP

Storm Grill Army

Keen-eyed readers of this deep thinking mind blog will know that my eldest son, popularly known as "the Cadet", made the smart decision to join the US Army instead of a Scandinavian death metal band, in Canada. 

Don't get me wrong, both are good, but the Army probably makes more sense. So what's the score?

Typical Climate Change

Longish story short. The Cadet bravely ventured forth to a Dallas recruiter, got his packet made up, took a language aptitude test (D-Lab) at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) downtown and... the Army discovered he had to complete some extra paperwork before he could do his physical. 

Annoying but not a huge deal, so we fell back to the Compound and enjoyed the countryside and its storms. Yes, hail storms and the kind of climate change that says tornado, take cover. We took the opportunity to stand on the porch and watch it come down. Exciting, in an Ahab brave the elements kind of way.

Metrosprawl Compound Grill Scene. Note Mary Shrine

Then, papers complete, headed to the Metrosprawl to grill, celebrate a nineteenth birthday, and launch the kid at MEPS again. I dropped him off at the recruiters' this afternoon and they drove him to his date with destiny, but not before we spent all of yesterday getting his ears cleaned. 

What?!? You say in that shocked tone of voice. Yes, ears cleaned, that's because the quacks at MEPS turn people away if they have too much wax in their ears. 

Have to see all of the ear drum, you see, and if they don't the unfortunately waxy child has to leave MEPS, see an an Army sanctioned ear shaman for a 5 minute ear scrape that could've been done at MEPS, and then return to MEPS, mission complete.

Does that reek to you of low-level, bit part skulduggery? It does to me, and imagine how much money someone's raking in from all those ear wax referrals. It'd soon mount up to a nifty shamanic faux mansion somewhere in Plano.

Regardless, the boy's now in the caring hands of Uncle Sam and, all things equal, should pass his physical tomorrow. If so, in a couple of weeks off to Basic, and I respect that. 

Good call, kid, and his plan's simple if not easy. Go Signals, get a degree, get a commission, get a sword, and then set up on some compound, grill, and play Scandinavian death metal.

Good luck with all of that, Cadet, and with MEPS tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

Oh what a carry on!

LSP