Finished out most of the day with a bit of relief through the meds. Grabbed the poncho liner and sat in the chair with Seven Myths about Gun Control. I pretty much stayed there all afternoon and was even able to grab about an hours sleep before it was time to get dinner for the boys. Now I am up in the bedroom in the glider watching a movie and waiting for the next 30 minutes to go by so I can take my next meds and then it is off to sleep.
If you have never had a poncho liner it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is standard issue in the Army and as the name suggests it is an accessory to the poncho. No one I know ever used it like that though as it is perfect by itself and is light enough to use in warm weather without sweating to death and in the winter it will keep you toasty. It is the same material that field jacket liners and ECW pants liners are made from. I have four of them, including the original one I was issued some 16 years ago.
16 years, wow has it been that long? Seems like yesterday I was standing in the recruiters office and going to MEPS to do the physical. The memories of OSUT at Benning still fresh in my mind. I can feel the giant fans in the platoon bays still blowing across my face and I will always remember the smell of the chow hall in the mornings. The crisp autumn air of Georgia in October and the red clay that stains everything you own. The smell of gun powder hanging thick in the air after an afternoon on the ranges firing everything from the M-16A1 to the M-2 .50cal.
I was 17 when I enlisted and barely 18 when I finished OSUT and was sent to my first unit. I do not recall being scared but rather anxious at what awaited for me the next day. In the end I spent the next nine years in the Army (6 years) and National Guard (3 years).
I have been asked many times if I miss it, and I can only say that I am not so sure I miss the job (I was a grunt) but I do miss the camaraderie and my friends. Funny thing is I do not talk to one person I graduated High School with but I talk to a good 20-30 people that I served with over the years. In a strange twist of fate a very good friend of mine got out of the Army a few years after I did and we both landed in the same town. Small world as neither of us are from this town nor do we work in this town. After not seeing him for almost 8 years the conversation picked up like it had only been 1 day.
Ok, enough of the sentimental stuff.
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