Since we didn't fly the night before it created an opportunity. We got to sleep in. I did just that. As a matter of fact, I slept right through breakfast. No problem though - I just went to "Green Beans". If you are scratching your head I'll explain. Green Beans is found on every FOB. It's an ersatz version of Starbucks. After getting dressed I walked over to the food court. I'm wearing my ACUs, the stage is set. Green Beans was empty except for two enlisted AF females. They were wearing PT uniforms (which for the AF looks like AF Academy cheerleading outfits). I knew they were enlisted though, having seen them previously. I ordered my coffee. The two girls had ordered some kind of special latte/espresso/whatever drinks (typical AF, plain coffee won't do). Another AF female enlisted walked in and joined the other two. They were all giggling like coeds at a slumber party.The two who ordered drinks went over to the milk and sugar counter. While I waited for them to get out of my way the third AF airman said, "hey I think you two are in his way." The airman closest to me looked right at me and said, "oh, sorry dude." Keep in mind that my rank (LTC) is clearly displayed on my ACUs. I looked at her and said, "did you just call me dude?" Without even batting an eye she said, "yeah, why?" I was just about to unload both barrels on her when the wheels in her brain housing group suddenly aligned. "Oh I'm sorry sir!" She exclaimed as her face turned beet red. I let it go at that. It's not the first time (nor the last) that I will encounter AF-style professional military courtesy. Inside I was laughing my ass off.
Later on I met my team for lunch at the DFAC. This gave rise to another goofy moment. Some of you reading this may not remember the day when soda and beer cans opened with a pull-tab. Back in the day, every can had one of these instead of the pull-down opener you see on cans today. Pull-tabs were banned as a choking hazard because most people would drop them into the can after opening. Well sodas canned under license locally still have pull-tabs. Now back to the story.... I was drinking a locally canned Mountain Dew. For whatever reason I was playing around with the pull-tab while we chatted. Well they aren't only a choking hazard. I sliced the shit out of my thumb on the stupid thing. Like any guy would do I just kept right on talking - pretending that nothing had happened. In the meantime I'm scrambling for napkins to soak up the blood. It became obvious to my team that I'd cut myself. That opened the floodgates for joking potshots about the purple heart. I laughed about that. Something I take great comfort in is that my team laughs together a lot. My thumb will survive.
We did finally make it out of FOB Warrior. Our C130 departed after midnight. I'm writing this from back at the office in Anaconda. It's short lived though. There are plenty of missions upcoming.
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