In the Army Now - The joy of the Armed ForcesI've never been a soldier. I was an air cadet once, but that mostly involved sitting in a mouldy hut learning about aeroplane engines with the hint that one day we might go flying.
Yet, anyone who has spent time defending their nation, or at least drinking bromide-laced-tea for their nation, must have stories to tell. Tell them now.
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chthonic, Thu 23 Mar 2006, 18:26)
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Not funny, but memorableMy name's certainly not Gareth, but I am in the TA and have been for a little under 3 years ago now. My limited service has like many of us included a 6 month holiday with lots of sand (and shit).
The really side splitting things are those that just won't work in the retelling, you really have to be there, but there are a few memorable experiences of my service so far.
- Experiencing your first incoming rocket attack. The "fuck me they really are trying to kill me" feeling that gets the blood flowing.
- Having an old Iraqi chap say thanks. He'd managed to go to the Hajj that year for the first time.
- Sitting on the roof of Basrah Palace at night when a fireball goes up in the city (suicide bomber)
- Trying to shoot straight from a moving vehicle (just practicing, I never fired in anger) while bouncing through the desert with a driver who things he's Colin McRae, and not hitting a sausage (or even a barn door had there been one)
- Getting pins and needles in your entire body with heat stress, cos it's your first day and it's 49 degrees, and bugger me, this just isn't at all funny.
- Having the lowest speed car chase ever! Me in a landrover being chased by an Airport fire truck who was pissed that I overtook him.
- And finally, the best feeling in the world. Stepping off the tristar at the end of your 6 months. It may have been 4am and raining, but I was home.
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ChiefWiggum typing random stuff, Mon 27 Mar 2006, 23:22,
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