spimf has reminded me
I once worked with a former drill instructor for the US Army, a black guy in his early 50s or so. Nate was not a large man- I would guess him to be maybe 5' 7" tall at the most- and was invariably cheerful and easygoing. Hard to imagine him as a drill sergeant, really, despite the stories he told from when he was shipped to Viet Nam and how his unit got separated from the rest of the forces while behind enemy lines, and had to live off the land for two weeks surviving on things like jungle roaches. ("You had to eat 'em alive and you had to crunch 'em just right or they'd wiggle on the way down." He grinned at my expression. "Nothin' wrong with 'em- they're pure protein." To which I responded, "Yeah, well, so is jizz, but I'm not eating that either.")

Then one day he got a call from his wife, who had just caught their 17 year old son with a naked girl in his room. I would imagine that the girl, confronted by a devoutly religious black Baptist woman of heroic dimensions, knew that she only had one chance and took it- she jumped out of the bedroom window naked and ran.

Nate stood there listening to this on the phone, and his normal cheery baritone turned into a staccato bark as he told his wife that he would be RIGHT THERE. He hung up the phone and strode past me, and in that moment I saw the drill sergeant he had been, and was extremely glad that I was not the son who was going to have to face him.

I would imagine someone got dumped after that, but I never had the courage to ask him.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 10 Jun 2008, 19:28, 6 replies)

Poor girl/guy...
Feel rather bad for that couple... although I understand about it being parents house, their rules etc.

I'm secretly hoping they managed to keep at it in a more covert location!
(Potty Jag har smör i min rumpspringa, Tue 10 Jun 2008, 19:37, closed)

Well, I see it from Nate's perspective.
His son was 17, old enough to know better than to have sex in his own bedroom when there was a chance someone might walk in on them. He was also old enough to know how his mother would react, and too young to be screwing around anyway (in the eyes of a parent). If he was shagging there, in his bedroom, during a time when a) he was not supposed to be there and b) his mother might appear, he was openly inviting disaster.

Especially when your father is a grizzled black Viet Nam war veteran who has been a drill sergeant.

No, those kids were either far braver than I would be or extremely stupid. Were I to guess, I'd say that boy was in deep shit for the remainder of his time at home.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 10 Jun 2008, 19:55, closed)

DI's
As a Jarhead Office, I didnt have too many A-hole DI's, but while I was working on a movie, one of the historical directors for hte film was a Vietnam era USMC DI from Parris Island. He was about 5'2" tall and hard as coffin nails.

When September 11th happened, I have never seen a man so jacked up and wanting to start shooting people as that guy was. He was/is one of the coolest people I have ever known. But man, I would have HATED to have him as one of my DI's, even at OCS where life is nowhere near as hard as it is on the boots at PI!
( Citadel Because the world needs less morons, Tue 10 Jun 2008, 20:00, closed)

Nate was not an asshole by any means
but he was truly one of the hardest men I've ever met, I'm sure- he told me stories that were far worse than the jungle roach one. He had a very dry sense of humor and loved a prank as well as anyone I've known- he said that a favorite game was to get right in a recruit's face and scream something completely absurd at them, and if they laughed he'd make them do fifty pushups. ("Your bayonet is rusty! Do you have any idea what would happen if you stabbed someone with that?")

He wasn't mean, but he worked the recruits HARD. He wanted to make sure they'd survive when they left Basic.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 10 Jun 2008, 20:09, closed)

I originally read that
as "his 17 month old son", and wondered what the big deal was. Then I wondered if you meant that the girl was his babysitter and was going to abuse him in some way. Yay me for reading comprehension.
(chase, Tue 10 Jun 2008, 22:11, closed)

(headesk)
And yet some countries still have the temerity to consider torture and brainwashing immoral.
Feh.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Wed 11 Jun 2008, 14:17, closed)