GruntSGT mentioned in the comments that he was going to try to remember the good times abut serving. I, instead, flashed on my most miserable day this 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month this 11th year.<\/p>\n
it was at Fort Polk, LA during the winter of 1974-75. I was on the cusp of graduating to AIT from basic training. Being Louisiana, it was raining and it was freezing cold. In the morning, we stood in the rain waiting for an opportunity to familiarize with the M2 50-caliber machine gun, which should have been exciting, but the firing positions were filled with rain water and to fire the guns, we had to sit in the near-freezing water.<\/p>\n
Of course, having anticipated the weather, I wore my wool longjohns, which were now soaked and clung to my rosy-pink skin. Ok, time for a 7-mile march to the next range in wet boots and soaked wool drawers. <\/p>\n
The next range was a demonstration of the Army’s new TOW missiles. So we climbed into the bleachers which faced right into an icy unremitting wind with no where to hide from the freezing blasts. My tiny 127-pound frame became an icicle. After three hours of that torture, it was time for lunch…finally something to restore my body heat. <\/p>\n
We eagerly lined up by the Meramite cans only to discover that our luncheon fare was going to be liver.<\/p>\n
There were decades of miserable days ahead for me during my military career, people shooting at me, riding the German autobahns in Winter with my stupid face sticking out of the commander’s hatch, the slide-for-life into an iced-over pond in December, choking down monkey meat at JOTC, but none of them rise to the “perfect storm” of the misery on that day in Fort Polk. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"