Some of the
information given here may seem choppy or inconclusive. This is a “running blog” and a continuation
of a much greater story. You are
encouraged to go to the main web-site to catch-up or read previous blogs. These blogs tell the story of Christian
I (100% DAV, homeschooling pastor-dad with
M.S.) and Christian II (son 3 years old
-T1 diabetic)-BOTH TRYING TO RAISE MONEY FOR SERVICE DOGS!
BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com
Christian I - (This Army narrative began back in the
“flashback??” Blog from last week.) Presently, we were being held captive by
the POGS, and we had them going for quite some time with a completely
fabricated story about how "my buddy -needed his pills to survive".
If you remember, we were there for the purpose of training these non-infantrymen
(POGS) to handle a real-time combat situation! We were lying (acting), but this
was the standard operating procedure during this type of training scenario.
So did they let us go? I remember that for about 2 min. they
seriously thought about it -LOL. Now here is where our second character comes
in. SPC Ackley could not contain himself
any longer! When he saw the command sergeant major scratching his head, and
believing this nonsense – he just lost it. He started chuckling with this belly
laugh, where his whole body jiggled. That set off a chain reaction, and SSG X and
myself (also on the verge of laughing) completely lost it!
I wish you could've seen how embarrassed they all were! A
skinny little command sergeant major got so angry that he walked up to SPC
Ackley (who was a 225 pound gorilla – but still tied up), flipped him over and
put his combat boot on the back of Ackley’s neck! I remember him saying
something like, "you think that's funny white boy?". Good training!
I also remember, when that little man turned around and saw
the rest of us infantrymen glaring at him, he quickly -but uprightly- left the
area. After "the show" was over, I think they just wanted to show how
strong they were by keeping this there for a few more hours – dirty pool man.
Soon, those guards that were trying so hard to keep us as prisoners – opened
the gates, and just walked away leaving us there. "I guess that means we
can go", I said.
After every mission, we have what's called an AAR (After
Action Report). During this time there is no more role-playing. The leaders of
the soldiers that we are training up assemble together with our platoon, and we
go over every movement, observation, and make all sorts of prescriptive
remarks. It only took about an hour. But, I remember the part that had
everybody rocking was when Mabry and I reported on the activities from the
night before. Honestly, it was so much fun as they called the soldiers in
charge of those 50 caliber machine guns, and reamed them out! (The POGS were
all so clueless!) Good training!
After everything was finished, and we were free to go, we
walked back about 300 yards, over the area where Mabry and I crawled through
just the night before (really cool feeling) – and the platoon disappeared into
the wood line…
This mission was very special to me because there were many
things I learned that changed the way I operated as a soldier but, there are
many more noteworthy things from the Infantry that I could I write about (as I’m
sure most veterans could) - Please give me feedback on this blog, even one word
showing the topic about what you want me to write about (military, childhood,
city, Trinity, sales, Jesus…you pick). FYI- I feel miserable today and have a
military friend coming over for dinner (who will not let me cancel). GOOD
TRAINING! Sixteen years later and I’m still training! Praise God! I wouldn’t
have it any other way.
Christian II – Little man is sitting on my lap again, but
today he’s miserable also. He’s still smiling and playing but he was screaming
through the night with high blood sugar and moderate keytones. Simon (the
service dog) definitely could have helped. Please pray for my son.
God bless you friend... :)IT IS A "THUMBS DOWN" DAY ...
