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Featured_Grownups
Topic two for May is this:
Write a post about a time you received something you didn't deserve. (I know this sounds rather Christian in nature, but it isn't meant to be. If you choose to write about grace, fine, but don't feel tethered to that at all. It doesn't have to be a good thing at all even. The post doesn't have to be serious for that matter.)
I thought of lots of things, but the thing that immediately came to my mind was a trivial event that happened while in the army. Funny how we can sometimes strive to remember meaningful events in our lives, but trivial things can stick in your mind forever.
Once when I was a young private, we had an Inspector General (IG) inspection. I worked like a sonafagun getting everything ready. I had my foot and wall locker ready, the blankets on my bunk were so tight you could bounce a nickel, and my boots, shoes, and brass were shining like mirrors. It was almost time for the IG when my platoon sergeant came running up to me.
"Sullivan, change into your fatigue uniform and report to the motor pool on the double. A truck driver got sick and had to go to the dispensary, and since you're the assistant driver, you'll have to stand by the vehicle during the IG. The driver worked on the truck this morning, so it should be ready."
When I got to the motor pool, I checked the truck and found it in terrible shape. It had been washed, but that was it. Among other things, the engine was filthy, it was low on oil, the battery was cruddy, and a couple of tires were low. These were all things the IG would look for. I then knew why the driver was "sick."
First, I ran to get oil for the engine. I was in such a hurry that I spilled the oil all over the engine. I got some old rags and wiped all the oil off. I had no sooner finished wiping off the oil than the motor sergeant yelled "Stand by your vehicles."
I raised the hood, stood at attention by the truck, and awaited my fate. Probably extra duty for a week or something. The inspector approached my truck, and looked at the engine which was shiny from wiping off the spilled oil. He turned to the motor sergeant.
"Sergeant, no need to check this vehicle any further. One look at the engine tells me that this soldier has done an excellent job. This is the best vehicle I've see so far." He proceeded to the next vehicle.
I got a three day pass for having the best vehicle that day. If the inspector had looked any further, I would probably have gotten a royal butt chewing and extra duty.
There's a saying in the army that the more gigs an inspector finds, the more he looks for. There's another saying that you can never get perfectly ready for an inspection; the inspector will find discrepancies no matter how small, just to show that he found something. That ain't necessarily so, 'cause I've stood quite a few without a gig. But this was the first and only that I just plain lucked into passing.
I sure didn't deserve that three day pass. But I took it.
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| | Posted 5/20/2009 12:44 AM - 110 Views - 32 eProps - 21 comments
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