The bright, yellow moon speckles the ground as it pings through the leaves of massive oak and maple trees. Crickets sing and the mild wind swirls around, encouraging the song of those leaves. I hear the crunch underfoot of heavy boots; the heavy weight of my pack is barely noticeable as I walk behind the tall pace counter. Behind me is the continual "oomph" of Addie House, a very young 16-year-old Freshman in the ROTC class whose whole desire in life is to prove to her older brother that she belongs exactly where she is right now.
It is beyond me, however, how with moon as bold and bright as it is, that she can't see where she is going. I know the M-16A1 that rests in her two hands is cumbersome and the pack is awkward but for the life of the poor girl, she can not take two steps without tripping over something.
The day before, we sat in the woods of Standing Stone State Park in Tennessee; all 12 of us in a long line. John Stone paced in front of us with a grenade in his hand. This Ranger Week class was teaching us the fundamentals of throwing grenades and running from them when thrown. Although I am absolutely positive that skill didn't need to be learned.
Addie and I sat beside each other, smack in the center of that line. When Ranger Stone stopped pacing between two enormous oak trees - bearing down with a growl to emphasize the importance of handling live weapons - he yanked the pin out. Squeezing the safety lever to the body of the round, green mini-bomb, he placed the grenade into the hand of the first person in line. Scot Marcin, a future roommate of mine, looked up in horror and beared down on the safety lever in exactly the same way. Stone had just finished explaining how the grenade will not go off as long as the safety lever is held down. This was his way of proving it.
Among the green and brown of the mountainous terrain, we passed the fat little thing up and down a couple of times, each of us ensuring to keep the parts that were supposed to be touching, touching. After a bit, Stone took it back and kept barking at us about safety. Then he placed the grenade in Addie's hand. I do not remember a single word he said after that. Her hand shaking uncontrollably, Addie squeezed the thing with both hands as she stared at it with terror. I gulped and could not stop watching her. I'm pretty sure even the birds stopped singing.
All of a sudden, Stone rips the grenade from her hand and throws it to the underbrush behind him. All of us, 10 boys and 2 girls, spring to life and sprint in the opposite direction. At one point, we all hit the deck with our legs crossed and mouths open but Stone was laughing so hard, the panic didn't last long. The "ping" that sounded from the grenade clued us to his little joke. Sim rounds aren't dangerous, even in the hands of a scared, little teenager two years too young for college.
It is beyond me, however, how with moon as bold and bright as it is, that she can't see where she is going. I know the M-16A1 that rests in her two hands is cumbersome and the pack is awkward but for the life of the poor girl, she can not take two steps without tripping over something.
The day before, we sat in the woods of Standing Stone State Park in Tennessee; all 12 of us in a long line. John Stone paced in front of us with a grenade in his hand. This Ranger Week class was teaching us the fundamentals of throwing grenades and running from them when thrown. Although I am absolutely positive that skill didn't need to be learned.
Addie and I sat beside each other, smack in the center of that line. When Ranger Stone stopped pacing between two enormous oak trees - bearing down with a growl to emphasize the importance of handling live weapons - he yanked the pin out. Squeezing the safety lever to the body of the round, green mini-bomb, he placed the grenade into the hand of the first person in line. Scot Marcin, a future roommate of mine, looked up in horror and beared down on the safety lever in exactly the same way. Stone had just finished explaining how the grenade will not go off as long as the safety lever is held down. This was his way of proving it.
Among the green and brown of the mountainous terrain, we passed the fat little thing up and down a couple of times, each of us ensuring to keep the parts that were supposed to be touching, touching. After a bit, Stone took it back and kept barking at us about safety. Then he placed the grenade in Addie's hand. I do not remember a single word he said after that. Her hand shaking uncontrollably, Addie squeezed the thing with both hands as she stared at it with terror. I gulped and could not stop watching her. I'm pretty sure even the birds stopped singing.
All of a sudden, Stone rips the grenade from her hand and throws it to the underbrush behind him. All of us, 10 boys and 2 girls, spring to life and sprint in the opposite direction. At one point, we all hit the deck with our legs crossed and mouths open but Stone was laughing so hard, the panic didn't last long. The "ping" that sounded from the grenade clued us to his little joke. Sim rounds aren't dangerous, even in the hands of a scared, little teenager two years too young for college.
