Here it is. It’s about 2 am. Having a little trouble getting back to sleep. (Ziva, our cat, woke me up). What better time to regale you with another story or two from my youth. (yes, I had one, but it was a long time ago). This one was 63 years ago when I was a Brooklyn College Air Force ROTC cadet. Between junior and senior years, we cadets attended rather rigorous summer training at an Air Force Base. I went to Lockbourne AFB near Columbus, Ohio. (my first significant trip outside NYC).
Part of that training was a small taste of Air Force survival training at a scary place called Nelsonville, Ohio. A weekend that seemed like a year.
As our bus from the base approached our Nelsonville Hell, we saw a giant (about 6’6”. 250 lb ) sergeant in combat fatigues standing there with a snake wrapped around his neck and “REBEL” tattooed on his right arm. He started yelling profanities at us and ordering us To get the hell off the bus (we thought, “ oh s—t what did we get ourselves into?” After we were off, he continued to scream at us and ordered us to do some stupid things, like squat down and do a duck walk. And quack like a duck. After a couple minutes of making us do a duck walk, he screamed directly at me. “. I said, say Quack quack you idiot”. To which this Brooklyn smart ass responded, “ Quack quack, you idiot.”
I’ll pause here for y’all to get it.
Anyway, he wasn’t happy with me so he yelled, “ Gimme 50 poosh ups in da booshes”. I immediately complied, but couldn’t come close to 50 poosh ups anywhere.
That’s Nelsonville story one. You’ll have to ask if you want Nelsonville number 2. Yeah I got a bunch.