Only Me

Since I still feel weird talking about the actual FOB online, I thought I’d just write about some of my own stupidities of the past week. As it turns out, I’m a klutz – well, okay I already knew I had tendencies towards that with the whole lack of coordination (probably why I never really got into sports), but I definitely seem to have a talent for doing ridiculous stuff – never anything extreme enough to win an award like the Bent Coin*, just a series of lots of little incidents.

For example, at the beginning of this week, it must have been Sunday night, I woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason (it happens on occasion), so I rolled over to go back to sleep. In the process, I rolled straight into the wall, and hit my lip on the electrical siding (or whatever it is). After a silent curse, I went back to sleep, and then woke the next morning with a busted lip and dried blood on my teeth. At least I didn’t fall off the bed. I got a package from my parents in the mail the next day with a big Illini pillow – I’m using it as padding to prevent this from happening again.

Last night, I was leaving my room when the door handle broke off in my hand. The door sticks, so I’ve had to pull and rattle quite a bit in the past, and apparently the door just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call my platoon sergeant on the radio to let me out of my room so I could use the bathroom. Luckily, our RNU (no clue what that stands for, but he’s in charge of handling all the work orders and repairs for the company) had a few extra door handles in the connex – looks like maybe this has occurred before.

* The Bent Coin: My Battalion back in Germany had monthly (give or take a few weeks) Hail and Farewells. This is an opportunity to greet the new leadership coming to the battalion, say goodbye to the ones leaving, and generally socialize with each other (/make fun of/ put on the spot – before my first Hail and Farewell, I was told I had to memorize the Transportation Corps Creed as part of being hailed – it was my initiation). At the end of the evening, the Bent Coin would be awarded, and people would tell funny, ridiculous, partially true stories about their friends. After a vote, whoever had the best story and behaved the most foolishly, would receive the Bent Coin for safekeeping for the month. One of the LTs in my company won it when his car got stuck in the snow and the Company Commander and First Sergeant had to push him out, for example. Other units have similar traditions – a guy I knew in 2ID had to been awarded the Broken Tomahawk right before they deployed and had to pack it with all his other stuff.