Toward the Gap!

I just spent the last three weeks at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri re-classing to MOS 21C.  I’ll admit this course was pretty tough.  Not so much on the academic side, but more in the fact that it was a “dry course”.  Yes folks, NO LIKKER, NO BEER while under orders for school instruction on FLW.  BULLOCKS!!  A pirate is only 1/4 the man without his daily ration of rum.  Alas, there was nothing I could really do about it facing the possibility of not receiving my DA Form 1059.  It has happened there before.  Thanks to three weeks of nairy a drop, I’m writing this update in a haze of two whole beers.  Again, BULLOCKS!

I cannot honestly say I did not have my fair share of fun during the course.  We learned AT and AP mines, worked with mine (metal) detection systems, primed and detonated explosives (TNT, C4, Shaped and Cratering Charges, Bangalore Torpedoes, and all the MDF associated with their detonation.  Following the ‘splodey stuff was bridging.  The ribbon bridge was first.  Two days were spent in the water on boats and sections of aluminum float bridge sections, their deployment, connection, and removal from the water.  We got PLENTY wet. 

After our time on the water, we moved to dry land for Bailey, Medium Girder, and Dry Support Bridges.  The Bailey Bridge was the easiest, yet oldest bridge still in use in the inventory.  Everything was metal, dangerous, and heavy.  Yet, took the least time and less effort than the next two bridges taught in the curriculum.  The next day, with sore muscles, we got after the Medium Girder Bridge (MGB).  While the parts were lighter than the Bailey, they required lifting many of the components anywhere from waist high to well over one’s head.  This action tired even the younger, stronger soldiers on the crews.  Needless to say, it kicked my ass.  Not having rum to numb the aches and knots of age and had work made it worse. 

The final bridge was the Dry Support Bridge (DSB).  This bridge required the least amount of physical work, fewest numbers of soldiers, and least equipment.  HOWEVER, the DSB needs the longest PMCS (1.5 days for a thorough by the book PMCS), has more that could go wrong than anything I’ve ever seen.  There must be 8 miles of hydraulic hose and electrical cables on this beast.  The idea is valid but the execution is taxing.  If one step is skipped, you’re going to break something, or kill somebody.  Piece of SHIT.  I’d like to have just 1/10th of the commission check earned by the UK prick who sold the Army this clusterf%$k. 

Anywho, after all is said and done, I survived the course, received first-time-go’s at all stations, and am now the proud wearer of the Engineer Corps Insignia on my uniform.  As usual the colorful cast of classmates has not changed in it’s diversity since I first raised my right hand to swear into the military.  Good times were had, memories made, and friendships built. 

ESSAYONS!