Yesterday on the training ride there is a place where we usually slow down as we turn from State Highway 441 onto a narrow road with a creek on one side and a steep tree-covered hill on the other. The hill is dark all the way up to a north-south ridge so if there is any sun it is bright on the top of the ridge and dark all the way down to where we ride the road. Just after we turned onto this road Matt Hollenbach said, "Neil, look up there, three deer, no four." I looked and there they were, right on the ridge line standing parallel to the road.
They were back-lit, standing still and silhouetted from their hooves to their horns. They could not be better targets if they wore orange vests with bulls-eyes. What I should have seen was how beautiful nature is here compared to the dust, rock and vermin that is nature in southern Iraq. But as I looked at the deer and the afternoon sun and the trees, my first thought was "Get off the ridge you idiots! One shot and you are dinner!"
I suppose it will take a while before my view of a natural scene does not include range, target description, and rules of engagement.
When I first returned to America after serving on the border in Germany, I would occasionally be driving along a country road and look at the fields and tree lines in front of me as fields of fire for a tank or see places where a tank could be "hull-down" with it's hull protected from direct fire but with a clear view for the gunner's sights.
Speaking of riding, I really prefer riding without an M-16A4 rifle on my back.
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will with the M16 you could have dinner.You ARE riding with your PT.BELT right.?? :)
ReplyDeleteI have been following your postings since about July of 2009 and they have helped me to understand some of the situations going on over in Iraq. It just so happen my adopted soldier was at the COB Adder during the same time period you were, and left shortly after you did - end of December. It helped me to understand some of the things he might have been going through and how to write to him to encourage him. And even now it is helpful to understand that a soldier doesn't just pick up where they left off when returning home.
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