The Chain

Posted By Blackfive

More on the two degrees of separation in the military...

I'm in school on alternating Fridays and Saturdays at the University of Illinois' Executive MBA program.  While I'm enjoying being in school, grad school is defintely tougher the second time around now with two kids.

Anyway, my study group is all vets.  Three are *cough* pilots.  One was actually featured in some articles here (but won't point them out because I haven't asked him about printing his name) about Iraq.  Funny thing - we're getting our study groups established last September and I'm looking at this guy's name tag.

"You a pilot?"

"Yep"

I give his rank and unit.  He looks at me like I'm CID or something.  And then I tell him about my blog and a series I did about his unit.  Now that I think about it, I should have told him I wrote a series for the "Advocate" about hottie Blackhawk pilots.

Anyway, the second pilot in our group used to fly my team around Turkey and Iraq.  We were in the same study group for almost six months before we figured it out (last week).  I used to flip off the fly boys from Zakho or Silopi so I asked him if a First Lieutenant ever gave him the finger from the ground...he was also a member of this unit that lost two birds and some of my friends.

So, small world.  I'm always amazed at how small it really is...

And, it was my birthday a few weeks ago and one of my former staff sergeants comes into the city to take me to Sullivan's for Scotch and Cigars.  This is where I find out that one of my former E-4 Counter-Intel Agents/Weenies is now the First Sergeant of our old company and they are getting ready to deploy somewhere dangerous.

That night, I was feeling much older but secure in the knowledge that my Army is in good hands...the chain remains intact.

---

Mission: To protect and promote the reputation and dignity of America's Warriors.
Join us!

Comments

The Chain

More on the two degrees of separation in the military...

I'm in school on alternating Fridays and Saturdays at the University of Illinois' Executive MBA program.  While I'm enjoying being in school, grad school is defintely tougher the second time around now with two kids.

Anyway, my study group is all vets.  Three are *cough* pilots.  One was actually featured in some articles here (but won't point them out because I haven't asked him about printing his name) about Iraq.  Funny thing - we're getting our study groups established last September and I'm looking at this guy's name tag.

"You a pilot?"

"Yep"

I give his rank and unit.  He looks at me like I'm CID or something.  And then I tell him about my blog and a series I did about his unit.  Now that I think about it, I should have told him I wrote a series for the "Advocate" about hottie Blackhawk pilots.

Anyway, the second pilot in our group used to fly my team around Turkey and Iraq.  We were in the same study group for almost six months before we figured it out (last week).  I used to flip off the fly boys from Zakho or Silopi so I asked him if a First Lieutenant ever gave him the finger from the ground...he was also a member of this unit that lost two birds and some of my friends.

So, small world.  I'm always amazed at how small it really is...

And, it was my birthday a few weeks ago and one of my former staff sergeants comes into the city to take me to Sullivan's for Scotch and Cigars.  This is where I find out that one of my former E-4 Counter-Intel Agents/Weenies is now the First Sergeant of our old company and they are getting ready to deploy somewhere dangerous.

That night, I was feeling much older but secure in the knowledge that my Army is in good hands...the chain remains intact.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bfadb53ef00d8342fe89653ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Chain:

» H&I Fires* 2 Feb 2007 from Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..
Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. [Hey - trackbacks work again!] You're advertising... [Read More]