OK. Here is a quick story from my Army days. Wait, let me rephrase. From my reserve component days. I might bounce around a bit, so hopefully this will all come together and make sense. I joined the Army Reserves when I was 17. I have pretty much always been a small guy and it actually took me 2 tries to get in the Army. I didn't make it the first time because I was actually under-weight. I think I was given about 2 weeks to gain about 10-12 pounds and then come back to MEPs and try again. Second time, I made the weight minimum. I'm in the Army now!
Fast forward through basic training. I come home from Ft. Benning to my new home in Fountain NC. I went to basic training for infantry. Well guess what? There isn't a Reserve infantry unit within 50 miles. So I wound up getting assigned to a field artillery unit in Rocky Mount. So after hanging out with field artillery for a couple years, it turns out that my unit will be "deactivated" due to military downsizing. Clinton was president; enough said. So I was given the choice to change MOS (job) or switch to the National Guard and hopefully not have to re-train for a new MOS. It turns out that there was actually an infantry National Guard unit in Tarboro. So I went ahead and switched over to the Guards and back into the infantry.
Even though I have been in NC for a couple years, it was still a little challenging adjusting to a new unit. But during the time I was in Rocky Mount and Tarboro, I had noticed something - it really bothered people that I didn't talk. I was all the time asked, "you don't talk much, do you?" No, no I don't. When I was in Tarboro, I found out that this actually scares some folks. There were a few black guys that actually told me, "Williammee, you a scary white dude. You look like you could just kill somebody." What? Ok, whatever. I didn't think much about it. Then later when I was home, I realized that a little guy like me was able to intimidate some big black dudes. During my time in, nobody ever gave me a hard time or hassled me.
I was in this unit for about 6 years. We had a good deal of camaraderie. Of course, there were a few assholes (they were white guys, believe it or not). But somehow I managed to gain respect from the other guys that I supposedly scared the shit out of. The last few years while I was in the Guards I somehow managed to become a "cool white dude". All this, just from not talking.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
I'll Try To Remember
Seems that I haven't done this in a while. Duh...you say.
Fall semester was fairly interesting. I took 4 classes and got A's in all 4. Whenever I have been enrolled full time that has NEVER happened before. I have a feeling it won't happen again though. I am a little bitter that I did not get any recognition from ECU from getting straight A's. I thought they sent some letter or something or there was some kind of honor roll/Deans list crap. Oh well.
I think I may start doing something a bit different in my pitiful little blog. I seem to have a tough time remembering stuff from when I was younger. I'm going to try to put down some stuff that I do remember. Then maybe, It will help me remember other crap. I'm not sure how far back I will be able to go. It will probably be a bunch of stuff when I was out on my own.
Lately, I've been checking out some of the pictures that we have save to our external hard drive. I think that's where the inspiration came from to do this. I wish digital cameras were around when I was a kid. I'm not sure where the pics of me are when I was small (not that there that many to begin with).
I will just leave this post with a couple pictures of the house I grew up in. These were taken when my wife and I went to Wellsboro in February 2006 for my grandma's funeral. It had probably been since I graduated high school when the last time I went to Wellsboro and I haven't been back since. I hate to say it, but I have no real desire to go back and visit. It seems most folks were smart enough to move far, far away or just didn't really do anything with themselves (from what little I've seen and heard). It's weird looking at these pictures and thinking that this has been somebody elses house for like 15 years and that I used to live in a house like that!
Fall semester was fairly interesting. I took 4 classes and got A's in all 4. Whenever I have been enrolled full time that has NEVER happened before. I have a feeling it won't happen again though. I am a little bitter that I did not get any recognition from ECU from getting straight A's. I thought they sent some letter or something or there was some kind of honor roll/Deans list crap. Oh well.
I think I may start doing something a bit different in my pitiful little blog. I seem to have a tough time remembering stuff from when I was younger. I'm going to try to put down some stuff that I do remember. Then maybe, It will help me remember other crap. I'm not sure how far back I will be able to go. It will probably be a bunch of stuff when I was out on my own.
Lately, I've been checking out some of the pictures that we have save to our external hard drive. I think that's where the inspiration came from to do this. I wish digital cameras were around when I was a kid. I'm not sure where the pics of me are when I was small (not that there that many to begin with).
I will just leave this post with a couple pictures of the house I grew up in. These were taken when my wife and I went to Wellsboro in February 2006 for my grandma's funeral. It had probably been since I graduated high school when the last time I went to Wellsboro and I haven't been back since. I hate to say it, but I have no real desire to go back and visit. It seems most folks were smart enough to move far, far away or just didn't really do anything with themselves (from what little I've seen and heard). It's weird looking at these pictures and thinking that this has been somebody elses house for like 15 years and that I used to live in a house like that!
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