What is your name again? | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: What is your name again? | Previous Challenge Entry
By richard coffey Jr.
01/19/09
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Where are you from again?

I was on my tour of duty at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The battery commander had sent for me. I heard the First Sergeant yell from his desk into the hall way, is that Sergeant C. Every one smiled knowing I was not looking forward to my meeting with my Chain of Command. I stepped into the office to face the First Sergeant’s desk and sitting next to him was a man that looked like a collage football player. He had a strange uniform on and was holding a strange hat. The First Sergeant stood and introduced the man as Captain John Darby. He was from Australia and was going through some specialized training. The man gripped my hand and almost twisted my arm off. The Battery Commander stepped in from his office and informed me I would be driving and escorting Capt. Darby the next three weeks. I wanted to roll my eyes and stomp my feet but I didn’t. The Australian Captain would be going with me in the field to test other Officers in land navigation and map reading. I had been working on a course in which I could test officers and Non- Commissioned Officers in their skills in the field. Land navigation and Map reading are a very important part of military training. The field or down range as we often called it in Oklahoma, was a dry, hot place with cactus, red ants and rattle snakes. It was like going to another world and I loved it. I would rather be there than any where. Every one knew I was at home in the boonies and that I hated the barracks life. I would catch rattle snakes and peel their skin off then cut them up in bit sized morsels to deep fry in a pan over an open fire. I thought I had the outback way of life down till Capt. Darby came into my life. On our first day in the field Capt. Darby showed me and talked me through some amazing stuff. He described the world he came from Coober Pedy in living color. The most amazing thing though was the day we came across a Military Ambulance that tried to cross a creek during a flash flood. The driver had no idea how fast the current was and the ambulance was taking on water fast. There was no one to help but us so we went into action. The ambulance was slowly turning sideways and we thought if we didn’t get the drivers out soon they would drown. We had no rope and it was too risky to try and make our way to the doors of the vehicle. Capt. Darby remembered passing a rifle range a mile back that had used a steel cable between the parking lot and the firing range. I drove back to it and we unbolted the 200ft cable from one end and pulled it through the post. Then we bolted it to the back of the jeep and pulled it back to the ambulance. By this time the driver and co-driver were on top of the ambulance with looks of terror on their faces. Capt. Darby ran back to the far end of the cable and brought it up to a tree that was leaning out over the once dry creek bed. He told me to hand him the end of the cable as soon as he was in the tree. He climbed on up in a flash and was soon out over the raging temporary river. I tossed the end up to him and he caught it in three tries. He then lay down on top of the limb wrapping his legs around the limb for support. Capt. Darby began to swing the end of the cable towards the driver. Soon the driver had the cable in hand. Darby yelled over the noise, “wrap the cable cross ways around your shoulder and waist”. The driver did this and then Capt. Darby had me take up the slack while he held the cable. I pulled the drivers one at a time across current to safety with the jeep. At last we had both drivers on dry land .
I don’t know a lot about Australia other than what Captain Darby told me in those few weeks. But I grew to respect him as a fellow soldier. I suspect Australia has a lot of good soldier in it ranks.

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