Overheard Item #1

If you've noticed that this post was written mere hours after the last one, you're proabably wondering just what kind of a cake walk I'm doing here at OBC, given that I seem to have all this extra time to work on the computer. What's really going on is that for the next 45 minutes, I'm stranded in our academy building between the end of my last class and a formation at which I'm basically required, with the rest of my group, to go outside in the hot sun, line up in formation have our platoon leader say, "Have a good one, suckers!" and then go home. Could this have been accomplished without the 45 minute wait? Yeah, you would think so, but we have student leadership around here to organize (or fail to get organized, which is more often the case) these sorts of logistical issues. Anyway, I figure I have just enough time to pass on at least one of the funny things I overheard today that made me laugh. And laugh and laugh. Overheard Item #1 occurred as I was leaving the track after the test this morning. If you read the previous post, you know that there was an early PT group, and a late PT group. As we were leaving around 6:20 A.M., the "late group" was just lining up. The only people who were not part of either group were people who have what we call a "profile" which is basically a doctor's excuse to get out of doing the required fitness tests because you're injured, or sick, or whatever. Anyway, one guy, an M.D. who's roughly my age, is part of the late PT group. He's standing around with eight or ten other people waiting to take the test and he says, "Well, last night I seriously considered writing myself a profile...." causing all of our ears to perk up, at which point he says, "unfortunately, though, my diagnosis was fat." Buh duh da. That, the Army will not buy as an excuse, I'm afraid. In fact, they will go the extra mile to, um, encourage you by enrolling you in the Army weight control program, which just sounds unpleasant, and from what I hear, lives up to its billing. For the most part, though, I think that people did pretty well and I know that we're all really relieved to have the first hurdle out of the way.