today’s Veteran writing workshop we had Terre, Gina, Rick, Adam, Patrick and myself, along with our writing coach Leilani

Gina came up with the prompt of a military experience with some kind of dramatic episode of weather

“aclimatized”

the long flight to the P.I. the Philippines

it was that air cooled jet in the class A’s

green slacks, khaki brown shirt, and a pfc chevron and of course the cover

off the jet took the breath out of most

i am a very conditioned Marine, and it almost took mine too

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no snow in sight

just hot as hell

and the first formation

that black tar cooking

the asphalt sticky to the bottom of our boots

in our jungle UTE’s if you had them

low man on the totem pole, next to last

and it is a good thing

at least during one fortuitous event for the last Marine

knees locked, but supposed to be bent so they won’t buckle

but i did fine in every formation

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this the first one

watching all the boots sway

i was one of them, a boot, but was not swaying

in formation, there is a rule

do not move, stand at attention, or at ease as commanded, but do not move, do not break formation

watching the young Marines sway, the peripheral vision captured the Marine to the right and left flanks

left flank Marine, he was getting more and more unstable

swaying like a tree, now he was rocking further and further out both ways from the formation

he was going down, with a swift movement, i snatched him about 3 feet to the ground

still in formation, i brought him up, and signaled to him to buckle the knees, until they dismissed us.

it was a couple minutes later, which seemed to be forever

water was the simple remedy to bring the young Marine back

he was the example of what not to do

don’t lock the knees like i did, unless you are squared away and conditioned

aclimatized

i acclimated well

but some things you cannot acclimatize to

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typhoons are one such thing

another act of nature where it is not really possible to aclimatize

you may see six, to 12 inches in less than an hour

the winds can reach 75 mph

you cannot see your outstretched hand

and no matter how much rain gear, you cannot stay dry

12:57:23

acimatize that