“May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”


"This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people . . . better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." ~ Captain Malcom Reynolds

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Art doesn't imitate life, it copies it!

OK - first enjoy today's User-Friendly strip:


Now I told you that, to tell you this...

Way-back-when in my misbegotten but enjoyable youth I was at a particular military training school doing lots of fun things. As part of the training phase we were in there was a great deal of PT (physical training), swimming, running and the sort - to include twice-weekly trips around a very challenging obstacle course. One of the obstacles on said course was a suspended cargo net about 40 feet high or so - you climbed up one side, went over the top & down the other. As obstacles go it wasn't particularly challenging (unless one had a fear of heights,) and it was early enough in the course you normally weren't too burnt out yet to have any issues on it.

I said "normally".

One day in particular we just weren't having fun. I don't know if it was just a mood, if we were really all that screwed up as the instructors claimed or what - but we must have done that course ten times at least - at the tail end of an already long day. Quite frankly, as a class we were spent. And we get told "Do it again, right this time!" as we all line up for another go.

So, one of our officers in the class starts his go - first few obstacles aren't a problem, then he hits the cargo net... and about 3/4 of the way up his arms just completely give out on him. Yep, he falls - and when he lands it isn't even anything close to graceful, it's a purely horizontal back-flop onto the sand. I swear I heard the impact from the other side of the course & it looked like something out of a Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon.

Miraculously, he then manages to get up and stagger to the side - no broken bones, just some really, really nice bruises and pulled muscles...

(honestly, I AM approaching the point here)

So - everyone, instructors included, is more or less speechless at this point. We're all stunned by what we witnessed, amazed he's alive, and not even sure what is going to happen next.

And - before I can think about where we are, the instructors who are listening, or any common sense, I blurt out while looking at him "Damn Ensign XXX - we're going to have to call you HANO from now on - High Altitude, No Opening." The only reason I lived is the instructors all thought it was hilarious too.

Now, I have it on good authority that nickname stuck with him for the remainder of his military career. I'd like my royalties now that it's in comics please!

2 comments:

Rev. Paul said...

Heck, if we got royalties for all the nicknames we bestowed on junior officers, we could retire!

Dori said...

The nicknames we gave our JO's weren't quite as original...I'm pretty sure every LtJg pilot who plowed an EP-3 into a cement runway barrier was nicknamed "Crash"...