So, today was a big day.
I woke up nice and early, put a few coats of Kiwi Parade Gloss and Neutral on my Jump Boots. Then I shaved and took a shower. I put on my tired old Dress Uniform, which has served me faithfully for many years, and went to work. Today was the March promotion board for my battalion.
There were four of us, all gussied up waiting for our turn to impress some of the senior NCOs and convince them that we were ready for promotion. They do candidates for Sergeant first, then candidates for Staff Sergeant, in alphabetical order. So, being a Higgins going for Staff Sergeant (when the other one is Guerrero), I went last. The first kid comes out, looking pretty confident. The next kid comes out looking a bit shell shocked. SGT Guerrero comes out on the verge of tears.
Now, at this point, I am a little nervous. I hadn't studied. I mean, I know most of the stuff, and I've done close to a dozen boards in my career, be they my first promotion board or a ton of soldier of the month boards, but still. And my uniform. It has seen better days. It's my original from back in November of 2001. It's had three different unit patches on it, three different rank patches, different awards and decorations have tiny holes from the pins across it. It's a bit faded, there is a small tear in the arm. I'm a bit nervous now. Everyone is coming out looking like they were Tokyo and the Senior NCOs were Godzilla. So, like the paratrooper I am, I charged through the door with the image of total confidence, knowing that I can't turn around and leave and whatever they throw at me, I'll need to throw back tenfold.
And I nailed it. They told my sponsor that they threw confusing and hard questions out early to throw the candidates off and I wasn't fazed a bit. The reality was, I was like "what the fuck kind of question is THAT?" But you never let them KNOW you are thinking that.
In fact, the only gig I got was my uniform. They all agreed that I should probably replace it one of these days. I agree. I think we should be seeing the new uniforms soon and I'll probably do so then.
SO...
April 1st, I should be Staff Sergeant Higgins.
Yeah, who's bad?
I woke up nice and early, put a few coats of Kiwi Parade Gloss and Neutral on my Jump Boots. Then I shaved and took a shower. I put on my tired old Dress Uniform, which has served me faithfully for many years, and went to work. Today was the March promotion board for my battalion.
There were four of us, all gussied up waiting for our turn to impress some of the senior NCOs and convince them that we were ready for promotion. They do candidates for Sergeant first, then candidates for Staff Sergeant, in alphabetical order. So, being a Higgins going for Staff Sergeant (when the other one is Guerrero), I went last. The first kid comes out, looking pretty confident. The next kid comes out looking a bit shell shocked. SGT Guerrero comes out on the verge of tears.
Now, at this point, I am a little nervous. I hadn't studied. I mean, I know most of the stuff, and I've done close to a dozen boards in my career, be they my first promotion board or a ton of soldier of the month boards, but still. And my uniform. It has seen better days. It's my original from back in November of 2001. It's had three different unit patches on it, three different rank patches, different awards and decorations have tiny holes from the pins across it. It's a bit faded, there is a small tear in the arm. I'm a bit nervous now. Everyone is coming out looking like they were Tokyo and the Senior NCOs were Godzilla. So, like the paratrooper I am, I charged through the door with the image of total confidence, knowing that I can't turn around and leave and whatever they throw at me, I'll need to throw back tenfold.
And I nailed it. They told my sponsor that they threw confusing and hard questions out early to throw the candidates off and I wasn't fazed a bit. The reality was, I was like "what the fuck kind of question is THAT?" But you never let them KNOW you are thinking that.
In fact, the only gig I got was my uniform. They all agreed that I should probably replace it one of these days. I agree. I think we should be seeing the new uniforms soon and I'll probably do so then.
SO...
April 1st, I should be Staff Sergeant Higgins.
Yeah, who's bad?
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or, um....drinks anyway?