We went back to the hotel and made ourselves presentable for the graduation dinner. We weren’t entirely sure what to wear because when we had shown up for Family Day in April people had dressed in all sorts of crazy outfits for that little ceremony (I was a little disappointed that these people didn’t dress up at least a little bit for their soldiers, I had tried to look decent for Josh). I decided on a simple and casual cotton dress and Toto wore a nice top and slacks. We got on the road a little later than we would have liked, and discovered that Elizabethtown was farther away from the post than we had realized. We made it there just in the nick of time. Right before the guys were brought into the room. We saw JD and both of us teared up and then basically jumped on him with hugs. He was being forced to wear his BCGs (Birth Control Glasses) and looked really funny. But I guess the drill sergeants (pronounced sarnt) had threatened them that if they caught them without them on they would get a beating later that night. We got to the food, which as it turns out was DFac (dining facility) food (I personally think that it was appropriate that the families should have a taste of what their soldiers were eating for the last four months) and we had three hours to socialize and meet Josh’s friends and we had a good time. A bunch of his buddies came over and chatted with us, and they all told us lots of stories about fights and drill sergeants.
We got to hear about how there were a few guys in the group that were just complete retards, one of which I had the pleasure of meeting (oh joy). This particular person’s name is Stikeleather. He was at a table in the corner with his parent’s and kept calling Josh over (oh, btw Josh’s new nickname is Newbs, I guess he got called that a lot there) to talk to him. When Newbs came back he said something under his breath and then looked at me and told me that Stikeleather thought I was hot and wanted to meet me. I laughed (the “yeah right” kind of laugh) and went back to talking to the guys Toto and I were hanging out with. A little while later Toto and Josh went to find some of the guys Josh owed money to and Josh says to Torres and Davis (the guys I was chatting with) that they needed to protect me from Stikeleather. Sure enough, five seconds after Josh leaves, Stikeleather gets up and comes over to us. He leans on Torres and says to me “So you’re Newberry’s sister?” “Yes I am.” “I beat him up every day in basic.” He says to me confidently. “oh yeah? I bet he deserved it.” I replied nonplussed, I knew it was a bunch of crap but I didn’t feel that there was any point in calling him on it. “Yeah, he did, the little pussy. So, he tells me your, uh, husband is a Cav Scout too?” Here my brain automatically wanted to correct him and say “No, my ex boyfriend is” but I caught myself instantly and said “Why yes he is. That’s why Josh chose this MOS.” As I did not want to give him any room to hope that I would even consider him for anything more than the butt of a joke. Torres and Davis went along with it (they knew the truth, as they are not idiots and had actually listened when Josh told them). Stikeleather immediately ended the conversation and left. Josh told me later that while in the barracks that night Stikeleather had come up to him and told him “Your sister showed me her [bad word for female parts that starts with a P], the slut. She told me she wanted to take me in the other room and [EXPLETIVE] me right there.” So Josh popped him one right in the face. Stikeleather went running to the DS and said “Newberry hit me!” and the DS said “Did you Newberry?” and Josh says to him “Hell yes I did Drill Sergeant.” “Why Newberry?” “He called my sister a slut.” “Shut up and go away Stikeleather.” The DS said. When I heard about that, I laughed and said, “Oh, thanks. You got to defend my honor!” I thought it was super adorable how protective he got of me.
Towards the end of the night, we had a whole group of guys hanging out around us. One of the drill sergeants (DS Kinnard) came over and made a comment about how I had the attention of half the troop. He motioned at the guys and said “You have a circle of guys around you. Newberry said his sister was pretty.” Apparently Kinnard had told the troop that morning not to bring any of their female loved ones to meet him because they would be “instantly impregnated by his mere presence”. After the comment he made to me Toto had me get surrounded by all the guys and have my picture taken, and one of the guys, Parrish, asked me for my number. I figured it didn’t matter, so I gave it to him.
Then I asked him how old he was. He is 20. Poor kid doesn’t have a chance in hell. He texted me a few times that night, and a few times in the next couple of days but not a lot since. Which is fine. The guys got rounded up and loaded on buses about 9pm. We all waved and took pictures and got a little sobby, but we knew we would see them the next morning.
Toto and I had plans to go out with my friend Jeremy Johnson that night. I think it is cool to drive across the country and be able to go out with friends from high school. My parents are friends with his parents too so they hang out at home. Jeremy is a Cav Scout just like Josh and he is stationed at Ft. Knox right now training people. We went to this little hillbilly bar about 10 minutes from the gates of post and played pool for a couple hours. Then Toto and I went back to the hotel and went to bed.
Sean
We didn't see any license plates
Playlist
Patsy Cline
Seether
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