chapter 6: Finally!
Photos/Images:
Chapter 6 (Page 355): "My Platoon Photo: Basic Combat Training (Fort
McClellan, AL, 1998). Take note of the shapes: I’ll refer to them later (I’m the pyramid, of course)."
Videos/Clips (Memories and Messages in Memes)
Chapter 6 (Page 358): "Everything I envisioned [about the South] was molded exclusively by Vietnam and WWII movies: Forrest Gump (1994) and Biloxi Blues (1988) readily come to mind."
Far From Home (The Furthest Ever!)
Chapter 6 (Page 358): "So why was I so anxious to be east of the Mississippi?...Banjo music played in the back of my head, and I was worried about what might happen to my “purty mouth” (Deliverance, 1972)."
Getting Off the Bus in Boot Camp
Chapter 6 (Page 362): " I ignored him and tried go right, but he chased me, demanding an answer. 'Answer me!' he shouted. Wait, they can do that? I pondered, as if he were breaking some fourth or fifth wall (like Knotts Scary Farm when those sadistic bastards chase you all the way to the churro line!)."
Bound by (Dis)Honor: Relearning Values & Rebuilding My Character
Chapter 6 (Page 371): "...like the pyramid of needs, these values were
perversely interpreted and misapplied by gangs, including the
gang that took me under its broken and bleeding wings for almost
two years. Even the most popular cholo movie of the day had the
Army’s most important value in the title: Bound by Honor (1993)."
The "D" in LDRSHIP: Do It or Find Another One!
Chapter 6 (Page 375): " Duty: It means always being present and ready to do what is required of you, even when it’s hard, dangerous, inconvenient, boring, or otherwise undesirable...if you’re not going to fulfill yours, or fulfill it right, then you don’t deserve that duty, and you should relinquish it to someone who does—especially leadership duties. You must fulfill your duty at all costs. That’s why you better make sure that all your other values and priorities are properly accounted for and aligned with a particular duty before assuming it or else...'”
Doing The Right Thing (Like All Things) Requires Practice to Make Permanent
Chapter 6 (Page 375): "Despite showing up to boot camp ready to free base the Kool-Aid, and despite how pious I was becoming toward the Army Values and Warrior Ethos, even I struggled with temptation and misinterpretation as a young convert. I would have exactly one more “dance with the devil in the pale moonlight” (-Joker, Batman, 1989) before trading in those dirty dancing shoes for my goody two-shoes."
You Caught Me, Copper. I Confess: I'm Mexican! ("Once...Always!")
Chapter 6 (Page 385-386): "Knowing that he was towing a fine line and that I was fully aware of it, he smiled and explained: 'I’m just saying, the ones [Mexicans back home] who have tattoos like yours tend to be in gangs.' Gangs, you say, drill sergeant? Like in Westside Story? Never came across them, thank heavens! I tried to express with my dumb(founded) face. But neither of us was as dumb nor innocent as we were letting on. I knew he’d seen my tattoos up in the offices. And he knew as well as I that they were tattoos from the hood—from the barrio, to be specific."
This Is Going to Hurt...
Chapter 6 (390): "Instantly, like a jack in the box, the colleague in the dayroom sprung forth, then, as if channeling Dave Chappelle’s future famous persona, yelled, “What did he say? What—did—he—say! He said, You full of shit Drill Sergeant! He said, I know you got my mail back there. Gimmie my mail, drill sergeant!” then proceeded to laugh heartily and hysterically in his colleague’s face in front of our entire platoon."
Leave It to the Professionals: (Not) Everybody's a Comedian!
Chapter (Page 401): "One jokester in our group was a white guy with glasses who looked like a young Rick Moranis (around the time he did
Spaceballs, 1987). When the popular topic became everyone’s anxiety
about the final APFT, “Rick” spontaneously announced that he
was going to run his two miles “like a Mexican running across the
border.”
Finally! Starting My Tour of Duty in Our Honor
Chapter 6 (Page 409): "I thought it could build a bridge from
the present to the past, back to the time that he and I had been
very close...My favorite memories are always of the intro: He’d raise the TV’s stock speakers to full blast as soon as those Hueys ripped through the jungle’s sky to 'Paint It Black' (1966) by the Rolling Stones...To me, the character/grunt named, 'PVT Ruiz' was my dad [00:40]."
Songs
Chapter 6 (Page 357): "Nothing says, 'you’re in the Army now!' like a voyage to the deep South. Never did I think I’d have a personal connection to country rock classics like Sweet Home Alabama (1974) by Lynard Skynard. Every time I hear that song...that’s all I think about: Alabama was, in fact, once home (the sweet part, for me, was leaving)...that song hits hard whether it was once home or not, even if it was always performed in front of the confederate flag (awkward...)."
Chapter 6 (Page 393): "...when we got our music privileges...he would play for me a song that he felt was a personal soundtrack to all I’d shared with him about my relationship...I was so curious and eager to hear that song that it was always enough to get me out of my head and back on the task at hand...The song didn’t disappoint, and it still brings me to bittersweet tears of joy to this day: 'Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)' by Maxwell, 1996. The boy had taste! Hope he found his 'the one.'"