Bad Day at the Lake
I've been bad and not really been on LJ for a while, sorry flist. Just dealing with some personal bs and all that jazz. But I had a really confusing day and wanted to write it down, if only so I can examine it later.
So once a month all us little Marine "Poolees" (people who have joined but haven't been to bootcamp yet) get together with our recruiters for a little bit of bonding. Usually we just hang out and maybe run but today we went to the lake to swim and hang out. The recruiters rented a speed boat and one of these things so we could have fun, etc.
Everything went great. We all hung out, cooked burgers, went swimming, all that fun summer at the lake stuff. We decide to take the boat out one more time but only like four of us wanted to go, so I hopped in and two other Poolees, plus a young recruiter and his two girl pals. We go around the lake once more and then while we're heading back, the two guys decide they want to jump off the boat while it's moving, like in the movies. The dumbass recruiter thinks it's a brilliant idea and says they can do it. Bu no one realizes that since we've pulled the tube out of the water (into the boat), the boys are the ones holding on to it. So they jump off the boat while we're going like 25 MPH or something and the tube goes flying back into the water. The rope gets caught on one of the guys leg and snaps into it, cutting all the way through the fat and muscle of his calf. We literally have to pull him into boat and I can see the tendons in the kid's leg because it's just a gaping wound.
The recruiter freaks out, obviously, and tells us that he cut it while he was tubing. We never saw them jump off the boat. We're all in shock really so we just agree with it. We get back to the dock, call the ambulance, and we tell everyone there was just a tubing accident, the kid got his leg caught in the rope and that's how it got cut.
At this point I have to point out that my recruiter wasn't involved in any of this and is a wonderful guy. He's really high ranking, really nice once you get to know him, but he doesn't like it when people try and screw with him. I'm pretty confused at this point because yeah, my recruiter is higher ranking than any of the other ones, but it was a recruiter who told me to lie about the accident, so do I lie to my recruiter? I tell him the story that we told everyone else, but all the while I'm like, "This is fucked up. That recruiter is a dumbass. Why am I lying to the guy who trusts me?"
Well, the kid had to get flown to another hospital from the one they took him to because it was a tiny little town and they couldn't handle his injury. He's in sugary, but from what they told us he'll be fine. It didn't cut any arteries or tendons. Just needs a lot of rehab.
My recruiter told me that the dumbass one will probably get thrown out of the Marine Corps for another reason, so I told him the real story and how the dumbass told us to lie about it. He told me to ignore the "story" and just tell the truth, so I'm glad I told him.
I don't know. I guess the thing is, most military recruiters are nice guys who aren't total jackasses. It's just that sometimes, idiots don't get identified until something goes wrong. I feel bad for the kid, but I'm even more pissed off at the recruiter who let him do it. People like that don't need to be in positions of power.
Oh yeah, and to make matters a little more scary for the day, I was waiting with the guy for the ambulance, trying to keep his mind off the pain and block his view so he couldn't see how bad it was. My recruiter had gone to talk with some Park Rangers who'd come to help (but they knew nothing about First Aid, so I don't know what they were thinking they could do), I looked away for a second and when I looked back, my recruiter is sprawled out on the concrete. I jumped off the boat and ran faster than I thought I could run to help. He just had shoulder surgery and had fainted from mixing pain medication with too much sun. I was like &^#$^#$%@#^@$$@#%! What the fuck are you doing?!?!? Scared me to death you idiot! So I had to get him into the Rangers' car to get some AC on him and drink some fluids. I don't need my recruiter busting his head open 'cause he thought big bad Marines don't need to think about water and sun and medication.
Too many people getting hurt man. Too many close calls.
So once a month all us little Marine "Poolees" (people who have joined but haven't been to bootcamp yet) get together with our recruiters for a little bit of bonding. Usually we just hang out and maybe run but today we went to the lake to swim and hang out. The recruiters rented a speed boat and one of these things so we could have fun, etc.
Everything went great. We all hung out, cooked burgers, went swimming, all that fun summer at the lake stuff. We decide to take the boat out one more time but only like four of us wanted to go, so I hopped in and two other Poolees, plus a young recruiter and his two girl pals. We go around the lake once more and then while we're heading back, the two guys decide they want to jump off the boat while it's moving, like in the movies. The dumbass recruiter thinks it's a brilliant idea and says they can do it. Bu no one realizes that since we've pulled the tube out of the water (into the boat), the boys are the ones holding on to it. So they jump off the boat while we're going like 25 MPH or something and the tube goes flying back into the water. The rope gets caught on one of the guys leg and snaps into it, cutting all the way through the fat and muscle of his calf. We literally have to pull him into boat and I can see the tendons in the kid's leg because it's just a gaping wound.
The recruiter freaks out, obviously, and tells us that he cut it while he was tubing. We never saw them jump off the boat. We're all in shock really so we just agree with it. We get back to the dock, call the ambulance, and we tell everyone there was just a tubing accident, the kid got his leg caught in the rope and that's how it got cut.
At this point I have to point out that my recruiter wasn't involved in any of this and is a wonderful guy. He's really high ranking, really nice once you get to know him, but he doesn't like it when people try and screw with him. I'm pretty confused at this point because yeah, my recruiter is higher ranking than any of the other ones, but it was a recruiter who told me to lie about the accident, so do I lie to my recruiter? I tell him the story that we told everyone else, but all the while I'm like, "This is fucked up. That recruiter is a dumbass. Why am I lying to the guy who trusts me?"
Well, the kid had to get flown to another hospital from the one they took him to because it was a tiny little town and they couldn't handle his injury. He's in sugary, but from what they told us he'll be fine. It didn't cut any arteries or tendons. Just needs a lot of rehab.
My recruiter told me that the dumbass one will probably get thrown out of the Marine Corps for another reason, so I told him the real story and how the dumbass told us to lie about it. He told me to ignore the "story" and just tell the truth, so I'm glad I told him.
I don't know. I guess the thing is, most military recruiters are nice guys who aren't total jackasses. It's just that sometimes, idiots don't get identified until something goes wrong. I feel bad for the kid, but I'm even more pissed off at the recruiter who let him do it. People like that don't need to be in positions of power.
Oh yeah, and to make matters a little more scary for the day, I was waiting with the guy for the ambulance, trying to keep his mind off the pain and block his view so he couldn't see how bad it was. My recruiter had gone to talk with some Park Rangers who'd come to help (but they knew nothing about First Aid, so I don't know what they were thinking they could do), I looked away for a second and when I looked back, my recruiter is sprawled out on the concrete. I jumped off the boat and ran faster than I thought I could run to help. He just had shoulder surgery and had fainted from mixing pain medication with too much sun. I was like &^#$^#$%@#^@$$@#%! What the fuck are you doing?!?!? Scared me to death you idiot! So I had to get him into the Rangers' car to get some AC on him and drink some fluids. I don't need my recruiter busting his head open 'cause he thought big bad Marines don't need to think about water and sun and medication.
Too many people getting hurt man. Too many close calls.