Trading out with a giant

Most people, when they replace a unit (referred to as RIPing or Relief In Place) have to replace someone that's been doing their job for a year and they have never met. I have the outstanding good fortune to be replacing one of my good friends. 'Tank' as everyone calls him sat next to me every day at the Field Artillery Captain's Career Course at Ft. Sill, OK for roughly 5.5 months. We competed on a regular basis for grades on exams, etc in good spirit. Admittedly, his overall average was a couple points higher than mine. He did better on one section of the course than everyone, earning a 100 percent. That made him hard to catch. He has admitted that I did better on the Fire Support block of instruction (which is what pertains to our jobs now). So, we keep it in good fun.

While I am not a fan of starting a year away from my family here, changing out with him is bittersweet. Knowing that he has already endured his year away from his wife and 3 kids makes doing my job and wanting to make sure that I pick up where he left off even easier. Not only that, but being able to be completely and brutally honest with the person you are learning your combat job from and vice versa, is refreshing. There's nothing like the awkward moments of trying not to offend the person you are learning from by asking questions about why they do things a certain way, or from feeling dumb for not understanding something that they do. With a friend like Tank, I don't have to worry about that. He knows I'm not dumb, and that I know he's not. We're just past the self-consciousness that goes with it.

I should say, although we are similar in ability and many of our ways of thinking, we are complete physical opposites. Tank is huge. He's 6'4" and 270 lbs. I am slightly shorter and lighter...5'7" 180 lbs. It's just kind of funny walking around with him while he's ducking under low passes in the tents and I just walk right through.

Well, that's all I have time for right now, gotta go eat and get to work. I got up a little early to get online. At least there's a nice internet cafe for us here! Still no plumbing for the bathrooms, so it's outside we go! I'll post more about the FOB later.