One Day Pass!

Ft Lewis

One of the things that can be hard to swallow is the requirement for our group to remain on post.  Our daily wandering encompasses about a 500 yard radius, the gym being our DMZ for the most part.  I'm not exactly sure where this "remain on post" dictate comes from (I believe it is part of the General Order Number One that we were placed under on day one, which also includes no consumption of alcohol, no hanky panky, no personal firearms, no numchukkas, and so on.  True story.)  There are other pre-deployment training sites run by the Navy on Marine Corps bases that allow for night and weekend "liberty," i.e. you're free to go home, to the movies, to the CVS to buy Funyuns, whatever.

We petitioned our military seniors, the folks at the Navy Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center, for a one-day pass off base.  We had already turned in our weapons to the armory on Superbowl Sunday as we do not need them this week -- important because otherwise we would have to post a watch here on base to for them.  You cannot leave weapons unattended!  We were granted the pass and essentially were let out of "time out" for a whole glorious day.  We mounted up the vans for Seattle, about 30 of us (we are staggering the days off).  Even though we've only been here two weeks I had the image of Jack Nicholson leading the inmates out of the asylum in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.


We definitely made the most of our time.  We actually went to the little computer lab/library and contacted Seattle based friends to do research.  We did the usual Seattle things - Pike Place Market, the Curio Shop with its dessicated mummies, the Seattle Aquarium (Giant Octupi!), and of course the original Starbucks.  We did some unique things as well.  We walked from the center of town to a funky outskirt - actually this needs clarifying:  Seattle in general has a funky vibe to it.  I know I am not the first one to say this, but it merits repeating.  After yesterday's whirlwind tour I can honestly say that Seattle is right in the thick of it in the pantheon of America's most unique and interesting cities.  Others include (my opinion of course) New Orleans, San Fran, NYC, Chicago and Baltimore, among others.  I am sure Austin is in there too, but I haven't been there yet.  Anyway, we made it to a Cajun restaurant in the neighborhood past the Needle and I enjoyed my first pomegranate mojito.  We split off into groups after that and I spelunked the weird stores before we met up at the aquarium (favorite: Fancy Schmancey toy store that had zombie dolls and other odd things more consistent with an adult population that is reluctant to let go of childhood.  Most of Seattle has a similar feeling to it.)

I had to get a coffee there in Seattle but I first had to get over the uncomfortable feeling of "ordering wrong."  There is a scene in the movie Singles from a generation ago during the peak of grunge in which a newbie orders coffee wrong in Seattle.  Something about a double-tall-skinny something or other.  When I do order coffee at home, as an act of civil disobedience I always say "Large" or "Medium."  So when I sallied up the the barrista at Cafe Ladro (recommended by the nice woman in Fancy Schmancey) of course I ordered something that caused the retro-dressed barrista to roll his eyes.  Who knew a macchiato could be so controversial?!  In any event, he gave me his local special and my coffee receptors are still snapping and popping as I write.

Today we segued from the freedom of Seattle to the hard-to-get-more-militaristic Combat Skills/Hand-to-Hand combat portion of our training.  We started off this morning by doing various stretches, push-ups, etc., then transitioned to weird and difficult drills whereby one person would lay below another, hands around the neck and legs around the torso, and crab walk back and forth across the mat.  We looked like a squad of people imitating Saturday Nite Live's Ambiguously Gay Duo.

We then learned the basics of one on one combat, various aggressive postures, escape maneuvers, and choke holds.  One thing is for sure: the words "choke" and "carotid artery" don't go well together in the same sentence.  Best quote I heard all day was "Yesterday we were enjoying margaritas and espresso's with mountain views in Seattle, today I have a nurse kneeing me in the groin."  Well said, but the trip to Seattle was worth it.