You're Doing What?!!

I just got off of the phone with the oldest boy. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Simpsonville, SC (think Greenville) and he's in 29 Palms, CA. He seems bored as he's called me more in the past two days than the past 6 months. So our conversation starts like this...
Him: "Hey Dad, what's up?"
Me: "Nothing much. Catching up on work emails, sitting in a Motel 6, and yes, they left the light on for me"
Him: "Guess what I did today in training? I got to learn how to use the metal detector."
Me: "Did you find any coins?"
"No I didn't. I am supposed to sweep for IEDs ahead of the company."
"Well, how long is this damn thing anyway? 15'-0", 20'-0"?"
"No, it' about 6'-0" long."
"Well, that doesn't really give you a lot of room if you find one, does it?"
"No. I just find the metal object and mark it for the bomb guys."
"Please tell me that you're just learning a new toy and this is not your permanent job!"
"I don't know. We just do what they tell us. We're learning a little bit of everything right now."
"I don't know which is worse, a) you being the leader and first one in the building when you blow the door off of a terrorist's house or, b) a mine sweeper. Maybe you need to rethink whom you may have pissed off somewhere."
"I don't know, but it is fun."


So we talked for another 20 minutes or so, then he tells me "Oh, I lifted a rock today and found a rattlesnake." Great, on top of mine sweeping you also are a snake wrangler. Ahhhh! He did send me a picture of his company.

You'll have to guess which one because I'm not telling :)  He did say something that caught me a little off guard (not the BIG off guard I had when he told me the mine sweeping duty.) He said "You know Dad, I see some of my friends on Facebook complaining how their lives are going and having to get up at 9:00 to go to work. I made my decision at 17 years old about what I was going to do with my life. Try getting up at 4:00!" Not real sure where that came from. 

On a side note as it is late and I have to get up early, I read this evening where Lynn "Buck" Compton died over this past weekend. He was a judge and lawyer and probably most noted for being one of the men of Easy Company that parachuted into Normandy on D Day. He was portrayed in Band of Brothers by Neal McDonough. Here's a link to a good article. http://news.yahoo.com/band-brothers-soldier-dies-90-wash-172718718.html

RIP sir, you deserve it.