Our unit will be leaving for Iraq in the next few days, so we had our deployment ceremony this morning. Approximately 3000 soldiers from the 56th IBCT lined up on a large football field for our send-off ceremony.
Before the ceremony, I was up at the front of our formation chewing out one of my soldiers, the guidon bearer for being late to formation this morning. After that, I was standing there talking to him, and our battalion command sergeant major was lining up soldiers in front of the guidons. The commanders of those soldiers were standing behind them, so I thought they were getting all of the rest of the soldiers lined up behind us, and just needed "stand-ins" for the 1SGs.
The CSM motioned for me to step up to represent Company C since our commander and 1SG weren't there. As I stood in line, the commander of the Texas Army National Guard, Major General Mayorga (2-star general) started congratulating us on being the exceptional soldiers that were hand-picked by our commanders.
I was doing everything in my power to keep from bursting out with laughter! I've made it NO secret that I don't want to be in this company doing the job I'm doing. I would be one of the LAST soldiers chosen by my commander and 1SG to be in that line getting that coin! The commander and 1SG showed up after MG Mayorga had left, and I gave the coin to the commander to be given to a "more deserving" soldier. I couldn't tell, but I think the commander wanted to keep the coin until 1SG said, "Let's give it to one of the guys..."
If I could only convey the dynamics of my being here, you would understand the hilarity of this situation. It's not that I oppose going to Iraq or Afghanistan... I just REALLY didn't want to go with the 56th IBCT. I even volunteered to go with another unit to Afghanistan last year specifically so I didn't have to deploy with this ate-up brigade.
