OT: Time for a change

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
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I've been a non-commissioned officer for right at twenty years, as long as some forumites have been alive, so it's only natural that I'm comfortable answering to "sarge". Well, I got to thinking about that and realized that when I permanently swap my boots and BDUs for blue jeans and such, that handle "sarge" just ain't going to be proper anymore. My mom and dad gave me a good name and I gotta start getting used to hearing it and answering to it. It's Greg (Gregory, with every syllable clearly enunciated if mom's ticked off, y'all know about that). So howdy guys, I'm Greg.

What about that Sylvrfalcn? Well, she's a bird that ain't a bird, that I see from time to time. It's always a comfort when I do, 'cause somehow, don't ask me how, I get the feeling she watches over me.
Once, while hiking in the late afternoon, the trail I was following along the river led me under some enormous cottonwood trees. It was apparently a favored roosting place for buzzards because every limb was thick with them, too many to count. It was like something from a bad movie being surrounded by that many buzzards in the gloom of dusk, their coarse croaking and wing flapping set my nerves on edge.
Just then I heard the shrill clear cry of a hawk, the sound carried an otherwordly quality that penetrated every corner of the forest. The buzzards immediately went silent and still, and my eyes searched her out and found her there perched on the uppermost branch, majestic and beautiful. The buzzards remained silent until I was clear of their grove, and I looked back just in time to see her loft into the sky on her powerful wings. The buzzards resumed their racket, and I hiked on with a grateful heart, secure in the knowledge that some things are much more than they appear.

Greg
 
What a great image and story. Happy Thanksgiving, Greg. Thanks for serving our Country. Whatever clothes you choose to wear now, you'll still find ways to serve.

munk
 
Greg,

Nice story about your forum name.

Gregory, with every syllable clearly enunciated if mom's ticked off, y'all know about that.
Click to expand...
That's exactly how my Mom used to do it.

I retired last year, after 30 with the Marine Corps, and I feel what you are saying about "Sarge" It can be difficult to put something behind you that you worked hard for but it looks like you have a handle on it. Still know, my brother, there will always be a time and place for "Sarge"

Regards,
Greg

Here is a link you might like. Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Well Howdy Greg.
Ripper is spot on!!!! There will always be a time and a place for Sarge.:)
Thanks for the 20 years and plus and thanks for all the lives you've helped to save just simply by doing your job.
Even though myself and the rest of the guys here know that you never simply just did your job. You're one of the few who went the extra distance and I for one admire you for that.

Welcome aboard Greg.:)
 
That sounds like mysticism to me. A hundred folks could have heard the same think and not thought a thing of it. In you it rang a note clear as a bell as to part of the meaning of existence. You heard it in a special way. Sarge or Greg, it's good to know you.
 
Great story. There are moments during incidents that help you define your life. That was one.

I fear giving up Sarge is not going to be easy for me. I think you are always going to be Sarge uniform or not and there is something good about that.
 
I think out of respect I will call you Sarge any way. I called you Sarge when I met you and don't really see any reason to stop now.

If you request it I guess I can change. As for your bird. I know the feelling that you have. I feel the same way about almost all the critters.

People have looked at me as if I am crazy. More than once I have stopped and picked up a turtle and carried her across the road so she won't get run over. I almost cry when I see another coon or deer dead in or along the side of the road. I'm thinking that when the animals and birds no longer can survive in this world, we will soon follow. Another reason why I feed wild birds the year round.

If you have decided to retire you can rest assured that all on the forum honor and respect you for your service to your country.:)
 
Thanks everyone for the kind words and understanding, I'm still holding off to see what's going to happen with Iraq, but if that one turns out peaceful I'll probably go ahead and drop my retirement letter on the colonel's desk.

Uncle: You could call me knucklehead and I'd still answer "yes sir"

Rusty: I don't know about mysticism, but I've learned a lot from children. We sometimes use them at archery events to find arrows lost in the grass. For the longest time I wondered at how they could find them so much faster than us adults. When the answer dawned on me I realized the difference was purely mental and I was shocked by the simplicity of it. A child's mind is flexible and unbiased. They don't limit their vision by focusing on a preconceived image in their mind. They allow themselves to see everything, and can thus spot anything that's out there.

I've adopted their technique to great effect whenever I'm out in the woods and I swear it's like having blinders removed. One day my "child's vision" picked up the flicker of a leaf when there was no breeze, and that led to about an hour or so of watching a family of six red foxes playing rough an tumble in a field of wildflowers. Another time a shadow that didn't match the others down by a creek bed was my invitation to watch a bobcat stalk and kill a grey squirrel. When the cat had the squirrel firmly in its jaws, he turned and scanned the thicket I was crouched in less than 15 yards away, his gaze coming to rest on me. We looked one another square in the eye for a moment before he turned an walked calmly and unhurriedly off into the forest. What a great gift to be given a lesson in hunting from this wild predator.

My friends complain that they scarcely ever see wildlife when they're out in the woods, and they get a little aggravated when I answer, "stop looking and start seeing". Mysticism? Nah, just an ordinary, everday, sort of magic.

Pappy: I sure do hear you, whatever we do for or against our fellow creatures, we do for or against ourselves. We may be smart animals, but we're still just animals, and the only animal that can ruin it for everyone else by not being as smart as we think we are.

The Greg formerly known as Sarge

Consider this. You can call a tree Bois D'arc, or Bo'dark, or Horse Apple, or Osange Orange, and an archer will know which tree you mean.
 
It's not the uniform and stripes that make a Sarge. It's the man inside and he is Sarge in uniform or civvies. I think there are a lot of us here who would rather stick with Sarge -- it's a matter of respect and admiration. I call John Powell "Cappy" for this reason.

When I ran across a Medal of Honor winner down at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba he got a salute from me even though we were both enlisted men. When my old pal, Keith Ester, was a Marine cpl in Korea in the early 50's and took a hit right thru the knee and found himself alone and unable to move near the top of a hill facing a couple of hundred Chinese and North Korean infantrymen it was a Navy Corpsman who put his ass on the line, went up the hill under heavy fire, grabbed Keith by the collar and dragged him down to relative safety. From that day on Keith saluted every Navy Corpsman he saw.

I think it's that sort of thing.
 
What ever you do, Sarge, always look forward and not back. Remember the good times, as well as the hard times, but look to the future.

I made that decision in 79, after 24 years, hard one for me to make. Sometimes, I regret not staying in longer, other times I felt good about new adventures in civilian life.

One of the hardest decisions -:D What am I going to wear today!

Old traditions die hard. When going to the AF Clinic to pick up medications for Mom, approaching an Officer, I still have the impulse to salute, than remembering I'm in civvies and been out a long time.

What ever you decide, Best of Luck to you.

DAG
 
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