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SFC is an E-7 - Requires ANCOC
1SGT and MSGT are E-8s-requires 1st Sgt Academy and something else for MSGT


the position of 1st sgt can be filled by the highest ranking NCO, iv seen as low as an E-6 take charge while waiting to pick alex up.

this song is both humourous and gruesome.

Blood on the Risers (Gory, Gory)

He was just a rookie trooper, and he surely shook with fright
As he checked all his equipment, and made sure his pack was tight
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

cho: Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more.

"Is everybody happy ?" cried the sergeant, looking up,
Our hero feebly answered, "Yes!" and then they stood him up,
He leaped into the blast, his static line unhooked,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,
He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs.
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome
The lines were snarled and tied in knots, around his skinny bones,
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind,
He thought about the medics and wondered what they'd find,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee,
They rolled their sleeves and smiled
For it had been a week or more since the last chute had failed
He ain't gonna jump no more !

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLAT," the blood went spurting high,
His comrades then were heard to say "A Helluva way to die!";
He lay there rolling 'round in the welter of his gore.
He ain't gonna jump no more!

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a-dangling from his paratrooper's boots,
They picked him up still in his Chute and poured him from his boots
He ain't gonna jump no more!

ack, not that I know of... luckily for him he gets most weekends off unless he's driving the CSM (Command Sergeant Major) around to different bases. So i'm pretty confident he'll be home for most the holidays.

Tommy usually works all the holidays too. I know he worked Thanksgiving and Christmas Day last year. It's because you always have to have nurses on the floor. But the good thing about here, they try to make up for it. If he works the 4 day holiday, they'll give it to him the next week. Still, it can be a pain.

*hugs* That really sucks, Manda, but at least you know a little bit in advance so you can work around it. I think Tommy and I are just so used to not having those holidays, we try to make some new traditions.

Still, it doesn't make it a whole lot easier, but I feel your pain!

Here they try to give the married people Christmas off and then they give the single people New Years Eve. It works out pretty well since the single folks don't have family here and make out like bandits with food since the married couples bring in plates full for them out of guilt. My husband has been home most Christmases which is great, but he missed a lot of important events while he was deployed. He was going to miss our youngest's first birthday so we had a very merry unbirthday party for him before hubby left. It was about a month early, but it meant a lot to dh that he got to see ds pig out on the cake.

GGGAAAAHHH alex is in the field right now!!1 gaaahhhha A dg

i am deeply frustrated.

Because both Illiana and Luna have hubbies deploying in the next couple of months, I thought it might be a good idea to bring this thread back up to the first page.