When I first joined my National Guard unit, the leadership was impressed with my driving record. I had no accidents and no speeding tickets. So, when it came time for our yearly trip to the shooting range 60 miles away in Battle Creek, I was chosen to drive the lead Jeep. And, as the lead Jeep driver, I had the commanding officer as my passenger.<\/p>\n
Now, the majority of the trip was through open country on the highway. And, I excelled at this. But, when we got into the city, I was not familiar with the rights of a convoy. And, since funeral processions have the right of way at intersections, I assumed that the same held true for military convoys. So, when the first traffic light turned red, I proceeded through the intersection.<\/p>\n
Now, when the commanding officer determined that I was going the run the red light, he prepared to, well…., jump. Fortunately, the civilians at that intersection were not familiar with the rights of a convoy either and yielded the right of way. And so, we proceed through the city and ran every red light that we encountered.<\/p>\n
Of course, by the time we reached our destination, the commander was lying down in the back in a fetal position, tightly clutching his helmet.<\/p>\n
He didn’t ride with me on the return trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first joined my National Guard unit, the leadership was impressed with my driving record. I had no accidents and no speeding tickets. So, when it came time for our yearly trip to the shooting range 60 miles away … Continue reading