At least it's not Tuesday

As the title suggests, I wanted to share another story with you all. For this, I reached out to a friend I went through Army basic training with. We shared a memory of which we laugh about until this date.

I asked him if he could write out the story, so here it is (including some embarrassing things about me – need to keep it authentic!)

At least it’s not Tuesday!

September 2010, near Army Training Centre Pirbright, 3 Section Anzio Platoon are cold, wet, tired and patrolling through the training area during one of the exercise phases of Army Basic Training. By this point 3 Section have been living “in the field” since Sunday, it’s now Thursday and we are all well and truly craving home comforts. This particular patrol seemed to be going on forever, the rain lashing us in the face, covered head to toe in mud, we stink.

Now in every group of people we have a wide range of personalities, some people embrace the elements and are sometimes even annoying in their jubilation when confronted by discomfort. I have a feeling this was me. On the other hand, you have some people who wish for it to all end so they can get back to normality and show no signs of happiness while in the thick of it. This was definitely Beck. At the start of this exercise, he was the man in front of me during a long arduous march and I could hear him whimpering , he was suffering and for some reason that gave me a boost. One thing is for sure though, Beck is no way a quitter, he just goes to a different place to get through difficult situations.

Back to the patrol in question, cold, wet, tired, and I’m looking for Beck. His disgruntled face usually gave me a boost when needed most. As we all take a knee in cover for a moments rest, I look to Beck. Out of nowhere he smiles, which confuses me. He’s at breaking point, he has to be, so I look again and he’s still smiling. In his Nordic/English accent, Beck says “at least it’s not Tuesday”. The whole section bursts out in laughter. The man who hates this more than anyone, had gone beyond what he thought was possible and come out laughing. From that moment on, the rest of the exercise seemed easy and the morale was high. 12 years later and this is still the stand-out memory of our basic training. 5 words that meant a hell of a lot in the moment and even more now.?

Every time Adam and I meet up we laugh about the time in training. It never gets old!

If you haven’t by now watched Afterlife season 3 on Netflix. I highly recommend it. No other series has been able to have me laughing in fits to then shed a tear in such short amount of time. What a masterpiece!

No book reviews just yet, I have ordered some new ones which I look forward to. I am pondering reading more fiction for the sake of “escapism”. My friend who wrote the story above is an avid reader and it seems like he eats books.

If you’ve had a tough week, rest assured, at least it’s not Tuesday. The Weekend is around the corner!