Fun Times

Article by Guest Author: Jack Imber
Author of the book DEMINER available from Amazon

The following stories are true:

FUN WITH SUN

Suddenly the team leader pushed through the sweep line. Everyone froze. They wanted to see what the possible emergency could be. No sound was made by anyone. They were all alone among small patches of vegetation dotting the red Hawaiian dirt.

There it was straight ahead, a flat square object measuring approximately ½ meter by ½ meter. Snatching up the object the team leader could be heard to say "I know what this is. I'm taking it home with me." He turned it over to examine it more closely and the team members could see it was a discarded solar panel. As the sunlight struck the panels a charge zapped the team leader. He had been touching the wire terminals on the underside. Dropping the panel he jumped backwards from the jolt and cried out "What the....." Everyone was looking to see if their team leader was hurt or burned from the shock. He was ok. Then a few laughs could be heard. The entire team joined in and started laughing so hard that some could barely stand. Realizing what he had done he started laughing as he said "Hey if you didn't drop it, don't pick it up!"

FUN WITH PHANTOM FARTS

On a cold Minnesota morning the team leader and one of the crew jumped into the gator (a miniature open pickup truck more like a convertible golf cart) and led the way towards the first grid. The rest of the team followed in the big crew cab pickup truck.

The driver of the pickup truck said, "Hey check this out. I put a battery operated fart sound maker between them in the gator." All of the people in the truck watched with interest as the driver raised a small remote control box that had only one orange button. When the button was depressed the occupants of the pickup watched for any reaction of the two men in the gator. The team leader's head turned towards the driver then looked straight ahead. The driver could also be seen to turn to look at the team leader. The guys in the truck roared with laughter. Luckily the windows were rolled up and they could not be heard. During the next two miles traveling through the forest, the remote control was passed around and everyone got a chance to push the orange button. Each time the men in the gator could be seen taking turns looking at the other after each push of the button. The men in the truck laughed so hard that at times became difficult to catch their breaths.

At last the first grid of the day had been reached. Everyone got out of the vehicles. The two men from the gator were now standing nose to nose. "You pooped in your pants!" said the team leader.

"You pooped in yours!!!" responded the driver. "What is your problem?"

When the little fart sound machine was revealed and the orange button was pushed the two gator riders turned bright red with embarrassment. Suddenly they looked at each other and burst out laughing. Everyone was laughing.

Laughing, the team leader looked at everyone and said "Let's get to work, you knuckleheads!"

FUN WITH GRAVEL "FRAG"

Fifteen UXO items had been daisy chained together with DET-CORD. The demolition shot had been capped in and the time fuze was ignited. Now over a thousand meters away, the demolition team members, SUXO, Safety, and two company managers were watching and waiting from the top of a hill. Four company trucks were parked in a random fashion and most of the observers were either in front of or to the right of the trucks. Road guards stationed far out on the perimeter reported "ALL CLEAR" by radio for the last time. The demolition team leader looked at his watch saying "Any minute now."

Large simultaneous explosions could be seen in the distance. Smoke started rising. Soon the "crack" sound of the blast could be heard by the onlookers. Suddenly a handful of gravel was thrown high into the air over the trucks by one of the team members. As the gravel rattled against the metal of the vehicles all the men hunched over and darted for the underside of the trucks for shelter. Everything got deathly quiet. The company managers looked at each other in surprise and disbelief at what just happened. They all believed that fragmentation from the demolition shot had reached their position.

No one said anything as everyone milled around during the after shot wait time.

The demolition team leader separated his team from the others for a quick briefing. "Yeah, whoever did that, don't ever do it again" he said. Looking over at the supervisors who were talking in whispers he then said "I guess it's always good to remember to respect the shot."

Trying to duplicate the above situations would never have the same impact as the first occurrence. Just remember that in every situation there is always something of value to learn. Sometimes the learning comes in the form of a humorous event.

WHETHER YOU ARE TRAVELING ACROSS THE COUNTRY OR ACROSS THE WORLD; THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADVERSITY AND ADVENTURE IS YOUR ATTITUDE.

Related Blog Entries

Comments
Comments are not allowed for this entry.

BlogCFC was created by Raymond Camden. This blog is running version 5.5.002.