re: Does the art of shammin' still exist?

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Anyways, I consider three months of free leave to be the crowning achievement of my time in the e-4 mafia

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I had a similar experience as an O1. I was at Benning for IOBC and after graduation I was supposed to go around the corner to Ranger school but there was a 10 day delay. When I ask they said don't bother to go back to Bragg just remain here on TDY. This was great because I was in a 1 bedroom in the BOQs usually reserved for field grade officers but it is what they had left when I reported for IOBC. Big room, everything paid for except long distance, and had maids that came in every day. So I just planned to play a couple of rounds of golf a day at the base course. About 3 days in I received notice I had been pushed back to a later Ranger school class 5 weeks later. I figured frick it, they will call me if I am supposed to do something different. About a month in making that sweet TDY I saw the training company XO at the O club and he ask me why I was still around, I told him and he said I needed to start coming into the training company HQ every day. Oh well. I showed up the next day and after sitting doing nothing with a guy from my IOBC class who had gotten a DUI about a week before graduation and was waiting for his Art. 15 the XO said don't bother coming in anymore, we have nothing for you to do, if we need you we will call you. Back to working on the handicap. I ended up having almost 6 weeks off, dropped a couple of strokes, and got back in better shape for Ranger school because PT was limited in IOBC. The only negative was the shock of going from vacation directly to the Benning Phase of Ranger School. I remember daydreaming in the worm pit that I was playing golf a few miles away.