Payback

Dan lived up the hill from us in Waterville. He and our boys spent many happy hours exploring the woods near Devil's Chair building forts, damming the steams, playing army. Later he and Ryan roomed together in college. Dan was an avid military history buff, especially the Civil War, as am I, and we enjoyed many long discussions about tactics and battles.

After college Dan followed his dream and his father's footsteps and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army. Despite his commission, he was required to complete basic training and specialty schools. He relayed a story from one such training at Fort McClellan Army Base in Anniston, Alabama.

On one particularly sweltering day at lineup under the blazing sun, the Drill Instructor conducted roll call.

"Lieutenant Kenny!"

"Present, Sir"

"Lieutenant Kenny, do I understand you hail from Maine?" barked the DI.

"Yes Sir!"

"Lieutenant Kenny, are you aware of the history of the Battle of Gettysburg in the War between the States?" questioned the DI.

"I am, Sir!" Dan responded.

"And can you tell me which Confederate Brigade attacked the position of the 20th Maine Brigade under the command of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain on July 2, 1862?" continued the DI.

"Yes Sir, Drill Instructor!" Dan replied. "It was the 15th Alabama Brigade under the command of General James Longstreet!"

The Drill Instructor leveled his gaze at Dan. "That is correct, recruit!"

"Now, grab your gear and give me 5 miles... doubletime!!"

They say that revenge is best served cold, but 150 years cold?

Payback...

Addendum to the story. I emailed the blog to Dan to check on the accuracy of my recollection and he responded as follows:

"That’s pretty much how it went down. He did ask me why I thought Maine won with such a poor place to defend from. All I could think to tell him was that Maine is the Deep South of the Great North, and that it was just a bunch of boys with beards that had experienced harsher winters and probably knew how to suffer just a little bit more. He did not like that answer at all, and I think that might be why he made me run laps around the whole base. I did have to eventually concede that Alabama had a better football team than anything Maine could ever produce. He made me shout “Roll tide” all the time"

Of course he did... Those Alabama boys are just like that.