Chess

[Smitty-48]

The Perseid shower?
Too overcast here last night.

yeah, it was perfect conditions here, perfectly dark & clear

they were coming every couple minutes, there was probably about 30 between 4am & 5am

Did you ever train far enough North to see the Northern Lights?

actually the most spectacular aurora I've ever seen was at Camp Borden here in the south

we were training recruits, on the "Russian Defensive" range

it's called Pylon Hill

we were just sitting on the hill all night, acting as the enemy force for them

and all of a sudden, the Northern Lights were right on top of us, filling the whole sky

just another reason I don't play many games, like cards, nor chess

I spent most of my youth in the field, doing army shit

that was our fun & games

our favourite game was Infil / Exfil

infiltrate a position, wreak havoc, then exfiltrate without getting caught

sometimes we would "slash" the throats of sleeping sentries with red markers

sometimes we would take high value items just to prove we had been there

sometimes we would take a prisoner to interrogate, snatch patrol

sometimes we would bump them right inside their camp, light them up inside their own ranks

just with blanks of course, but we did have some very powerful pyrotechnics as well

and we would engage hand to hand, get into some fights

getting caught would result in a beat down, but I never really got caught

one time this Pathfinder starts chasing me, chasing me into the tall grass at night

I was getting away, because he's wearing his rucksack, but then he drops the rucksack

suddenly he's right on my heels, and I knew if he caught me I was in for a very rough time

so I just ran straight into a swamp to shake him off me

he did stop at the edge of the swamp and just yells after me

"I know that's you, Smitty, you little fucker, I'll get you down at the bar !"

[Smitty-48]