Personal Narrative-Death Before Dishonor

Hawaiian Punch full of Rum and something else. Boy, did I have one hell of a hangover the following day! Another guy walked into the barracks later that afternoon and asked if anyone wanted to rent motorbikes and drive over to Phoenix City, Alabama (which was considered to be the danger zone). Deciding to get out for a while, we went to the bus stop and took a ride to the bike rental shop in downtown Columbus, Georgia. Taking off over the bridge to Alabama to see what all the fuss was about, we ended up at the bars in ‘Combat Alley’ We checked them out just long enough to get an idea that the area was no big deal, before deciding to ride back to downtown Columbus, feeling a little better on the return trip. As we tooled around Columbus, we came upon a tattoo parlor. It was a busy place and several soldiers were getting tattoos and lamenting the pain. I decided on the classic skull and dagger with “Death before Dishonor” written beneath it. By that time, the …show more content…
,About two-thirds of the way back, I didn’t hear the “go!” command. I didn’t have to. Shuffling along with the rest, the line got shorter, and it was abundantly obvious that we were going. They call it the airborne shuffle; you are loaded down with gear, bouncing around in an aircraft, hanging on a strap, and walking to your possible death. Shuffling ahead, it seemed as if all the weeks of training were coming to a fast conclusion. It became surreal as if time was standing still. The next moment, I was standing in the door looking out over Alabama at twelve-hundred-feet, going a hundred miles per hour, I saw the prop turning to my right. Grabbing both sides of a very wide door, I felt a hard slap on my back and took a leap of faith into space ‒ not thinking, just doing what was taught. I’d promised myself that I would try and keep my eyes open when exiting the aircraft but