"Walking Away From The Ledge” The Cut List: Vol. 21. These are the stories that didn’t make the cut to the final edit in my book. Some of these stories will jump around, but I’ll do my best not to leave you, the reader, guessing when and where they happened.
Finishing up Pacific Pathways, we jump ahead to my final deployment to Afghanistan in 2019-2020. What happened there was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” While all the details leading up to that point aren’t in here, they are in the book; order links below!
When we arrived in South Korea, we spent most of our time living in open barracks or gym spaces, on cots again, with the WhatsApp pings going off all the time. One older E-6, who was going through a divorce and, according to him, was deaf, had an audaciously long and annoying ringer, always set to the highest tone, that went off regularly. 
After numerous attempts to get him to turn it down, off, or to vibrate, he finally changed it to a less annoying tone. He changed it from the Wild West whistling duel tone, featured in many Western films, to the ending jingle of the Old Spice commercial. Still, to this very day, I can’t see or overhear any Old Spice commercial without a hint of anger. I thought about killing him in his sleep.
There was a PVT who thought people right next to him couldn’t hear the conversations he had with his wife late at night. Every night, I would kick his bunk with a “take it outside,” but he never did. Somewhere along the line, I became too nice, or a bitch. Corporal me would’ve choked his ass out and hung up the phone while he was gurgling. CW3 me just lay there pissed off. One night, he was saying, “You’re going to wear the red one?” Followed by some other color. I assumed it was lingerie, and I got near him and said, “Tell her to wear the red one and let us all see!” He got the hint after that and kept his conversations quiet. Fuckin LTs, Fuckin PVTs.
Jumping ahead to 2019, I’m going to talk about Christmas and LTs simultaneously. Mainly because a couple of the LTs we had around were interesting characters, to say the least. One was having a challenging time accepting the ins and outs of aviation; the things required to memorize for flight, as well as general aviation knowledge, and his flying wasn’t the best either. I learned later of the circumstances that led to his decision not to care so much about such things, but still, it’s part of the job. The other LT, she couldn’t let strict adherence to every rule set down by a book or those above her go long enough to not piss off everyone around her. What do these people and Christmas have in common? Glad you asked.
Our CO decided to hold a Secret Santa for Christmas to boost morale a bit, and the former LT just happened to get my name, as I later learned. Even though I gave this guy shit about his flying, his aircraft knowledge, or his personality as whole, he decided to buy a copy of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” print off dozens of different sizes of my face and my last name Kruger and place them throughout the entire book over the Grinch’s face and anywhere it said Grinch in the book. He took a lot of time to create different font sizes and the picture from my WhatsApp photo, arranging them at perfect angles alongside the Grinch character throughout the whole story. That was some dedication. 
The irony is that he was in his APART window and failed one of his checkrides. If he had spent more time studying instead of making this ridiculously awesome book, he might have passed. We all had a good laugh about the whole thing, and no, I didn’t read the story to the rest of the company like I was some father figure, though I was the oldest guy in the company at 40 years old, only by a few months, though. I didn’t care for this LT very much, but he did worm his way into my heart and my family’s forever. I did ask him why he liked me so much after giving him so much shit all the time. He said, “I’m like a battered dog. Even a battered dog gets a treat or a head pat occasionally.” I laughed heartily at that one, but I guess it’s true.
The other LT… man, I tell you. No one liked her. I’m not just saying that as some exaggeration either. No. One. Liked. Her. It finally manifested during Secret Santa. Whoever got her name didn’t get her a single thing. Nothing. I got the name of the guy who arrived late to theatre since he was at some training or a course and since he had only been with us for a month or so, I thought it would be funny to take the extra stuff laying around the office that no one wanted; unopened games, goodies that were untouched, note pads, pens, whatever I could find, and give it to him.
I left a note saying he didn’t deserve a nice gift since he just showed up, followed by ‘Merry Christmas,’ and he laughed his ass off! There was a Yahtzee game in it, and we all ended up playing the mess out of Yahtzee the rest of the deployment. I gave this guy something but this LT got what her Secret Santa thought she deserved. Not a fucking thing.
Think I’m being harsh, do ya? I did vote for her to make PC, but I added a catch to it. I said I think she will be a good PC, but will use her status and rank to place herself on missions she shouldn’t be on and bump other, more qualified aviators off of missions that they should be on instead of her. She did just that.
I was flying with her one day, but of course, she made herself the PC of the flight. We were on standby and didn’t have the weather to launch, plus it was raining, and preflight was not a necessity at the moment. She says, “Let’s go preflight the aircraft.” I replied, “Why don’t we wait until the rain lets up?” “Well, we’re on standby and need to be ready to launch.” I say, “We don’t even have the weather to launch. By the time we do, the rain will be gone and we can preflight without getting soaked.”
She wasn’t having it, so I stormed off and knocked out the preflight before she could even get to the aircraft. She was walking out to the flight line as I was walking back in, and as I passed her, I said, “If you are unwilling to listen to members of the crew and heed their advice, then don’t ever put me on a flight with you again, especially as your PI.” Our interactions were very limited for the rest of the deployment. Fuckin LTs man, I keep getting older and more experienced, they stay the same age and level of stupid. Add that to the list of reasons that The Krug could no longer abide.
Want to know more about some of these situations? You’ll have to get the book “Walking Away From The Ledge" for more details (links below)! If this story hit home—or reminded you of your own service—drop a comment below or share it with someone who might need it.
https://books.by/w-brand-publishing/walking-away-from-the-ledge
