His Moral Compass

I just got off the phone with Adam and talked him into letting me post this little story on the blog. I think it's hilarious; evidently he does too, or else he wouldn't have called me in the midst of a five-hour hike through the forest to relay the details to me.

So without going into too much detail, Adam's in his last week of basic training, and he is required to pass a navigation test in a large forest, where he takes compass bearings, plots points on a map and has to navigate to those points to find a number that he'll pick up. Easy enough, right? Well, five straight hours of fast walking/hiking through the woods (on his bum ankle, no less) isn't exactly the easiest task to complete. Keep in mind he and his comerades are under several layers (not to mention pounds!) of uniform and equipment during the hike, so they're carrying around quite a heavy load.

In any case, this morning, just as Ads was getting to one of his points, he realized he needed to take a leak. He walked off the beaten path, relieved himself, and was just starting to button back up when he heard a small voice nearby yelp, "Help!"
He got himself situated then ventured off to find the source of the voice. He encountered a female comerade, who'd evidently had the same idea as he did--peeing off to the side--but wasn't nearly as successful at it. Evidently, she had tried to lean against a fallen tree in order to balance herself during her pee break, but the tree sloped down into a ravine, the ravine was wet and slippery from recent rains, and the woman had lost her balance and fallen over. Fallen over...pants down and all.
Ads said the forest was dark and so there was nothing to see, and he avoided his gaze anyway (husband speak for "you don't need to know what I saw!"). He helped the young woman to her feet, trying to lessen her embarassment over the situation. Luckily, they didn't know each other (that would have been so much worse, at least I think it would have been for me if I'd been in the same situation!). Ads then went on his way to complete the test and called me to tell me his funny story for the morning. He says I owe him big time for letting me put this story on the blog. He comes home in four days; I guess I'll see how he'll make me pay up *smirk*