Basic Training Story 4689

Fall of 1998, during an exercise for frontal assault on a fixed position. I was a fast young man and I was trying to impress whoever was watching. The lane was very long. Maybe 200 yards with mounds on both sides, staggered all the way to the objective. I was a bit to motivated and I got about 90 yards ahead of everyone else.Laying behind a mound for around 4-5 minutes waiting for the rest to catch up, I started to feel a bit warm. Being from Ohio, this would be my first but sadly not my last encounter with the wildlife of Alabama. Seems fire ants are prominent in those parts, and since I decided to take up a nice prone fighting position on top of a nice fat nest, the fire ants decided to enter the opening of there home via my groin region.I had hundreds of bites from my belly button to my knees and EVERYWHERE in between. A few days in the hospital and countless IV bags later and I was back in action. I always look down now, before diving for cover.That may cause my demise one of these days.Read more Basic Training Stories here.