June 30, 1997 - Misjudging My Opponent

970701 - Yesterday was hot. We had PT of a 2.5-mil run and I again ran with the fast group. Again, it was hard but I made it. We then had drill and the SDI decided we weren't working hard enough so he put us in the pit. (That makes 4 pit calls for me). After that we had chow, reviewed some knowledge and went to Pugel sticks II. I got creamed but at this point I was so unmotivated that I couldn't have cared less. Then we had chow and reviewed knowledge. We then had about 10 minutes to shower and make our racks. This morning we had PT of the circuit course twice, + max pull-ups (5) + max sit-ups (74!). Then we had some drill, chow, field day. After the field day we shifted the racks back and the entire company came for some knowledge review. Then chow, etc. I'm doing pretty good. I got a letter from Brian so my spirits are high. Also, 1 full month is now over. 59 days left.
The first time we had pugil sticks, we fought one-on-one, and then two-on-two. Both of those matches were in an open area, so we could see our opponents getting ready just as we were. This time, however, we fought in a sort of mini arena. It was a covered pavilion with walls blocking views from the outside. The only people who could see what was happening in the competition were the pugil sticks instructor who was in the arena, and the Drill Instructors who were perched along the walls watching the matches. In addition, the match began with the recruits running through a sort of walled passageway into the fighting area, so we couldn't even see our opponent until we both entered the arena. Well, as you might recall from the previous post on pugil sticks, we wore a good deal of protective gear for these matches: football helmets, neck guards, flack jackets, and groin protectors (I have included the picture below). You might also recall that I wore portholes (glasses). Those could not be worn during the matches, so I was pretty much totally blind. That provides the background for this scene:

I gear up for my match and stand at the end of the passageway. I am told to go. I run headlong through the passageway. As I round the last bend and enter the arena, I see the recruit from the other platoon coming out of his passageway. Well, I see a blur with a pugil stick, but I can tell that the blur is significantly shorter than I am. So I think, I can just run right into this little guy, knock him down, and deliver the "killing" blow. Easy victory. So that's what I do. All but the knocking him down and winning part.

What I had forgotten, as I was running to my doom, was that we had all been paired up by weight. So, despite the fact that I had about a foot on this guy, we weighed about the same. When I ran in and thought I had an easy victory ahead of me, my opponent (correctly) thought the same thing. He saw me (probably with good eyes) and probably thought, Man, that guy is skinny. And he's got long arms. That might make it hard for me to reach him. Wait a minute...He's just running right for me. What's he thinking? He's just going to bounce right off of me. Hasn't he heard of a thing called a low center of gravity? Or, at least, I assume that's what he thought.

So I ran straight for him, and he ran straight for me. I bounced off of him so hard that I landed several feet back, dazed. He walked up, tapped my helmet with the butt of his stick, and the match was finished.

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