The guidon skittered down the center of the squad bay as a gaggle of bald recruits in their tighty whities dove after it. The Staff Sergeant had thrown it in disgust as a way to express his displeasure with the platoon. That flag represented everything to us and we instinctively rallied to it’s defense. We may not have been Marines yet but the guidon represented all of our collective hopes.
All of us had come to Parris Island to make something of our lives and the dragons we would have to slay would scare even old St. George. Today we faced the most vicious creature to ever live, the Marine Corps Drill Instructor. Things could never be good enough to please him but today he seemed to have snapped. He made us clean the floor with the Senior Drill Instructors dress uniform.
Later that evening he would be escorted out by MPs because he had beat on a recruit. A month later I saw him on desk duty at the rifle range. He gave me a smile and a handshake I’ll never forget as he said “The pen really is mightier than the sword, huh?”
If you asked me his only crime had been to care too much about his job.
Check out @mariannewest for some quality content;
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-78-5-minute-freewrite-prompt-pen
Title image is my original work