Bagpipes
I go down to the flightline for all the mission briefs even when I am not flying. This I do because I want to know what is going on. Being a tourist on the imperial frontier, I want to hear about everything.
The brief ended, the flight cancelled because of bad weather and I returned to my little metal house on my bicycle. We fly at night so it was dark with very little traffic on the roads or in the sky. Very quiet it was and a pleasant ride. On the way I passed a great large vehicle staging area (where they organized supply convoys, acres and acres). There were few trucks there but as I passed I heard a tone I thought was a back up warning. It sounded a bit odd though so I continued to listen as I pedaled. Sounds came again and I realized they were bagpipes. The piper sounded proficient.
I turned my bike around, went to the source of the sound and saw a single soldier standing in the dark playing the bagpipes. So I stopped and listened until he was done with his set. He was an Army Captain who had just arrived in country in the past few weeks. He tried to practice as often as he could but about once a week was the best he could manage. The pipes are loud so he had to find a place away from housing to practice which is why he was standing on the edge of a big dirt field.
My nephew (you know who you are) plays the pipes so we talked about that for awhile. Then he started again and I pedaled away to the sound of the pipes fading.
What a fine bit of imagery that is: a single soldier playing the pipes on the dark and quiet base.
The brief ended, the flight cancelled because of bad weather and I returned to my little metal house on my bicycle. We fly at night so it was dark with very little traffic on the roads or in the sky. Very quiet it was and a pleasant ride. On the way I passed a great large vehicle staging area (where they organized supply convoys, acres and acres). There were few trucks there but as I passed I heard a tone I thought was a back up warning. It sounded a bit odd though so I continued to listen as I pedaled. Sounds came again and I realized they were bagpipes. The piper sounded proficient.
I turned my bike around, went to the source of the sound and saw a single soldier standing in the dark playing the bagpipes. So I stopped and listened until he was done with his set. He was an Army Captain who had just arrived in country in the past few weeks. He tried to practice as often as he could but about once a week was the best he could manage. The pipes are loud so he had to find a place away from housing to practice which is why he was standing on the edge of a big dirt field.
My nephew (you know who you are) plays the pipes so we talked about that for awhile. Then he started again and I pedaled away to the sound of the pipes fading.
What a fine bit of imagery that is: a single soldier playing the pipes on the dark and quiet base.
posted by Carl at 5:23 PM
2 Comments:
This might be a dumb question. I know how loud pipes are; despite the beautiful sound, is he any kind of a target while playing?
we live on the safest base there is, though there are several competitors. it is a very long way to any good spot to take a shot with anything. so he is pretty safe.
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