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Priceless Corps Moments


tomtuttle
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Wow, I finally read this and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to post when I reach exc's above. Must bee the willl of Gawd.

It was a trip to the Texas Prison Farm, my second of the year, I think we were planting onions this go-round. The hours, the push, the sunburns, and the unreasonable 5th cork guy who was there got to us all. I didn't atart the mooning. But I quickly joined in. Whenever Fisher rode by in his truck, we'd line up & moon 'im. And, apparently, while i was in another field, a "group picture" was taken, including one well-rounded female butt, but I didn't hear about it.

Anyway, they take us to Lubbock on Wed. night for the movies. Casey's Shadow as I recall. And an exercise in misery. 50 miles of bumping in the old prison bus, I think all of us slept through the whole movie, and it was presented as an act of ultimate beneficience. Any, after the movie, we're riding through Lubbock streets & I'm standing up front talking with my good friend BK who is driving. Fisher pulls up beside us at the light and everybody starts yelling for me to moon him. I obliged, with BK operating the door. What I couldn't see, from my angle, was that Mrs. Fisher was in the car. Oops. Some 8th'er took offense & ratted me out when we returned to Euphoria.

Problem was, within hours of returning I was shuttled off to Rome City for some plaster work for a week or two(actually I had plotted this earlier, anything to be gone from Euphoria). I didn't hear that all manner of deep doo-doo was happening back in Euphoria, including a Sikthpth Cork mtg where our boss man sez "I'm ashamed to call you Corps", at which my bud AK stands up in teh back and says, Groucho style "ok, call us something else then". Apparently it was all a big deal.

Upon return to Euphoria, somebody says, darkly, JW wants to see you in his office now. I go in, again knowing nothing, unaware of being ratted out. JW has a picture, The Picture, which he slides across the desk to me. I'm too surprised & I start laughing. GW's not amused & axes me if I'm in the pic. I say no, but I did plenty of mooning, I confess. Then he did a half-hearted reproof & dimissed me.

That's the Stow-Ree.

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I don't remember any priceless moments from when I was in the corps. I remember my corps training as a lot of fear of reproof, fear of doing the wrong thing, fear of not getting the tuition thing together, fear of the next impossible thing they were going to make us do. I managed to graduate and leave TWI not long after, but the main thing the corps did for me is prove once and for all that TWI was a group I should get far away from.

The character and personality of the corps seemed to have changed shortly after Martindale became the president of the ministry. The stories here sound like there were still some unique, fun loving joyful people in those pre Martindale pres. corps. The corps training I remember seemed to consist of a lot of people as afraid as I was and a lot of ruthlessly ambitious way tree climbers. The way tree climbers seemed like the soulless corporate climbing types I met in the working world after leaving TWI.

From the way many of you early ex corps (pre 12th or 13th, I think) talk back and forth here, there seems to be a genuine affection and recollection of fondness for the experience and one another. I don't have those feelings for anyone I can think of from my corps years. I guess that was a good thing because it got me to leave pretty quickly with almost no difficulty in making that decision. On the other hand, it makes those years seem even more wasted as compared to the times some of you spent.

I don't know...just thinking on "paper". I am glad that you guys were able to build some good memories and share them with the rest of us. I have to admit it was the early corps that I saw that made me consider going into the corps in the first place. If I had only seen the post Martindale presidency corps, I probably never would have gone.

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scout, the corps program really beat me down and made me feel worse than i did in my beaten down "past life." but i will say i met some truly wonderful people. some are still my friends.

i think i would like these people no matter what. but something like the program i was in binds you together in a special way. maybe like me and my siblings trying to survive childhood together ?

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Scout,

I agree with alot of what ExCathedra said to you, except that I wasn't really that beaten down like she was. I believe that her experience as a woman differed from mine as a dumba$$ 22 year old kid though. I was very oblivious to upper eschelon shenanigans, and actually went there to "have my a$$ kicked and to learn something about discipline because I grew up lazy and hated work but learned from the Bible that work was "a good thing".

So, I welcomed all of the pressure with the goal of looking at it and overcoming it. Surely there was some serious bs from the big wigs, and some scary stuff like "MAL", but all in all, like ExCath said, some of those folks were and are some of the finest I have ever known.

And yes, I think there really was a difference between the pre-Martindale presidency, and the post Martindale presidency. I began to meet a number of 13th Corps grads and on up, and some (but more than should have been usual) of them were childish morons who really loved to be "lords over God's heritage. In fact, it was my being a clergyman that kept some of them from really messing with me. Once I moved to an area and didn't tell them that I was a clergy guy. I just wanted to "be a believer" for awhile. And as time went on, this BC punk began to dislike my independant ways. When I finally let it out of the bag to another believer that I was a clergy guy, this weasal was so shocked, but then began to suck up and apologize and he was just plain shameless. That wasn't too long before I got kicked out by LCM.

And that punk actually tried to break my wife and my marriage up! I actually caught him at my home one day when I came home from work while my wife was chewing him out and kicking him out the door! It was beautiful. I just smiled at him and waved as he scuttled into his car and drove off. I didn't need to bark at him because "The Shotgun" (my wife's nickname) had already unloaded on him... icon_cool.gif

Sorry for the de-rail folks, but yeah Scout Finch, I think your assessment was accurate. And say, has Boo Radley come out lately? icon_smile.gif:)-->

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It's true, exc. I hated Euphoria. I really hated that place, the whole vibe. Everything about it.

Our last year in rez was really awful. Lots of heartbreaking conflict, backbiting, division, cliques. But it's true I love a number of fine people I befriended there. I think many folks there were idealistic and seeking higher things. That can make for a fine bunch of people. It can make for some really wierd stuff, though, in such a closed society.

I think the bad stuff our last year drove some to the craziness we indulged.

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Jonny, I just read your last post here. I am laughing now as I type. Who did your wife kick out of your house? You sure can be a funny guy. Especially for a republican. O.K. I reread your post. It must have been the BC, but I was kind of hoping it would have been Craiger himself.

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Emporia was a tough place. I blew a lot of the reproof off. My Lord it did not point at me. did it icon_smile.gif:)-->. I will never forget my apprentice year right before the first year in residents. I was on bless patrol at the ROA. I was stationed at corps shalett icon_smile.gif:)-->. Some guy from NYC was supposed to meet me there to be on that shift with me. He was late. When he got there I lit into him. He lit into me right back. Uhmm we were held back from from beating the sh-t out of each other. Well in resindents started a month later. We both still glared at each other. I am sure with him as it was with me "bring it on big boy".

Time passed. I still wanted to knock the crap out of him. Well one day at Owens Hall in the coffee room or what ever it was called. I was sitting there with about maybe 4 others in the room. Here comes that pecker head. He did not really say anything. He was talking to someone and as close as the space was, I heard him. I just said something about the conversation he was talking about. Well I dropped my guard and was having a conversation with the two of them. He brought up the ROA stuff. We talked about a whole 30 seconds about it and laughed. It was over and we had a good conversation about other stuff and laughed a lot. We never became real close but we did end up with respect for each other and in passing a smile and a hi.

Not a funny story but some good things happened at Emporia. To some I can see why it was very hard. To some I can see why it was not.

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Mark, it was a guy named J*m*l McGhee. He was shameless. But my wife sure scared the crap outa him, and then I showed up! It was funny, but really sad too. Down deep, he was a good guy, but he was following the "party line" so to speak, and trying to "save my wife" because it was evident that I was not going to follow him and Panar*llo on the glorious path of enlightenment through Martindale...

And thanks Mark, for a DemocRat, you have your nice side as well! icon_smile.gif:)-->

But speaking of priceless Corps moments, I have another. May I share? Thank you...

Once I bout three whole boxes of Earth Grain brand donuts for my twig. I put them in a brown grocery bag in the fridge on the "garden level" (remember that? Not "basement"?) of the Hallowed Halls Of Uncle Harry Highrise.

Well, the night that we were going to have a twig, and I was going to spring the surprise and give out the goodies, when I went to the fridge, the fricken donuts were all but gone! Yeah! there was three and a half donuts left in one of the three boxes, and the two empty boxers were still in my grocery bag!!!

Oh! I was furious! The thievin' bast*rd even had the gall to leave a half eaten donut in the box! Well. Immediately, I got a piece of paper and left a note on the fridge that said something to the effect:

"To the lowdown no count thievin scumbag who stole my donuts! Are you really in the Way Corps?!?! And you made a comittment to live a lifestyle of It Is Written?!?! What about "Let him that stole, steal no more...da da da...?" If you have any honor whatsoever, you'll fess up and tell me who you are! And then you'll pay me back!!"

And then I went to twig to tell them that the surprise I had been talking about had been stolen. They were truly bummed, for we all loved those Earth Grain donuts...

Well, a couple of days later, a friend of mine who had started in the ninth Corps, but ended up with the Tenth Corps came up to me and asked if he could have a word with me. I said; "Sure ****, what's up?" Ya see **** had been my WOW brother in 1976-77, and we were tight. We were bro's. We'd been through some .... together. I knew he had had some trouble with tuition, so I thought it had something to do with that. So I'm thinking that I am going to minister to his needs or some such "lofty" condesencion..(sp?)

And so he says; "Jonny", uh concerning those umm, uhh, well...Well, ya know those donuts? Umm, I umm I ATE YER DONUTS MAN! It was me! I am a piece of crap! I'm sorry man! But I saw 'em in there, and they just kept starin' at me, and I couldn't help it and I ate 'em!" And he burst into tears! And I hugged him, and I told him I loved him and I forgave him, and then I just burst out laughing too, and then so did he, and then everything became ok then. I felt soo bad for him! But I punched him in the shoulder, and then laughed again, and the tears just rolled as we laughed about it. But then again, I guess he shouldn't have stolen them either. But shoot, that was kinda wild.

He still paid me the money for the donuts though, and I very gladly accepted it as well! Then I went out and bought three more boxes of donuts and I ate every single one of them by myself!!

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Hey Jonny:

Speaking of demorats and republicons. I just bought a book that you might like. It is the experiences while in congress of Tom Coburn, congressional class of 1994. It sounds like he actually might be one of the good guys. Surprise, suprise, especially compared to what we have today from the republicon party in Washington DC. Check out this book on E-Bay and you might get it real cheap. Maybe as low as $5.00. I guess they printed to many and have extras to sell. Do they ship to Alaska or are you in a foreign country up there? Anyway check out this book on E-Bay. It looks good. Here is the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...me=STRK:MEWA:IT

And Jonny. You are one good story teller Dude. You keep me laughin.

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Thanks Mark, and, thanks for the compliment. And really, I am actually "trying to be a better person" around here. I am tired of fighting tooth and claw over political beliefs. I really do still have my conservative beliefs, but I am tired of ....ing people off all of the time. I don't think I'll ever vote Democrat, but, I don't think I'll be aggressive in the forums as I once was. I'm not that smart anyway...

I do think it is fair to say that we all want to see the same things happen for our fellow humans.

We'd all like to see our fellow humans happy, healthy, productive, and free from fear. I guess we just see a "different road to Chicago" that will get us there. And ya know, that's not a bad goal, to see everybody as "happy and blessed". It's a noble cause....

Anyhoo, I'm glad you like my stow-rees. Maybe I should post one of my "short stories" that I wrote about Alaska...

And, I will check out that book...Thanks Mark

P.S.

"Republicons"- That's a good one, you DemocRat... icon_smile.gif:)-->

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Why Jonny....I didn't know you was a fake clergymanual? How could you?????

After we graduated and was at cork week, a bunch of us went out drinking one night (imagine dat!) and I ran into Pat L*nn, and while we was all tossing them back she says

"You coulda been a Cork coor. at Emporia...you was a real sharpie, but you lost your edge...it just disappeared after your interim year. You know, you coulda been a real Hotdog."

I thought, "If I gotta bust people and do all dat upper echelon BS to be a cork coor. then I am GLAD I lost my edge."

And I still consider her comment that night over twenty years ago a compliment and a Badge that I wear proudly when I think of it.

BTW, my interim year was at HQ...now how on earth could I lose my edge at dat place?

After HQ, I was tired of the BS, and was so miserable our last year that all I wanted to do was make it to graditation......I figured it had to better on the field. Heh NOT.

Jonny, do you remember at Emporia how Pat L*nn always beat the 10th cork down, and how she made us clean and clean and clean and it was never ever good enough?

Well, dem days is gone, and I could write about some wild and fun times, and maybe I wiull later, but the fun stuff was with the people, Cork or uncorked, ....not by doing the rules and regs. Amen

Rob

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Jonny, I just read the first few pages of the book that I am recommending to you with link above. It is excellent. You really should get a copy and read it. This is the experiences of a republican congressman who tried to bring fiscal discipline to the federal budget. He was often oppposed by people in his party simply because they were more concerned about getting re-elected than making difficult choices of fiscal discipline. However, during his term they did bring down the deficit.

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Well Engine,

I don't know why it is that I was chosen to be a clergy guy. I do remember that the night of the ordinations, Tenth Corps "friends" of mine came up and asked ever so "tactfully"; "How did you get ordained?" Yeah, thanks, God bless you too.. Before I went in the Corps, I had only run a twig, and while in rez, I only ran a twig for one block. On my interim year, I ran a twig area, with a couple of WOW families samwidged in between (Jeneld* W*lliams WOW team), and that went ok, but nothing spectacular in the annals of TWI outreach. Jenelda and I did have a blast that year though, up in Fargo...

I guess it came about because an LC and I in Alaska were really tight, and he recommended me for it. But I was never a big time organizer, nor a research guy. On the field, my only forte' was probably in the realm of "I loved the people" a whole bunch and could be counted on for kindness and encouragement. But shoot, I was always late with blue forms, white forms, and had a hell of a time trying to put together a big meeting for an LC or an RC, which put a lot of stress on the local believers who were helping me get the meeting together.

I was pretty good up front though, talking or teaching to an audience. I liked that, probably because of the "ham" factor. But they never gave me the chance to do that at Emporia in our last year. JAL and the Red Dragon never thought much of me, although I really did want to give running a SNS a try. I think "I coulda been a contender".

As far as running meetings goes, I remember one time when T*dd B*rnes was up front running a SNS meeting in the chapel. As the meeting started out, we were of course standing up. Well, T*dd never did tell us to be seated, and so we opened up with prayer, sang some songs, and still we were standing, and people began to smirk some. And then, he went into the announcements, and we were still on our feet. After the announcements, he took us into a season of prayer, and yes, we were still on our feet. And finally when it was time for manifestations, T*dd, now gaining confidence in himself doing the job up front, says brightly; "Kevin Nye! Would you please stand, speak in tongues and interpr..." And then he turned redder'n a beet as he realized that we had all been standing the whole time.

And Kevin, he didn't know whether to sit down while all remained standing, and people to his left and right sat down so it would look correct, and finally Kevin just SIT an I'd and by the time he was done most folks had sat down. Pretty funny, that. T*dd was definitely ribbed about that one at the "after glow" critique...

As far as JAL and Pat leaning on us alot, well, I was only there for two blocks and I guess I don't remember the cleaning and cleaning like you mentioned. What really remains stuck in my mind was how much the little nipper (DB) used to crucify people verbally and in public all of the time. I swear, he was just plain vicious at times. Sometimes I just wanted to flat out thrash him! That was some pretty wicked stuff, that...

Ya know Engine, I always thought of you as one of those high caliber guys who shoulda been a WCBC or CC in rez. Me, I was always a "little guy" while in rez. I mean shoot, you remember my car don't you? The "Deer Mobile with the aoogah horn?" Yet everybody borrowed it for beer drinking purposes. I am proud of that old car now that I think of it. Any way, when I graduated, my Corps assignment was:

Juneau, Alaska, Twig: Start One

No Limb for me! No Branch or even Twig. But I did request Alaska, and Juneau needed a TC for a young married couple who are our pals to this day.

And Mr Sanguinetti. I have no doubt about the "politicians making decisions based on re-election" syndrome. I think they are all afflicted with that to a some degree or another...Ha!

"I know he's lyin, because his lips are movin! He's a politician ain't he?"

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I remember Todd doing that....what a hoot.

I'd tell some stories but I'm a two fingered typist....take too long.

Thanks for the compliments Jonny...and I loved anybody's car in those days, especially the ones we could drink beer in...like Chr*s Rawl*ins van..heh.

rob

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