February, 2011 - Thailand. My unit from Alaska get the chance to partake in the Cobra Gold training operation. We arrive a little early before the opening ceremony to get used to the climate (Alaska to Thailand in February is not smart). Opening ceremony comes and it's huge between us and the Thai airborne unit. Mainly it was a unit demonstration, but afterwards, we get released to go into town and have a 'few drinks.'
So being nearly 10 days sober at that Thai base, we hit up town. Everyone started slowly, but that didn't last long. Two hours before curfew, we hit up the local brothel and pretty much everyone gets laid by the local talent (except some of the married guys). On the way back, we realized we forgot someone, so one person stayed on the truck and went to go back to get him. The other including myself showed up to a shit show.
Apparently the battalion commander never released us and our release was pre-mature, so since he was unhappy, shit rolled down hill for us. Soldiers were drunk, some were sober, but our First Sergeant was definitely sober. And he wanted to sober everyone up. He formed us up in a formation that consisted of everyone in civilian clothes, Army PTs, or our standard Army uniforms. His order then came out, 'everyone who drank tonight, get two warm bottles of water time now.' We rushed and grabbed two bottles. Go the order and we pounded those bottles. At that time, the one who was left behind and his Forest snuck into formation without being noticed.
First Sergeant wanted more, so he started the orders for a company run at 11:30 PM at night. As we turned, one person in my platoon said, 'This is legendary.' My good friend replied with, 'no; this is biblical.' As soon as that was stated, we started in a doubletime run. We ran around that base, coughing and puking. Sergeants were out there leading formation with cadences they couldn't remember since they were so drunk. Finally, First Sergeant said screw this and let platoon sergeants deal with their guys.
As we broke into our platoon formations, random Thai soldiers looked from their barracks wondering 'wtf.' Our platoon sergeant looked right at us disgusted and started to separate those who got drunk from those who were sober. At that point, he was deciding who was going to jump that next day and earn their Thailand Airborne Wings. He came to me and was going to say I was a no jump, but my squad leader stuck up for me. I got the clear and I was jumping in 8 hours.
As we were dismissed, we hauled ass back to our sleeping area as our First Sergeant looked over the balcony. He knew what we had done was normal, but when shit rolls down hill, he had no choice. He did what he had to do and we got to know better after that.