After we were rolling for a few moments, I looked at Chase. "When you are stopping, take your foot off the gas pedal, slow down, and come to a 'soft' stop. You only want to do something like a panic stop if you are in a combat training situation and you are fired upon. Hit the brake and clutch together, then shift into reverse and back up. But in the winter, use a slow stop."
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Chase kept it slow and handled the jeep well enough. What happened next was not his fault.
Late in the afternoon, I needed to get out and walk a cramp out of my leg, so I told Chase to stop. He did it smoothly. Almost immediately, there was a sudden jolt from our rear. I was thrown back in my seat, and the headset flew off my head. It was so jarring that I don't recall hearing the sound of the crash. The jeep behind us had hit us.
Slowly, I got out of the jeep and walked to the rear of the vehicle. The other jeep was solidly against our rear bumper.
“What happened?” I asked the other corporal when he joined me.
“Hit an icy patch.” He told his driver to back up a bit.
There was no noticeable damage to either vehicle. Despite how violent the impact had felt, it was actually a low-speed collision.
“Let's call it a day,” I said, and he agreed.
When we all had been dismissed for the day, we were in the junior ranks mess, and people were having a beer or soft drink.
"So, Harry, you want Chase for your regular driver?" It was the other corporal from the convoy.
“He'll be alright. Not a lot of experience driving just yet. I'll just remember to wear my helmet next time out." I smiled. “What about your guy? Should we just call him Crash? First time out and he's in a collision.”
He laughed. “Aside from that, he did pretty well. I think we'll keep them.”
“Agreed,” I said. “God help us when we go tactical, though.”
Tactical meant going off-road and pulling into ditches in a hurry, and all sorts of other challenges. All part of a reconnaissance trooper's trade. Challenging, exciting, and fun.
I find my mind back in the present, admiring a beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies. The mind is a mystery to me. How I can revisit a cold winter day from over fifty years ago in an instant and relive the experiences as if I were that young soldier again. Then, just as quickly, I am back to old age and sunshine. It keeps me alive.
