I went to Fort Carson today to meet with one of my autistic clients who works there. There is an elementary school on base that I had to drive past. As I went past the school crossing I noticed a soldier there dressed in camo and wearing a safety vest. He was a crossing guard complete with stop sign. I did a double take and continued driving to my destination but I couldn't help but chuckle. That poor guy must have screwed up badly to be assigned that duty.

?

Crossing guards always have safety vests, and stop signs. It's part of the job. And there's a guard at a guarded crossing every school day. And a soldier doing an assigned job has to be in uniform.

And it sure as hell beats clearing out bars at 2 a.m.

You are expecting something different?

BTW, a crossing guard in full length yellow jacket and stop sign, and the student she was helping across the street were hit by some yahoo driver who was probably texting. She sure wasn't watching the road. The guard pushed the student out of the way, and suffered a glancing blow from the right fender, hard enough to throw her to the ground. Made great video for the local newscasts.

Yeah…. I doubt that duty had anything to do with him “screwing up”. It’s just a job that needs doing. He’s getting paid the same as anyone else at that rank and seniority. And it beats a lot of the other jobs that need to be done.

It’s probably just his unit’s turn to handle that particular duty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2022 01:41AM by knotheadusc.

In my time in the military the crossing guards were either parents of the kids, security forces or someone on light duty that was medically unable to do their main job.

Late 50's we were Crossing Guards in 6th grade for our elementary school. Special belt and badge, stop sign and "authority". We stopped traffic so students could cross the roads.
Supervised by a teacher but we did the job.

Guess they don't trust kids now.

OneWayJay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Late 50's we were Crossing Guards in 6th grade for
> our elementary school. Special belt and badge,
> stop sign and "authority". We stopped traffic so
> students could cross the roads.
> Supervised by a teacher but we did the job.
>
> Guess they don't trust kids now.

Back in the 50's nobody had cell phones and generally paid attention to crossing guards and police officers.

Not anymore. Schools can't afford having a 12 year old directing traffic and getting run over and killed.

I wish crossing guard was a duty I was assigned.

Albert Camus wrote in "The Myth of Sisyphus" that "The struggle . . . is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." What this means: Camus clearly never had to sweep water off a ship's deck in the rain.

During Underway Replenishments, there's a group of deckhands holding a distance line. The distance line is a line (rope for the landlubbers) with banners marking distance to show how far away/close the two ships are. This would not be so bad if it weren't for the fact that I was on a Nimitz class and had to handle this line on the flight deck. If the line surged while you were still holding on, you would be going overboard. Both this and sweeping water off decks in the rain are normal duties for deckhands.

In port, I have had to stand Dumpster Watch as part of normal duty. Wearing a reflective vest and making sure kids aren't hit by traffic is better than guarding the garbage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2022 07:53PM by ookami.