04/26/2008
"ROTC Reunion"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ity/njrotc.jpg
I was with my old, high school ROTC group and there was some massive field meet competition. I know a bunch of my friends were there, but the only one I really remember by face was J. Leone. It was something like a reunion, as we were all as old as we are now, and the field events were supposed to be done with absolutely no practice, whatsoever. We were just supposed to automatically know what to do and when to do it, as if everything should be second nature, even though we haven’t had ROTC in over ten years. Needless to say, it was a disaster. We were all over the place. Trying to march in platoon formation and follow orders with choreographed steps that you haven’t used in a decade can only lead to bad times. Lol.
At some point, we had to swim, as a unit, across this channel or something. It was maybe 200 yards to the other side. In about the middle, I found myself being unable to keep up. My energy was draining and I was finding it harder and harder to stay above the surface. I ended up going under.
Beneath the surface, the water was a murky green, with the sunlight just barely penetrating. It was so vast that it was like a void – like I was out in the middle of the ocean. And, of course, sea monsters began coming into the picture. These massive creatures (about the size of 18-wheelers) were swimming and darting around me. I can’t remember exactly what they looked like, but I think it was something like those sea serpents in Beowulf, but I think they had arms, and their teeth weren’t quite as long, albeit still intimidating.
I was in a panic, and I was fighting to return to the surface. It seemed more and more, though, like I was hundreds of feet deep, and the surface was an entire lifetime away. Unable to hold my breath any longer, I involuntarily inhaled…only to find that I could breathe! I was lucid. I was still really freaked out by these sea monsters, though - that were still swooping in and out of the darkness around me - and it was causing me to be unable to settle myself down enough to take control of the dream. I continued trying to swim out of the water, instead of just changing the scene. No matter how long or hard I swam, I couldn’t escape.