Airborne PT had its second OML event today: the pull-up test.  For those who know me, you know I’m built roughly like an ostrich.  I’m around 6’3” and run a lot, and am neither built, nor historically have been good at pull-ups.  Despite consistently working on them throughout airborne PT, I managed to let myself get mentally psyched out as I hopped onto the bar.

            This event is scored the same as the run.  First place (in number of reps) gets a set amount of points (the same number as the run), while last place gets 2 points.  It doesn’t matter how many you do, nor how far ahead you are of the next person, the points are simply based on overall placement.

            To clear up any hope you had for me, I managed to do miserably, and finished next to last.  The guys at the top did fantastic, with first place getting 32 or so.  We had two ties at the end.  The people in a tie have to get back on the bar, and compete to see who can do more.  The person who does the most gets whatever place they were originally tied for, and the ones who lose the tie fall in order behind him or her.

(The Joker.  Green Goblin.  Venom.  Lex Luthor.  These are all cool arch-nemeses.  Mine unfortunately happens to be a metal bar, rather than anything cool.)

            As far as the OML goes, I slid to a tie for 7^th, which means the APFT will be a critical event for me.  Given how the scoring for it goes, it’s a critical event for everyone, because of how big a potential swing in points there can be.

       This post probably exists as the champion for worst title ever.  It’s homage to a Michael Jackson video that fascinated me as a kid, and loosely relates to our classroom material.  Emphasis on loosely.  We covered the rule of law (wide ranging subject that’s almost too broad to be summarized here), and then moved into a longer block on international human rights law.  For some reason, the Michael Jackson video (which I first saw on a dearly missed program called ‘Pop Up Video’) sprung to mind, and I sighed as I realized that I’d end up settling on it as a post title.

(The mind can wander to many places when put under the incredible stress of many hours in the classroom.)

      Our last class of the morning was on the Geneva Conventions’ protection of civilians in time of war, as was probably the most confusing thing we’ve done so far.  The class is of high importance, and was explained well, but it definitely needed another hour of time.  There’s an entire analytical process that you must step through to determine if a particular citizen is entitled to protections under the GC, and it’s not always easy to step through the process.

My brain was hurting at the end of the process, but a pair of really interesting guest speakers saved us in the afternoon.  Two gentlemen from the International Committee of the Red Cross came to discuss their worldwide operations, and it ranks among my favorite things we’ve sat through so far.

      The ICRC is not to be confused with the American Red Cross, which is a related, but entirely different organization with a different mission.  We learned that the ICRC is an international organization that provides medical aid, training, and other such services across a huge number of countries and conflict zones. We were taught about their visits to detention facilities across the world, and their efforts to fight for humane treatment of prisoners and others in combat zones.  I came out of the session with a high level of respect for those who work for the organization, and the danger they put themselves in when rendering their services in some of the most dangerous places in the world.