Latter Day Sinner

I rarely cry and I can only think of one time when I could consider it tears of joy. I had a prescription for psychiatric medication that I had gotten from a civilian therapist. I took that prescription into my advanced training assignment in the Army. At the beginning of training we were told that we didn’t need to report civilian prescriptions. I went through the full course of training and was told that I would be held at the post longer until I could do 42 pushups. I had just run out of my prescription so I went to the troupe medical center to get it renewed. I showed them the medication I needed and everyone got really quiet. A few minutes later I was in the office of Chief Warrant Officer. He explained that they could not give me a refill and that considering the medication I was no longer eligible to see in the US military. I laughed just a little. The officer thought I was starting to cry and began to console me. This made me laugh a little harder. He upped his game. “IT’LL BE OKAY, PRIVATE. There are other things in life than the Army. This isn’t the end of the world. Your life isn’t over.” By this time I was laughing so hard I was in tears. He kept trying to let me know that even though I had to leave the Army I would find other things in life that were meaningful. It took me a full five minutes to stop laughing and crying. I did get a discharge over it as well as an awesome story.