I joined the army at 19. I didn't have much going on, couldn't find a job and I was sure if I hung around my home town I'd be in jail before I was 21. It took two trips to the recruiter before I signed on the dotted line.
After basic they sent me to Infantry AIT. I volunteered for jump school, then Ranger school. I rose steadily through the ranks and everything went smoothly until I hit the rank of First Sargent. On my second Company assignment my CO turned out to be a total and utter dickhead. I always tried to lead by example while his leadership philosophy revolved around a big stick. He busted some of my best NCOs and consequently all the good ones left transferred out and battalion began to ship in the worse duds they had. I got stuck with the bottom of the barrel. Our unit cohesion and exemplary record went right done the tubes.
After a bit the CO decided it was my fault and gave me a mediocre evaluation. Because of the way the Army did its promotions a mediocre evaluation was just as detrimental to my career as a really bad one. I protested to the battalion Sargent Major who took it to the battalion CO. Unfortunately my company CO and the battalion CO were golfing buddies so the battalion CO allowed it to be included in my record. I knew with that one single mediocre evaluation there would be no further promotions so at 45 years old and 24 years in the army I retired. When I got out I moved back to my home town. I had lots of family there and wanted to be around them. I settled in and got a job as the manager of a production facility in my town.
After a few months I was having a beer with my sister and her husband when she asked me if I was going to the week long family outing. I had spent most of my military career in posts and bases overseas and I never had time at home except for a few weeks here and there on leave. When I asked her what outing she was talking about, Trisha grinned and started to describe it.
"We started doing this 5 years ago." She said, "The family rents the entire camp ground up at Spirit lake for a week and we all stay up there."
I was very familiar with the camp ground. As a teenager me and my friends would go up to the lake and spend a weekend fishing. I couldn't understand however why the family would rent the entire campground. It was a rather large camp ground with at least a dozen cabins as well 50 or so campsites for RVs and tents, a large laundry facility, a huge shower building with separate men and women showers, a large community kitchen and a smaller one( that one was so small, only two people could fit into it at one time) a large sand beach on the lake with a cordoned off swimming area and a dock with boats to rent for fishing.
"Why such a big place for just our family?" I asked thinking only about my immediate family, about 10 or 11 people.
My sister Carla laughed and replied, "It is for just our family, but all our family. We have aunts, uncles and distant cousins that come from all over the country for this. Andy, at the last one we had over 100 people."
That shocked me and I replied, "A 100? I didn't know we had that many family members!"
"The first year it was maybe 21 or 22 but as word got out to the distant relatives they began to make it a vacation destination. So are you going?"
"Why not?" I replied, "I'd like to meet some of those relatives I've never seen before and say hi to the ones I do know."
I arranged for a week off from my job. Even though I didn't have any vacation coming my boss knew about the gathering (it seems most everyone in town did) and agreed to let me leave for the week.
The gathering was to be the last week of June. I wanted to rent a cabin but they were all taken by the time I checked so I bought a tent and camping gear. The gathering was to go from Sunday afternoon to Friday. I'd also spent a lot of my career sleeping in pup tents and on the ground and I really didn't want to do that again. I bought a large tent, a queen sized memory foamed topped air mattress, a double sized sleeping bag, cooler, lantern and all the other peripheral stuff for camping. I wanted to ride my motorcycle to the gathering so I talked my sister into taking my camping gear with her.
On the day it was to start I loaded my stuff onto my motorcycle, an Electric blue Triumph Speed Triple, and headed for the camp ground. When I pulled through the gate a table had been setup for arrivals. I parked the bike and walked up to the table to see my aunt Ida sitting behind it.
"Hi Andy." She greeted me as she rummaged around in a pile of papers on the table, "Carla said you were coming. You're tenting it, right?"
"Yea, I wanted a cabin but they were all taken." I told her.
"Well since I knew you were coming I signed you up for the best camp site here. The one behind the main building."
I instantly knew the one she meant. I'd had the opportunity to use it as a teen. It was a nice little clearing in a grove of trees behind the main building. It was totally surrounded by a well manicured ring of wild roses with a single zig zag opening that screened it completely from the rest of the camp ground. It had the most privacy of any spot on the grounds.
'Thanks Ida. " I told her as I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "You're my favorite aunt."
"Oh go on now!" She said with a grin, gently slapping me lightly on the arm.
I got back on my bike and rode to the spot. I decided I'd set up my camp before going to meet any of the others. It took about 45 minutes to carry all my stuff to the spot from my sisters cabin. It took another hour and I had my tent set up along with the rest of my camping gear. When I was done I looked around to make sure everything was ready, then I headed for the community kitchen to see who was there.
As I walked into the kitchen area my uncle George spotted me.
"Hey Andy! I'm glad you came. Come on I'll introduce you to some of your long lost relatives."
We made our way through the crowd and George introduced me as we went. I met cousins from Iowa, other cousins from New Jersey my uncle Frank from Arizona that I had never met and on and on and on. It seemed like a never ending stream of people. We finally made our way out the other side of the kitchen area.
As George and I stood talking he suddenly said, "Damn. Here he comes."
I glanced in the direction he was looking to see my cousin Gordon walking toward us. I grew up with four cousins close enough to be around. Gordon had been one of my younger cousins (he was 10 years younger then I was). Even being that much younger than I was I couldn't stand him. His mother, my aunt Francine, had married a wealthy man. After she did she became a very stuck up socialite and looked down on the rest of the family. They always attended birthdays and other family occasions, but only to rub in the fact they were rich. As we grew up Gordon adopted his mothers arrogant ways.
As he neared I grinned and called, "Hey Gordy. How's it hangin' kid."
He positively hated to be called Gordy or kid.
He scowled and replied, "Gordon. My name is Gordon."
I grinned and replied, "Sure Gordy, anything you say."
He scowled and walked into the kitchen as my uncle chuckled and lightly punched me on the shoulder. It was early afternoon and I decided to head back to my camp site for a short nap figuring everyone would be up late talking. As I walked around the kitchen building I ran into a vision. She was standing just around the corner of the building checking her lip gloss in a mirror when I rounded the corner. I was able to stop before I ran into her but I stood stunned as I looked her over.
She was a few inches shorter then I was (I'm 5' 10") with raven black hair, light brown eyes, full lips and alabaster skin. She was dressed in a tight tank top and a pair of tight leggings that hugged her shapely legs and ass like a glove. In fact they were so tight I could see a faint camel toe where her leggings pulled up tightly between her legs. I guessed her to be in her mid to late 20's. I'd later find out she was 26.
"Geez, I'm sorry. I almost ran you down there." I said.
"Almost," She said then added with a brilliant smile, "Almost."
As I said, she was a vision, but I also saw a wedding ring on her hand so figured she was some distant second cousins wife. I didn't want to be ill mannered so I introduced myself.
"I'm Andy Arrant." I said holding out my hand.
She smiled, reached out and grasped my offered hand as she said,"Hi. I'm Caroline Arrant."
I held onto her hand as I asked, "Arrant huh? So which one of our family are you married to?"
"Gordon. I'm Gordon's wife."
My mouth must have dropped open because she giggled and said, "I get that response a lot."
