"There were numerous choke-points where personnel were held up, and we made it our mission to turn these chokepoints into areas that flowed and got people through the
chow lines faster."
Getting to make a few new native friends and seeing the smiles in the
chow line help to break the ice.
Study the faces of people filing into a charity banquet and they look about as happy as the
chow line at Folsom.
I can remember standing in a
chow line at Fort Ord, California, in the mid-1950s and being hawked four San Francisco dailies--the Chronicle, Examiner, Call Bulletin and the News.
If Norman Schwarzkopf and his aide-de-camp Sam Nunn claim that heterosexuals aren't safe in the showers from gays, think about meat-eating warriors in the
chow line with a vegetarian.
Mallards are easily convinced to put on the feed bag and fight to the front of the
chow line.
He talked about the chow hall and demonstrated how to walk in the
chow line, explaining about the negative consequences one soldier suffered after not following the procedure.
That includes providing foods that can improve and prolong their lives, such as the recently enhanced Purina
Chow line of products Irom Nestle Purina PetCare.
Stretches of beach close to inlets tend to be best due to bait making brief stopovers there, and inlet dwellers do come out and range along the sand to intercept the
chow line. Try public beaches such as Vero's South Beach Park, Avalon Beach or Pepper Park, and fish at first light or well outside the lifeguarded swimming areas after 9 a.m.
"They're constantly jumping over one another, flying upwind to get to the front of the
chow line. We try to that with our spread."
My other important observation: Every time more divers joined the flock, they always landed towards the head of the
chow line.
Beyond the high tension of combat, it's the day-to-day trivialities of troop life --
chow lines, religious services, kicking around a soccer ball -- that lift this book to rare heights.