Changing Horses

I was nominally off work today, having no assigned duties in uniform, so I went to the nursing home to help the maintenance guy with a few projects.  Walked out of there about 3:00 and went to Sam's Club to pick up a few supplies for the weekend.  While I was there  I decided it was time to change ponies, to get away from the bourbon and turn to my favorite summer drink, vodka and tonic.  With a splash o lime juice.  Tart, crisp, refreshing, I learned to drink vodka and tonic at the Officer's Club at Knox.  During a two week scientific experiment we all got hammered on a specific alcoholic beverage, and went running the next morning in formation.

This was important, because a good troop leader should be able to drink his soldiers under the table, then get up the next morning and exhort them to greater glory through physical training.  I learned during that two weeks that if I drank beer, I'd be puking in the ditch before the run was finished.  If I drank tequilla, I'd be better off if I called in sick.  If I drank bourbon, I'd be sweating like a pack mule, but if I drank vodka, the morning run was not only attainable, it was sort of enjoyable.

We did have one sick sonofabitch colonel, my battalion commander, who would pull out a big black stogie halfway thru the run, light it, and exhort us for being pussies.  How he smoked that cigar while running was always a mystery to me, but I have to admit that following a cigar smoking madman on the morning run had a certain panache.   By the end of the run, he was blowing smoke, literally, he looked like a steam engine under a load.

What's your favorite summer drink?