Briarcliffe's own Lieutenant Martella and I decided to relax last night in our company break area. We were both born on June 10th and while we would much rather have been with friends and family at a Delco establishment, we decided to make the best of what we had.

Linda and Nick Sr. (mom and dad to me) sent me a wonderful package of specialty meats and cheeses from Trio's Cold Cuts on Mac Dade Boulevard. We were joined by my roommate Jamie Kerwin and Chad McGrath who supplied us with birthday cigars. All was well. We were calm, had some music playing, some great food, and a couple cigars to celebrate our birthday. We were as far from Iraq as we could have been. That is until my trusted roommate Jamie Kerwin, turned on us.

Jamie is a member of the old Long Range Surveillance Detachment (LRSD) which recently closed up. They were a specially trained unit of the PA National Guard and some of their ranks now serve with our unit. Only if the Army had known that their skills in ambush tactics and hand to hand combat would have been used for such treachery.

While Mark and I enjoyed our relaxing evening, a plot was in the works. At SSG Kerwin's direction a force of former LRSD guys and some of our crew chiefs had assembled around the covered area which surrounds our common area. The force consisted of a former sniper, a Ranger, several paratroopers, and a hefty backup force. Upon Kerwin's command, the "A-team" rushed into the courtyard and wrestled Martella and I to the ground. We fought back gallantly but were no match for the elite team assembled for this mission. Once we were unable to fight back the objective of the mission became clear.

They were there to give us "pink bellies" for our birthday.

For those of you who have never been the victim of a this attack, according to a website it is "The act of rendering a person's belly skin bright pink with a series of sharp, open-handed slaps."

As a newly elected State Rep I'm not usually subjected to pink bellies, but this is the Army and this is one of the things I love about the Army. No matter who you are or what you do back home, you're just another one of the guys here. You get treated like everyone else for better or for worse. That means doing all of the monotonous work, being subject to the same threats, and being a part of all of the fun (sometimes crazy) traditions the Army retains. If there is one thing about the Army that I'm sure I'll miss, its the camaraderie. The we all live together, fight together, spend our recreational time together, and deal with the same problems together. It's sometimes hard in politics to know who's on your side and who's not. Soldiers don't have that problem.

It was a great birthday. I just hope the members of the "a-team" know that there's two Delco boys who just put all of their birthdays on our calendars.