Post by Mason St. Croix on Aug 7, 2017 4:48:53 GMT
War Stories #3
Sometimes you make a friend for life in the least likely of places.
When I was shot in Iraq they flew me to Riyadh Military Hospital in Saudi Arabia to have surgery on my shoulder and for rehab. While I was there I met a hospital liaison who had worked all over the world as a translator.His name was Nasir Bukhari, he spoke 91 different languages and had written numerous books on linguistics.
Nasir is also blind.
He was 12 when the Iraqi SCUD Missile hit his home in Riyadh back during the Gulf War in 1991 and has been blind since. He lost his mother and two younger brothers in the attack as well while his father was in the United States finishing up his Residency at Johns Hopkins. When he was well enough to travel he flew to America newly blind and by himself to be with his father.
Nasir’s desire to learn and not let his disability hold him back was apparent to his father and Dr. Bukhari hired the best teachers from all over the world to give private lessons to his son. Nasir excelled at anything to do with language and tested off the charts at 16 when he enrolled at Yale. By 21 he had received his PhD in Linguistics in only five years, something that takes on average eleven years to complete.
He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met.
When I went back to my post in Iraq after I healed up Nasir and I stayed in touch. I found him fascinating and we quickly formed a tight bond. He’s been to my home and I’ve been to his. Nasir is one of the finest men I’ve ever met in my life and he will be my friend for as long as we live and if I hadn’t gotten shot that day I would have never met him.
Everything happens for a reason.
----------
April 3rd, 2017
Mason St. Croix, dressed in a blue polo and khaki pants sat at a table inside a The Shell Hoise Restaurant in Savannah. Next to him was his father George, wearing a flowered shirt and cargo shorts as always. Mason looks at his watch and then over at George.
Mason: Thanks again for trying to help me find a Nanny for the kids, Pop. You sure you told her 3pm?
George: Yeah, this place ain’t open at 3am, of course I told her 3pm. She said she hadn’t done many afternoon dates.
Mason: Date? This is an interview for a live in Nanny…
George: Right, that’s what I meant.
Suddenly a stunning redhead in her mid-twenties approaches the two former Army Rangers with a puzzled look on her face.
Redhead: Uhm… Hi, I’m Amy.
George stands up and offers her an awkward handshake which she accepts before pulling her hand away confused.
Amy: What is this?
George and Mason speak at the same time.
George: A date.
Mason: An interview.
Mason glares at George.
Amy: Look...I don’t know what you’re interviewing for but I’ve got a job and if you’re looking for a date I don’t do threesomes, especially not with old dudes.
George takes offense at being called old.
George: Let me tell you something little girl, I’d make your….
Before George can continue Mason cuts him off.
Mason: Dad! Stop. Amy was it? I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here thinking this was a date of some kind. I’m looking for a Nanny to move in to my house and take care of my kids while I work so if that’s not something you’re interested in I’m sorry.
Amy: God and I bought new shoes for this!
She stomps off angrily and Mason just looks at George and shakes his head.
Mason: Where did you find her Pop?
George just looks away trying to pretend he didn’t hear his son.
Mason: Dad, seriously…
George: Fine...it was this dating app I downloaded on my phone called Tinder. I used your picture and pretended to be you when I talked to her.
Mason: How was that gonna help me find a nanny?
George: It wasn’t but I thought if we found you a girlfriend you could move her in by the time you get back in the ring and we solve two problems.
Mason: Two?
George: Yeah, you’d have someone to take care of the kids and someone to help with your loneliness. I been using Tender for a while, it’s great.
George winks and Mason shakes his head in disbelief.
Mason: You better be careful with your booty call app General, you’ve already had one heart attack. I appreciate you thinking of me Dad, I really do but I’m not looking for a girlfriend or a wife or anything like that. I just need someone to help with the kids, nothing else. I think I’ll handle the interviews alone from now on.
George: Well ok, can’t blame a guy for trying though.
Mason: I appreciate it Dad, but I’m not ready for that yet. You ready order?
George: Sorry kid…
He points towards the door where a lady in her early 50’s who looks like she was rather attractive in her day walks in.
George: My date just walked in.
George gets up from the table and pats Mason on the back as he walks towards the woman and the scene fades.
----------
Dumping Todd Williams out of the ring at Lineage was one of the most satisfying moments I’ve had since I returned to IWF. Not eliminating James Gilmore was one of the most disappointing. You win some you lose some, but the fact that I was the one that walked out of that Battle Royal with the 20 points for the victory just like I said I would is all that matters.
I think John Tolly must have hit his head when he fell out of the ring though.
I asked for you John because in the lead up to the Battle Royal at Lineage you called yourself a hero. You don’t know the first thing about what it means to be a hero and for the third time inside an IWF ring I’m going to show you that it’s you who doesn’t belong in the ring with me not the other way around. I’m not looking past you but I am going to run through you.
Your confidence and your self proclamations don’t match your accomplishments John. Somehow you’ve managed to find yourself middle of the pack in the Heir to the Throne but when you returned to IWF shortly before I made my own return you called yourself the Franchise. I believe that’s a moniker owned by Steve Awesome but, and no disrespect to Awesome, the man who’s truly the franchise when it comes to IWF is the one I step into the ring with at Open Fight Night not Steve Awesome and certainly not you John.
You made a threat on Twitter that you were going to see me taken out on a stretcher on Monday well I welcome you to try, and if I’m honest you wouldn’t be the first. Kristoff Liam Bates and Killian Creed both sent me out of an arena on a stretcher but you couldn’t lace either of those mens boots. I responded to your Tweet that you shouldn’t quit your day job unless it was stand up comedy because me and all 12 of your followers who saw that laughed our asses off.
Make some realistic claims John, you beating me much less sending me out of the arena on a stretcher is never going to happen. Shoot for making me break a sweat.
Sometimes you make a friend for life in the least likely of places.
When I was shot in Iraq they flew me to Riyadh Military Hospital in Saudi Arabia to have surgery on my shoulder and for rehab. While I was there I met a hospital liaison who had worked all over the world as a translator.His name was Nasir Bukhari, he spoke 91 different languages and had written numerous books on linguistics.
Nasir is also blind.
He was 12 when the Iraqi SCUD Missile hit his home in Riyadh back during the Gulf War in 1991 and has been blind since. He lost his mother and two younger brothers in the attack as well while his father was in the United States finishing up his Residency at Johns Hopkins. When he was well enough to travel he flew to America newly blind and by himself to be with his father.
Nasir’s desire to learn and not let his disability hold him back was apparent to his father and Dr. Bukhari hired the best teachers from all over the world to give private lessons to his son. Nasir excelled at anything to do with language and tested off the charts at 16 when he enrolled at Yale. By 21 he had received his PhD in Linguistics in only five years, something that takes on average eleven years to complete.
He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met.
When I went back to my post in Iraq after I healed up Nasir and I stayed in touch. I found him fascinating and we quickly formed a tight bond. He’s been to my home and I’ve been to his. Nasir is one of the finest men I’ve ever met in my life and he will be my friend for as long as we live and if I hadn’t gotten shot that day I would have never met him.
Everything happens for a reason.
----------
April 3rd, 2017
Mason St. Croix, dressed in a blue polo and khaki pants sat at a table inside a The Shell Hoise Restaurant in Savannah. Next to him was his father George, wearing a flowered shirt and cargo shorts as always. Mason looks at his watch and then over at George.
Mason: Thanks again for trying to help me find a Nanny for the kids, Pop. You sure you told her 3pm?
George: Yeah, this place ain’t open at 3am, of course I told her 3pm. She said she hadn’t done many afternoon dates.
Mason: Date? This is an interview for a live in Nanny…
George: Right, that’s what I meant.
Suddenly a stunning redhead in her mid-twenties approaches the two former Army Rangers with a puzzled look on her face.
Redhead: Uhm… Hi, I’m Amy.
George stands up and offers her an awkward handshake which she accepts before pulling her hand away confused.
Amy: What is this?
George and Mason speak at the same time.
George: A date.
Mason: An interview.
Mason glares at George.
Amy: Look...I don’t know what you’re interviewing for but I’ve got a job and if you’re looking for a date I don’t do threesomes, especially not with old dudes.
George takes offense at being called old.
George: Let me tell you something little girl, I’d make your….
Before George can continue Mason cuts him off.
Mason: Dad! Stop. Amy was it? I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here thinking this was a date of some kind. I’m looking for a Nanny to move in to my house and take care of my kids while I work so if that’s not something you’re interested in I’m sorry.
Amy: God and I bought new shoes for this!
She stomps off angrily and Mason just looks at George and shakes his head.
Mason: Where did you find her Pop?
George just looks away trying to pretend he didn’t hear his son.
Mason: Dad, seriously…
George: Fine...it was this dating app I downloaded on my phone called Tinder. I used your picture and pretended to be you when I talked to her.
Mason: How was that gonna help me find a nanny?
George: It wasn’t but I thought if we found you a girlfriend you could move her in by the time you get back in the ring and we solve two problems.
Mason: Two?
George: Yeah, you’d have someone to take care of the kids and someone to help with your loneliness. I been using Tender for a while, it’s great.
George winks and Mason shakes his head in disbelief.
Mason: You better be careful with your booty call app General, you’ve already had one heart attack. I appreciate you thinking of me Dad, I really do but I’m not looking for a girlfriend or a wife or anything like that. I just need someone to help with the kids, nothing else. I think I’ll handle the interviews alone from now on.
George: Well ok, can’t blame a guy for trying though.
Mason: I appreciate it Dad, but I’m not ready for that yet. You ready order?
George: Sorry kid…
He points towards the door where a lady in her early 50’s who looks like she was rather attractive in her day walks in.
George: My date just walked in.
George gets up from the table and pats Mason on the back as he walks towards the woman and the scene fades.
----------
Dumping Todd Williams out of the ring at Lineage was one of the most satisfying moments I’ve had since I returned to IWF. Not eliminating James Gilmore was one of the most disappointing. You win some you lose some, but the fact that I was the one that walked out of that Battle Royal with the 20 points for the victory just like I said I would is all that matters.
I think John Tolly must have hit his head when he fell out of the ring though.
I asked for you John because in the lead up to the Battle Royal at Lineage you called yourself a hero. You don’t know the first thing about what it means to be a hero and for the third time inside an IWF ring I’m going to show you that it’s you who doesn’t belong in the ring with me not the other way around. I’m not looking past you but I am going to run through you.
Your confidence and your self proclamations don’t match your accomplishments John. Somehow you’ve managed to find yourself middle of the pack in the Heir to the Throne but when you returned to IWF shortly before I made my own return you called yourself the Franchise. I believe that’s a moniker owned by Steve Awesome but, and no disrespect to Awesome, the man who’s truly the franchise when it comes to IWF is the one I step into the ring with at Open Fight Night not Steve Awesome and certainly not you John.
You made a threat on Twitter that you were going to see me taken out on a stretcher on Monday well I welcome you to try, and if I’m honest you wouldn’t be the first. Kristoff Liam Bates and Killian Creed both sent me out of an arena on a stretcher but you couldn’t lace either of those mens boots. I responded to your Tweet that you shouldn’t quit your day job unless it was stand up comedy because me and all 12 of your followers who saw that laughed our asses off.
Make some realistic claims John, you beating me much less sending me out of the arena on a stretcher is never going to happen. Shoot for making me break a sweat.
Well howdy there pardner.