Boring, until it was not

Got a call from one of the other SWAT Team leaders, "Ya wanna come out on Halloween and be part of a fast reaction force?" Seems that the natives have grown restless and the drums say that there will be shootings, stabbings and all sorts of nonsense this night. So I meet up with Doc (you've heard of him), A-game (that name is a whole other story), Mother (yup.... another untold story) and New Guy (no story there). We get all of our SWAT stuff on: heavy vest, green BDU's that make you look like an old GI Joe, ballistic helmet and our Kimber 1911s (our chief HATES 1911 handguns, but the SWAT team already had them, so SWAT stuff is the only time we can carry them... I know, no sense this makes); then we get in a couple of cars and wait for all heck to break loose so we can point lots of scary guns at someone (Oh... we also have M-4s).

An hour later... nothing. Three hours later, all quiet. We all have to remember to get out of the car and stretch so we don't get embolisms and blood clots in our legs.

Nothing. Four and a half hours of re-telling old war stories and sharing the latest who's-sleeping-with-who and who's-getting-a-divorce. THAT gets old REAL fast (especially when New Guy tries to chime in).

We go back to the SWAT station and put everything away, then meet at Denny's at about 0200 for some breakfast.

At 0300 I am pulling up (in the Stratus) to my driveway when I hear on the radio, "Ocean 7 request assistance at Memorial Hospital, subject fighting!" Oh man! Memorial Hospital is only two blocks away, I've done nothing all night AND I might get to lay hands on someone and reduce just a bit of my toxic stress from a night of NOTHINGness! I run up there and get into the ER, there I meet an Officerina who I don't think I have ever seen before, but somehow she knows me. She points to drunk in a room who sees me and cries, "I wanna go home." I look at Officerina and ask, "Whatcha gonna do?" She plucks up some courage, feeling (correctly) that I was evaluating her actions (or inactions), and lays hands on the drunk WANTED bum.

OK, test passed.

We get out to her car and he does the best thing possible... when she opens the door to stuff him in he kicks at me and starts to run.

I could have kissed him.

I was not able to see how Officerina did on round two cause I shouldered her out of the way; I got this one. Adrenalin level is much better now.