Synchronized swimming routine

One of the "events" here at Kirkuk to look forward to is the base-wide talent show on the last Saturday of every month. After attending a couple and seeing some great acts, it has become part of our monthly routine. There is a kid that can do the most incredible "beat-box" routine that I have ever heard. This last show he did the song "Low Rider" with all of the sounds, beats, and vocals at the same time! I wish I had a video of him!

There is another kid that can dance like you wouldn't believe. He does a perfect Micheal Jackson impersonation and last show did some moonwalking on his knees!

Anyway, there are a lot of people with real talent, but I'm not one of them - or at least the small amount of surgical talent I have managed to aquired doesn't lend itself to display in this type of a setting. So I did some thinking and remembered a sychronized swim routine that was originally done at a Church talent show (Summit Ward) and posted on YouTube. I talked to Amber, who agreed to send out some props, and I put together a "crack(head?) team" of guys who thought it would be a lot of fun to do.

After a fair amount of film watching, choreography and practice we managed to put together a pretty funny show. Here we are getting ready for the "dress rehearsal" the morning before the show.

Here is Levi (Sundermeyer - FP doc from Eglin) giving his usual gang signs.

And here is Alex (Lee - FP doc from Ramstein)

Magnum (Macrae - support SSgt from Eglin) presented a problem because of his size. We could barely fit the shirt over his shoulders and the swim cap was so tight on his head that it gave him a headache. The goggles were the worst, though, because the distance between his eyes is so much larger than the goggles that the edge would dig into the middle of his eyeball! Even with modification he had to leave them on his forehead for the performance.

The performance went off better than we expected. Here is a copy of it (filmed by our BioHealth guy Capt Joey Bruner and edited/finalized by Col Mark White on his MacBook).

As you see in the video, the crowd went wild and we were instant celebrities! It has been fun to see people in the dining hall or somewhere else since then and have them recognize us and say how much they enjoyed the routine! They say everyone has their 5 minutes of fame - I suppose this would be mine.