Mike avoids weapon carrying | Ramblin' & Amblin' | Nov 1, 2026
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer)
Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
• Series Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNtb969T2-l0
• The Sound Above Curriculum: https://www.just3ws.com/series/the-sound-above/
• Canonical Profile: https://www.just3ws.com
Spoken Overview:
"Let's see, let's see, that's five and six. The other time that I believe I had a weapon discharged in my general direction, I still hold that it was hunters in the forest. I was deployed in Bosnia, and there was a joint mission..."
Recorded: November 1, 2026
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Let's see, let's see, that's five and six. The other time
that I believe I had a weapon discharged in my general
direction, I still hold that it was hunters in the forest. I was deployed in Bosnia, and there was a joint mission
patrol between the U.S. and the Russian soldiers, military.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
We went out on patrol, and I was a medic, I was in the
command vehicle, whatever it's called, I don't remember. And I'm there with the radio operator and the captain and
the driver, and we hear fire, but we're not sure whether or
not it was actually somebody shooting at us or just
somebody in the woods hunting. What we do know is that the Russians have driven us into a
minefield. So, we're in a minefield, and that's cool.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
We
haven't blown up yet, so that's good. So, they put a halt on the convoy, patrol, whatever you
want to call it, and we had to back up out of the path. So,
the radio operator can't go up to the porthole in the top
of the Humvee, so I get to. And the captain, I was already annoyed that I've been
issued, I was a medic with the big red cross on my shoulder
, and I was really annoyed because I was issued an M16, and
I was complaining about the genomic convention.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I shouldn't have an M16, because I'm not a combatant, but
they wouldn't issue me a pistol, because I had to get
qualified on it, and they didn't want to send me to do that
, because I was super busy playing concertina wire. Because the mash unit from our base didn't need some kid
medic who's basically just a glorified driver and stretcher
carrier in their mash, messing up their well-choreographed,
well-orchestrated system. And I'm not being sarcastic. It's frustrating, but I got to
see it in action.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
So, the commander of the captain is telling me to go up
through the top hatch of the Humvee, and he tells me to
take my weapon with me. I said, I'm not taking my weapon with me. That's a
violation of the genomic convention. I'm now a target.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I've got this big thing on my shoulder,
and then I'm holding a weapon. That means I'm a lawful combatant, and I can be taken out,
too. I'm going to go up with nothing. And, because I didn't want to go up through the hatch at
all, but I was the lowest-ranking person, and the driver
can't go up, the captain can't go up there, the radio
operator can't go up there.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
The guy who goes up there, the medic, well, I'm like, hey,
guys, good luck with all the medic. They probably would have been fine, but you get the idea. I want to save my ass, too. So, there's me up in the portal, and I'm looking down over
the back of the vehicle, and thank God, from my trucking
experience with that,
I'm pretty good at giving the backing up instructions, and
we're backing up and staying in the exact tracks that we
laid as we came through the forest, and we're all backing
up very, very, very, very slowly.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I came out of that, and the captain wasn't happy with me,
but, you know, tough. Go play Risk. That's all you guys freaking ever did, it seemed like. And, but I wasn't going to play Risk with becoming a target
.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I did what he wanted me to do. I just wasn't going to take my weapon with me. It ends up that we end up, after this, the leadership has
to go and talk and figure out what to do next, and I'm down
with the soldiers, and we're hanging out with the Russians. And I'm the only one that speaks to any Russian at all,
even just a little pigeon, a lot of hand gesturing.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But I had found this crazy knife, this ugly, like, looked
like something from a bad 80s novel, I mean movie. You know, fist-gripped knife with a curved blade and ser
rated. I found it on the ground. And we're all trying to find something to barter with the
Russians.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Now, the thing is, is the Russians, we are aware that they
haven't been paid in months,
and we're thinking, oh my gosh, you know, the American army
is so much better, because we pay our soldiers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've come to learn about that.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But, ultimately, I talked to one of the Russian soldiers,
and I showed them the knife, and they're, oh, haro-sho, har
o-sho. Which means, oh, this is good, this is good. And they like it, so they're, like, thinking, thinking,
thinking, and then one of the soldiers pops up in his
vehicle. Now, these are, there's three-wheel tanks where it's got,
well, six total wheels with three on the side.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Really cool looking. And they've got those helmets that are, like, padded
helmets. They're not bulletproof. It's, if you ever see an old tank pilot movie, you'll see
them.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
It's got the big over-the-ear earphones, and it's designed
to just protect you from knocking your head against the
inside of the tank. He's just looking around, looking around, and then finally,
he just reaches up, grabs the helmet off the top of his
head,
and he gives it to me, and we trade for the knife. I had that for the longest time. I, I don't know what happened to it.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Maybe it's stored away somewhere, but, uh, I've gone
through purges in my life. It might have been one of the things that was in there, but
, uh, the story remains. Yeah. So, I survived saying no to my captain, and, uh, but still
doing the job.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, and, uh, being the only person that managed to
even fail Russian language school,
I was able to at least have this interesting trade with
somebody from a very, very different world than mine. All right. Anyway, thanks. Bye.