applications for the captain reggie gholston fan club are being accepted now!
i met captain reggie through f2fb friend #4 winston chang. winston and reggie went to west point together. reggie is 28 years old, has served in baghdad twice, and was part of the 82nd airborne division. i say thank you to reggie every day because what he does ensures that we are safe.
i had cancelled every facebook friend visit because my father justin is really having a rough time. he can’t stop talking. in fact, as i am writing this, justin is standing over me telling me about the history of catholicism, graham greene, bimbos, early greek thinking about homosexuality, wittgenstein, and his method of teaching. he says he wants to make a final confession to me. it’s as if his brain was laid open and splattered onto his tongue: he must give voice to every thought as it drops.
reggie had planned to fly in from savannah, georgia where he’s stationed and we were going to drive up to huntsville and then over to atlanta. in the airport, as i picked him up, i quickly explained that there was a change of plans. . . .
reggie is exactly the man you want to have with you in an emergency. he’s brave, quiet, steady, and steadying to everyone around him. the four of us went to lunch, walked through the tallahassee cemetery and we’re going to watch the super bowl together.
reggie leaves tomorrow and i am grateful to him. he didn’t want to do a video today because he said he wants to do something else with me: he’s going to take me parachuting! of course, he’s had lots of experiences (twenty) with the 82d airborne. he said that when they do jumps, the army gives you a small bag in case you want to throw up. otherwise, the etiquette rule is that you open your jumpsuit, and throw up into your left shoulder. then zip yourself back up again.
jeez, if i can go up in an airplane and then jump out, i can do anything–and i trust reggie to show me how.
so sometime later this year, we’re going to take facebook friend sammie scruggs (reggie’s cousin) up in an airplane and fly! sammie goes first, of course. i’ll be the one gripping reggie’s hand so hard that his metacarpals break!
arlynnpresser 
February 7th, 2011 at 12:20 am
Talk about broadening your horizons! Bungee jumping will come up again sometime soon.
February 7th, 2011 at 1:18 am
captain reggie is already making me watching videos about skydiving. we’re doing it in huntsville where his cousin sammie (facebook friend) lives. this looks like something i have to do. reggie promises i can hold onto him and we send sammie out to “test” the atmosphere.
February 7th, 2011 at 6:18 am
I am an offical member of the reggie gholston fan club right now.
February 20th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Hello! I hope this is not an intrusion but I am a student of your fathers at FSU. In researching Justin Leiber I found your blog and am happy I did! It is an interesting thing you are doing and I intend to keep reading! The day you left he was 30 minutes late to class and just as his assistants were about to let us leave he burst in the door and began telling us about the “super conman” that was his daughter. He was very up in arms but quickly began to “teach.” Instead of lecturing about philosophy he goes on and on about random things, the same that you mentioned he couldn’t stop talking to you about, this time though he told us that he was a stand-up comedian. I had to have him sign some forms and he couldn’t stop talking enough for me to explain to him what they were for. I ended up getting him to sign his name and I filled out the rest. He is no longer teaching our class though because of the cancer complications. It is hard to see the once brilliant man under the drug-induced haze that is causing his mind so much trouble. I wanted to tell you that you are not alone, he does the same thing to everyone that talks to him and not to let it get to you. You seem like a lovely person and you are sweet to go out of your way and cancel plans to take care of him. I hope the rest of your journey is amazing and that you and your father can reconcile before it is too late to do so.
February 20th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
thank you so much for telling me this. i’m so so so sorry that he has had this experience. and i’m mortified beyond belief that he gave the “superconman” talk. i was in tears as i left tallahassee. but he’s brilliant, charming and wonderful when he’s not in this state! thank you!