Jim and Ferlin pt.3

YAWN! I'm tired.
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Dempsey Witt and Ferlin Goolsby are the same age and grew up together as best friends in Fireworks, Georgia. Both possessed genius levels of intelligence, but were otherwise polar opposites. Ferlin was sensible, calm, slow to anger and quick to forgive, while Dempsey was self centered, impulsive, and always on the defense.

Dempsey, inspired by the awesomeness of his stepfather's 1987 drunken grenade juggling mishap, joined the army right out of high school in 1989 against the better judgement of his best friend Ferlin. It wasn't until 1991, when Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade's autobiography, 'Stench of a Wombat', was made into the academy award winning movie, 'Scent of a Woman', that after watching it Ferlin was sufficiently inspired to join up, too.

So it was that Dempsey and Ferlin were both motivated to become soldiers by the same source, but according to different ideologies... Dempsey thought grenade juggling was badass and wanted to imitate his drunken, badass stepfather, while Ferlin thought grenade juggling was criminally reckless, and was determined to set a better example against Dempsey's drunken, badass stepfather.

Dempsey and Ferlin both entered officer training school at the same time and they both equally excelled, due to their competitive natures and the effectiveness of their uniquely contrasting methods. They were both set to graduate with honors, but due to a drunken grenade juggling mishap the night before graduation, Ferlin was expelled, and would have been dishonorably discharged if not for the precedent set by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, which was the main defense during his court martial. Dempsey went on to graduate with honors, Ferlin was demoted to regular grunt, Dempsey became his commanding officer, and that was the beginning of the end to their friendship. That was 1995. By 2018 they are bitter enemies.

Now... starting with the North Korean War of 2018 and ending with the complete nuclear annihilation of the Middle East within a few days, what is it that causes Dempsey - by that time a Lieutenant Colonel - to be dishonorably discharged, and how is it that Staff Sargent Goolsby was responsible? This is the Crux of what sets Ferlin on his path of slowly increasing insanity to the presidency, and Dempsey on his path of suicidal drunkenness to redemption. Or revenge... whichever he decides when the heat of the moment finally demands it.