Jim and Ferlin

Jim 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 Jim was self centered, impulsive, and always on the defense.

Jim, 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... Jim 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 Jim's drunken, badass stepfather.

Jim and Ferlin both entered offer training school at the same time, and they both 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 his main defense during his court martial. Jim went on to graduate with honors, Ferlin was demoted to regular grunt, Jim 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 Jim - by that time a Lieutenant Colonel - to be dishonorably discharged, and how is it that Staff Sargent Goolsby was responsible?