You were aware, perhaps, that the Yellow Fever
vaccine contained an actual live virus?
No? So then you didn't know that, when checking
into a shore command for the first time in seven years, and turning in your
medical record to a young, fuzz-cheeked corpsman that was never even a glimmer
in his own father's eye when you were a full-bird by God lieutenant bringing the
heat at 1.2 in max grunt on the tip of the spear, that all Yellow Fever
vaccinations occurred only on Wednesdays between 1300 and 1430? Because, it
being required every five years, no matter when the last time was that anyone
ashore or at sea ever heard of man dropping down dead from the Yellow Fever (and
you're as likely to get struck by a bus, if not more so) but once the the jar is
opened it's all to be used, and that right quick? It being a live virus, you
see.
Like that's supposed to reassure
you. "Never you worry, Jim. It's only a live virus we're injecting under your
skin. What could possibly happen? I mean: What could go
wrong?"
That and the PPD. Which I'm
told informs on the typhus, great killer of man since time immemorial, and as
contagious as the plague never mind that both of them are gone missing for the
last several decades, at the very least. Never mind that you have to get it
every year, the PPD. Stuck into your forearm like a screwdriver and no one who
cares will tell you different. See you in a couple of days, to tell whether or
not you're going to die a horrible death, somewhere in a sanatorium. Every year
we get it done, and every year we say: "What, again? So soon?"
One wonders what the institutional
response would be for the man who goes and gets his case of typhus the day after
his PPD gets
read.
----------
Bike
commute today, and it was totally wasted. Pearls before swine, no traffic at all
on the northbound route.
I was
strangely
disappointed.
----------
Saw
a bunch of SERE school students all lined up and ready to
go into the hills today. For all that they were young and had brilliant careers
flying all manners of wonderful equipment in front of them, I couldn't help but
thing: You poor bastards.
No. It's not
all beer and skittles in the fleet. Of all the things I'd go and do again, and
maybe do a bit differently, SERE is not among them. Been there, done that. Got
the t-shirt. First time's a charm.
I
can't mention SERE without bringing up the legacy of the late James Bond
Stockdale. His picture and Medal of Honor citation are just outside my new
office:
Citation: For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond
the call of duty while senior naval officer in the Prisoner of War camps of
North Vietnam. Recognized by his captors as the leader in the Prisoners' of War
resistance to interrogation and in their refusal to participate in propaganda
exploitation, Rear Adm. Stockdale was singled out for interrogation and
attendant torture after he was detected in a covert communications attempt.
Sensing the start of another purge, and aware that his earlier efforts at
self-disfiguration to dissuade his captors from exploiting him for propaganda
purposes had resulted in cruel and agonizing punishment, Rear Adm. Stockdale
resolved to make himself a symbol of resistance regardless of personal
sacrifice. He deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order
to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than
capitulate. He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese
who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of
excessive harassment and torture toward all of the Prisoners of War. By his
heroic action, at great peril to himself, he earned the everlasting gratitude of
his fellow prisoners and of his country. Rear Adm. Stockdale's valiant
leadership and extraordinary courage in a hostile environment sustain and
enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval
Service.
Yes they
did.
I heard him speak at the Naval
Academy, way back in the way back when. He talked to us plebes about the first
day in the Hanoi Hilton, getting hollered at, and beaten. He said it reminded
him of being a plebe. We all laughed, we understood: Plebe year sucked - it
lasted the better part of a year. SERE school sucked. The hard part lasted a
very long weekend.
Stockdale was
imprisoned by the North Vietnamese for a little over seven
years.
----------
Also
saw two SEAL candidates, in their old fashioned cammies, plastic helmets and
white name tapes. Lining up for X-rays there in the North Island clinic. Limping
up and down. Thought to myself: It's supposed to be hard. Not everyone will make
it.
----------
Was
driving home from work t'other day: Heard the NPR folks talking to someone from
the Heritage
Foundation and someone else from the Weekly
Standard. The topics were important, and there were no rebuttals from
Mother Jones, and no one took any phone calls.
I imagined the programming director
in a closet with his face turning blue under a plastic bag and a gripping
tightly to a can of PAM.
The poor
bastard.
----------
We've
a rabbit. Or at least, we used to. A decision was made that it would be
wonderful, wouldn't it? If the rabbit were permitted to run free for a bit in
the back yard. The rabbit itself took this parole and extended it, perhaps
beyond the bounds of the grantee's imagination: The rabbit is gone, run off unto
the great backyard greenery that has no name, but contains no few coyote.
I can't help feeling that this is
going to turn out badly. I can't help thanking God that I was nowhere near when
the aforementioned decision was
made.
-----------
Quote
from the NARAL board : That whole, "Make detestable stuff
up out of whole cloth and push it as The Truth in order to turn the debate in
our favor through agitprop" thing has really blown up in our face. Whew! Who
could know? This used to be so
easy!"
I've
just decided: One of these days I'm going to tell you all about my first date.
In Richmond, Virginia. With a cousin. Which, since she wasn't a first cousin,
was considered perfectly appropriate.
But there's more, gentle reader. Oh,
so much
more.
-----------
And
here's what happens to you when Greyhawk's Mudville takes a bit of mention of the work you're
doing:
And
welcome to all of you, and enjoy your look around. Greatest hits are found here
.
--------
Well
that's enough, for me. Sufficient to the day, the evil
therein.
Y'all have a great
weekend!
Posted @
10:07 PM
|
Posted in
""
|
Sendit
|
Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
