There are 10 kinds of people...

[wombat_socho]

...people who get binary, and people that don't as the joke goes. I'm tempted to speculate that there's something hardwired into the human brain that nudges us to divide things into two groups: mine/yours, his/hers, North/South, Republicans/Democrats, etc.

I ran into an example of that down at Ft. Belvoir Thursday. Since it's an Army hospital, Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital's pharmacy is staffed mostly by military personnel; since it's located in Washington, there's also some Navy personnel back of the counter along with the soldiers. Most of the people they deal with are active duty military or retirees, and my status as a non-retired veteran puzzled them. Both of the pharmacy clerks I dealt with had a hard time getting their heads around the concept that VA patients in general fall between the two stools of active and retired status. It wasn't an unpleasant experience for me, like it would have been twenty years ago when the wounds from being kicked out after Desert Storm were still fresh, but it did reaffirm my resolve to get theses goddamn pounds off and get to a point where I can control the diabetes with just diet and exercise. At that point, I think I might stand a chance of getting into the Guard or Reserve and putting in the last four years of my twenty. A man needs goals, after all.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

good goal - good reason - and that can get good outcomes :-)

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

The catch is to keep the eye on the objective and not fall into a trench or other trap on the way there - at least, not fall into one I can't get out of. Fortunately, I'm not doing this alone - for which much thanks!

[edwarddain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're not a huge fan of the VA in this household. My father (Army, same patch as yours) and father-in-law (Navy, and essentially the same thing), or, my whatever you would call the parents and grandparents of my other partner (Air Force, and Army Air Corp/Air Force) never really had bad run-ins, but my dear spouse was a Gulf War vet (and Panama FWIW) with the full range of PTSD and GWS...

And I've just worked with too many people who've had crummy experience with the VA (and known some of the hacks who are treating them).

Sounds like a decent plan, my buddy just re-upped in the last year for the National Guard, he'd been in the Corp just before the Gulf. He's doing ok, though finding it a bit of an adjustment.

D.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the quality of the VA hospitals varies wildly depending on the location. I can vouch for Washington DC, which is probably as good as it is since it's right under the nose of Congress and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; friends say the Baltimore, Minneapolis and Tucson VAMC are also top-hole. On the other hand, there are enough news stories about the other ones to make you grind your teeth and think about culling the herd.

Going from the Regulars to the Guard is culture shock enough; I can only imagine what it must be like coming in from the Corps.

[edwarddain.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Mostly he's amused. He's like ten or so years out, in his 40's, and became a supply sergeant - and he qualifies before anyone else and tends to be in at least as good of shape as the grunts. At this point if he manages to quit smoking he'll be the equal of pretty much most of the guys in his unit.

Or so he says... ;-)

D.