11 Feb 09 Poked and probed

Morning this is Dave from glorious Ft Lewis Wa,
Yesterday the soldiers here from Minnesota became official members of the Army. At 4:30 AM we lined up to pee into little cups so we could be checked for illegal drugs. We then went through improccesing which included being poked and probed. The poked part was getting your shots updated. In my case I got shots for Measles, typhoid and Anthrax. The probed part you can only imagine my doctor had fingers the size of small sausages. Lucky from for me I was able to produce documentation that another man (Dr)from Minnesota had already probed me. Did that sound bad or is it just me?

After reviewing all of the finance records, legal issues, dental records, and my medical history I still need to go in for mental assessment. The testing has something to do with giving the Army a measure of your mental state before and after the deployment. I'm kind of scared. The last time I did a test like that I was shown ink blots of elephants having whoopee in different positions. I think both me and the shrink were embarrassed that they would show that set of ink blots to a man like me.

All kidding aside you can imagine that I might be a little nervous about testing my current mental state. In fact some of the guys here seem to think I'm a little off balance. Thinking back I'm sure Susan told me on more than one occasion that I'm nuts or that I'm crazy.

Today I had another missing home experience. I was standing in front of the sink looking at the two faucets and two handles. One faucet is hot the other is cold. Meaning there is no warm water. Its either burn yourself or freeze your whiskers off. In fact I think some state worker ran short on some water lines so one sink has the faucets reversed. I'm sure if you asked the folks here at Ft Lewis they would tell you this was done on purpose to keep us on our toes.

As my friend Bill Murray would say "Its Army training"

Miss you guys, think of us tonight while your sleeping in your beds. I just want to add that the gang (Jeff Howe, Jeff Ulmen, Cheryl Townsend)here at Ft Lewis are looking out for each other. It's important to know that we need you back home to look out for our spouses in our absence.

The official score is 2- young pups), 7+ (Old Dogs) for the cribbage championships. The + and - symbolizes a game gone bad for the young pups. The young pups felt overwhelmed and started pegging back wards to save face. The game was called after the old dogs were on the way to skunking the young pups. Each night the old dogs (Crotteau/Howe) play the pups (Ulmen/Townsend) three games of some friendly cribbage. It's not that the old dogs are whooping them, we think of it as teaching them how to win gracefully. Cribbage should not be a contact sport unlike those that play from Northern Minnesota.

That is all (Quote from Radar Oreilly MASH)