Context: Experiences May Vary
What’s the difference between the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the hardest thing you’ve ever done? Nothing really, they’re both the hardest thing we’ve ever done. On the other hand, context is an important thing. An old buddy of mine, a medically retired Marine, recently found this out.
He scheduled an appointment for his son at an Air Force medical facility when he noticed the young lady behind the counter, an Airman, had her arm in a sling. He asked her about her injury. What follows is the rest of the conversation in its entirety.
Airman: “Shoulder surgery.”
Marine: “Slap tear? Labral tear? I had two surgeries for that and now have screws in my shoulder.”
Airman: “Yeah, I was reaching for my T.V. remote when I heard a pop.”
Marine: “Oh, I tore mine in a firefight in Iraq… but it’s like the same thing.”
My own shoulder surgery centered around a repetitive use injury and a ridiculously obscene amount of pushups over time. You can bet a pay check if I ever received an injury involving a TV remote control, NO ONE WOULD EVER KNOW.
I was looking at the image of the New Corpsman Training on the Marine Pain Chart and noticed a possible error on the downward pointing arrow. Now, I know, and respect, that this Substack displays a Marine POV, but I think every Navy Corpsman knows that it should be labeled "PENICILLIN". Just sayin', no aspersions meant to be cast.
Ah, Motrin…in my line of work referred to as “sapper candy”. Couldn’t have made it to retirement without it.