The Everything Drawer - Everyone has one, right? (post anything - within the rules)

On the deck this morning. I know, the deck needs power washing. Let that not distract us from my little friend. Eastern click beetle.
IMG_1141.jpeg
 
We could come up with a list of Military Grade style standards: t
- Skillcraft black ink pens
- The middle seat in the row in the back of the plane near the lavatory for military air travel, with a bonus of several connections with long layovers, because the nonstop that gets you from A to B in half the time exceeds the negotiated contract price.
- “Vintage” housing where you are given a briefing sheet on lead pipe possibility and the importance of running the tap water before using it. (Quarters 41 at zip code 21402, Quarters P in 92135)
- Metal desks (battered stainless steel) with sharp protrusions that snag your uniform or scratch your hands (only happens when wearing white uniforms). These desks replaced ancient wooden ones that had stenographer extensions that pulled out in the front. I had a whisk broom for my wooden desk in Pearl Harbor to brush away termite wings and parts every morning. Also gecko eggs. And centipedes.
- Rental cars at shady off-airport, off-brand agencies, not the nice well-lit on-airport national brands, where they either (a) ran out of cars before you got there or (b) only had a massive Suburban to give you that smelled like a cigarette warehouse.
- The contractors hired to install new plumbing in the housing area, installing every sink and tub with reversed hit and cold handles.

You?
 
Capt MJ said:
We could come up with a list of Military Grade style standards: t
- Skillcraft black ink pens
- The middle seat in the row in the back of the plane near the lavatory for military air travel, with a bonus of several connections with long layovers, because the nonstop that gets you from A to B in half the time exceeds the negotiated contract price.
- “Vintage” housing where you are given a briefing sheet on lead pipe possibility and the importance of running the tap water before using it. (Quarters 41 at zip code 21402, Quarters P in 92135)
- Metal desks (battered stainless steel) with sharp protrusions that snag your uniform or scratch your hands (only happens when wearing white uniforms). These desks replaced ancient wooden ones that had stenographer extensions that pulled out in the front. I had a whisk broom for my wooden desk in Pearl Harbor to brush away termite wings and parts every morning. Also gecko eggs. And centipedes.
- Rental cars at shady off-airport, off-brand agencies, not the nice well-lit on-airport national brands, where they either (a) ran out of cars before you got there or (b) only had a massive Suburban to give you that smelled like a cigarette warehouse.
- The contractors hired to install new plumbing in the housing area, installing every sink and tub with reversed hit and cold handles.

You?
Click to expand...
- I went with DW to get her a new ID card and the nice lady helping us had a Skillcraft pen. I said, "ooo, a Skillcraft." She said, yeah and don't take it.
- While at BUMED I had a retired chief dental tech who worked at the travel office hook me up with an aisle seat on the exit row with more leg room. I always remembered to not tell the flight attendant I would be the first one out in case of emergency. Got to Military Sealift Command and had to do my own trave arrangements. Boo.
- My kids grew up in base housing and most were adequate except for frequent power outages for no obvious reason. Camp Lejeune had everything we needed including their schools. We went days to weeks without leaving base.
- Cecil Field was in the hinterlands of far west Duval and was off base. The house was big and on a court for chiefs and above. Next door was a Hornet jockey and his lovely wife. Both Hokies. Next to them was a master chief married to a Filipina. Best lumpia this side of Subic Bay. I was on shore duty and most of the men were in squadrons and gone a lot so I got called on for handy man stuff, medical treatment of course, and I became known as the snake man. We had all four venomous species in our housing area. I saw only one coral and let him meander on into the woods. We had lots of pygmy rattlers and eastern indigos and just a few copperheads and cotton mouths. Many of them ended up on a neighbor's back screened porch and I'd get the call or knock on the door. I only had to kill one and it was in my own garage. It was a bloody mess. My favorite removal method was to gently slide a flat shovel under them and walk them to the pine forest. If the snake started to move off the shovel I'd sling them to avoid them slithering back to the house. The indigos were scary and huge. Non-venomous but one doesn't want to get bitten by any snake.
- We moved into a nice unit at Fort Belvoir reserved for the Navy but had been empty awhile because nobody wanted it. Big win for us. It was next to the Little League baseball complex and in the school boundary were both kids flourished. Lived there six years and I retired from there. One of my best students ever lived in one of the vintage Belvoir houses which the army calls historic. It is deemed substandard so they got a discount on their BAH obligation.
- I've had those crappy desks and I currently have one in my empty classroom waiting for me to put it back into use. I had a desk at BUMED in the office once occupied by Commodore Matthew Maury. I told tourists that my computer was what Maury used to write his letter of resignation to President Lincoln. It took some of them a moment or two to realize I was messing with them. I had a desk once that was part of what the Marines called an executive office suite. I called it a waste of money.
- Rental car story: A medical officer and I attended the special operations medical conference in Tampa put on by the Special Operations Medical Association. We were on the same flight and went to the rental car place on the airport property and had been authorized a compact car of course. The young lady at the counter said, "Oh my, we are out of compacts and I only have a Mustang, Suburban, or an SUV to choose from." We looked at each other and said, Mustang. It was red and a convertible. We did the paperwork and walked past a row of compact cars before getting to the Mustang. We actually attended sessions but it ended up being about 50/50 boondoggle-conference. It was fun riding around Florida in a convertible.
 
Devil Doc said:
- I went with DW to get her a new ID card and the nice lady helping us had a Skillcraft pen. I said, "ooo, a Skillcraft." She said, yeah and don't take it.
- While at BUMED I had a retired chief dental tech who worked at the travel office hook me up with an aisle seat on the exit row with more leg room. I always remembered to not tell the flight attendant I would be the first one out in case of emergency. Got to Military Sealift Command and had to do my own trave arrangements. Boo.
- My kids grew up in base housing and most were adequate except for frequent power outages for no obvious reason. Camp Lejeune had everything we needed including their schools. We went days to weeks without leaving base.
- Cecil Field was in the hinterlands of far west Duval and was off base. The house was big and on a court for chiefs and above. Next door was a Hornet jockey and his lovely wife. Both Hokies. Next to them was a master chief married to a Filipina. Best lumpia this side of Subic Bay. I was on shore duty and most of the men were in squadrons and gone a lot so I got called on for handy man stuff, medical treatment of course, and I became known as the snake man. We had all four venomous species in our housing area. I saw only one coral and let him meander on into the woods. We had lots of pygmy rattlers and eastern indigos and just a few copperheads and cotton mouths. Many of them ended up on a neighbor's back screened porch and I'd get the call or knock on the door. I only had to kill one and it was in my own garage. It was a bloody mess. My favorite removal method was to gently slide a flat shovel under them and walk them to the pine forest. If the snake started to move off the shovel I'd sling them to avoid them slithering back to the house. The indigos were scary and huge. Non-venomous but one doesn't want to get bitten by any snake.
- We moved into a nice unit at Fort Belvoir reserved for the Navy but had been empty awhile because nobody wanted it. Big win for us. It was next to the Little League baseball complex and in the school boundary were both kids flourished. Lived there six years and I retired from there. One of my best students ever lived in one of the vintage Belvoir houses which the army calls historic. It is deemed substandard so they got a discount on their BAH obligation.
- I've had those crappy desks and I currently have one in my empty classroom waiting for me to put it back into use. I had a desk at BUMED in the office once occupied by Commodore Matthew Maury. I told tourists that my computer was what Maury used to write his letter of resignation to President Lincoln. It took some of them a moment or two to realize I was messing with them. I had a desk once that was part of what the Marines called an executive office suite. I called it a waste of money.
- Rental car story: A medical officer and I attended the special operations medical conference in Tampa put on by the Special Operations Medical Association. We were on the same flight and went to the rental car place on the airport property and had been authorized a compact car of course. The young lady at the counter said, "Oh my, we are out of compacts and I only have a Mustang, Suburban, or an SUV to choose from." We looked at each other and said, Mustang. It was red and a convertible. We did the paperwork and walked past a row of compact cars before getting to the Mustang. We actually attended sessions but it ended up being about 50/50 boondoggle-conference. It was fun riding around Florida in a convertible.
Click to expand...
Great stories.

I had a love-hate relationship with Skillcraft black pens. They reliably delivered ink. Sometimes not where it was wanted and all by themselves.
 
Capt MJ said:
Great stories.

I had a love-hate relationship with Skillcraft black pens. They reliably delivered ink. Sometimes not where it was wanted and all by themselves.
Click to expand...
Makes you wonder why people put pens in white pockets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top