Someone recently asked me what I would do if/when I retire

and I do believe I would do some volunteer work, probably with the troops that have come back all shot up.

Sometimes I would run into a number of them at Camp Perry that they had sent from Walter Reed while getting their various prosthetic devices installed.

I met one guy that had what amputees refer to as a paper cut. A paper cut is a below the knee amputation. This guy planned on staying in. He had a to pass his PT test and was getting around pretty good. I do believe he managed to stay in.

One of the things I didn't do with these guys is fuss all over them and do stuff for them that they could do for themselves and it seemed appreciated.

There was one guy that seemed to be having a hard time with a door so I simply stood there patiently and waited for him to deal with it which he did with some effort. Someone tried to jump in and I told the good Samaritan to butt out and let him do it.

It took the guy a few seconds and two tries but he figured it out.

When he looked at me I just shrugged and told him he had probably learn now and he agreed.

I was at a club match once with a wheelchair bound casualty and noticed that the rest of the guys are pretty careful not to rob him of his dignity. We occasionally give him a break and push him up a hill or something and help him over an obstacle he can't handle but by and large we leave him to his own devices.

One time I acted as a chock of some sort for a wheelchair bound shooter that was shooting a Garand. He was afraid the recoil would knock him over backwards and it very well might have. I just held the handles when he fired and made sure he didn't go anywhere.

Being the smug bastard that I am I told him he ought to get a wheelie bar or something installed and then I would only have to push him back into bay every time he cranked one off.

"Like a cannon on Old Ironsides?" he asked. I shook my head and grinned back at him.

Incidentally this guy was a total animal when he played wheelchair basketball. It's a rough game to begin with if the guys decide to really cut loose. I tried it once for about fifteen minutes and instantly swore I'd never do that again. This guys don't take any prisoners.

Anyway some kind of volunteer work will probably be a part of my retirement.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY