… happens all the time, no big deal
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “The Adventures of an Air Force Medic.” The story is fiction but based on my two years as a medic at Mather Air Force Base in northern California back in the early eighties.
Picture: That’s me in Las Vegas back in 2018.
I’m looking for pre-release readers. If you’d like to be part of the review team, let me know (dave@ivesguy.com)
As I approached the nurses’ station, reporting for work, I got hit with buzzing chatter – nurses and med techs talking up the latest hot news. I stood at the counter and took it all in.
“Can you believe it? I never thought they’d do it? “
“Me too, I never thought they do it. I figured Elen had enough, she’d never do that again, make that mistake. That’s what she used to tell us anyway. But, they make a good couple, they’re adorable together.”
“Yeah, they are good together; they’re made for each other. I just can’t believe they went and did it. Should have known though, when they said they were going to Vegas for the weekend. That was a big clue. But, I’m still shocked.”
“I never would have guessed but now that it’s done, I should have seen it coming. They were pretty closed lipped about the whole thing. We knew they were seeing each other but c’mon, who thought it was that serious?”
“You think it’ll last?”
“Sure, why not. They go well together, both in the air force; both got good careers ahead of them. When they retire, they’ll each get a retirement check. They got it made. As long as they stay together and can stand each other for all those years.”
One of the nurses noticed me, “Sean you heard the big news?”
“No.”
“Have you seen Elen today?”
“No.”
“Well, when you do, check out her nametag. She got her name changed over the weekend. Her and Roy went to Vegas and got married. You believe that one?”
No I couldn’t.
I imagined Elen’s new nametag – Udy. After all, that’s Roy’s last name. It’s pronounced ‘ooh-dee.’ I’d see them hanging out together in the chow hall and at informal hallway meetings discussing work issues. I viewed them as two section bosses who get along and work well together. Roy’s the surgical ward enlisted team boss – non-commissioned officer in charge (NCOIC) – same role Elen plays on the medical ward. Both wear four stripes, staff sergeant (SSgt).
Roy’s a great guy, laughing, cracking jokes, having fun. I began to wonder, ‘Maybe he’s that way because every time I see him, he’s with Elen?’ Some of the guys who work for Roy up on the surgical ward told me, “Yeah, we like him, but he can be a tough son-of-a-gun too.’ I could say the same about Elen. She’s likes to have fun and joke around but don’t cross her.
Elen’s toughness goes three ways, down, same and up. In other words, she don’t care about your rank, if you behave badly, she’ll let you have it.
For example, I remember the chief nurse called me on the carpet, “Airman, come here. I want to talk to you about this crash cart. It’s missing two sets of gloves, the second drawer is practically empty, what’s going on, when was the last time you inspected the crash cart?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, “The crash cart is critical, it’s not ready for use. What if we had an emergency right now? It’s not stocked, what good is it if it’s not stocked? The crash cart should be inspected every shift and always be ready, no excuses.”
Then she concluded her diatribe, “Get it fixed now!”
I double timed it to the medical ward break room, grabbed a couple pair of gloves along with the other missing supplies and headed back to the defectively stocked crash cart. As I loaded the items onto the cart I listened to Elen sort out the situation. I listened and learned.
Elen is a staff sergeant; the head nurse, a lieutenant colonel. This represents an extreme rank imbalance, putting Elen on the much lower end. To make it even more imbalanced, Elen is enlisted, the head nurse is part of the upper-crust officer corps. But, as you’ll see, Elen don’t care.
“Excuse me ma’m,” Elen made her first move, get the crusty old bag’s attention.
“What do you want Sergeant?” replied the head nurse.
“In the future, if you have a problem with the medical ward crash cart, I want you to tell me and I’ll get it corrected. I don’t appreciate your chewing out one of my med techs especially right out in the open where everyone can see it. My second in charge, Sergeant Jones saw the whole thing and notified me. Sean, is my best med tech, there’s no need to chew him out, he had nothing to do with restocking the crash cart. Now, would you like to hear what’s going on with the crash cart?” Elen said with her arms akimbo and her neck leaning forward.
The head nurse stood tall, folded her arms and said, “I would.”
“I’ll tell you what happened,” Elen continued, “We had a ‘code’ (life and death event) in room twelve and we used the crash cart. I sent Airman Mitchell off to clean up the room while I restocked the cart. You chewed out Airman Mitchell while I was still in the process of restocking it. So, next time, I’d appreciate if you talk to me before launching into one of my med techs. OK, ma’m?”
The head nurse didn’t want to hear Elen anymore. She wanted out of the conversation and gracefully stated, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you just used the cart and were in the process of restocking. I wondered what it was doing out in the hallway. I should have come straight to you Sergeant and from now on I will. You got a deal.”
That ended it. The head nurse walked purposefully towards the elevator and disappeared. As soon as the elevator doors closed, applause rang out in the hallway, “Way to go Elen! Man you gave it to her. That lady can get arrogant and you put her in her place – yeahaa!”
Elen’s one tough cookie, I respected her. And, so did everyone else, regardless of their rank.
Elen did a great job of keeping her private life … private. But, going off to Las Vegas and marrying the surgical ward chief, how are you supposed to keep that a secret? It’s impossible, even for Elen, to keep something that ‘juicy’ a secret.
The nursing station went quiet. All eyes focused down the hallway towards the elevator. Elen stepped out and walked towards us with a spring in her step, almost a skipping motion, as if a little girl who just landed a pocketful of lollypops.
A cool customer, Elen handled the extra attention like a pro, “What ya’ll gawking at? Haven’t you ever seen a married woman before?”
Then the hugging and gushing congratulations began, “Oh, so happy for you Elen. What a shocker, how did you keep it a secret? Wow, you really did it. Crazy lady, you sure know how to stir things up. No boring stuff for you. Always one step ahead. I knew you two were going out but what’s with this getting married stuff? “
Elen waited for the shock to die down a bit; then proceeded to take over the conversation. “Listen, I’ll tell you something, may come as a surprise, but Roy and I aren’t the first couple to get married in Vegas, happens all the time, no big deal.
“We were sitting around watching TV last week and Roy said, ‘You doing anything next weekend?’ I said, ‘No, why?’ ‘Well, I ain’t doing anything either, why don’t we go to Vegas and get married.’ I said, ‘Great idea.’ So we did.
“Besides, I’d been looking for a way to shorten my name. You got any idea what it’s like going around with a nine letter last name nobody can pronounce, ‘Naka-soo-shi, Naka-hee-hee, Naka-noo-nee, forget it. Besides, do I look Japanese to you? Glad to get rid of it. Marrying Roy got it down to three letters. I went from alphabet soup to three letters, I’m good with that.”
Elen finished up saying, “We haven’t even told our parents yet. We’ll get around to it sometime, what’s the rush?”
