Waiting for Even More Shots

I'm sitting on a bus, in the rain, waiting for a van to take me off-post for a measles, mumps, rubella shot. I'm sure I received one as an infant, otherwise I would never have attended public school or college. I guess an air of erudition doesn't substitute for a shot record.

Today we clear medical. So far I've had my physical, vision, dental and immunization records scrutinized, I've received two of my most painful shots to date, and I've waited on this stupid BlueBird bus for two hours.

The smallpox vaccine is basically a small tattoo on my upper left arm. A very nice LPN stabbed me a few dozen times with a smallpox-infected needle. This was far from plesant and will produce a truly disgusting pustule before scarring over. All that for a disease that only exists in a few labs around the world. I guess we do that because some of those labs don't belong to us.

That plus anthrax = bad day.

All that and I was up for a 3:30 meeting this morning.

Welcome to the army lifestyle.