When I was going through my Navy technical training, I had a nervous breakdown and spent some time "relaxing" in a locked ward at the base hospital. I had a provisional security clearance and was "concerned" it would be revoked from having spent time "relaxing." By "concerned," I mean curious if the revocation of the security clearance would end an educational experience determined to tear me down and rebuild me---into C-3PO from Empire Strikes Back, after he was dismembered and Chewbacca put his head on backwards. I was told the psychiatric and operational sides of the Navy didn't communicate with each other and I didn't need to worry about it. By this time, I had "relaxed" into enough of a stupor that the corpsman failed to note how disappointed and freaked out I was. I was training to be an electronics technician specializing in the equipment that calculates firing solutions for gun and missile batteries. I never got a single troubleshooting question correct on any written exam, and failed every practical troubleshooting test I was ever given. On top of questionable mental stability, I was incompetent, two traits you want in people who manage the robots that aim and fire our Navy's most powerful weapons. When my period of relaxation was over, the Navy sent me back to the same school to pick up my education/C-3PO-ization where it had left off. When I expressed reservations, they said, "You have orders, son! You will become a technician or die trying!" Before I could take the sensible course and exercise the latter option, a psychologist at the base hospital placed me on limited duty pending evaluation of my condition. Not because incompetence and mental instability are an undesirable combination in people who manage weapons systems, but because I was going to need heavy doses of anti-depressants, shipboard pharmacies are small, and accommodating my needs might have meant less space for gonorrhea medication. So they sent me to the Legal Service Office so that I could continue to fail spectacularly in a field for which I had no aptitude.
I'm sorry. Did you want to talk about things that are silly?
Sounds like you would have been overqualified to be a member of trump’s administration. I’m just happy you ended up with a job where a mistake wouldn’t have the spectacular results a mistake with a missile system would.
Someday, I will talk about the sailor who was supposed to be released from the brig but ended up on death row at Leavenworth. I wasn't great with paperwork, either. The lawsuit and restraining orders are still ongoing.
Another wonderful post! And at the risk of complaining to the manager rather than to Corporate: would you please consider publishing a collection of your strips? Like in an actual, printed book, that I could savor and enjoy without having to squint or adjust the font or dig out my magnifying glasses? Just a thought - but till then I'll do my best to enjoy them in whatever format I can get! Thanks!!
My low rent sarcasm is generally pretty silly! (Being sarcastic about petty things is silly and fun. I'm not currently applying it to the news, because it's neither silly nor fun currently.)
When I was going through my Navy technical training, I had a nervous breakdown and spent some time "relaxing" in a locked ward at the base hospital. I had a provisional security clearance and was "concerned" it would be revoked from having spent time "relaxing." By "concerned," I mean curious if the revocation of the security clearance would end an educational experience determined to tear me down and rebuild me---into C-3PO from Empire Strikes Back, after he was dismembered and Chewbacca put his head on backwards. I was told the psychiatric and operational sides of the Navy didn't communicate with each other and I didn't need to worry about it. By this time, I had "relaxed" into enough of a stupor that the corpsman failed to note how disappointed and freaked out I was. I was training to be an electronics technician specializing in the equipment that calculates firing solutions for gun and missile batteries. I never got a single troubleshooting question correct on any written exam, and failed every practical troubleshooting test I was ever given. On top of questionable mental stability, I was incompetent, two traits you want in people who manage the robots that aim and fire our Navy's most powerful weapons. When my period of relaxation was over, the Navy sent me back to the same school to pick up my education/C-3PO-ization where it had left off. When I expressed reservations, they said, "You have orders, son! You will become a technician or die trying!" Before I could take the sensible course and exercise the latter option, a psychologist at the base hospital placed me on limited duty pending evaluation of my condition. Not because incompetence and mental instability are an undesirable combination in people who manage weapons systems, but because I was going to need heavy doses of anti-depressants, shipboard pharmacies are small, and accommodating my needs might have meant less space for gonorrhea medication. So they sent me to the Legal Service Office so that I could continue to fail spectacularly in a field for which I had no aptitude.
I'm sorry. Did you want to talk about things that are silly?
Now that was either too real or one great piece of writing. Stay well please.
😛😜🤪😝😂🤣
Sounds like you would have been overqualified to be a member of trump’s administration. I’m just happy you ended up with a job where a mistake wouldn’t have the spectacular results a mistake with a missile system would.
Someday, I will talk about the sailor who was supposed to be released from the brig but ended up on death row at Leavenworth. I wasn't great with paperwork, either. The lawsuit and restraining orders are still ongoing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, as usual, but the background signs were superlative today!
Another wonderful post! And at the risk of complaining to the manager rather than to Corporate: would you please consider publishing a collection of your strips? Like in an actual, printed book, that I could savor and enjoy without having to squint or adjust the font or dig out my magnifying glasses? Just a thought - but till then I'll do my best to enjoy them in whatever format I can get! Thanks!!
That is precisely what I have been sputtering through these last few months. Fear not! It shall be done.
Yay! Let us know when to pre-order?
I promise, I will be bragging incessantly that I finished the thing.
As you should!
BS"D
According to the movie, "Master & Commander," a manager who eats lunch with the staff loses all authority and will have to have to jump ship.
My low rent sarcasm is generally pretty silly! (Being sarcastic about petty things is silly and fun. I'm not currently applying it to the news, because it's neither silly nor fun currently.)
Another good comic. So silly and so true to life.
😂😂😂😂 as always
Is that guy with the wispy beard and turquoise shirt, the one in the staff room: is he a Self-portrait of the cartoonist?
No, he is the portrait of someone I didn’t enjoy working with. I inserted him as a character, but I didn’t enjoy writing about him, either.
Sorry for the resurrection of your trauma
Trauma feeds the writer in me.
You're walking a tightrope so. Don't let the trauma eat you ~ or disfigure your writing.