“Hey Curmudge, I understand that Mack’s battalion is located in a new forward operating base.”
“It doesn’t sound much better than the old one, Jaded Julie. I just received this e-mail from him wishing a Happy Easter to friends and family:
‘Hi, everyone,
Happy Easter. I hope that everyone’s enjoying the day. I went on a raid today, actually flew out at about 0200 this morning. I think it was one of the most sinister places in this country I’ve been. A village with lots of little alleys and roads with walls on both sides. There were snipers taking shots at times during the day. One of the engineers got shot through both thighs; one of my medics and I took care of him. They may have hit the femoral vein, but I think he’ll be OK. Happened just as the sun was coming up. It was horrendously hard to carry him out of there to the helo, since the fields around the village were flooded in some places. Afghanistan is the #1 heroin-producing country in the world, and every square foot of ground in this part of the country is covered with poppy plants about to be harvested. We captured four guys who were making IEDs and explosives. Late in the afternoon, maybe an hour before we were getting ready to fly out of there, everyone was sitting up against a wall. Some of the guys were starting to clear the PZ for the flights out, when the enemy cut loose with five minutes of machine gun fire. Since we were behind the wall, no one got hit or anything. It was steaming hot all day, and everyone brought as much water as they could carry; but we were almost running out by the time we got out of there. Now I’m back in my hooch listening to “The Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and checking e-mail. About to get midnight chow. Please stay in touch because I’ve really enjoyed hearing from you while over here. Take care—Mack.’ “
“Curmudge, your grim countenance tells me that that wasn’t the kind of Easter you were expecting Mack to have.”
“You’ve got that right, Julie. I had Easter dinner with friends in a restaurant that was hosting a lot of noisy, seemingly carefree young people. I find the contrast between their Easter and Mack’s Easter disturbing.”
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Curmudgeon's Wastebasket, a personal blog, is entirely conversational. The protagonists are Curmudgeon, a nasty old man possessing a modicum of perspicacity, and Jaded Julie, a nurse who is fed up with waste and inefficiency. Joining as reviewer and occasional participant is a physician, Doc Mack MD. Health care will be our principal, but not exclusive, topic. In many of our discussions we will be relaying information that our readers might not otherwise encounter.
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About Me
- Curmudgeon
- Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning change for the better; a curmudgeon is a cantankerous old person. The Kaizen Curmudgeon blog consists principally of conversations between the Curmudgeon and Jaded Julie, a younger colleague who has “had it up to here” with waste and inefficiency. Of course, both “Curmudge” (the author’s alter ego) and Jaded Julie are fictional. The author of Kaizen Curmudgeon is a retired Associate Professor of Chemistry. Kaizen Curmudgeon blog was founded in May 2007. Its original focus was on Lean (a management culture), leadership, and health care. Until January 2012 the blog was sponsored by the Performance Excellence Team at Affinity Health System. Kaizen Curmudgeon is presently independent, is no longer limited to health care, and often considers topics of interest to senior citizens.
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