Recently Sonny Anderson and I were among the people waiting at the Ilanka Clinic to get our Covid and flu shots. We were both admiring each other’s grey-white hair, and pondering the good old days.
There is something about waiting for inoculations that stimulates conversation, much of which had our wives rolling their eyes.
Sonny, a former Marine, was telling the story about the greeting his unit received when they arrived in Vietnam.
Like: March off the plane and bend over to get a multi-purpose shot from a needle that looked as long as a bayonet.
Rest assured the Corpsmen giving the shots were not smiling and making small talk. These were Marines. Sonny said the trooper right in front of him was 19 years old, 6 foot 6 inches tall, and chatting bravely about the upcoming poke. When he saw the needle, he turned white and passed out.
My Army unit landed in Korea in the middle of the night in 1968, and we also received a pointed welcome. The military had figured out how to speed up the process by using a needle-less hypodermic “gun” for injections in the arm. The medic warned us to stand still because flinching could cause a cut. Not the kind of open wound one wanted in that environment.
Both the Marines and the Army had some sense of decorum. That included a maze of olive drab tarps we marched through, which heightened the anticipation by hearing buddies shouting colorful expletives not appropriate for a family newspaper.
Countless veterans who have served all over the world can recall the inoculation drill. The spectrum of diseases waiting for them were and are impossible to quantify.
As far as those shots, neither Sonny nor I could tell you exactly what was in them, but here we are today — old timers, more susceptible than ever to evolving diseases, lining up for shots.
This time they were administered in a private setting by a caregiver who was cheerful, efficient, and explained what the shots were for. Plus the needles were of surprisingly short length. I opted for Covid and flu shots in the same arm, and barely felt them.
I also thought about how lucky we are to live where such free shots are readily available.
Why, I even departed with two brightly colored Band-Aids on my arm as part of the deal.
