Craft

A scrub who has never much impressed me, reminded me of someone but I couldn't think who... I finally remembered. She has borne and adopted a total of eight children and donated a living related kidney. However altruistic, this leaves me cynical and dubious of how much good she's done. Sometimes, too much is too much. And then I remembered.

In Basic we had a woman who treated us all like her children. None of us young enough, she was perhaps 27 at the time, I was certainly 26. She corrected us, and tended to us in ways we didn't need, and we mostly ignored her despite our annoyance.

One of our Drill Sergeants, Craft, was 21, we found out for some reason, but we were required to accept his authority, which I had no problem with, nor did most of us. Private Mother, perhaps not so much.

Once a week or so, we would be in the Day Room in the evening, to get our mail, maybe clean our M-16s, chat informally with whichever DS was on duty and in the room. And Private Mother told DS Craft... "No, Dear."

We, well all of the rest of us, felt the chill in the room, and thought "...oh no."

Private Mother was doing push ups, as we were dismissed to our cots. As far as I know, she may be doing scissor kicks to this day.

Well, not really. The next morning she was in formation with the rest of us. But her "mothering" stopped.

When I say "I ain't nobody's mama" what I mean is that I'm not Private Mother, ever. The scrub that has tried to call me Joanie* reminds me of her. So giving, so controlling, so incompetent, so annoying. I wish I could make her do push-ups until I get tired.

Many of our residents are very young, but I accept their MD as valid, their training and education as a matter of course. I have other more generalized skills and knowledge, but their expertise is impressive and important. I take their orders, their preferences that don't conflict with their attending surgeon's. They can't come into my kitchen and rearrange it, but I don't contradict them about how they take care of their patient, that doesn't conflict with what their attending surgeon says.

Age doesn't matter here, and I take that to heart. Whomever knows best gets to say. I know about positioning a patient under anesthesia, but I will take suggestions and improvements.

And patient requests.

My Drill Sergeants were Johnson & Johnson and Craft. I can still see their faces. I hold them in some esteem.











*I hate diminutives. Nicknames are fine, but not diminution.