20 May 2024 Garand Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

[eb in oregon]

I never met a Corpsman I didn't like. All combat medics are saints when "in the s**t."

[browningautorifle]

medics are saints when "in the s**t.

And all called "Doc"...

[Ovidio]

Ours were peacetime corpsmen, so a tad less loved, but still mostly well liked.
During our deployment against the 'Ndrangheta mafia, we had a doctor with our unit, who had frequent nightmares and was also a sleepwalker.
One night I came back with an Alpino who needed attention (he hadn't been taking a poo for a couple weeks, since he was disgusted by our latrines. We were working to improve them still, it was at the very beginning of the adventure). It was about half past four in the morning, we had deposited our weapons in the armory after checking them and so I took the constipated guy to the infirmary. Surprisingly, everybody was up...
The Doc very embarassed and the corpsmen kind of like cats hit by a car's lights in the night: eyes like this, spooked. They told me the Doc had just jumped down from his bed shouting like a devil "damned Charlies!!! I'll kill y'all!!! TATATATATATATA". He had seen Platoon and was dreaming of being in Nam. I had such a lough... Then I brought them a bottle of Grappa and everything was fine. And I could have asked them anything after that.
The constipated guy, the night after, asked to please allow him to sit behind the parapet. His legs were hurting. He had spent more than five hours on our "Turkish toilet" after the Doc gave him his "cure". The Turkish toilet is without a seat, you have to squat over it
Fond memories...

[Flying10uk]

The Turkish toilet

I have to confess that I am no expert in the layout of the "Turkish toilet" but did it involve a hosepipe as an alternative to there being any paper?

[eb in oregon]

The constipated guy, the night after, asked to please allow him to sit behind the parapet. His legs were hurting. He had spent more than five hours on our "Turkish toilet" after the Doc gave him his "cure". The Turkish toilet is without a seat, you have to hunch over it
Fond memories...

Indeed, and the "crapper" on the trains in Turkey is a hole in the tile on the floor. You have to squat and aim carefully, but there is a grab bar on the wall for assistance. I imagine having to squat for hours would be hard on the legs.

[browningautorifle]

You have to squat and aim carefully

Don't know how that would be today the way my knees act...

[Ovidio]

This is the type of crapper

[browningautorifle]

This is the type

Yes, saw many of them when I was overseas.

[Flying10uk]

This is the type of crapper

A "poor man's bidet".