Just Sunday in General

I seem to have lost my writing voice. Every time I sit down to write nothing comes out.

I had a busy week last week. Flew a couple of times. Getting used to the beechcraft, an the instructors are really good guys. Just like in the Navy, I almost never fly with the same instructor twice. They all have their own individual approaches to how things should be done. I find myself already deciding which parts of their advice I will keep.

Wednesday I drove up to Togus, which is the VA center in Maine. Huge place. Some of the buildings have been around since the Civil War.

I was there to check off some boxes for the SSA, who seems to think the bean should be eligible for some kind of compensation because I am a combat veteran. I am incredulous about how civilians think.

I’m not disabled, I’m not dead. Why would by daughter be eligible for VA benefits?

While there I got enrolled. Now I am on the hooks for a few trips back to Togus to get my service related hearing loss evaluated. And tinnitus.

Plus anything else that crops up before I croak.

The counselor’s eyes got big when I rattled off what I had been exposed to in 23 years of service.

“JP-4, JP-5, JP-8, Hydraulic Fluid, Aircraft Surface Cleaning Compound, Hydrazine, ASBESTOS! (all three ships I cruised on were built in the 50s), generator exhaust, burning human excrement.”

So in the offhand chance I end up with some complication of any of that. I guess they will give me ten bucks.

The bean doesn’t get anything unless I end up 30% disabled. Which I am not. Best I can get is probably 10% - for hearing loss.

Cookout tomorrow. If I can get up early enough I will hit the gym, then the beach. Then up the road for a burger and potato salad. I’ll pick up some pre-cut watermelon.

What is labor day without watermelon?

Last updated September 03, 2018