Maybe I should be a librarian...

This week was long and painful for ol' Brian. I figured out several years ago that I really dislike a couple of things in this life - sticking people with needles, and seeing copious amounts of blood. Due to these two aversions of mine, I made the brilliant career choice to pretty much anything BUT the medical field. Well, somehow, the Army must have figured out my two favorite things, because they started an evil course (which has been mandatory) called Combat LifeSaver, or CLS. I had to get CLS certified about three years ago, which involved practicing on inserting a saline lock into the casualty, and fixing any wounds that he/she may have suffered. So, in my chosen profession, which one would think would be pretty much blood- and needle-free, I now have to deal with blood and needles. Hmmm.
Anyway, this week was my annual recertification class. Unfortunately, up here the CLS class is taught by civilian contractors, who have made it their personal mission in life to make the course as realistic as possible in the practical/tactical portion of the class. Sooooooooo, today, I had to put my Army costume on (body armor, helmets, rifles, etc) and go room to room, clearing rooms and treating the wounded (just like I don't do while deployed).
The contractors certainly outshone themselves with this one! There were casualties with pretty much anything you can imagine wrong with them, very graphic, with lots and lots and lots and lots of blood and gore to accompany it. I ended up with blood covering my knees, and it soaked all the way through my flight suit, long johns, and stained my knees and shins. I wonder exactly how long I will have red/pink knees?