The Laughing Wolf

A Clean Exit Strategy

The good Sgt. Hook has an excellent post up on the need for a clean exit strategy. While I agree with his post, there are some areas deserving of some scrubbing.

Actually, the story reminds me of several incidents, two of which are clean enough for family fare. These involve the two most interesting shower/bathing facilities I have encountered.

The first was at the Boy Scout World Jamboree in Norway. The Norwegians, not having many of the hang-ups that we do, built some wonderful raised shower facilities with no enclosure at all. To make it even more interesting, there was no hot water and the water that did come in was from a glacier-fed river. The only thing that kept it from re-freezing was movement; and, the only thing that would keep you from literally passing out in the cold was movement. Most American scouts bathed in bathing suits or something close, but a number of different options were tried for dealing with the other issues. The quick wet, scrub dry, and rinse as quickly as possible was not satisfactory in terms of either rinsing or in keeping people from going down for the count. The method most used was to cut on every shower along one side, and run like heck through the ice spray. You then soaped and scrubbed, and ran back through the line once or twice to get rinsed. The movement kept you from passing out or turning too blue. One of the American scouts made a small fortune that trip by cleaning out a milk carton, punching small holes in the bottom, and then pouring hot water in it so that you could get a hot shower. Add in a stall made of ponchos and the like, and scouts from many nations came over to get a warm semi-private shower. American ingenuity and capitalism at work.

What I regard as the worst arrangement I’ve ever seen did not get me, but did get an Air Force officer of my acquaintance. We were in Switzerland, and where we stayed one night had real tubs – and a faucet and controls on the side such that the water came in directly onto the crotch region. My own relaxing bath that night was interrupted by a scream from the Officer’s room. Seems he did not have an exit strategy in mind, and was foolish enough to get into the tub with the water still running. Said water went from nice to pure scalding in a fraction of a second, requiring him to apply burn crème to a very sensitive area. Thank goodness he did not have to fly for a few days.

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