Stryker Brigade News

Well, discharge wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. There was no signing away of property rights, citizenship, re-enlistment papers, anything really. It was, "OK, you're discharged. Here's the Discharge Summary. If you have any questions, give us a call."

There were things to do, of course, before discharge had any real meaning to us. Scott and I returned the tape we couldn't watch, got his X-rays, pain meds. I bought a new bag to stuff with his stuff. Scott when to Occupational Therapy where he finished some post-treatment testing and cutting out and pasting up of holiday decorations. As usual, he wanted them cut perfectly, but the scissors (two pairs, left and right-handed) were not in the mood. We went around and thanked everyone we could find for their service and help. Drs. Kusar and Champagne were thanked as well and asked me how they could keep track of Scott's progress from here.

"Well, there's this website, you see." (I think this is an understatement since this is the 81st update...) I gave them a brief history of www.strykernews.com and how it became the awesome force it is today. I told Dr. Champagne how to get into the photos section so she could see what Scott was doing in Iraq, at Walter Reed and here.

Hey, Doc! Just look on the right side of the webpage under entries by category for "Scott Thorne," when it comes up scroll way down to the beginning and start from there. Check out Travis Majors and Mike Oreo while you're at it. They're great kids who are working hard, too. And don't let your program be overwhelmed by casualties (because they're coming). It has to continue at the current high standard even if somebody has to wait a while to get in.

Back to the list of things: We had lunch and chatted with Scott the Marine (Another Note to the Commandant: This man is one squared away grunt--2/24 Marines is lucky to have him coming back). Packing was a quick task: Take something out, ask Scott if he wants it and then put it in the bag. Of course, the last item to be packed was the B Troop, 1/14 Cavalry Guidon that's been with him since I took it down from outside our home last October 14th. I kept out a small pair of scissors for the ceremonial Cutting of the Patient ID Bracelet (not as cool as destroying the One Ring, but it will have to do). I put the bags (two) in a cart and pushed it over to the Fisher House. (Yes, I'll return it.) On the way out of the hospital, I asked Scott what movie he wanted to watch on the airplane tomorrow. He started mumbling some nonsense and I responded with "Office Space?" A quick grin and "yeah!"

("If I don't get to come back to duty, I'll take my red Stryker and go to a competing Army..." It's not what he said, but I thought it was funny.)

Scott and I went to the notorious Room 7 where we watched some TV until I fell asleep. When I awoke, Scott was downstairs desperately trying to find something suitable to watch from the collection of tapes here at the House. I reminded him we had a bunch of DVD's in our possession and we ended up watching the first Star Wars movie, part I of his birthday gift.

After the movie was over, we had dinner. Scott had two sandwiches for dinner, one peanut butter and jelly, one ham and cheese. I asked him what kind of sandwich he wanted and he said, "one of each." He was having a bit of trouble with one of them until I told him to just unhinge his jaw and gulp it down. Scott thanked me when he finished. (His mom's right, he really is more polite.)

After dinner we went back to the room and watched the second Star Wars movie until about half way through when we crashed (about 9:45 p.m.) I slept (sort of) until 4:30 a.m. when guilt took over and I got up to write the update. I'll lay back down in a bit. Really. It won't do any good, but I will.

Almost forgot. Everyone misses Aly and wants to know how she's doing.

ST