Generally Designated

“Where we going?” I asked.

“Oh, we have a little meeting with the X-Ray Supervisor and some GDXRTs” Antonin replied.

“What’s a GDXRT?”

“A Generally Designated X-Ray Technician. They can get all sorts of higher designations to run various imaging machines, but the basic level is the GDXRT. They’re always complaining that their lead vests and skirts are too heavy, and yeah, they’re heavy, but they’re also required by law. We have to inspect the lead, too, quarterly, to check for cracks and holes under the fabric covering. Now one of them found some company touting a new, lighter weight material, but if it doesn’t give the same level of protection, I’m going to shoot them down and deny permission.”

He handed me an advertisement and data sheet for the new lead protective gear, and I read it as we walked. Now, I know everybody has their little quirks, I certainly have mine, and one thing I remembered about Antonin from our Navy days was that he considered himself a speed reader. When our submarine went on a WestPac, Western Pacific Tour, he kept a little notebook where he recorded how many pages of books, magazines, whatever he read each day. He would brag about it: ‘I’ve read 250 pages so far this underway’ et cetera. I always wondered what the point of this was, and what he may have missed in either message or enjoyment as he sped read all these pages. Granted, some writers are more concise than others, and there’s always plenty of fluff. Give me a writer like Hemingway any day. His Old Man and The Sea, with the marlin devoured by the sharks, oops, sorry, spoiler alert, was a classic. But I digress.

“Hey, wait a minute,” I said “this says the new material is both lighter and more protective than lead. It’s better.”

Tony stopped dead in his tracks.

“What? Really? Let me see that.”

I could see his eyes race back and forth across the page as if he were in open eyed REM sleep. He got to the meat of it and read it aloud:

“… our proprietary blend of tungsten, aluminum and other materials produces garments which are both lighter and more protective, with reduced x-ray penetration and less radiation exposure for Doctors, Nurses, GDXRTs and any other exposed personnel and/or patients.”

He looked at me and reached out to shake my hand.

“This is great! Glad you caught that. I’ll approve this and they’ll love us for it. I get that the shit is heavy. I hope this makes it a little better for them, but they still have to wear it and it’s not going to weigh nothing. And it’ll take some time to buy the new stuff and phase out the old.

Listen, I hate meetings. If this goes into any other topics I’m going to beg out. You stay and take notes, ok? I have a ton of shit on my desk I have to take care of including a bunch of questions on my thesis from my PhD advisor. With any luck I’ll finish my PhD in about six more weeks. Most RSOs at a place like this have PhDs and the fact I was working on mine helped me get the job.”

“Sure, no problem,” I said, “let’s go.”