I was reminded last night that it is vitally important to take care of your feet. If any of you have been in the military, you know what I'm talking about. Even my favorite pair of fictional soldiers in Lt. Dan and Forrest Gump were concerned about feet.

Look, it's pretty basic here. You stick with me, you learn from the guys who been in country awhile, you'll be right. There is one item of G.I. gear that can be the difference between a live grunt and a dead grunt. Socks, cushion, sole, O.D. green. Try and keep your feet dry when we're out humpin'. I want you boys to remember to change your socks wherever we stop. The Mekong will eat a grunt's feet right off his legs.

I wanted to insert a YouTube clip instead of the quote, but the scene had some blasphemous language and I don't have the ability to edit the video.

I'm bringing up feet and last night because while I was doing some yard work over at the in-laws and I was wearing some open toed shoes. Bad idea. Long story short, I was putting away the thatcher I had just finished using to pull behind the tractor and, as I stepped over the hitch arm, I managed to slice a chunk off of my big toe.

It isn't the worst injury I've receive to my feet, but that little piece of missing skin will drop the most masculine of men if anything bangs into it! You've never known water droplets cascading over your feet in the shower to double you over... but lemme tell ya, you get creative about position in the shower stall after the first drop of soapy water hits even a minor wound like this.

Now that I've receive this "injury", I feel better for having written words in Part V that speak of the need to take of your feet. With all of the He-Man characters found in other dystopian books and movies, I've never read or seen where the topic of the care and maintenance of your feet was so paramount. I've only seen it referenced in movies like Forrest Gump and others where there are military scenes.

I'm a trend setter I guess.

Moral of the story, unless you're headed to the beach or the pool, wear the right shoes!