Ginny Mehlert:  

After high school I attended Western Washington University, changing majors 3 times before realizing in my Senior year (I know, I know) that I needed to do something else with my life.That's why in January of 1980 I joined the U.S. Navy and spent the next nearly 9 years as a Hospital Corpsman and Pharmacy Technician. Pharmacy for me wasn't out of the blue. My maternal grandfather owned a drugstore in downtown Priest River, Idaho, and I worked for him one summer when I was 16. He'd taught me to read Latin medical terms so I could type prescription labels for him and I actually counted out pills for him and put labels on bottles. His rule: If someone with a tie comes through the door, get out from behind the pharmacy counter! (It's a small logging town and back then only drug salesmen and inspectors came in wearing suits and ties.) Of course, he checked all my work before it went to his customers, but it was totally illegal. And fun. I also got to work the soda fountain when we weren't juggling pills. So when it came time to choose a career in the Navy, I chose Pharmacy and made my Grandpa very proud. All my duty stations, ironically, were in the U.S. as I never went overseas or served...Expand for more