Army days

What was I doing 
in the motor pool?
Paying a debt
for goofing off?
The clipboard in hand
nosing beneath
the huge truck hood of 
the olive drab 
deuce-and-a-half
yet I inspected yesterday
so I checked the tiny boxes
on the clipboard sheet
now seated behind the wheel
with time now to spare
until the captain came
making a beeline to 
my assigned vehicle
now clipboard 
in his hand
he inspected 
the tiny check marks
tiny frauds resting 
in tiny boxes
for oil unchecked
battery unchecked
water unchecked
a deuce-and-a-half
uninspected
and he shouted
"bull shit!"
to which I found myself
in that motor pool
for another week
at the breaking
of seven Korean dawns
inspecting a row
of deuce-and-a-halfs
with greasy hands
in cold silence.