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My one and only brother Matt will be heading into the Navy starting Monday. He will be traveling to the Chicago area for boot camp and then eventually transferred to A-School for his education. As far as naval terminology is concerned he will learn code words (or Navy speak) for things like the bathroom (the head) and candy (geedunk).

“GEEDUNK - To most sailors the word geedunk means ice cream, candy, potato chips and other assorted snacks, or even the place where they can be purchased. No one, however, knows for certain where the term originated, but there are several plausible theories:

1. In the 1920’s a comic strip character named Harold Teen and his friends spent a great amount of time at Pop’s candy store. The store’s owner called it The Geedunk for reasons never explained.

2. The Chinese word meaning a place of idleness sounds something like gee dung.

3. Geedunk is the sound made by a vending machine when it dispenses a soft drink in a cup.

4. It may be derived from the German word tunk meaning to dip or sop either in gravy or coffee. Dunking was a common practice in days when bread, not always obtained fresh, needed a bit of tunking to soften it. The ge is a German unaccented prefix denoting repetition. In time it may have changed from getunk to geedunk. Whatever theory we use to explain geedunk’s origin, it doesn’t alter the fact that Navy people are glad it all got started.”

(source: www.sgaus.org/hist_fac.htm)

I wish the very best of luck to my brother and wanted him to know that he’s been my closest friend for years and will always be. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better sibling if there was a Suggestion Box for it. Many years of memories including pretending to be the knights from Medievil Times to recording puppet shows, it’s all locked up here in the files of my memories.

I know he will enjoy his time in the Navy and have plenty of adventures and experiences to share when he is relieved of his duties someday. From those that I’ve talked to who have been a part of the military very few share experiences that deviate from making them a better person. From their very first wakeup call at 3am to watching the sunrise to forming new friendships, learning about themselves and their nation the military is an experience that deserves recognition.

Good luck, I love you brother. You’re grown up to be a great person and I can’t wait until you come visit us.