My Left Sock

So this thought has been bubbling and brewing ever since a remark was made on the SGA forum about the military being out of uniform. There's a long chain of thought that I'm not including here, but eventually my mind began wrapping around one concept. "Who does the laundry on Atlantis?"

I mean, did the Ancients leave a recognizable and functioning laundry facility behind? Would Earth fabrics be okay in it? And what do you use in the machines? Not quarters, surely. That's like every world speaking modern English ... oh wait, Nevermind.

I know how a ship's laundry works, and I'm assuming field laundries are similar. So that means everyone on Atlantis has their name stenciled in their underwear. No need for dogtags, just check the waistband of the Fruit of the Looms.

And if Earth sent along a fully operational laundry with washers and dryers and dry cleaning machines, what about the hook-ups? Where does the greywater go? Surely they wouldn't just dump it in the ocean; we should have learned that lesson the 20th century! And how much detergent do you need, and can you imagine the chaos if you ran out of fabric softener? All that would have to come from Earth, unless there was a trader in the Pegasus galaxy specializing in Downy and Cheer.

Atlantis is an all volunteer force, who volunteers to go to the Pegasus galaxy to do the wash? Here are Earth's brightest and best; the scientists, the researchers, the military. Adventurers, smart and sharp, and very, very busy. So who is the guy, or gal, probably plural, who attend to the laundry? How do you pick the best? Is it the person who never loses a left sock, never starches the underpants, never turns the T-shirts pink? Is there a reason the folks on Atlantis wear so much black? Not because it looks cool, but because it doesn't show dirt? And those sleek uniforms, are they wash and wear? Is there a mini uniform shop on Atlantis in case you lose your collar devices?

I shouldn't be allowed to think in a vacuum.