Focus on Life - Week 21: Reminisce

This week's Focus on Life was Reminisce.  This is what Sally had to say:

Have you ever been in the middle of a busy day and all of a sudden you run across a certain baked good, candy, flower or an object catches your attention and you are sent right back to your childhood?

This week capture what takes you back to moments past and reminisce a little.

I thought I would reminisce a little about my time in the Army, 1991-2001.  Sally was talking about a certain smell, a certain sound, a certain thought that brings back memories and I have those all the time about my time in the Army.  I know that these are supposed to be pics from this week and not from over 12-16 years ago, but I thought I would share a little of my time in the Army.

I am the one kneeling (only wore camo face paint twice - Basic Training and PLDC).

There are times I seriously miss the smell of the range - after everyone has fired "down range" the smell of gun powder is prevalent in the air.  The smell of your rifle as you clean after you have been to the range or out to the field - the smell of the parts and the oil you use to clean those parts - I miss that a lot.

This was during, I think, live fire exercies.

I know this one is weird to - the smell of a tank as it sits idle in front of you on the road.  Now that has a really distinctive smell let me tell you.  Or seeing the tanks go flying by your guard spot during training exercises at NTC (National Training Center - Fort Irwin, California). 

Sitting at a hanger waiting for a plane

I miss goofing off with everyone while we sit and wait (which we got very good at).  We use to play Hearts, Spades and Bones.  This is my first NTC rotation at Fort Hood - on the way back the plane broke down so we sat in a hanger for a good 8-10 hours.  While waiting for the plane we played Bones which the guys taught me to play during this rotation.  We also use to do a lot of other stupid stuff while waiting: throwing rocks at each other, building pyramids with the same rocks, rolling rocks down a hill to see whose rock goes the farthest or whose rock was the fastest, play fighting, and lots and lots of games, sleeping or reading books (Dean Koontz and Terry Goodkind were some of our favorites)!

MOPP 4 Training

I don't miss the training in MOPP 4 in over 100 hundred degree weather but I do miss the training with my squad and other sorts of training.  I also miss giving that training.  Yes, I know I am weird and I love it :)

I think overall I miss the smells of the military.  There is a distinct smell, especially of the guys - sorry civilian guys I do miss the smell of Army guys :)  The smell of starch uniforms in the sun, the smell of kiwi on the boots and just the smell of a guy with the combination of kiwi and starched uniform - YUM!

Though I have to say the one thing I don't miss - not taking a shower for two weeks!  I seriously can't do that now - I need me my shower at least once a day!

Thanks for letting me reminisce a little of my time in the Army.  Please head over to The Studio Sublime and see what everyone else reminisced about this week.