Heading West

Heading West


Today I leave lovely Fort Lost in the Woods for browner and colder pastures in Kansas. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been on active duty for 4 weeks. At a snail’s pace, I’m getting back into the groove of wearing the uniform. I find myself looking for my hat all the time (or beret in this case) and saluting is no longer as awkward as it was the first few days.

I got up early this morning to go to a “Reclamation Sale” on post. It’s a place where you can buy lightly used gear that can’t be recycled back into the Army. Most of the gear is from soldiers who were given their original issue of uniforms, but for some reason, got out of the Army due to medical reasons or failing a whiz quiz. When the soldiers leave, they have to turn in all of their nifty gear that Uncle Sam gave them, to include their PT uniforms, ACU uniforms, and even their issued boots. Even though the Army issues them skivvies, they let the departing soldiers keep them as sort of a consolation prize. “Thanks for coming, keep the underwear.” Most of the stuff at this sale is in fairly good condition and some of it still has the tags on from when it was originally issued. These sales are originally opened up to the lower ranks before the higher ups. They get first dibs on the good stuff a week prior to the post opening the sale to anyone with a military ID, as they should since they make a lot less than most of us. And when you can get a full set of ACU uniforms for $11 instead of the $70 it cost new at Military Clothing, it’s a bargain that you can’t pass up, unless you are hung over from partying the night prior and don’t wake up in time on a Saturday to go stand in a long line in the cold to save a few bucks. While the LT and I were in line waiting to get in the building, we were amazed to see the turn out of almost 300 people who braved the freezing Missouri mornings to get some second hand clothes. Since they only let 50 people at a time into the shed, we had to wait a good hour or so while we contemplated if saving a few bucks was worth the frostbite on our ears. We determined it was and ended up with a duffle bag each of gear that we may or may not use since we didn’t have time to carefully inspect the uniforms to see if they were serviceable. Since officers have to buy their own uniforms, this was a good deal for us IRR folks who won’t be wearing this stuff for very long after our stint is up, unless you’re the kind of person who likes to cut the grass in his combat boots and fatigue bottoms. Chris had the concern that the uniforms are probably cursed with the PT and drug test failures of the soldiers who donned them prior and he insisted that we get wash them before we depart for Riley. That’s probably a good idea as most of the stuff reeks of stress, and probably has scabies.