Clearly, it takes a different kind of person to be in the Army. Generally speaking 12 mile road marches, running 4 miles, waking up at 4:30am, working 12 hours daily, land navigation in pitch darkness and wearing long sleeves and pants all year doesn't appeal to the masses. It takes a special, maybe a short bus kind of special, person to do this and love it.
Here are a few things Army folks do that most people wouldn't-- either due to class, standards or morals.
1. Nap in your car. Every Army person is guilty of this. I get to work 30 minutes early just to park in the lot and sleep in my car. I use my PT cap as a pillow.
2. Sleep on the floor. Sometimes this is the only option. When something is the only option, you do it. Once you're used to doing it, you do it frequently and easily.
3. Eat meals in your car. It doesn't matter if you're driving or sitting stationary in your car, at some point during the day, you will eat in it. You will even keep fast food napkins stashed in your car. Also, you will learn to sleep in military vehicles, regardless if they are on or off.
4. Talk about poop. You will talk about poop with your co-workers. This kind of natural conversation will sabotage any kind of civilian job you ever plan to have, so you'd better just stay in the Army and keep talking about poop.
5. Wear white calf socks with shorts. It's part of the Army PT uniform. As a civilian, this is a social and fashion no-no. In the Army, everyone looks like an old man at the beach, so you just roll with it.
6. Hear explosions and ignore them. Not many other jobs prepare you for this acquired skill. Things blow up on post-- get over it.
7. Go alone into the woods at night. We do this stuff called land navigation. And it requires you to do a day and night iteration. Alone. In the woods. Alone. With unidentified animals. Alone.
This is just a short list. But hear me now, we're different from the average bear. We may not know when or where it happens, but somehow we do these things civilians just won't do in good conscious. And we end up loving it... or ETSing....
