Today was the first day that I started to pack for deployment. It is hard to pack for 9 months, but lucky for me, I just came back in July so it is still fairly fresh in my mind what I used and didn’t use. I always spent a lot of money right before I deploy buying things I think I’ll need or want over there. For this trip, I am bringing a lot of entertainment. I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot of downtime because I am going to be working in the mountains near the Pakistan border. When the weather is shitty, everything pretty much comes to a stand still.
I always try and get some hiking boots before the deployments, also. I am not a big fan of the army issue boots, plus they make my feet hot. I have unusually hot feet so any boots with gore tex is out of the question. I know that gore tex is suppose to keep your feet cooler, but that is bullshit. If the stuff is water resistant, it is usually water resistant both ways. Until I am proven otherwise, that is my way of thinking. Which doesn’t keep my feet cool when I am sweating.
And of course, I had to buy shampoo, toothbrushes, etc. We have AAFES overseas, but I try and not support them. They say that they are there for the soldier, but all they are there for is to make money. Don’t believe me, when you pay for stuff overseas, AAFES gives you little cardboard coins for your change. Who the hell is going to keep track of cardboard coins? I have probably thrown out more AAFES money than I have spent, which means I have to spend more of my own money when I go into the store. Maybe that is just good business sense, but here is another example of how AAFES screws the soldier. When I was in Iraq, AAFES only carried female black shorts in their store. How many females do you think were on my camp in Iraq? Not enough to count on both hands, but the PX had two shelves full of black female shorts and did not get anymore male shorts in the whole 9 months I was in Iraq. Eventually, they ran out, but that is only because lack of options. Of course the males are going to buy females shorts if that is all that is there. And AAFES comes out the winner. Once again, good business sense, or screwing the soldier- you decide.
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