Be All That You Can Be...In the Army (Ardent Goes to Africa)
 

There once was a man forced to wear Army uniforms and sent to Africa. That man was Ardent. This is his story.

Will there be pirates in this story? I think there should be pirates. Or werewolves.

There will definitely be Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

Will they be able to drive?

Midgets would work too.

Will ye be fishin fer trout?

Have they ever been to Boston in the fall?

I leave the Navy one year from today.

As it so happens, today I leave my wife until December 28th as well.

Flashback: April 2006

It was an ordinary day by ordinary standards. Ardent had got to work around 2pm and hoped to avoid changing in uniform for the day. It didn't appear to be in the plans, so he and his buddy Pierre went to the locker room to change into uniform.

Minutes later, one of Ardent's bosses started knocking on the door. He was yelling out Ardent's name. Ardent and Pierre thought the chief was kidding around. Ardent hid around his locker door when chief entered the room.

Chief asked Pierre where Ardent was, and Pierre said he didn't know.

"This sucks," Ardent's chief replied, "He's going to Iraq."

Only until December?

I leave home today. I won't be back in the United States until December 28th.

why are you wearing an army uniform if you're in the navy?

How about Somali pirates? You know, the ones who want to take on US Navy warships with rocket launchers....

Proof God does not want me in Africa:

Bad weather in Chicago has cancelled my flight for today. One more night at home.

I'm assuming that the Navy has no desert camo's...

Well, they do actually. My guess is that ardent is either filling an Army billet, or is being assigned to an Army unit/Army base.

Damn squids....don't even know which uniforms to wear. ;)

I've had a few to drink today, but I don't know the rationale as to why I'm wearing Army desert camo. I didn't know the Navy had desert camo.

I can only assume it's because it's a joint task force and the head honcho is probably in the Army.

I'm pretty sure that camo is camo, that only the patches change. So depending on what patches you're wearing, you could very well be wearing Navy deser camo.

I've seen differences in Army and Marine camo...and trust me, I've been looking.

Stay safe over there, AE...

I never like to wish time away, but I hope this goes by quick for you.

Will you have access to update this while you are gone?

Take care Ardent and be safe.

Turns out I was wrong.

The Army had desert camo but got rid of it from what I was told today. The Navy is adopting it as a way to separate the sailors from soldiers I guess.

I'm sure it made some supplier very happy. Instead of velcro strap type patches, we have to buy regular patches and pay to have them sewn on.

Yippee.

Hey thread, what's up? Want some crack?

I was told once I got to Africa that yada yada, write anything about this out here and we find out about, fire and brimstone. You know.

So, all I have are memories. Memories...thank God I'm not out there anymore. :)