A little flashback today..........

[Bob Wright]

My weekday attire is usually Wrangler jeans and shirts. So, today I put on a new pair of jeans, still dark blue, and a Wrangler denim shirt, the shirt the faded blue from a few washings. As I looked in the mirror, I was reminded of something from years back.

Army fatigues, when newly issued, are bright olive green, but after a few washings, fade out to a pale gray green. Now any soldier who had been in awhile, never wore brand new fatigues as a set. He mixed new trousers with an old shirt, or vice versa.

Made you look like an old trooper, you see. All green shouted "Recruit!"


Incidentally, in WW II, the faded fatigues looked too much like the German Army's field gray uniforms. That is why the US Army in Europe wore the wool OD uniforms as combat uniforms.


Bob Wright

 

[Mobuck]

I have flashbacks fairly often.
Many things can trigger them but the trigger that's most consistent is stepping into knee to waist deep water as when I'm doing water sets during trapping season. There's something about wading out into standing water that sets me off. Maybe it's the feeling of vulnerability or being exposed in the water with no cover to duck into.
I used to take a Vietnam veteran turkey hunting and although we'd done the pre-dawn walk many times, one morning it caught up with him. We had to stand a while so he could gather himself. He said it was a flashback from pre-dawn patrols in SVN- guys in camo toting guns walking through waist high grass. It happened again in Montana when we crossed a bridge across a deep gorge. He looked out and it reminded him of sitting on a helo headed for an LZ. He upended everything in the back seat trying to get away from the window overlooking the gorge.

 

[Jeepnik]

They do tend to sneak up. But sometimes they are things that make you give a little chuckle. People look at you funny when you do. Wearing a ball cap with a red, yellow and green striped rectangle seem to really bother them. At least those who know what it means.