A couple hours well spent

My husband picked up his gear last week for his upcoming deployment.  So I watched as he spent some time taking off tags and stickers and trying stuff on and packing and repacking.  There was some ooh-ing and aah-ing.  His sleeping bags (officially called something ridiculously acronym-tastic that I forget) need to be repacked because his attempt to make them more (and more) compact was a bit of a fail. 

But the thing that struck me the most as he was pulling things out of his bags, was his reaction to the gas mask.

"This is the coolest gas mask I've ever been issued!"

And I can't do justice to the enthusiasm and joy his voice conveyed.

We all have gear stories, so feel free to share the things your spouse may say or do that just makes you smile and reaffirm your love, however dorky it may be.

Comments

[Ann - AF spouse]

A LONG long time ago, my guy was in an "exercise" that involved chem training. He spent all day crouched somewhere in the "practice" chem suit. There was a leak somewhere, and the charcoal would leak out. He came home, dropped the suit in the door way to protect the house. I looked up to see him in undies completely covered in charcoal, except for the eyes that had been covered with goggles. He looked like a reverse racoon.

[Sarah]

My husband recently bought mountain-terrain running shoes for Afghanistan. He is completely in lurve with these shoes. He wouldn't stop talking about them for days. Then he bought more of the same kind for hiking and another running pair. I have started calling him Imelda.

[Marine Wife]

Just before Stretch's last deployment, he was checking out his gear and came home one day with several made-to-order items. Including a sleeping bag made to fit his slim 6'8" frame. I have no idea who else will ever be able to use this stuff but was glad that for ONCE he had stuff that fit him!

[Marine Wife]

By the way, this was a far cry from the days when he and fellow Marines were issued gear that the Army clearly no longer wanted. It was stamped with "U.S.Army -- unservicable"