I have a few old things around me, but none of them are connected to my family in any way, so I decided to look at some pieces of my personal journey across the world. These pieces of gear given to me by the Army were vital to me. Some of this stuff is very well used. I spent a lot of time out in dusty Southern California, and as you can tell, the state of the goggles shows how much I used them. They were on my head on every drive out onto those dusty roads. I must have done a couple thousand miles wearing these. In summer, they kept the dust out of my eyes and in winter they kept the frigid air from freezing my eyes. Speaking of winter, South Korea is the coldest cold I have ever had the misfortune of living in. I think it was close to zero outside. You can bet that those thick gloves came in handy, but even with them, my finger dexterity was basically nonexistent. Once I moved to the Mojave, they got less use, but it still gets very cold in the winter. A bonus is that they're fire resistant. The final pieces are made to protect my head from fire, but they are sooo warm. I think I spent a whole week wearing the green one because of how cold it was in Korea. After I left Korea, I didn't wear it very often, but I'll never forget how cold I was, and I've never experienced it since. Luckily for me, the Army will not take back any equipment that is meant to be worn directly against the skin, so I got to keep all these bits. These came with me to Massachusetts in 2018, and I've kept them in my closet ever since. Only the gloves get any use anymore.

– AJW

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