When you’re infantry, your life is going out on field operations to train for war or, you know, actually going to war. Field ops, in short, can be miserable. It’s always raining, you have to eat garbage in a pouch, and there’s that one staff NCO who won’t let up on being a jerk about grooming standards. That being said, there are little things that happen out there every so often that make things just a little more bearable.
You’re going to eat, breathe, train, and sleep in the rain and the mud for days on end. But sometimes, your battalion will have mercy on your poor grunt soul and deploy some niceties that will restore that waning glimmer of hope.
Here are some of those things:
1. Hot chow
You’ll go on plenty of field ops where you’re given a load of MREs to pack away and eat when you get the time. The hot meals you get in the field might not be gourmet, but after a week of eating the packaged dogsh*t (and despite the fact that by the time it gets to you it’s just a warm meal) you’ll appreciate it immensely.
One of the only lines you enjoy waiting in.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Skyler Tooker)
2. Transportation
It sucks carrying an additional half of your own body weight on your back as you move between training areas. Every once in a while, your battalion will score some transportation to save your knees from that future VA disability claim. If this happens halfway through your op, it’s honestly a better blessing than getting hot chow.
The type of ride doesn’t matter, as long as you’re not walking.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Moore)
3. Overhead shelter
Nothing shows that your battalion or company commander cares like securing indoor sleeping arrangements. It’s not very common, and it’ll probably only happen when you’re training in an urban environment, but when it does, you’ll find yourself appreciating command a whole lot more.
Lower enlisted grunts will still complain about it, though. They’ll find a reason, trust us.
Much better than sleeping in a tent, even.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Michael Cossaboom)
4. The Gut Truck
Probably the best thing to hear someone in the field announcing is, “The Gut Truck is here!” That’s because it’s essentially a mobile post-exchange, which means you can buy snacks and — even cigarettes in some cases. Hopefully you brought cash, though. Otherwise, you might not get sh*t.
These people are angels.
(Air Force photo by Margo Wright)
5. Leaving early
This is, essentially, a unicorn. It rarely happens, if it ever does. In fact, you’ll more often see your op get extended rather than cut short. If this does happen, it’s usually because of unsafe weather conditions, but there are those once-in-a-lifetime moments when a battalion commander is so impressed with the performance of their grunts that they reward them by pulling them back to garrison.
The hike back doesn’t seem so bad, huh?
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mozer O. Da Cunha)
This article originally appeared on We Are The Mighty
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