Theme Week Twelve

In April of 1997 I joined the Maine Army National Guard to become a medical specialist. On June nineteenth 1997 I left for basic training at FT. Jackson, South Carolina. I expected to learn about marching, physical training, and basic rifle techniques. I never expected to be told how to wear my clothes, or that I would pretty much live in two types of uniforms for three months. One of the uniforms that I wore on a daily basis was my Battle Dress Uniform. I take these three steps to prepare my battle dress uniform. The first step I take is to prepare my uniform. I start by gathering all the things I need to press. I will need my BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) jacket, trousers, brown shirt, and one large can of Niagra spray on starch. Pressing my uniform correctly and with proper creases that will last through an entire training day requires major amounts of starch. I first place my BDU jacket on a metal hanger. I then spray the starch all over the jacket, spraying extra on the collar, pockets, and sleeves. Once the jacket is soaked with starch I place it in another area to dry a bit but not completely. I then soak my trousers with starch in the same way I do the jacket. While the jacket and trousers dry a bit, I iron my brown t-shirt and make sure there are no wrinkles. I iron the t-shirt first due to the fact that I don’t need to starch it. I have two separate irons that I use, the first one is for things without starch and the second one is for the things being ironed with starch. I have learned that if I mix the irons up I end up with starch marks on my khaki dress pants and no creases in my uniforms. Once the jacket is close to dry I iron along the sleeves to create a crease along the outside edge of the sleeve. I add more starch throughout if needed. I then move to the back of the jacket which is the easiest part to iron. Then I iron the pockets. I have to use high heat and a lot of pressure to make sure that my pocket tops are not going to flop up half way through training. I save the collar for last because it has to be perfectly creased. My lapel edges must be exactly two inches to the side of the top of my jacket. Next I go onto ironing my BDU trousers. The trousers are not as difficult as the jacket. I first make the crease down the front of each leg. I then move to the pockets and repeat the same technique as I used on the jacket pockets. Second I move onto my boots, I get my black Kiwi polish, one small cup of water, my buffing rag and brush, my combat boots and one lighter. I first set the Kiwi polish on fire to bring it to a liquid state. I soak my buffing brush in the liquid polish quickly before it dries and gets hard. I lather thick layers onto my right combat boot. I then take the lighter and light the thick layer of wax that is on the boot. This allows the polish to get into the pores in the boot. After about three seconds I blow out the flame on the boot. If I don’t blow it out quick enough the flame will burn the leather and I will have to repeat the process several times before I get the boot to a point where I can achieve a perfect shine. After I blow out the flame I then take my buffing rag and wet a corner with the water. I then place my pointer finger in the wet corner of the rag and make tiny circular motions on the polished part of the boot. I make sure not to put to much pressure because it will only take off the polish that I have already applied. After about fifteen minutes of buffing I then place another thin layer of kiwi polish on the boot and repeat the buffing process adding water to the rag when it seems to get dry. I take approximately thirty minutes on each boot and once the kiwi is absorbed into the boot it gives a shine that allows the boot give off a mirror effect. This is actually done for the use of a mirror in a battle scene. Men have used their boots as a mirror to shave as well as in battle to possibly see an enemy from behind or in the air. The third step I take in preparing my uniform is the placement of rank, unit badges, American flag, and name tapes. I first place my rank on each lapel on my BDU jacket. Rank must be placed exactly one inch from the corner of the lapel and exactly centered from each side. This allows another soldier to see the rank, identify the rank and salute if needed. Once my rank is placed I go on to placing my unit badge on. The unit badge has to be exactly two inches from the right shoulder seem on my BDU jacket. The unit badge allows another soldier or superior officer to know where you are from and what unit you belong to. This also allows officers to know where to go if a soldier has broken a rule or disobeyed a direct order. The America flag is placed in the exact same spot on the left shoulder of my BDU jacket. When I first joined the army the American flag was not worn unless the soldier was deployed during war time. In 2004 the American flag became a part of the battle dress uniform worn by any member of the army. Next I place on my name tapes. The first name tape goes above the left breast pocket. This name tape is the one that says “U.S. ARMY” and is placed on the left side to be over my heart. The second name tape is placed above the right breast pocket. This name tape says “DRISKO” on it to display my last name and what I am called in the Army. The rank and name tape combined tells other soldiers that the proper name to call me is Specialist Drisko. I wear my uniform with pride and take pride in preparing my battle dress uniform. If one crease is not perfect or one measurement is off centered, I redo it to make sure that my uniform makes a good statement about the kind of soldier I am. I have been in interviews for awards and soldier of the year contests and won due to the fact that the soldier I was running against did not take the pride in his uniform that I do. I apply the same pride to my daily life.