A few weeks ago my husband brought home a piece of paper he received after his records were reviewed when he transferred into a new detachment.
The piece of paper said (paraphrased): Your qualification on the Uzi has been revoked because you have failed to requalify within the required amount of time.
After several hours of having seen that paper and not noticed anything unusual about it, I realized that the fact that we had that paper in our house and didn't see anything unusual about it was probably *not normal.*
On the other hand, it is OUR normal. Just like moving every few years, decorating our house like Middle Eastern Applebee's, and eating copious amounts of delicious Afghan food. It's very odd to my family and quite a few of my friends from "before", but it is our normal.
In fact, I realized that a lot of the things that are "our normal" are so, well, normal for us that I never even notice they might be off until a socially awkward situation develops (see also: ruck - humping; misuse of). Since I'm all about preventative measures to avoid embarrassing situations (like it ever works for me), I'd like to hear things you've discovered about the military that don't always translate to the outside world.
What's your normal?
