Duffle Stories

At Saks 5th Avenue -- I wonder who 'Chad' is?





And whose idea this was?





I got mine for nothing -- Well, almost...



Ft Jackson, Ft Benning, Ft Bragg, Camp McCall, Canal Zone, Griesbach Barracks...





It's not much to look at. It never was. Filled with everything the Army issued, it started on my back at Ft Jackson on the first day of Basic. An insane formation of shaved heads in the front leaning rest with hundred pound duffels on our backs.



Drills yelling, "Get Up! Get Back Down" Getting up, my bag falls off my back and a strap rips my watch off my wrist and sends it flying...never to be seen again. Through the rest of Basic -- I never know what time it is.





The Drills said you couldn't die and go to Hell without a layover in Atlanta. I'd fly in uniform but not for the reason this guy did. WW II vets were always good for a beer and a story in a bar near the Piedmont gates.



I carried it to my dorm room in college and, after graduating, to an apartment on 18th St in Chelsea. The same day a Puerto Rican girl pulled Wonder Bread out of my first bag of NYC groceries and "tsk - tsk'ed" me.



My name and number are barely visible but the stories this duffle conjures up just won't stop. I hope there's room for more.