Mmmm...Kevlar

For the second day of OBC, my true love, wait, I mean, the Army gave to me: 3 camo outfits, two combat boots and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, and did I mention the ridiculous looking beret? This I'm having a tough time with. Patrol caps (think camoflauge baseball-hat type jobbie) have the capacity to look intimidating: pulling it down low over your eyes and glaring out from beneath it does the trick nicely. However, a beret, well that takes a certain amount of, what shall we say, je ne sais quoi to pull off...If I asked you what the fiercest item of clothing you can imagine is, I'm willing to bet the beret doesn't make it into your top 50. Maybe not even the top 100. Oh, and just to clarify, NO, I don't mean fierce like fierce in the Isaac Mizrahi way, either, because in that case, I think that a sassy little beret just might qualify in Isaac world. But as I was reminded many times today, this is Army world for the next few weeks. Today was pretty good, one of the bigger obstacles being looking in the mirror at your camoflauge-covered self and trying to get over the shock of seeing yourself looking like someone that you've only seen on CNN up until now. Which brings me to something else that I've only seen on cable news: Kevlar. And how to put it together. I should be an expert by tomorrow night, so, if you have any burning questions about why an orthodontist needs Kevlar, I'm just going to say that unless the 12-year olds in Germany are way more militant than in the US, well, I don't need Kevlar, but I'm sure it will be another adventure, among the many so far in my short journey in the Army.