Stolen Kevlar

I know it has been quite some time since I have written anything, I attribute this to a low motivation to write and since the end of Army IA training it has become difficult to come up with material. I will just ramble and string together events trying to show the day to day crap that is involved in an IA.

Every person coming into theatre needs a Kevlar helmet and body armor, it is required to fly from Kuwait to Iraq and needed anytime you travel, so every single person came to this country with a helmet. I stored mine in my humvee which does not have door locks. A few weeks ago I walked out to my truck opened the door and sure enough someone had stolen my helmet. Now not having a helmet presents several problems. To drive a tactical vehicle ie a humvee you need a helmet, I now have to walk until I can get a new helmet. I have plans to go home on R&R to help my wife with our PCS move, to fly in Iraq you need a helmet so until I get a new helmet my R&R trip is off, I can’t travel by air or convoy to see any of my outlying units because I no longer have a helmet, I can’t fully accomplish my job due to no helmet. I had no idea how important this helmet actually was until it was gone. At this point I am ready to kill who ever stole my fucking helmet. I am calmed by the fact that the Army surely has spare helmets, an item this critical; nobody in their right mind would not bring spares for a situation just like this. I will just walk a mile in 120 degree heat to the supply sergeant tell him my situation and get a new helmet. I arrived at the supply desk several pounds lighter after sweating gallons of water on my stroll. He listened intently to my story of the stolen helmet and upon my completion told me he did not have any spares, I would have to report it to the police then a flipl needed to be initiated and once the investigation was done a supply depot somewhere else in Iraq would ship me a new helmet and to make things easier since I was Navy and not really attached to his command this Army procedure had to be done by my Navy supply folks in Baghdad. I calmly looked at him and said “what the fuck, I have no idea what you are talking about, all I need is a new helmet, you can’t tell me you guys don’t have spares in the back room that I can borrow while I work to get a new one issued.” His response was, Sir we have no spares.” As I walked out of the supply shop my first thought was no fucking problem, I will simply steal a helmet and my problem will be solved. I quickly changed my mind wanting to end the cycle of stolen helmets, I would figure something else out. I walked to my SFC’s (Sergeant First Class) office, told him of the stolen helmet and my predicament. He got a wry grin on his face, reached below his desk and pulled out a helmet. He looked at me and said, “Sir, this is a helmet I found and keep so I can help Naval Officers such as yourself stay out of trouble, you are welcome to use it for as long as you need.” Honestly at this point I was almost crying with joy, I put the helmet on, it was an extra small, I wear a large, it sat on my head looking like a toy, I really didn’t give a shit I had a helmet and all was good again in my Army world.