There’s something about soldiers that just stands out immediately. It’s the way they stand, the way they walk and just how they conduct themselves in everyday activities. If you’ve been in the military you’ll be able to relate to all of the points on this list. When you’re a soldier, you’re a soldier for life!
Floor = Bed
Basic training gets you prepared to sleep anywhere. The floor is as much a bed as your buddy’s shoulder is a pillow. What makes soldiers remarkable is that even if they’re in a deep slumber, they can be up and at attention in seconds.
Floor = Bed
Ironing Boss
Folding and ironing uniform is a must for any soldier. You will never see a soldier wearing a creased uniform, that’s just not how they roll. Soldiers are always presentable.
Ironing Boss
The Way You Walk
If you ever want to know who was a soldier, you can see from a mile away by the way they walk. Soldiers walk with a sense of purpose and control. Also bear in mind that if you’re walking with a military man or woman, you’ll probably have to speed up.
The Way You Walk
Military Time
“What’s the time?” “It’s 22:00!” That’s right, military or ex-military doesn’t change the way you tell and read time. Why should you need to throw in AM and PM if you can just count 24 hours?
Military Time
Your Hair
While civilians get to choose what kind of haircut they want to wear, soldiers all receive the same buzz-cut. After service has finished you can get whatever kind of haircut you want, but most will just stick to what they got used to.
Your Hair
Scanning Situations
At the very beginning, soldiers learn to scan and assess situations. They look out for anything that is out of the ordinary, and if need be, act. So don’t be surprised when your soldier partner rapidly scans a room or a concert or a family picnic in the park.
Scanning Situations
Standing At Ease
You know when soldiers stand “at ease” it doesn’t look so comfortable. But after standing in a certain way for a couple of years, it sort of becomes a comfortable stance, even in civilian life.
Standing At Ease
Sir And Ma’am
Soldiers are taught to be respectful. Be it the milkman, the flower lady or your parents, regardless of whom they’re talking to, they will refer to males as ‘sir’ and females as ‘ma’am’.
Sir And Ma’am
Fast Eater
Soldiers have accustomed themselves to eating meals in record time. The reason for this is because they usually have to get back out to their post, or because they’re in survival mode in a war zone. Don’t think it’s going to be easy for a military man or woman to revert to how they ate pre-army.
Fast Eater
Military Jargon
You’ve probably heard phrases like, “roger that”, “affirmative” or “negative” in movies and computer games. But this is actually how soldiers speak, even after they’ve left the Army. It’s like learning another language, and once you’ve learned it, it’s hard to let it go.
Military Jargon
Cursing
They don’t mean to be rude, but when that’s the way everyone talks to each-other, that’s the way you talk, too. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Introduce yourself to a drill f@#&ing sergeant.
Cursing
Polished
Soldiers understand the importance of being presentable, as we said. But one of the most important items of their clothing is their boots. Soldiers will spend whatever time and effort necessary into making their boots shine.
Polished
Your Fridge
While fridges serve most families as a place for photos and reminders, for soldiers it is different. A soldier’s fridge will usually have clues of their military service with war memorabilia or other military souvenirs.
Your Fridge
Saluting
“Did he just salute me?” Saluting is a form of everyday greeting, it’s kind of hard to let it go. If a soldier salutes you, he’s probably just saying hello. Feel free to salute back.
Saluting
No Kitchen
“Kitchen? What’s a kitchen?” Well then, I guess we meant to say ‘the mess’. No matter how neat and tidy your kitchen is, to a soldier it will always be THE MESS.
No Kitchen
Call Of Duty
Soldiers love playing Call of Duty as much as any civilian does. The difference is that a soldier knows that the game is nothing like the real thing. It’s a walk in the park to carry 6 rifles and a grenade launcher… in a game.
Call Of Duty
Black paint or ‘Boot-Topping’?
When it comes to military personnel, boot paint and boot-topping is virtually the same. Actually boot-topping is the black coating which is lathered between the deck and the waterline. The consistency is also thick and liquidy and is made of lime or sulfur. Civilians would never even notice the difference between black paint and boot-topping, although an expert military eye can detect it from a mile away.
Black Paint Or ‘Boot Topping’
Quiet In Line
When military personnel stand in line, they’re quiet and don’t make a ruckus. It stems from basic training when they stand in lines in controlled silence before entering the mess hall or waiting for orders. They do the same thing in civilian life waiting for a bus, or waiting for the ATM.
Quiet In Line
Checking Your Car
Discipline in the army is key to keeping safe. Before heading out on a mission, a soldier must check his vehicle to ensure that it is safe and prepared. Be it a helicopter, a fighter jet or an armored personnel carrier. After the days of the Army have passed, this habit continues… with checking their own private car.
Checking Your Car
Home Chore List
How does someone get things done? With a chore list, of course. In the Army a chore list ensures that everyone knows what they’re doing and that things get done. If someone doesn’t do their chore, they are held accountable. Soldiers adopt this same method at home.
Home Chore List
Skip The Fireworks
What could possibly be wrong with the beauty of popping fireworks lighting up the sky? Well a soldier who has been deployed in a battle zone will most likely not have very pleasant memories of those bangs. On deployment a soldier has experienced enough fireworks… only the real kind.
Skip The Fireworks
Power Stance
Aside from walking a certain way, soldiers stand a certain way too. Soldiers, usually based on their rank, stand in a power stance. When you’re around military personnel you can feel the confidence in their posture.
Power Stance
Your Squad
The men and women that accompany a soldier on the battlefield are the most important people in their lives. These are the people who are responsible for keeping them safe, and vice versa. No matter how many insults and curses they hurl at each-other, they love and trust each-other to death.
Your Squad
Speaking In A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.S.
Part of the military way is speaking in acronyms. While you might hear words coming out of a soldier’s mouth, you probably won’t understand them. WAG, BOHICA, and SNAFU? No? You’ve probably never been in the military.
Speaking In A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.S.
Honking Twice
Honking twice is standard practice in the military, warning others that you’re backing up. After coming back from service, soldiers tend to do this purely out of habit.
Honking Twice
The Flag
The American flag represents the entire American nation so it deserves the utmost respect. When the flag is raised, soldiers will immediately stand and even sometimes salute. No knee-droppers here.
The Flag
Back To The Wall
Having your back to the wall doesn’t mean that you have nowhere to go, it means that you’re safe. When you don’t have to look behind you, all you need to watch out for is a threat from the front. Soldiers tend to choose a seat with a wall behind them even in civilian life.
Back To The Wall
Hospital Corners
Soldiers are all about neatness and their beds are no exception to that ideal. “Hospital corners” ensure that all beds are neat and that they all look the same. It’s a bed uniform after all.
Hospital Corners
War Movie Frustration
Don’t be surprised if a soldier gets annoyed by a Hollywood war movie. It can never resemble exactly what they’ve experienced. This doesn’t mean to say that they can’t enjoy an action film, only they see the incongruities.
War Movie Frustration
Whistling In The Loo
If the person in the next toilet stall is whistling as they’re tinkling, they are or were probably a soldier. Where this musical tradition came from is still a mystery, but it is common military practice.
Whistling In The Loo
Knife Hands
What is a knife hand? It’s the hand a person makes when explaining something. The hand is tight, flat and has all the fingers aligned. Post-service, men and women will still use this gesture to give directions.
Knife Hands
Getting Up Early
When a soldier tells you that he slept in, he probably means that he slept until 7:00. The habit of getting up early from basic training and then for deployment, sort of sticks forever.
Getting Up Early
Popping Smoke
Just like you see in the movies. When soldiers “pop smoke” it creates a diversion or a shield so that they can move into position. When a soldier outside of the army says that he’s “popping smoke”, he usually means that he’s leaving.
Popping Smoke
Tabasco Sauce
Eating Army food is not something worth writing home about. When your food is liquid or dry, what is a soldier to do? Well the answer to that is Tabasco sauce which soldiers swear by.
Tabasco Sauce
The National Anthem
When the Star Spangled Banner starts to play, you might see a twinkle and a tear in a soldier’s eye. Our national anthem is the soundtrack to a soldier’s life as well as the music of our flag.
The National Anthem
Always Early, Never Late
Many people like to show up to an event “fashionably late”. But when it comes to military folk, this is an absolute “no-no”. Soldiers are always early, usually by 15 minutes, and never late. Time is accountability and soldiers understand that.
Always Early, Never Late
No Explanations
Some people give explanations to what’s going on, but what about soldiers? No, they give briefings. There’s no point in speaking for too long with too much information with too much emotion, when you can just say the important things and get straight to the point.
No Explanations
Workout Music
If an ex-soldier is looking for a song to get them in the mood for working out or going for a run, then they can always turn to “cadence”. No matter how they’re feeling, cadence is the soundtrack of motivation and hard work.
Workout Music
Your Gun
Every man and woman who has served with a gun, knows that their gun is basically a part of their body. Wherever you go, your gun goes too. That even means that once you’ve finished your service you have that feeling that your gun is still with you.
Your Gun
Losing Your Gun
And speaking of feeling like you still have your gun with you – ex-soldiers can even dream that they have lost their weapon, which is more like a nightmare anyway, only to wake up and remember that they are no longer carrying a gun.
Losing Your Gun
Phonetic Alphabet
Soldiers tend to spell out words with the military phonetic alphabet. They will say things like “juliet” for the letter “j” “delta” for “d”. Maybe you’ve even heard them speaking right next to you and you didn’t understand what the heck they were saying.
Phonetic Alphabet
Short Showers
When you’re in the military there’s no time to have long luxurious showers. Showers are brief because they’re a necessity and nothing more. Soldiers usually take this habit back to civilian life with them.
Short Showers
Sunglasses
If you are or were a soldier, you’ll feel more comfortable wearing sunglasses. It doesn’t really matter if the sun is shining or not, your sunnies will be pressed up on your face.
Sunglasses
Talking During The Anthem
It drives you crazy when people speak during the playing of the national anthem. You find it disrespectful and heaven knows if you had your weapon on your person you might get them quiet. Thank goodness you don’t.
Talking During The Anthem
Towards Danger
No matter what danger is going on, soldiers from now and the past will always run towards the danger; never away from it. This includes just helping people in general. Soldiers step up to the plate when action is needed.
Towards Danger
“Say Again”
A true sign that you’ve been a soldier is constantly saying, “say again” instead of “excuse me” or “pardon me.” Some habits just die really hard.
“Say Again”
Finding The Exits
When a soldier goes anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE, he or she will suss out the area to find all the exit points. It doesn’t matter if they’re in a restaurant or at a ballpark, they’ve found every exit possible in case of an emergency evacuation.
Finding The Exits
Right Hand Free
It’s not what you think, I swear. If a soldier is holding his girlfriend’s hand, don’t be confused if he chooses only to hold her right hand with his left hand. Soldiers have the habit of keeping their “strong” hand available for action.
Right Hand Free
Hands In Pockets
Similar to the idea of keeping their rights hands ready, soldiers very rarely will keep their hands tucked into their pockets… even if the movies show you otherwise. Soldiers will usually assume a power stance with their hands on their hips.
Hands In Pockets
Quiet During Announcements
Similar to the idea of the national anthem, when soldiers hear any announcement going off, they will stand quietly to listen to it. They’re used to being quiet when receiving orders – the habit doesn’t stop at a football game or in the aisle of a supermarket.
Quiet During Announcements
Alternative Routes
Even if you’re going for a drive to the park that’s 5 minutes away, you have an alternative route planned – just in case. Soldiers never rely on a single way to get to or from somewhere; there is always a back-up route in case something happens.
Alternative Routes
Brass To The Grass
If you don’t know what it means, you were never a soldier. But “brass to the grass” lives on even after you serve. I mean like when you’re loading staples into a stapler – which side faces the ground? Exactly.
Brass To The Grass
Gig Line
The straightest line to ever see a human body is the “gig line”, and if you don’t know what it is let’s just say that you haven’t obsessed over it again and again.
Gig Line
No Word Is Gold
Whether you were a combat soldier or not, this rings true for anyone who has ever served in the military. No matter what you’ve been told, no matter what you’ve heard, nothing is for sure happening until it is actually happening… and even then it can be cancelled.
No Word Is Gold
Last Names
As a soldier, more often than not you don’t even know the first names of the people around you while you serve. You casually refer to your fellows by their last names, because as far as you’re concerned, that’s their only name.
Last Names
Soldier Or Not
Whether a soldier has been out of the army for a week or for 30 years, their military behavior and habits stay with them forever. Despite many people trying to look and act like soldiers, we can always tell who the true heroic soldiers are.
Soldier Or Not
Shot Joints
You remember the day that you came to call-up? Ready as a rabbit and fit as a fiddle. But then what happened? With a great big ‘thank you’ to the Army, you went home packing pain in your joints that will last a lifetime.
Shot Joints
You’ve Got An Ex
Hey, it’s no easy task waiting around for your man or woman to come back while you’re out serving your country. But at the same time, what happened to loving each-other through thick and thin? Servicemen and women frequently find themselves getting divorced from a partner who thought they could hack it.
Youve Got An Ex
Fast Dresser
“Honey, we’re supposed to be there in 10 minutes and you’re not even dressed yet!” That’s never been a worry for you, because getting dressed at lightning speed is fully ingrained in you. Which also adds to the fact that you already know what you’re going to wear, so not much consideration needed.
Fast Dresser
Some Vitamin M
Not feeling well for a regular person means a phone call to the office and couple days in bed. But when it comes to men and women of the military, heck no! They just pop Motrin and they’re good to go, regardless of how they feel. Vitamin ‘M’ solves everything.
Some Vitamin M
Water Too
The same concept goes for water, actually. If you’re not feeling well – an upset tummy, a headache, a sore leg, a hernia or a missing limb, just remember that you should just drink water. Good ol’ aqua magic does the trick 99 times out of 100.
Water Too
Chopper Differences
While most people’s kids point to the sky and say, “Look daddy, a helicopter!” Your kids know full well how to tell if that flying machine is an Apache, a Blackhawk or a Chinook.
Chopper Differences
Time Away
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but you’ve become so accustomed to being away for so long that a couple of months can feel like a couple of hours for most people.
Time Away
Worst Case Scenario
No matter where you are, or what you’re doing, you always imagine the “worst case scenario”. You could be waiting in the line at the bank, or you could be at your daughter’s 4th birthday party, but the fact is that you’re imagining what you would do if gunmen walked in and held the place up.
Worst Case Scenario
Skype Is Reality
While you’re away from your family and friends, Skype is virtually your only gateway to them. You’ve become so accustomed to using video calling that you’re straight up sick of it now!
Skype Is Reality
Special Laundry
Most people when doing their laundry split up their clothing into darks and lights. However for those who served in the military there was always another category, and that was “cammies”.
Special Laundry
Too Quiet
Soldiers have to get used to sleeping with the noise of artillery fire, heavy machinery being operated and just about every kind of noise imaginable. So when they eventually get time off to spend with the family, it becomes difficult to fall asleep when it’s too quiet.
Too Quiet
AC Or No AC?
After growing accustomed to not having air conditioning most of the time while being deployed, you can go one of two ways after your service. Either you’re able to survive now for all eternity without it. Or, you will not miss the opportunityf to turn it on when the first sign of heat comes up.
AC Or No AC
Medal Of Dishonor
Okay we can all agree that nobody likes a liar. But military people have a strong dislike for those that lie about serving when they actually didn’t. And don’t even try to fool a vet, because they can sniff you out a mile away.
Medal Of Dishonor
Hats For The National Anthem
It completely grinds your gears when the American anthem starts playing at game and the men around you keep their hats on their heads. You know a thing or two about respecting the anthem and you wish they did too.
Hats For The National Anthem
Motivational Videos
You get pumped up from watching motivational videos on YouTube. These videos must have epic music, lots of action like shooting and the military kicking butt. In addition it must be about never quitting.
Motivational Videos
Earplugs
If you’ve served in the military and those days are behind you, you probably regret not having worn earplugs more. Nowadays you find yourself asking people to repeat things more than you ever thought you would.
Earplugs
Tight
“I’ve been out of the Navy for 16 years now and I still check my gig line,” says JesterOne on Business Insider. For those of you who don’t know, the gig line is the alignment of your cover, shirt buttons, tie, belt, and zipper whenever you are in dress uniform. Although that can also spill over into your real world.
Tight
Pick Up Your Feet
If you don’t pick up your feet when you walk, you, sir, are aggravating in every way. There is no need to drag your feet across the floor, in any given situation.
Pick Up Your Feet
Shake It Off
If you’re not going to give a firm handshake then don’t even bother. This doesn’t just follow you in the military, but also when you’re back in civilian life. Besides, it’s a rule we should all follow.
Shake If Off
At All Times
No matter where you’re going, even if it’s just to grocery store and you’ll be gone a mere 10 minutes, you’ve always got water and snacks on you. Always. Hey, you never know what might happen. Better to be prepared!
At All Times
The Same Way Twice
Never will a former solider take the same route twice. Not even to the bank or their daughter’s school, it’s just not gonna happen.
The Same Way Twice
Every Morning
You always make your bed, each and every morning. While you were serving, this was a given, a rule you could never break. But now it’s something you just have to do and it gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Every Morning
Fit As A Fiddle
You workout every day. Not only does this teach you patience and creates endurance, but it also teaches you to stick to goals. The military shaped this mindset but you continue to follow it as it only helps you in your every day life.
Fit As A Fiddle
Battle Rhythm
You always set and execute a battle rhythm. What’s a battle rhythm? It’s “a deliberate daily cycle of command, staff, and unit activities intended to synchronize current and future operations… This is basically just a hooah, ‘warrior-focused’ name for a daily or weekly routine.” So make your bed and exercise every day, that’s what it means to be in battle rhythm. Plus, as mentioned before, it’s the best way to achieve success. The military taught you that.
Battle Rhythm
Keep Calm
No matter what crisis hits, even if it’s minimal like your child losing their keys or not being able to tie their shoes, you keep calm at all times. You didn’t freak out on the battlefield and you’re not about to do the same in your regular life. Doesn’t matter what goes wrong, you always keep your cool.
Keep Calm
Super Human
Camaraderie is one of the most important rules in the military. It is crucial everyone has each other’s backs, especially when things go wrong. Now this is something you do at any given point in time. At the office, at home, in the supermarket, anywhere and everywhere. You always help a fellow out.
Super Human
Praise
Always make sure you praise in public, that’s what the military said. And that’s what they always did. Whenever you did something good, you were told in front of everyone. And now you do this at home too. With your child, your spouse, your neighbor, and so on.
Praise
Privacy
Speaking of praise, we need to talk about the other half of the spectrum. When someone messes up, you tell him in private. Okay, maybe this wasn’t always law in the military, especially if you didn’t make your bed correctly. But for the most part, mess ups were done in private. You find yourself doing the same in the real world now.
Privacy
On Your Feet
Any time someone is speaking to you, you’re always standing. Even if they’re just asking if you want something from the store, you answer on your feet.
On Your Feet