Today I left the house without my trusty Foliage Green GR1 for the first time since 2013.
That bag has been my everything ( except carry-on) bag since I bought it. It has +6K miles on it hiking and rucking, been thru rain, hail snow and ce. Been carried to boiler rooms, chiller plants and offices. Carried manuals, test equipment, beer, Bourbon, gym clothes, laptops, iPads and god knows how many other things.
Its had cats and puppy’s fall asleep in it and play king of the hill on it.
Its been layed on / in dirt, mud, grass, weeds (poison ivy once) a river or 2, countless desks and chairs and a board room table every now and then and its never failed. It does need a couple new zipper pulls….
Anyway, last year instead of retiring I took a different job in a different city as a kinda wind down to my career. Gave the Mrs and I a great adventure living in a downtown condo and being cool as hell!
New boss was actually my CO in a different world a life time ago so it’s fun to be able to be myself at work. Well it was until 2 weeks ago when He and I got a call from HR.
It seems my “ Military “ bag makes a couple soy boys and a Karen uncomfortable when combined with the way the Boss and I talk to one another. Its “ aggressive and scary” and they need a safe place to work that isn’t “ full of toxic masculinity “
We were advised to try and maintain some sense of compassion and empathy for the idiots amongst us ( HR managers husband is in the Air Guard) and it was suggested perhaps I use a different bag at work. Ma’am yes ma’am !
