Our home has an office which has been my 'man cave.' I'm retired Army and never had interest in putting my stuff up on a wall, despite my wife repeatedly asking me to do so.
After I retired I worked for a time as a defense contractor, which took me to Afghanistan. While I was away, my wife cleaned out the office (we'd sort of been using it as a storage area), painted it and got a great deal on some used office furniture. It was my 'welcome home' surprise, and I must admit that it looked good.
Been a couple of years, but I've recently started to pull some of my old wartime items and trophies out of storage. This week I installed heavy duty hooks onto one of the office walls and mounted some helmets. These helmets are configured as I wore them in combat - First Gulf War, Somalia and Iraq (I'm waiting on my brother in law to send me the kevlar he got hold of for me ... it will get the old 'chocolate chip' desert cammo helmet cover on it).
I decided to hang one of my jackets from each conflict under the matching helmet.
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Above the helmets are t-shirts I wore overseas, which I packed into frames.
The first shirt has the "Spaceman Spiff" character stenciled on it. As a member of the Military Intelligence Detachment, 2d Bn, 5th Special Forces Group we had this character stenciled on our vehicles and our t-shirts.
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We had Spaceman Spiff fighting Saddam on our vehicles.
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I was deployed to Somalia in '93 and again in '95 for the UN withdrawal. We had shirts made up - the "Out of Africa" logo was my idea.
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When the Twin towers fell on 9-11 one of those killed was Fire Marshall Ronald Bucca. His son had his business degree and was working on Wall Street at the time. After his father's death, Ron quit Wall Street and joined the Army. I served with him in Iraq (he was one of my NCOs). His father's fire station "sponsored" our battalion. They had these t-shirts made for each Soldier of the 2d battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, and we all wore them while deployed to Iraq. I managed to squeeze both of my t-shirts into the frame in order to display both the front, sleeve and back.
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This shirt was one we received while in Iraq in '06.
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On my book shelves is the tactical map I actually carried with me into western Kuwait during the ground offensive for the First Gulf War. Some of my reference booklets and a few other items are set about it.
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My office is a work in progress. Eventually I'll get some of my deployment photos, as well as a few of the military certificates I'm partial to put up on the walls. One of the items I'll put up is the helmet my father brought back from Vietnam ... I'll mount it on the wall beside one of the Iraqi helmets I brought home from my war.
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I'll update down the road as I get more done.
Bryan
After I retired I worked for a time as a defense contractor, which took me to Afghanistan. While I was away, my wife cleaned out the office (we'd sort of been using it as a storage area), painted it and got a great deal on some used office furniture. It was my 'welcome home' surprise, and I must admit that it looked good.
Been a couple of years, but I've recently started to pull some of my old wartime items and trophies out of storage. This week I installed heavy duty hooks onto one of the office walls and mounted some helmets. These helmets are configured as I wore them in combat - First Gulf War, Somalia and Iraq (I'm waiting on my brother in law to send me the kevlar he got hold of for me ... it will get the old 'chocolate chip' desert cammo helmet cover on it).
I decided to hang one of my jackets from each conflict under the matching helmet.
" />
" />
" />
" />
Above the helmets are t-shirts I wore overseas, which I packed into frames.
The first shirt has the "Spaceman Spiff" character stenciled on it. As a member of the Military Intelligence Detachment, 2d Bn, 5th Special Forces Group we had this character stenciled on our vehicles and our t-shirts.
" />
We had Spaceman Spiff fighting Saddam on our vehicles.
" />
I was deployed to Somalia in '93 and again in '95 for the UN withdrawal. We had shirts made up - the "Out of Africa" logo was my idea.
" />
When the Twin towers fell on 9-11 one of those killed was Fire Marshall Ronald Bucca. His son had his business degree and was working on Wall Street at the time. After his father's death, Ron quit Wall Street and joined the Army. I served with him in Iraq (he was one of my NCOs). His father's fire station "sponsored" our battalion. They had these t-shirts made for each Soldier of the 2d battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, and we all wore them while deployed to Iraq. I managed to squeeze both of my t-shirts into the frame in order to display both the front, sleeve and back.
" />
This shirt was one we received while in Iraq in '06.
" />
On my book shelves is the tactical map I actually carried with me into western Kuwait during the ground offensive for the First Gulf War. Some of my reference booklets and a few other items are set about it.
" />
" />
My office is a work in progress. Eventually I'll get some of my deployment photos, as well as a few of the military certificates I'm partial to put up on the walls. One of the items I'll put up is the helmet my father brought back from Vietnam ... I'll mount it on the wall beside one of the Iraqi helmets I brought home from my war.
" />
" />
I'll update down the road as I get more done.
Bryan