The military is steeped with traditions and routines that are based on years of lessons learned. We are trained to do things in a particular way that would seem bizarre to the uninitiated. For reservists, who must live in two worlds, this can be a particularly challenging endeavour. My life was filled with milestones and "firsts" that were definitely affected by my membership in the big "green machine." This story is about my first time being forced to shave, an experience that left me wishing for the expert tutelage of my father.

Marc Blanchard

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Read this story and many others in A Mile in Their Boots, a compilation of stories from the Veterans' Writing Workshop.

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