At Saks 5th Avenue -- I wonder who 'Chad' is?
And whose idea this was?
I got mine for nothing -- Well, almost...
Ft Jackson, Ft Benning, Ft Bragg, Camp McCall, Canal Zone, Griesbach Barracks...
It's not much to look at. It never was. Filled with everything the Army issued, it started on my back at Ft Jackson on the first day of Basic. An insane formation of shaved heads in the front leaning rest with hundred pound duffels on our backs.
Drills yelling, "Get Up! Get Back Down" Getting up, my bag falls off my back and a strap rips my watch off my wrist and sends it flying...never to be seen again. Through the rest of Basic -- I never know what time it is.
The Drills said you couldn't die and go to Hell without a layover in Atlanta. I'd fly in uniform but not for the reason this guy did. WW II vets were always good for a beer and a story in a bar near the Piedmont gates.
I carried it to my dorm room in college and, after graduating, to an apartment on 18th St in Chelsea. The same day a Puerto Rican girl pulled Wonder Bread out of my first bag of NYC groceries and "tsk - tsk'ed" me.
My name and number are barely visible but the stories this duffle conjures up just won't stop. I hope there's room for more.
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22 comments:
IS there a better display of faux than a stenciled fake name on an expensive fake duffle.
COuld they have at least acknowledged the farce by making the name Kilroy or something?
Let's play Army. I'll be bridge and Chad can blow me.
I'm gonna guess that Gant "bag" ain't made in the states. This whole Americana, made in China trend makes me want to retch.
I agree: a duffel is a thing of beauty. Keep them forever, Tintin. Use them whenever you can. I still have my father's army duffels. I'll never be able to shake the musty smell of the canvas, nor would I want to.
Your duffels may even bring you good luck, for they carry not just your past but your future. Here's my story. Back in '81 I arrived on a Greyhound bus in Atlanta with just one of Dad's duffels in tow, stuffed with clothes, camera and a portable TV. M.E. and her sister drove me half way, having taken pity on me for my journey to the "big city."
A decade later I happily discovered the very embodiment of my humble nature in the form of Brad Pitt hitchhiking with his duffel in "Thelma and Louise." Later I said to my wife, "That was me!" For some reason that I cannot possibly discern, she found that hard to believe...
But even more mysteriously, she knew M.E. personally. They worked together once. In another city. Before she met me.
The connection? My duffel bag.
-DB
Chad Singleton?
wasn't he always the perfect snuggy target?
Reminds me of Bill Murray in Stripes when they are being issued their gear "Chicks in New York are paying top dollar for this garbage!"
One would have a huge case of buyer's remorse if the name 'Chad Singleton' was on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
Love the final paragraph. (Enjoyed it all, but especially the last paragraph.)
I just pray he isnt a real soldier, just some ad firm's research created name.
In the WWI museum in K.C. there are lots of actual travel items like this with fellows' names on them and they always make a point to tell you what happened to them. I could never carry something like this unless I had earned it. But then your several pieces on RL putting unit logos on soppy shirts rings a bell in this regard also...
ML
mlanesepic.blogspot.com
Oh, goody, another piece of well curated authentic heritage Americana...or a load of horse pucky, can't really figure out which is which. People will buy this and show it off like they did something bright
Of all I read online, these shorts I enjoy the most. In the past year or so, I've noticed 'trad' style cross a line between paying homage to workwear and militaria, and outrightly reselling designs with markup.
M. Lane said... "I could never carry something like this unless I had earned it."
Nice, that's how I try to live my life.
Chad R. Singleton played the part of Tusk Evergreen in the 1970s porn flick, Log Jam.
If you ever have another layover in ATL, i'll show you a few hours this side of Under the Volcano.
Well, I've been beaten to it, but Chad Singleton? Really ?!?!?! Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?
http://www.u.s.publicrecords.com/people-search-records/chad-singleton
Log Jam- I almost spit up.
LOL
Every hoodlum in 1973 richardson TX wore a fatigue jacket. I had a pe coat that I earned by spilling Old Style on it.
army surplus stores exist to sell stuff like this but not at that price or stenciled with a name the mfg thinks sounds preppy
"Chad" isn't a real person - its the name that was given to the fictional Gant Rugger man (like Paul Stuart's Phineas Cole). The name was stamped all over the earlier collections.
Not condoning, just explaining. Its for youngins - who else would use a bag with someone else's name printed on it.
Enzo- Can you share with us any insight into the selection of the name? And I didn't know there was a Gant Rugger man. I would've just named him, "The name's Rugger. Gant Rugger."
Gant Rugger sounds like a cockney expression for "used condom."
GSV- That's not bad. Or, rhyming cockney. Septic tank - Yank. Gant Rugger - Bugger
JT-Get that Yank reference from "Green Street Hooligans" by any chance?
Hope you are on the mend Sir...
Main line - I am on the mend, thanks. And I got that Yank reference from London. Mostly picked up in a Rub a Dub but never from Stoke on Trent despite what others think.
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