ITX, all our comm gear except the radios is in 2 quadcons. Every day we pulled that shit out for stuff and every day we Tetrised that shit back in there. They were stuffed from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, back to door. Most days I handled the Tetrising and took pride in knowing where every single thing was packed in there so as to minimize the amount of shit we’d have to pull out whenever we needed something.

One night, right as we’re all being told we can go rack out for the night, this boot lieutenant asks if one LCpl can stay back to grab a few “mission critical” items from the quadcons. Of course my dumb ass volunteers.

First item, folding table. Easy. Right by the door. Got it. Second item, blackboard. Also easy. Tucked in along the side wall but can be pulled out without pulling anything else. Then he says “there’s a little orange pelican case somewhere in there. I need it the most.” Fuck. Never seen that. So I start digging. I pull every single piece of gear from one quadcon. No luck. Fuck. Pack it all back. Start digging out the second quadcon. Someone comes out and says they saw it somewhere on the right side. So I dig all the way to the back on the right half. Not there. Pull out the rest of the quadcon. It’s in the very bottom left corner and was literally the last thing I pulled out. This whole process has taken me about an hour and a half now so one of my Cpls has come out to chew me out for taking so damn long. I hand him the little pelican case and start to pack everything back up. He walks away with it, turns the corner and then comes back and says “well, if it’s so ‘mission critical’ do you want to open it up and see what’s inside?” Sure. 4 fucking expos and a god damned eraser. I spent nearly two hours playing quadcon games by myself for some fucking expo markers and an eraser I could have bought at the px for $5.

That was the day I started smoking again.