Normality

I am sometimes amazed at how quickly we can come to regard something as "normal". An activity or experience that we find bizarre or unusual is rapidly accepted as being nothing strange.

Take living under a plastic sheet for example. The first time that you clumsily erect a poncho and then try to combine yourself, your sleeping bag and your bivi bag in the correct sequence underneath it, it all seems very strange.

Coming towards the end of the final exercise of our Phase 2 training things felt very different. I assembled my "home" without really thinking about it - by no means was I a seasoned professional but things seemed to be coming together.

Firing a rifle, polishing boots, sleeping under the stars, throwing grenades, saluting - none of this was normal a short while ago. Now it was an accepted part of life.