Last week, lots of folks were celebrating the seven-year anniversary of Metal Gear Solid V.
When I first played MGSV, I hadn’t touched a game in the series since MGS2 when it originally came out, and I never finished it.
So when I jumped into MGSV, there were a lot of holes in the plot for me. Most of the time, I had very little idea as to what was going on.
But I quickly became obsessed and played until I reached 100%.
At the same time, the unit I was in was spending a lot of time in the field. In the field, you tend to get dirty. And sweaty. The whole thing is generally uncomfortable.
But it’s not just an issue of comfort. Hygiene and cleanliness are important aspects of a healthy military force.
Which is why the shower on Mother Base was so intriguing to me.
After each mission, I always went to the shower. I was out there, in either Afghanistan or Africa, crawling around, running, sweating, getting blood everywhere… it only makes sense to shower when you get back.
There’s something about the sound of the shower in the game, the dripping, and the echo, that made it seem very real.
The game inspired me to purchase a field shower – which I had seen on deployments before but never used myself. I bought one from Amazon, packed it in my ruck for a field problem, but never actually used it (I still have it).
As I’ve written before, the game has a way of hitting people in different ways. This was one small way for me, and I haven’t seen the sentiment shared anywhere else.
Enjoy the posts? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter.
Carrying the Gun 