Sometimes in reporting I'll take random notes of details with the hope of sprinkling them into a story, but mostly they stay in my notebook. While reporting over the last week or hanging out with some Seabees, marines and a few soldiers I scribbled short lists of stuff they had with them in their pockets, rucksacks and stuffed in the corners of an MRAP.
Nothing came of the notes, but here's my list:
Stridex pads
Maxim magazine
A commemorative Operation Iraqi Freedom mug
Protein powder
Oil of Olay
Jolly Ranchers
A creased stained copy of a wife's college biography
Peanut M&Ms
A folded white handkerchief with five pictures of a week-old baby girl he's never held Pirated copy of the movie 300
Divorce papers