Memories of old-fashioned military shoulder bags and military coats

Memories of old-fashioned military shoulder bags and military coats

Chen Sujin

When I was cleaning up my house two days ago, I came across a photo album that I had not used for many years. Suddenly, I found a photo of myself wearing an old-fashioned cotton army coat, with two braids in her hair, and her high school badge on her chest. There was a time mark at the bottom of the photo: Winter 1981.

I picked up the photo and looked at it for a long time.

Because of the poor conditions at home, I did not buy a cotton coat like my classmates. I wore an old military coat that my father had worn. It doesn’t matter whether it looks good or not, just to keep warm. However, the girl wore a men's old military coat, which was a bit conspicuous.

Many years later, my classmates said that it was a very fashionable thing at the time.

My coat came from my aunt’s eldest cousin. She joined the army in 1976 and was in a division hospital of the 39th Army. Compared with her own home in Wafangdian, when she comes to my home during breaks, the distance is very close. Moreover, there is a farm belonging to their army to the west past the farm where our home is located, and she can ride to my house in the passing military vehicle sent by their army. My dad was her only uncle.

One winter, she came to my house and said that she was going to a military school. She brought a new and not old military coat to my father, which was given to him by my uncle. She also gave me a brand new green military satchel.

That old military coat was originally worn by my father when he went to work. He couldn't compare with his section chief. His section chief was a little older than him. He wore a new military coat that he asked for from the local garrison, a 65-style coat, and walked on the road on the farm or in the office. Everyone was envious when they saw him eating in the cafeteria. You know, there was only one demoted deputy director who came back from the front line to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. He always wore a military coat in winter. And when I was in high school and living on campus, my father gave me that old military coat.

Tell me how happy I am to see that brand new military satchel. To this day, I have carried many kinds of handbags and carried bags of several colors, and I can’t even remember how excited I was. However, that military satchel looks nothing special today, but it is a military satchel, green, brand new, and one that my eldest cousin would not be willing to use! She herself is still using her old one! It was the 1970s, and being a soldier has always been a dream for many people! At that time, there were no high-quality imitations that could be used as military shoulder straps. They were brand new. Whether it was for self-esteem or vanity, in today's terms, it was a "big hit"!

At first, it was my schoolbag when I was in junior high school. It takes me four miles to walk from my home village to the middle school on the farm. Except on rainy days, I can bring food without going home for lunch. At other times, I have to walk four miles a day on the country road, and my schoolbag is always there. Follow me through wind or rain, whether it’s winter or summer.

When I was in high school, I studied in an ordinary high school, which was more than 40 miles away from home. I had to take a long-distance bus that passed through the road called the "Old Railway" east of our farm. The green military shoulder bag has been washed and faded a bit, but every Saturday, I put the books and notebooks in my schoolbag into another cloth bag and put them in the dormitory. I carry this faded military shoulder bag on my back. On the long-distance bus home, on Sunday afternoon, I would continue to carry this satchel for more than five miles, and stand at the roadside stop sign waiting for the bus back to school. However, the satchel was a little heavier at this time, and it was loaded with The homemade fried noodles my mother served me were served with fried sauce that my mother added a little egg or diced meat to add flavor.

Later, when I went to the Normal College to study, I still carried this military shoulder bag that had faded even more. During the winter vacation, it contained the copy of "Anna Karenina" I borrowed from the library. and "Quiet Don".

In my memory, the number of people carrying military satchels increased because there were more stores selling imitation military products. The color and quality of the cloth are still very different from the military products issued by the real army.

And in my heart, just because it was an authentic military shoulder bag, I always felt proud. In those years, I stubbornly believed that bags of this kind and that would become obsolete with the passage of time. Authentic military shoulder bags , how could it be outdated?

An era always has its background. In the era when my peers and I were growing up, adults asked boys what they wanted to do when they grow up. The child answered "Become a People's Liberation Army", and the adults were delighted to think that the child was ambitious. The girls on the farm want to get married when they grow up. When they hear that a girl has found a young man from the army, the big guys will say that this is great. Soldiers always give people a real sense of stability and security in all aspects.

I have always admired soldiers. I really like the feeling of wearing military uniform.

In the fall of 2019, I went to the West and was fortunate enough to wear new and authentic military uniforms and take photos. I found that compared with the relatively thin military coats of 1981, , today’s military cotton-padded jackets are made of denser, more wind-resistant, and warmer fabrics, and the dark green camouflage military-style cotton-padded jackets are more reasonable and tighter from collar to sleeve to bottom, and the practicality of military backpacks Even more advanced with the times...

Today is Army Day, the first day to enter the fragrance of August. I miss myself from the bottom of my heart that I did not become a soldier but I was a soldier in the past. I have used authentic military shoulder bags, old military coats, and used military kettles with peeling paint. I am very grateful to my eldest uncle, a veteran soldier, who brought these things to our family. He is over ninety years old and can no longer take care of himself in bed. When he is awake, he still likes military hats. I talked to my eldest cousin who retired from the army. She said that she was still very excited when she heard the sound of military bugles in the courtyard of the dormitory. It was a sound she had heard every day since she was a child! Compared with today's new military uniforms, she misses the military shoulder bags and old military coats of the past very much! She said, that is closely related to her hard green years! She said that the feelings of a soldier have never faded in her heart!

Salute! Soldiers who fought for national independence and people's liberation in the past!

Salute! Today, for the sake of peace, the soldiers who are still standing on all sides of the motherland!