Good Morning!

Interesting reading about first-time public kilt wearing jitters.

I am a very self-confident person but have experienced the learning curve required to gain a comfort level of going about while kilted. Sometimes though, the best method to get past that is to just take the plunge.

Recently, I attended a 10 day US Army medical school. It was taught by the Army Reserve on an installation that is 90% National Guard and held in the Super-STRAC, "Dress Right, Dress" National Guard schoolhouse complex.

This building is operated by a fulltime Guard unit that conducts numerous training courses including PLDC (the firstof a series of NCO leadership school), BNCOC (Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course - needed to become a Staff SGT), TAITC (the course that is required to become an army instructor), etc.

Our 'graduation' ceremony was brief and involved mainly outprocessing, cleaning the classroom (a subsequent class started the following day with about 1/2 of my class staying for it and 1/2 headed home), and then being called forward to receive your certificate and "1059" - the official form that validates successful completion of an army course.

Because so many people were leaving directly from the 'graduation' , and because it was a very brief and informal ending - we were allowed to attend in civilian clothes.

I decided to grab my credentials (Distinguished Honor Grad - not bragging just a tidbit that added more drama to the saga!) while wearing my woodland camo UK. Going to the mall the first time while kilted may have been tough but deciding to wear a kilt in a very busy military school setting was a fairly big leap for me.

As I left my room with the last load of gear to throw in my car, I passed a group of 8 or 10 female "Pre-IETs" - National Guard enlistees who are required to attend a 5 day school prior to shipping off to basic training. One of the 18-ish year old females hollered out "Sir, that is a kickass kilt" to which I replied thanks and wished them well in basic.

My 22 soldier platoon marched the short distance to the main building - passing 150 PLDC students who instantly noted the kilted wacko in the back.

If I had been a monk who just set myself ablaze and started walking down the schoolhouse hall - I would not have created more interest than I did in the UK.

I was most likely one of the first kilted people to ever walk those halls and almost certainly the first to do so in a camouflage garment. In this case, the fact that it was cammie was the primary factor in its impact. A tartan garment would have caused people to look but seeing a kilt in the exact same material as the uniforms of the 100s of nearby soldiers - that is really what made things rock.

The biggest compliment I got was an indirect one. As I was getting in my car to depart, I heard one of my classmates tell the others - "You know how there is one guy in every class who you will never forget? There goes that guy!"

Nice.

Sincerely,
OE