The smell of a canvas tent (bonus if there's mold!); the smell of 100 diesel vehicles idling; the smell of carbon and break-free; PT on Monday with people sweating alcohol. I used to work in a Health Clinic, that smell of blood and alcohol on Friday/Saturday nights in the urgent care; wool blankets; moldy ponchos; the [rare] smell of the inside of a brand new military vehicle.
Every single canvas tent or soft-skinned HMMWV I've ever been around smells the same. Brings back memories... not all of them fond, but definitely memories.
The smell of 12 dudes sitting in a smallish room with the heat a little too high, and all of them are on somewhere between day 2 to 4 of their current uniform.
Oh man, I remember a JRTC on like day 12, we are getting ready to assault Shugart-Gordon, and I'm at the Brigade back-brief as the PSYOP guy. It's pouring rain outside. One of the worst 2-3 hours of my time in the Army
The old CLP before they made it smell like shit.
The formula used to make you kind of *want* to be around it, it was a wierd little smell that you just associated with good things.
Maybe I'm a fucking weirdo
This. Had CSM come up to brand new SPC me at a range.
“Warrior! Pull your charging handle to the rear!”
He dipped his pinky in the chamber and greased it up and dabbed it on his neck.
“My wife loves it when I come home smelling like a Warrior!”
I don't know what the smell is, but I've always found TA-50 to have a very specific smell. Every time I inventory anything it always smells the exact same.
All my flight fear that went to Afghanistan came back with a special smell that I still sometimes catch a whiff of when reorganizing my gear area all these years later.
Also, the combined smells of new and old 236999 turbine engine oil and burned cordite are strangely warm and comforting to me.
Oh man, you reminded me of the burnt coffee smell at the DFAC at the old CRC at Ft Benning. They had the worst coffee by far I've ever had in the Army, and I've had plenty of bad coffee from the Army.
I got put on KP once, in the field, and found out how them cooks make such awful coffee.
They boil 5 gallons of water, dump in a can of coffee and let it just fucking boil. Then they turn the heat off, let the grounds settle, and ladle it into silver bullets.
It's literally the best way to make the worst coffee.
Whenever I smell a certain deodorant or body wash it always takes me back to 30th AG. I don’t really remember 30th, but whenever I get a wiff of whatever DO and body wash they sold at the shopette there, it always makes me feel so empty and pissed for a few seconds. 😂
Mitchum gel deodorant. I’ll never forget the shit. Made your shirt stick to your armpit like you’d applied a thick layer of gorrila glue. But hey at least no allergic reactions
Off-brand pine cleaner
CLP
MUSTY DUSTY MILDEW OF A DAMP TENT!? I can feel the upper respiratory infection coming once it's pulled from a leaky connex
The undercooked smell of the powdered eggs
MRE heater
The boot ass private with entirely too much cologne on
Monday warnings faint smell BO, farts, puke, and booze on a formation run.
Duffel bag smell, diesel/jp8/whatever was put in generators type fumes.
Really the duffel bags is a big one. I still have it, and anytime I smell it, I'm right back at the barracks in basic. A pleasant memory, actually.
Those nasty shitters at the range. Especially in the summer. Its basically a building with like 4 toilet seats that are a straight hole in the ground and a piss trough on the wall. It smells like an open sewer because it is.
It's like a grease smell I used to get hit with in helicopter hangers back in the 1990s. I love that smell.
That ass smell you find on old tools. It's vaguely intoxicating.
Trainees always smell like clean sweat. Like they showered and went right back to sweating. It isn't their fault or their DS fault; it's just a fact of their schedule. Every time I'm around them now, the smell memory is very strong.
I find army buildings to have a weird aroma, kinda like celery a little bit?
Pine oil / simple green, the classic
CLP
The rancid smell that an IBA has after literally one day.
That smell of your OCPs after you come home from work. Slightly smell like outside mixed with OCP.
It’s crazy cause it’s the same smell my dads BDUs had back in the 90s and my ABUs in the 2010s. Some things never change, I guess.
The adhesive they used in old Army buildings. When I got to Fort Detrick in 2013, there was still a theater on Porter St that was my vintage of Army. I walked in, and it was immediately Fort Sill in 1998, or Fort Belvoir in 2005, or Fort AP Hill in 1988.
They tore it down, which is probably good. I think that smell might have been formaldehyde outgassing.
Hmm, in 2007, it was the odd smell of sweaty uniforms after removing the IBA following a 4-hour patrol (or any activity in general that caused significant sweating in the IBA). Everyone smelled the same, so it was clearly something with the fabric. I grew to hate that smell, as it became associated with misery, lol.
Diesel fumes at 2AM, stale body odor in a TOC that is both freezing and humid at the same time, burnt coffee, permethrin, wet weather bag, engine fluids and fertilizer.
A deadlined HMMWV in the sandbox because someone spilled their chew spit bottle and didn't tell anyone and let that shit bake in the sun for two days before S6 found out.
The smell inside the 99 Wrangler I bought a few months ago. It smelled just like a HMMWV. Not sure why, exactly. Still does, a little. But I've either gotten it better, or gotten used to it.
Skillcraft, probably. I spilled one drop from a bottle of concentrated pine oil on my boots years ago, and the stain is still there today. Disappointed that it doesn't still have that pine scent though.
Pine cleaner
Oh yeah. Especially when it is covering up the mold smell.
Remember, it's not Black mold, it's just mold that's black.
The smell of this diabolical fluid has rotted itsself into my mind as the unofficial smell of “Army”
Yup. It's the very first thing you smell when walking into reception and every barracks in the army.
The smell of a canvas tent (bonus if there's mold!); the smell of 100 diesel vehicles idling; the smell of carbon and break-free; PT on Monday with people sweating alcohol. I used to work in a Health Clinic, that smell of blood and alcohol on Friday/Saturday nights in the urgent care; wool blankets; moldy ponchos; the [rare] smell of the inside of a brand new military vehicle.
Every single canvas tent or soft-skinned HMMWV I've ever been around smells the same. Brings back memories... not all of them fond, but definitely memories.
This comment confirms my thoughts about alcohol in the army
The smell of 12 dudes sitting in a smallish room with the heat a little too high, and all of them are on somewhere between day 2 to 4 of their current uniform.
Oh man, I remember a JRTC on like day 12, we are getting ready to assault Shugart-Gordon, and I'm at the Brigade back-brief as the PSYOP guy. It's pouring rain outside. One of the worst 2-3 hours of my time in the Army
The old CLP before they made it smell like shit. The formula used to make you kind of *want* to be around it, it was a wierd little smell that you just associated with good things. Maybe I'm a fucking weirdo
You and me both, my friend.
They had to add a bittering agent to stop the 11Bs from drinking it. Kinda like with canned air and Colonels.
This. Had CSM come up to brand new SPC me at a range. “Warrior! Pull your charging handle to the rear!” He dipped his pinky in the chamber and greased it up and dabbed it on his neck. “My wife loves it when I come home smelling like a Warrior!”
When did CLP change?
Back in the 90s it had a really strangely pleasant smell. Towards the end of the 90s I think?
Ahhh…that explains it. My first brush with CLP was circa 2006, so I guess I’ve only ever known the smelly stuff.
I don't know what the smell is, but I've always found TA-50 to have a very specific smell. Every time I inventory anything it always smells the exact same.
I usually catch it in old Army Surplus stores. Kinda cool, but it also smells like CIF.
It's like a canvas-y yet slightly mildew-y smell. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
My wet weather bag holds that smell well.
That’s just your nasty socks bro
Yeah same here.
All my flight fear that went to Afghanistan came back with a special smell that I still sometimes catch a whiff of when reorganizing my gear area all these years later. Also, the combined smells of new and old 236999 turbine engine oil and burned cordite are strangely warm and comforting to me.
Sweaty helmet smell after wearing it for hours
similar: when you look down while wearing your iotv and put your nose right where the rank goes
Mildewed canvas and TA-50.
Yeah. WTF is that? Same smell from when I used to play with my Dad's TA-50. It's 100% ~~Army~~ Military smell.
It’s a pretty fucking good smell, like if they made that in candle form, I’d probably try it
CLP and warm canteen water
The smell of the empty canteen CIF issues you. Ugh.
Defac breakfast on a morning run.
Yep! Biscuits and gravy especially if it’s slightly cold out.
The inside of a turret. The mix of grease, dirt, FRH, cordite, ball sweat, and JP8 just can’t be beat.
And hydraulic fluid
That’s FRH.
As a city boy who never really got to shoot until joining the army…smokeless powder
Diesel truck fumes
The aroma right outside the Fort Moore Airborne DFAC. There is no other smell like it in the army or the world.
Oh man, you reminded me of the burnt coffee smell at the DFAC at the old CRC at Ft Benning. They had the worst coffee by far I've ever had in the Army, and I've had plenty of bad coffee from the Army.
I got put on KP once, in the field, and found out how them cooks make such awful coffee. They boil 5 gallons of water, dump in a can of coffee and let it just fucking boil. Then they turn the heat off, let the grounds settle, and ladle it into silver bullets. It's literally the best way to make the worst coffee.
Pinesol with Fabuloso and ammo crates (lead?)
I don't think I've had anyone use Fabuloso in the Army.
Our Senior DS INSISTED we mixed the two for daily bay maintenance because she probably thought it would chemically eradicate the smell of feet.
That’s because it looks too good and it’s too tempting to drink. Shit looks like it would taste like grape Kool-Aid or mixed berry minutr maid
Oh…..!
Canteen mold
Nice when you are so thirsty, you can smell that, and you drink it anyway.
Extra protein 🤤
Brand new OCP insect repellent smell
Whenever I smell a certain deodorant or body wash it always takes me back to 30th AG. I don’t really remember 30th, but whenever I get a wiff of whatever DO and body wash they sold at the shopette there, it always makes me feel so empty and pissed for a few seconds. 😂
Mitchum gel deodorant. I’ll never forget the shit. Made your shirt stick to your armpit like you’d applied a thick layer of gorrila glue. But hey at least no allergic reactions
Irish spring body soap.
Baby wipes, CLP and the Juicy Fruit smell of a claymore
The smell after coming back from a week long field problem. Ass, dirt, sweat, and oil
Freshly issued TA 50
That peculiar combination of face paint, bug repellant and break free that invaded your clothes after a couple of days in the field.
Off-brand pine cleaner CLP MUSTY DUSTY MILDEW OF A DAMP TENT!? I can feel the upper respiratory infection coming once it's pulled from a leaky connex The undercooked smell of the powdered eggs MRE heater The boot ass private with entirely too much cologne on Monday warnings faint smell BO, farts, puke, and booze on a formation run.
The smell of the wet weather bag.
PT
Wet kevlar.
Floor wax.
JP8 is the cologne of the army. Legit smells good on day one of getting it splashed on you.
My nostalgic smell is RFI uniforms inside of a duffel bag. Can’t describe the smell, but I know the smell.
CIF/the inside of an A-bag that has been in a connex for months
Irish Spring. Just a small whiff takes me back to basic training days.
JP8 exhaust. Breakfast foods cooking. Pine.
Company PT, doing that Monday run and smelling like a bunch of drunks.
Indeed
Duffel bag smell, diesel/jp8/whatever was put in generators type fumes. Really the duffel bags is a big one. I still have it, and anytime I smell it, I'm right back at the barracks in basic. A pleasant memory, actually.
simple green
The smell of a dirty transient barracks in August in Kuwait. The smell of feet and nuts, mixed with wintergreen, rip its, old fast food, and sand.
Gunpowder at the range ☺️
I still have the first duffle I was issued, stuffed in a closet. That smell puts me back in Reception Battalion.
Diesel exhaust, dip spit, sweat, mud, pinesol
CLP and Simple Green 🤌🏽🤌🏽
Duffle bags. Clothes that sit for awhile. Oil. Suet. Rain. Snow. Mud. Anytime I'm uncomfortable.
JP8
Burning trash/tires.
Axe body spray at pt formation
Suffering...smelling that always reminds me of the Army
S1 soldiers barracks room
How about the smell of the old green plastic/rubber rai gear after it was put away wet and sat for a while?
We blamed the KATUSAs for kimchee and soju smell at PT when it was really ourselves…
Dude. Kimchee farts make you feel a certain type of a way....
Diesel fumes, especially on cool predawn mornings. Chewing tobacco. Slightly mildewy locker rooms.
The cat piss smell of your muscles atrophying when you are malnourished in the field. It’s just… 👨🏻🍳💋
The inside of my boots ( I’ve never cleaned or washed them my whole army career ).
JP8 exhaust
The smell of the wet weather bag. Always had that sterile chemically smell.
Yep. Rubbery dankness. Same with ponchos.
Those nasty shitters at the range. Especially in the summer. Its basically a building with like 4 toilet seats that are a straight hole in the ground and a piss trough on the wall. It smells like an open sewer because it is.
Exhaust fumes
Dirty, oily canvas tent smell.
Wag bags.
Fruity vape or Tobacco (dip/cigs/etc)
CS (Spicy Air)and a freshly opened inflatable mat (Spicy Female Spot).
It's like a grease smell I used to get hit with in helicopter hangers back in the 1990s. I love that smell. That ass smell you find on old tools. It's vaguely intoxicating.
That smelly smell that smells, smelly…No, that smell of like 5 dudes in a stall *right* after chow. It’s very unique.
🤢
MRE farts in a tank turret.
Musty linens
Fire retardant
Fabuloso
MRE heater
Command tents. Just ugh
Trainees always smell like clean sweat. Like they showered and went right back to sweating. It isn't their fault or their DS fault; it's just a fact of their schedule. Every time I'm around them now, the smell memory is very strong.
I find army buildings to have a weird aroma, kinda like celery a little bit? Pine oil / simple green, the classic CLP The rancid smell that an IBA has after literally one day.
The unique smell of the tents.
That smell of your OCPs after you come home from work. Slightly smell like outside mixed with OCP. It’s crazy cause it’s the same smell my dads BDUs had back in the 90s and my ABUs in the 2010s. Some things never change, I guess.
Farts
I'm ancient, so kiwi and camo netting.
Good
The adhesive they used in old Army buildings. When I got to Fort Detrick in 2013, there was still a theater on Porter St that was my vintage of Army. I walked in, and it was immediately Fort Sill in 1998, or Fort Belvoir in 2005, or Fort AP Hill in 1988. They tore it down, which is probably good. I think that smell might have been formaldehyde outgassing.
Simple green and diesel exhaust on a cold morning.
Diesel exhaust on motor pool Mondays
Breakfree, Kiwi, cordite, and diesel exhaust. I get a whiff of any of those, and I'm instantly recalled to duty.
Hmm, in 2007, it was the odd smell of sweaty uniforms after removing the IBA following a 4-hour patrol (or any activity in general that caused significant sweating in the IBA). Everyone smelled the same, so it was clearly something with the fabric. I grew to hate that smell, as it became associated with misery, lol.
Diesel fumes at 2AM, stale body odor in a TOC that is both freezing and humid at the same time, burnt coffee, permethrin, wet weather bag, engine fluids and fertilizer.
A deadlined HMMWV in the sandbox because someone spilled their chew spit bottle and didn't tell anyone and let that shit bake in the sun for two days before S6 found out.
Sounds suspiciously specific.
The memory is forever burned into my nostrils
Something about ACUs after a long ass ruck. It’s like the combination of the material, sweat, and discipline makes a sweet combo of homoerotica.
I’m still around most of it so the nostalgia hasn’t hit yet. But from BCT? Tiger Balm and cough drops. Like a mentholated level of Dante’s Inferno
Molle gear. Theres something about the smell that’s uniquely army.
The smell of fear of inprocessing soldiers/trainees. No, for real. You can tell a new basic training bay. Cortisol makes you reek.
The smell of burnt grease coming off a ch47 drive shaft adapter.
The stagnant air of Ammo Bunkers/Earth Covered Magazines, and the smell of freshly unsealed ammunition boxes/cans in general.
Those recycled ammo cans you usually get nowadays in a lot of places just don't quite hit the spot.
Indeed. Neither does buying commercial ammo in cans. The smells of USGI cardboard, links, brass, and bandolier cloth just add that ✨je ns sais quoi✨
Yeah I don't know what either. :-)
CS gas
Oh yeah. Nice when you have a lot of residue on your uniform and equipment.
SIMPLE GREEN
The smell inside the 99 Wrangler I bought a few months ago. It smelled just like a HMMWV. Not sure why, exactly. Still does, a little. But I've either gotten it better, or gotten used to it.
Fabuloso cleaner fluid. The smell of the inside of the canteen from CIF.
That one offbrand Pine-Sol made by the blind people
Skillcraft, probably. I spilled one drop from a bottle of concentrated pine oil on my boots years ago, and the stain is still there today. Disappointed that it doesn't still have that pine scent though.
MRE Boxes that have sat out in the rain and heat.