3 Life Skills You Need For Deployment
Life Skill to Make Your Deployment Easier
Ah, deployments, one of the most celebrated times in a veteran’s career. For many service members, deployments are a chance to flex and utilize the military’s skillsets through hours of instruction and repetitive practice. However, as effective as the military is in preparing personnel for their jobs or mission, specific gaps, usually not covered by military training, can appear based on the deployment’s nature and location. These gaps typically involve the use of life skills to solve correctly.
For many of us, life skills usually involved some type of authoritative figure yelling at you while holding a flashlight underneath some kind of vehicle that arguably could be worth less than the actual cost of fixing it. But it is these hard-earned life skills that are often overlooked or not passed down that cause the most issues on a deployment. Regardless of where you find yourself deployed to, here is a list of 3 life skills, with instructional videos, that could help make your deployment much, much more manageable.
Life Skill #1:
Driving a Manual Transmission
When I was growing up, I worked at a local hardware/lumber store, and up to that point, I had minimal experience with a standard transmission. Luckily, the delivery truck’s transmission was extraordinarily durable, and within my first few days of making deliveries, I got the hang of it. The military does use vehicles with a standard transmission; they are usually called non-tactical vehicles or NTVs. Mostly, NTVs is used in a mission support role, such as logistical or administrative support. However, nothing puts the fear in someone’s eyes when they do not know how to drive a standard and are placed in the driver seat. Below is a video link to an instructional video from Cars.com. However, I also strongly suggest that you get some hands-on training with a manual transmission before finding yourself face to face with one on deployment.
Driving a manual transmission: How to Drive a Manual Transmission — Cars.com – YouTube
Life Skill #2
Making Coffee
This life skill is sure to garner some giggles from the audience. However, it is a critical skill in a multitude of ways; the most important one is that coffee is a cornerstone of military life, and if you can make good coffee, then you become an asset to a large number of people. It goes without saying that all military personnel is assets, but the ones who can prepare a proper cup of joe tend to get more positive morning responses than the mundane, generic answer. Take my advice on this one, learn to make coffee, even if you do not drink it. Below is an instructional video to help provide more guidance on the art of making coffee.
Making Coffee: How to Make Coffee | Dad, how do I? – YouTube
Life Skill #3
Doing Laundry
Keeping clean on deployment is extremely important to the overall health of the Service Member. Regardless of the nature of the deployment, personnel need to eventually clean themselves up and remove the toxins from the environment they are operating in. Most Soldiers learn to do laundry while in Basic Training; however, a few personnel always seemingly forget how to wash their clothes. Below is an instructional video to help provide more guidance on the process of doing laundry.
Doing Laundry: How to Do Laundry – YouTube
The skills listed above do not apply to all deployments or deployment regions; however, it is good to have these skills in your toolbox to help prepare for life and deployments adequately.
Next Step: 3 MORE Life Skills You Need for Deployment!
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