Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Gear: T-Shirt Collection

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my interest in procuring a Mobile Infantry T-shirt. I actually love cool T-shirts, and they're part of how I express my distinct American-ness here in Scotland. I figured I'd mention a few of my favorites.

One of my favorites is from ThinkGeek, and it's a mashup between the Keep Calm and Carry On phenomenon, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic and Carry a Towel. A couple of my other favorites are from 5.11 Tactical, and feature a couple of great quotes: "Ask Not for a Lighter Burden, but for Broader Shoulders"; and the classic George Orwell quote, "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." Many of my shirts come from Ranger Up, which combines military and patriotic themes with a healthy dose of snark. I mentioned a few days ago that Landlady hooked me up with a Nobody Likes John Kerry T-shirt from Ranger Up in the care package she and Big Dave sent me. I brought a few others with me, including Live Free or Die, The Lord is a Man of War, and several different colors of St. Michael.

I have a Captain America shield T-shirt. I love wearing that one, particularly under my red, white, and blue plaid dress shirt.

One of my favorite web comics is Wondermark, and its writer, David Malki(!), sells shirts through a webstore on Topatoco.com. I have three of them: The Negotiator, after his comic of the same name; My Parents Never Taught Me Arabic, which I can actually read if you give me long enough; and a brown Steam Powered Heart shirt, which appears to be out of print.

When I worked in the Middle East, I started wearing regular T-shirts under my polo and dress shirts in lieu of a plain white one. When I get back to the States, I think I'm going to keep that up, if for no other reason that the motivational factor of knowing that, at any minute, I could rip open my dress shirt and scream at the top of my lungs: "Captain America!" Well, probably not, but you get the idea.

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