On military life

We live in Japan, which means getting used to a completely new culture. But, over the past few months, I've been dealing with another culture shock: military life.

It's a whole new world. Here's a few tidbits:

• We stand for the National Anthem before movies at the theater on base. Talk about patriotism.
• Everything has an acronym. BAH, DLA, IED, TMO, AMC are part of our daily military dialect.
• I shop for groceries at a commissary. And PX is not some ultra-modern laser gun; it's where I get my toothpaste (it's also referred to as "the exchange" and stands for Post Exchange. Or the BX if you're on an Air Force base for Base Exchange).
• I'm quite used to being saluted every time I enter the "neighborhood"
• Military ID. NEVER leave home without it. You can't get into the grocery store, buy anything on base, GET on base, check out a library book, etc. etc. without it. I would willingly get a radio chip installed in my arm if it meant I didn't have to carry around my ID
• Driving while talking on a cell phone/using a cell phone is not an option
• Your friendly neighborhood policeman is called PMO or MP's. And they LOVE to pull you over for speeding or using your phone on base.
• I regularly drive extremely slowly (see above). The speed limit on our street is 15 kph (9.32 mph), and the normal residential speed limit is 20-25 kph (12-15 mph). I feel like I'm SPEEDING going 50 kph (31.07 mph) You probably don't want to ride with me on I-10 when I come home. [Update: since I originally wrote this, I've been driving on the "expressway" every day to and from work. So I've amped up my speed. I usually don't go over 100 kph (62 mph)...the speed limit is 80 kph (49 mph)]

I'm sure so many of our weird habits have become normal that we don't even notice them anymore. There are many many more and I'll try to update.