Gear Adrift…

"…is a gift, or so the saying goes. In the Marine Corps we live in a strange world of absolute integrity alongside the knowledge that anything not locked up or on your person could be ganked at any time. It is never permissible to steal. Never. But if someone’s belongings have been left so as to leave open to question the intent of the owner to retain those belongings, that gear may very well be adrift…and, consequentially, be a gift to whoever might find it. Let me explain.

My roommate had been lacking a wall locker since we moved into our trailer. He had tried repeatedly to procure one through the proper means, all to no avail. Finally, as I walked to our trailer one day to change into PT clothes, I struck gold. By the beard of Zeus, a wall locker and a mini-frig were conspicuously sitting outside a seemingly abandoned trailer! It appeared the trailer was being cleaned after the previous inhabitants had vacated it. I immediately rushed to my trailer to inform my roommate. He was nowhere to be found. I decided to go ahead and carry on my routine in order to give the owners of this equipment time to claim it, should they desire."
Midnight in Iraq