I grew up in the Chicago area, and my grandparents lived in Des Plaines. Long story short, I would visit them on the weekends, and very nearby was a wooded area by the the Des Plaines River.
Not a Saturday or Sunday went by, without 30 kids running through the woods with our dads or grandparents army belts, helmets, fake guns, air rifles, whatever we could find.
It was all good fun, and almost all of us ended up serving our country at one time or another.
I miss those days, and I cannot explain to our kids how this country has gone awry, but that is just a prime example.
It would be unfathomable now for some folks to allow that sort of innocent horseplay to happen. Sad.
The Normal Rockwell America I once loved is albeit a fading memory.
In addition, every cent we boys could save was not spent at the candy store, but rather the Army Surplus store. Nothing would get us more excited than an old beat up canteen, we would imagine it was “used by heroes”. Our jackets were covered in boyscout patches and any military patch we could find.
I guess kids like that now would be rounded up as potential “domestic terrorists”. Glad I was a kid when I was.