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DEL.ICIO.USUgly, but at least free
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Striker, Iraq — Soldiers jokingly call them BCGs. Short for birth control glasses.
They are the standard, brown, thick-frame military issue eyewear. The type your old uncle Ed would wear along with long white socks and black sandals.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Staff Sgt. Jon Stach, a 36-year-old manager at a Circuit City store in Peoria, Ill., shows off his Army-issue glasses in his tent at Camp Striker.
The glasses are so ugly, soldiers say, that no woman in her right mind would date a man wearing them. Thus, birth control.
Some soldiers with impaired vision will avoid the BCGs at all costs and wear contact lenses in Iraq. That’s a big no-no because of the threat of infections from sand getting between the contact lenses and the eyes. But anything for looks.
Staff Sgt. Jon Stach doesn’t care too much about what people think. Now that he is 36 and married with five children, he’s way past that stage.
That doesn’t stop other soldiers from teasing him about his BCGs. They say he looks like Drew Carey, a stand-up comedian known for his thick, dark-rimmed glasses.
“That’s OK. I give as good as I take it, so I don’t mind,” said Stach, 36, who lives in Peoria, Ill., but is attached to Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team as a truck driver. “You have to have a thick skin over here.”
Stach, who is nearsighted, said the military didn’t give him a choice of frames when he got his glasses. He started wearing them after his more classy civilian pair broke.
At least the military glasses are sturdy, he said, and free.
Comments
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By Robin
October 11, 2005 06:21 AM | Link to this
As soon as my husband heard the first rumor that he might get deployed, he got Lasik surgery…..I think he might be related to Vanity Smurf.
By Roxanne
October 11, 2005 09:04 AM | Link to this
You should have seen the glasses the military issued in the 70’s and 80’s. These are designer frames compared to their predecessor.
By Stacey
October 11, 2005 11:11 AM | Link to this
Hey there is nothing wrong with looking like Drew Carey!!! Free is free! Now your wife might have a different idea when you come home!
By A proud wife
October 11, 2005 02:27 PM | Link to this
I don’t care what he’s wearing when he steps off that plane, just as long as he steps off of it!!!
I actually think they are kind of cute…
By observer
October 11, 2005 09:39 PM | Link to this
I’m with proud wife… I wouldn’t even SEE the glasses! But just for the record, (from a woman in her right mind) I think any Brave, Courageous, Guardsman (alternate acronym) behind a pair of those is downright handsome! :)