They say that scent is the sense that is closest linked to memory. One whiff of something from a past life can send you on a journey of pungent nostalgia. Well, at least, I saw this in an Axe Bodyspray commercial once.
For me, I can’t get a sniff of Purell Hand Sanitizer without having flashbacks to my time at the San Diego Recruit Depot. It’s one of the many smells that make up the pungent funk of Marine Corps recruits en masse. Anyone who’s been in a Marine Corps squad bay knows the smell of 60-plus barely-bathed recruits is one that is not easily forgotten.
Drill Instructors are surely a hardy breed to be able to put up with such foul wretches for as long as they do.
We should be thankful.