It always seems like the further along you go in a mobilization –or even a period of just ordinary extended training– the more and more you “downgrade”. I suppose there is something to learning about how to lower your expectations, that way you’re never truly disappointed.

The middle desk is similar to a real plastic folding “field desk” that is sometimes used at certain levels of organization. I’ve seen them mostly at the Company and Battalion level; I suppose they are used at higher echelons as well but I’ve never worked at a Brigade-level headquarters in the field.

But yeah, they are supposed to be these rugged, plastic field desks that fold up into a cube for “easy” (bulky, awkward) transport, and usually the person that was using the desk left all their papers in the drawers so it weighs three times what it should.

On the other hand, when you get to your actual deployment site, you’re lucky to get a three-legged stool that isn’t broken.  You can either sit on the stool and use your laptop in your lap, or put the laptop on the stool and use it as a sort of desk while you hunch down and think about how your back pain won’t be “service related” a few years from now.

Stay flexible!