I still have a pair of grey socks that were issued to me at the Canadian Forces Recruit School in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, in November 1974. They are 80 percent wool with 10 percent nylon for strength and 10 percent barbed wire to prepare us to face the Commie hordes when they came thundering through the Fulda Gap.

Each sock has a cute little name tag sewn in the top cuff and an even cuter darn in the toe. I keep them to remind me how wonderful it is to be a civilian, first class, who is entitled to wear the socks of her choice.