Blown Away

I was summoned down to JRE Industries the other night and, upon my arrival, small talk commenced. The mood felt a bit odd but I chalked it up to some strange fatigue-induced paranoia.

After some discussion about the previous weekend's hunting trip and the coming weekend's hunting trip I was led into the office where we talked a bit about lighting, digital images, and JRE's current inventory levels.

Then they dropped a bomb on me.

Spen reached behind a table, pulled out a black box, and handed it to me. The box said, "Stolen from Joliet Arsenal." I laughed nervously as they told me it was a 25mm ammo can. It was heavy.

I walked into the adjacent room, opened it up, and looked inside. There was a letter from the War Department explaining the history of the ammo box. There was also a familiar white box.

That box contained a blaze orange BRK&T Aurora with the most amazing custom leather sheath to come out of the Streamwood shop. It is all hand stitched, the edges are hand rubbed, there are little carved accents near the mouth of the sheath and on the firesteel loop, and they used some darker leather than they'd usually use because they remembered my reaction to the color back when it first arrived.

I am so blown away that it has taken me the better part of a day and a half to come up with something to say about it. I'm still struggling to do this gift justice.

Dan and Spen, my heartfelt gratitude for this gift goes out to you both. I cannot wait to get into the woods with the new sheath and knife.

Thanks,

B