Deployments are full of ups and downs but one constant is laughter. Nervous laughter, sarcastic laughter, belly aching laughter and even sorrowful laughter are all experienced while deployed. I strongly encourage everyone to embrace humor and share smiles whenever possible.

Often, when you get into country you will find yourself with a new group of friends – sometimes much different then the social group you hang out with at home. The army is diverse and your new army friends will be just as assorted. You are bound to find yourself swapping stories with a right winged politico, a tree hugging hippie, a hip hop fanatic, a hardcore punk rocker and maybe even a vegetarian. This is something I love about the army, the exposure to so many different perspectives and ways of life. The crazy thing is that these people who are completely different from you become your closest friends. It’s not always easy, but if you embrace it, that’s what transforms friends into brothers.

That is what humor does; it bonds. If you can’t laugh at your friends, your situation and most importantly, yourself, your deployment will feel like an eternity. Without humor you will never find that brotherhood that so many veterans of all eras speak of. Practical jokes are a must for keeping the peace and to pass the time as well. Don’t be surprised if you get an urgent message to immediately call Colonel Sanders about an operations order only to find yourself calling a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant in Bloomington, Illinois. Setting up a good practical joke is the ultimate team building exercise. It encourages teamwork, ingenuity and follow through. Yes, you may be on the receiving end from time to time, but be confident you will be on the dealing end just as many times. Plus if it’s a good practical joke it will undoubtedly be told as a legendary tale when stories are being swapped for years to come over morning coffee.

My good friend was killed by an IED last September and it was the stories of good times and humor involving him that were told after his tearful RAMP Ceremony that pulled me through. Those are the memories I choose to remember when remembering him and I do so with a smile. Like I said, all kinds of humor – even sorrowful – will get you through the toughest deployments. So, my advice…invite humor into your hooch, into your motor pool, into your chow hall and most importantly into your deployment. Deployment humor is something that can never be replicated, reproduced or remade; it is unique. The recipe of a combat zone: diverse friends, intensity, boredom and humor is truly one of kind. I promise you it will yield something truly wonderful – brotherhood.

Read about Using Humor to Beat Deployment Stress

Read about Katie’s Deployment Survival Tool: Funny Friends