Uniforms & Promotions from E4 to E5 Sergeant Status

Smells of shoe wax
starched BDU’s
follow us like cadences
real men don’t drink wine
they drink beer with shots

every time they are promoted
they spend hours getting loaded
at the local bar

no wives are welcome for this ritual
testosterone and sleazy women
may be part of the fun
but that stays between them.

There is a constant anxiety about whether
he will be deployed to the Middle East—

where soldiers pay the ultimate sacrifice
or come home damaged
broken.

Nina Padolf’s Samantha the Peanut Butter Detective (Pegasus Publishers, U.K., Jan. 2026) is an early reader picture book. Her chapbook of poems, Uprooted (Kelsay Books, 2021), explores being adopted. Her poems are in  Haiku Magazine, featured in the Haiku Imperium Collection #1 (Jan. 2026), Steel Jack Daw (Jan. 2026),  and more. She co-curates Greenhouse Cider & Plants Co-Op reading series in Pittsburgh.