Despatches November 2025

Hard to believe it’s almost December already — this year has absolutely flown by. I joined the company last November, so it’s wild to think I’ve now been writing these posts and producing videos for a full lap around the sun. A whole orbit! That’s 365 days of caffeine-fueled creativity, questionable puns, and somehow managing not to trip over the office dog (don’t ask).

One of the very first videos I created was for OD Friday, the company’s twist on Black Friday. And if you’re reading this from somewhere in the British Isles, you’ll probably agree that Black Friday wasn’t always the cornerstone of our festive build-up. It’s actually a fairly recent addition to the UK calendar — and unsurprisingly, it comes straight from the land of supersized sodas and pumpkin spice lattes: America.

The term “Black Friday” first appeared in 1960s Philadelphia, where police used it to describe the chaos of traffic and crowds the day after Thanksgiving. Initially, it was a negative term — a bit like calling your in-laws “fun” — but retailers eventually flipped it on its head. Suddenly, it was the magical day when stores finally went from “in the red” to “in the black” on their profit sheets. Attempts to rename it “Big Friday” failed miserably, but by the 1980s, Black Friday was officially a thing, spreading across the U.S., and eventually the globe. Today, it’s a bit of a mainstay in British culture, serving as the official signal that the Christmas shopping season is truly upon us.

Naturally, here at GoArmy we like to do things a little differently. So, instead of following the herd, we run “Olive Drab Friday”, which kicks off at 12pm Monday 24th of November and last the entire last week of November. That’s right, a full seven days of deals on the kit you love — because, let’s face it, Christmas is expensive enough without adding frantic last-minute shopping panic into the mix.

So stick with me as I document my slow, inevitable descent into holiday madness on this, my second full orbit around the sun. There will be caffeine, there will be mild existential dread, and there will almost certainly be videos. You’ve been warned.