A friend recently asked me a simple question: “Does COLLAPSO offer a military discount?”
The answer was no—not because I hadn’t planned to offer one, but because with everything involved in building and launching COLLAPSO, I simply hadn’t gotten around to creating it yet. Sometimes, it takes a friend asking the right question at the right time to remind you of something that truly matters.
As a Navy veteran, military service is a huge part of who I am. COLLAPSO was created from my experiences as a traveler, an entrepreneur, and a woman who understands what it means to pack up, leave home, and step into the unknown. Offering a military discount just makes sense.
But my friend’s question also made me reflect on something even deeper: the friendships we form while serving and how those people truly become our family.
Many of us leave home and enter the military when we are still kids. We may technically be adults, but we are young, inexperienced, and still trying to figure out who we are. Then, suddenly, we are living far from home, learning a new way of life, and being trusted with responsibilities bigger than anything we have ever known.
And right beside us are our shipmates.
We grow up together.
We learn together, work together, and sometimes get on each other’s last nerve. We share cramped spaces, questionable meals, long watches, and entirely too much personal information. We celebrate birthdays and make it through long days and even longer nights together. We witness one another’s first promotions, first duty stations, first apartments, marriages, babies, heartbreaks, and major life decisions.
We see each other at our best—and at our absolute worst.
We become family with people we probably never would have met otherwise—and, if we are being completely honest, a few people we might not have chosen on our own. But after enough shared frustrations, inside jokes, unexpected adventures, and unforgettable experiences, they become our people.
Our shipmates understand the parts of our stories that can be difficult to explain to anyone who wasn’t there. They understand the exhaustion, the sacrifices, and the strange mixture of pride, frustration, laughter, and love that comes with serving.
Most of us leave home as kids and return as fully grown adults. But we don’t grow up alone. We grow up alongside the people serving next to us.
Those friendships don’t always look like traditional friendships. You may go months—or even years—without speaking, but when you reconnect, it can feel like no time has passed. One random question, phone call, or message can remind you that the bond is still there.
That is exactly what happened to me.
A friend asked about a military discount, and in that one question, I was reminded of the people who served beside me, grew with me, and became part of my extended family.
So, yes—COLLAPSO by Xan now proudly offers a military discount.
It is a small way for me to recognize and thank active-duty service members, veterans, and members of our military community. It is also a reminder that COLLAPSO is about more than luggage. It is about the journeys that shape us, the experiences we carry with us, and the people who become part of our story along the way.
To my fellow veterans and service members: thank you for your service.
And to my shipmates—the ones who helped me grow, taught me lessons, made me laugh, and became family—thank you for being part of my journey.
Store Flat. Travel Full. And never forget the people who served alongside you.
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