Military Service

[Gargamel]

From reading the posts, a lot of your histories intrigue me. I'm curious as to a lot of your military backgrounds.

For the poll, if you were in a Coast guard type unit, answer Navy, as while they are (at least in the US) separate branches, they encounter similar risks and adversities.

And if you'd like to leave a little story, go ahead.

And please, this is not US only. All nations (correct?) have some form of military.

[Takeda Shingen]

I have never been in the armed forces, but I admire those that had the moxy to serve the your nations. That goes double for the sizable number of vets that we have here on SubSim. You guys are the best. :up:

[Feuer Frei!]

World-wide, this?
Anyways, i voted Army, served 4 years in the Regs, Infantry, achieved Lance Corporal.
Joined when i was 17 and a bit.
Not much chance finishing High School at that stage, so, off i went to start the process.
Back then, here in Australia, in 1989, it was 3 months in Kapooka, then you had a chance to chose 3 Corps that you wanted to join, from 1 the most to 3 the least.
My choices where 1=Armored, 2=Arty and 3=Infantry.
I got 3.
So, off i went to Singleton for 3 mths, for Corps training.
Then, i was posted to my final destination.
Townsville Lavarack Baracks.
Never went overseas in my stint.
Closest i came was a 24 hr standby with footlocker, webbing and rifle all at the ready on the parade ground when Bougeanville was flaring up in 1990.
Some of the clowns around me were saying crap like: Cool, let's kill some blacks, or idiotic stuff.
Idiots didn't realise that this was the real deal, and that the natives knew their jungles better than we would.
Or maybe they did know better and just didn't care for the consequences.
Anyways, we didn't have to go, can't remember why now, too far in the past.
I was grateful we didn't have to. Who knows what would have happened.
Would i still be alive, sitting here typing this on SUBSIM?
I got out because i had had enough. 4 years was enough. Some people are born to stay in the forces for a long time.
Not me, i wanted a change. I enjoyed a lot of things in the army, ofc the manly stuff like firing all kinds of weapons, repelling out of Black Hawks, hitching rides on armored vehicles while doing live fx's, meeting some really inspirational people, medical and travel benefits, travel to other parts of Australia, the list goes on.
Was i glad i joined? Yes.
Was i glad i got out? Yes.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Royal Air Force, when we still had something to fly, just.

I was in tactical communications and had the best years of my life travelling and living in both tents and hotels. When they moved me to a desk job it was time to leave! I miss it like hell, being a civvy is nowhere near as fun or exciting.

My advice to anyone joining any of the forces is to take every opportunity that comes your way, if there is a skiing exped - do it, if there is a freefall course - do it, play a sport you've never tried before, if there is a volunteer needed for some shtt detachment - do it because it will never be as bad or boring as you think. I look back on what I did and what I could (should) have done and regret not doing so.

I've worked closely with the British Army and the Royal Navy and it was always a good experience - being RAF I got away with sooooo much more than their own people could ever do. I've also worked multinational and still the Air Force of all nations seems to be that little bit more 'individual' than the others.

[MaddogK]

U.S. Navy
S-3A crewman (ASW Operator)
CVW 11
VS-37
1st deployment-U.S.S. Enterprise WESTPAC 1982

[Betonov]

my asthma prevents me from serving. Anywhere. :cry:

At least I'm in the civil protection :)

[Randomizer]

28-years in the Canadian Field Artillery, retired as a Warrant Officer (E-7 for those in the USA).

Served at various times as gun detachment commander, Troop Sergeant Major, Technical Warrant Officer, Battery Commander's Technician, Assistant Instructor in Gunnery and Regular Support Staff training officer for the artillery reserves.

No regrets, glad I served but equally grateful to be retired now with most of my sanity.

[Sailor Steve]

US Navy, 1969-70. Apprentice radioman on a WW2 retread destroyer, 3 months off the coast of Vietnam doing escort duty for carriers, lifeguard duty off the Hanoi coast, and fire support for the marines. Loved life at sea, hated the Navy in general. Part of me wishes I'd never gone in, and part of me wishes I'd never got out.

Lots of entertaining memories, and I still remember a lot of them.

[Polak]

Army - Specialization recon and electronic warfare. Best years of my life.

[MaddogK]

Loved life at sea, hated the Navy in general. Part of me wishes I'd never gone in, and part of me wishes I'd never got out.

Lots of entertaining memories, and I still remember a lot of them.

+1
:salute:

[Happy Times]

One year in the FDF, reserve and voluntary reserve training since.
Sergeant in a Jäger Brigade recon company/platoon/team, specialization forward observer and assistant team leader.

Allways liked the great outdoors with good friends.:salute:

[Schroeder]

Normal draftee in Germany, served a normal tour of 9 months with the mechanized infantry, had a desk job after recruit training though.

P.S. I have a higher rank than Hitler ever had.:D

[Oberon]

P.S. I have a higher rank than Hitler ever had.:D

This explains everything. :haha::03:

Me? Never served, and in a way I'm glad because I don't think I would have made the mold. Was invited, by the army of all people, Signals too...but no, I'm not really fit for military service both mentally and physically and I acknowledge that. I have a lot of respect for those who have and do (including Schroeder...but don't tell him I said that).

[mr chris]

Just over 5 years in of my career in the British Army.

[GoldenRivet]

Didnt Serve, wish i had.

I was 18 yeard old and entering college when i got involved in aviation.

The first place i went was the US Navy recruiting office to ask questions about flying fighters off carriers.

I had Lasik Surgery just weeks prior, and they werent taking people with Lasik at the time is what i was told.

same with the USAF

so i went the civilian route.

Im approaching the max age to do the Navy thing - still thinking about it even if not as a pilot.

[Hakahura]

Over 22 years service in the RAF for me.

Joined whilst still a boy at 16 and haven't grown up since.

Spent my time fixing aircraft including VC10's, Tristars, Nimrods and GR Tornado's.

More importantly just a few more months and I'm de-mobed.

No stories to tell till I am a Mr again. Then the floodgates can open.

3 rules to obey on detatchment

1 No camera's,
2 No Drinking and Dialling,
3 Always have the party in someone else's room!

[Ducimus]

I've yapped about my service enough on the forum. So all i'm going to say is when i actually worked for a living, it was as an Civil/Combat (take your pick) Engineer in the USAF. Nothing else has compared, before or since.

[The Third Man]

I'd like to thank everyone who served their country. Wether they liked it or not.

[UnderseaLcpl]

2001-2009 UnitedStatesMarineCorps, sir!

14th Marines Headquarters Battery. E-4. 0621 Field Radio Operator/0622 Digital Wideband Comms Operator. NCOIC, Forward Combat Operations Center. NCOIC, Communications Equipment. NCOIC, Local Security.

Attached to 2nd BN/ 2nd Marines and deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom II and III. MTVR Operator. NCOIC, Advance Party. NCOIC, MTVR squad. NCOIC, armoury, 14th Marines truck det. NCOIC, Convoy Communications. NCOIC, General Non-Combat Logistics, 14th Marines Truck det. May, 2005-March 2006

War stories? I have many but all are long and I tend to tell them here from time to time, whether anyone wants me to or not.

Overall, though, I'm kind of amazed that I'm even alive. I am the only M-249 machine-gunner out of four in my platoon that made it back from OIF intact. Of the five trucks that were my personal mounts, three were utterly destroyed, and two of them burned until there was nothing left but piles of slag. R.I.P. "Optimus Prime", R.I.P. "Caboose", R.I.P. "Sandwagon". Somehow, I managed to not be in any of them when they were hit.

I had the vehicle in front of me IED'd. I had the vehicle behind me IED'd on another occassion. I've had (admittedly poorly-aimed but still a little close for comfort) mortars shot at me and my vehicle. I have been on foot patrols where I was placed ahead of the guys with the metal detectors in areas known to be mined. Well, it was just one foot patrol, but it still sucked. Speaking of foot, I almost shot my own off while clearing my weapon (bad sear pin, never got fixed). I've been shot at without the ability to return fire on a few occassions. Two other Marines, and I were left in very close proximity to enemy lines, if you could call them that, for hours because the convoy left and forgot we were still posted on the perimeter of our operations area. And those are just the fun stories.

[momo55]

Navy from 1974-1980

1974 : served on 2 MSI (Mine Sweeper Inshore) M477 and M476 as a sailor (electrician) http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=430871

1975 : Petty Officers school. Ended with succes as 2MR (second master=sergeant)

1976-77 : served on 2 American made MS(H)O (Mine Sweeper (Hunter) Ocean ) as a petty officer (electrician) M903 (Hunter) and M906 (sweeper).
http://www.mso-belgium.org/en/7_mso/m903_en.htm

1977-1980 : served on fregat F911 (section N.B.C.D.) with her first crew she had and made her maidentrip and first big voyage to the middle east .

http://www.losbarcosdeeugenio.com/barcos/en/be/bel_F911.html

1980-2000 : reserve as a MTR ( master= 1 sgt )

Memories ...memories ....Oh sweet mem......seems like it was yesterday ...damn...it's 31 years ago when i changed uniform to civilian :o :salute:

[UnderseaLcpl]

I've yapped about my service enough on the forum.

Oh, I disagree. Sharing war stories is always fun, and now we have a whole thread that's practically devoted to them. Besides, I could write what I know of your service on the back of my hand.

My experience with combat engineers extends to the point where I recall certain Marine combat engineers collapsing the roof what was generously termed a "bunker" by piling too many sandbags upon it. Is that the impression you want to leave me with?:DL

C'mon, just one, and I promise I won't bug you about it again. I won't even make fun of the Air Force. Scout's honor.

[Growler]

Scout's honor.

Oh, right. Like we're gonna believe you was a scout.:har:

[Ducimus]

Besides, I could write what I know of your service on the back of my hand.


Hah hah, don't tempt me. You'll open the floodgates of bitching. While i'll defend the AF on occasion, in reality, my personal opinion is, if you want to bag on the AF, get a number and stand in line, the line is behind me, cause i got first dibs. :O:


C'mon, just one, and I promise I won't bug you about it again. I won't even make fun of the Air Force. Scout's honor.

What could i possibly tell you? Making a giant sling shot out of 550 cord? Climbing down a 2 X 2 corrigated "chimney" in a reventment to wield metal that was a foot under water with a standard arc wielder? Intentionally dusting Army checkpoints with a dump truck i was operating? Then there's always the hazards of metal concrete forms and "bright ideas". Dumbass things you do when you get used to working with alot of steel? Or maybe oxey acetaline bombs with hospital condoms and AAFES cups? Frog baseball with broken sledge hammer handles, or perhaps the Frog cannon?

[CCIP]

I didn't and I'm glad of it - and I have every respect for the military's role and culture. I just know that I would make an utterly useless soldier, so better to be a slightly more useful someone else where I have the opportunities - which thankfully my education and interest in teaching afford me.

But I have great respect those that serve/served. Thank you :salute:

[Ducimus]

(Incoming wall of text)

Since i have nothing to do at the moment while i wait for this script to finish, ill try and give a small glimpse into AF culture for UnderseaLcpl's benefit. Mind you, most of what i'm going to write is from my perspective as a CE troop.

The branch is divided into commands as i'm sure you know. The three biggest ones used to be called MAC, SAC, and TAC. Cold war era names that changed when the branch was restructured in the early 90's.

- Material Airlift Command became Air Mobility Command (or AMC, which i thought stupid. Name a command after a movie theater chain? bad idea)

- Strategic Air command.. was done away with if im not mistaken. No longer exists, or was folded into TAC.

- Tactical Air Command became Air Combat Command or ACC.

Each AF base falls under some major command. So bases tend to fall into one of these catagories.

Why do i mention this? Other commands included ATC, or Air Training Command. It's nickname was the American Toy Company. And ATC bases were called "Toy bases". In reference to all the marching, and the "toy soldiers" who inhabit them.

Other commands include PACAF, or Pacific Air Command. I was in PACAF for awhile on an ACC base, i was also assigned to a Toy base which sucked, and an AMC base.

Being assigned to an ACC base sucks in one way. Jets are loud. F16's taking off with after burners ratteling your windows at 3 am and what not. Or you'll be having a bull session, and everyone in unison just shuts up when the runway is active. Its pointless to try and talk over it. So everyone just shuts up, and when the fly fly boy is off into the wild blue yonder you continue your conversation.

Being assinged to an AMC base is interesting, not loud, but interesting. This is where the AF keeps all the cargo birds. When the ****'s hitting the fan somewhere in the world, your the first one to know because all the cargo planes will just be gone one day. Its like a houdini act. One day their there, next day their ALL gone.

Being on a Toy base just sucks. Your out of training, but you have to deal with all the hardcore Lazy Ineffiecient F**kers Expecting Retirement that eat, sleep, and breath Professional Military Education. I actually had one of these dillweeds come at me to inform me i was not wearing my cover correctly and I shouldn't be wearing it indoors. I knew this, but considering i was on major renovation job and coming in and out of the building constantly carrying things like 4 by 8 foot sheets of drywall, i let it go. He didn't agree, and took it upon himself to enter my job site, and correct me while i was running a god damn skill saw. For a brief moment, i considered holding the blade guard back, and chasing him with it until i ran out of extension cord.

Now as the AF goes, you have two types of AF's. You have the flying AF, and the non flying AF.

The flying AF is anyone who has something to do with planes. Either your maintaining them, flying them, whatever.

The non flying AF is anyone who has nothing to do with planes. The only time you see them, is when you have to sit your ass in one to go somewhere.

The powers that be, the generals who run the show, are whats called the "fighter mafia". They're all ex fly fly boys, and they all love their jets. This is why the AF will blow huge wads of cash on next gen fighters.


Back to AF bases:
A Wing has a base. A wing is numbered and has supporting units. For example, Osan AB is home to the 51st Fighter wing. (aka fifty worst) Supporting units could include:

51st Mission Support squadron
51st Services squadron
51st Maintainence squadron.
51 Civil Engineering Squadron (more on this in a bit)
etc etc etc

Squadrons typically have (or had i think the case is now) Organizational covers. The baseball caps youve probably seen. The purpose of these caps is to be able to visually see whos in what squadron.

When a base deploys, it will typically take elements of each squadron. As each squadron represents needed functionality. Squadrons themselves are not self contained in terms of support. The base is self sufficient through the various squadron types.

The following terminology might be CE specific:

The Orderly room is called the "head shed".

A male First Sargeant is simply called "First Shirt", in refernce to all the cheverons he has adorning his sleeve.

A female First Sargeant is called "First skirt", and never to her face.

An E9, is a Chief Master Sargeant. He his God, his promotion goes through congress somehow (not kidding), and you call him by his first name, which is "Chief". You can recognize him by the his 3 "rooftops". See chart:
http://www.aviationexplorer.com/screenshots/nco_insignia.gif


Rank in the AF is slow and hard to come by. Your first 3 promotions are "gimme's". All you have to do, is not be a **** up, and have enough time in service. A good summery is you get 1 stripe per year. Up until Staff Sgt. Then you have to start testing. As you may have noticed the AF no longer has "buck sgts". Which leaves being E4 a little weird, and yet very cool. None of the responsibility, and none of the **** work, and yet your kind of a Jr NCO and are expected to set an example.

This is getting way too long, so i'll come back to CE.

AF has two types of CE. Base maintanence, and rapid deployable engineers. Naturally there is alot of rivalry between these two circles of engineering groups. Base CE (Prime Beef) like to claim they have to come back and fix everything the rapid deployable engineers (RED HORSE) screwed up. But the bottom line here is, If you ain't red horse, you ain't s**t. :O:

Being in the Horse is like being in a different branch of the military. Unlike a base which relies on its supporting squadrons, red horse is self contained. It's like a miniature AF base who's main mission is combat engineering. Red horse has its own vehicle maintanence, cooks, medical, etc. So take any AF base, shrink it down to 450 personnel, and make its primary mission combat engineering, and you have a red horse squadron.

A red hose squadron is considered a special duty assignment, and is typically a 3 year controlled tour. You get alot of special training that normal AF personnel don't get. You also get a Special Experience Indentifier stamped on your military record.

The thing about being in the horse, is it opens your eyes to how easy the rest of the AF really has it. Why do i claim to be number 1 in the "Bag on the AF" line? Because I can't count the number of times i came back to home station thinking, "These people have it easy and they don't even know it!". In the horse, you develop a unique mindset. My understanding is the mentality is much akin to a Marines. The reason is, in the horse, when your working and not at home station, you don't have much contact with anyone in the AF other then your fellow horseman.

The horse has its own unique cultural quirks. Picture a commanders call, and the whole squadron sounding off, "Chew tabbacco, chew tabacco, chew tabbcco .. SPIT.. if you Aint Red horse, you aint sh*t! HOOOAHH!!'

Then theres a "Horse call". Thats were we all raid the same bar (or bars together). Technically their an illegal gathering because we show up in force and kick everyone else out by overwhelming numbers. Attandence is pretty much mandantory on horse calls.

And that ends this long ass post. I could write alot more, but i think this is plenty.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Now that wasn't so difficult, was it? I found that whole post rather informative and enjoyable. It gives me some context. Also, I loved the chew tobacco bit.

Now if you've still got nothing better to do, I'd like to hear about that giant slingshot. I've heard of a lot of uses for 550 cord, some of which are NSFW, but a slingshot? What the hell for?



Oh, right. Like we're gonna believe you was a scout.
Oh, but I was. Scout's honor. :D

[Sailor Steve]

Hah hah, don't tempt me. You'll open the floodgates of bitching. While i'll defend the AF on occasion, in reality, my personal opinion is, if you want to bag on the AF, get a number and stand in line, the line is behind me, cause i got first dibs. :O:
Everybody has their "hate-and-horror" stories, but my brief experience with the USAF was just the opposite.

After finishing eight weeks of boot camp and three months of RM 'A' school they told me I was going to serve in destroyers and was headed for "unknown parts". I got a week's leave, then reported back to San Diego NTC. Since there was nothing for me to do, which they couldn't have, I got the delightful job of policing the parade grounds - picking up trash and cigarette butts for three wonderful days. Then they put me on a commercial flight to San Francisco, and a bus to Travis AFB. There were only three or for of us sailors in the barracks, and we slept until we couldn't sleep any more. Around 0900 a sergeant of some kind came in and gave us our orders for the day: "Hey, guys. Welcom to Travis. Want a tour of the base?" That was it. The Navy couldn't tolerate us doing nothing for one minute. The Air Force treated us like royal guests.

[Ducimus]

Now if you've still got nothing better to do, I'd like to hear about that giant slingshot. I've heard of a lot of uses for 550 cord, some of which are NSFW, but a slingshot? What the hell for?


I could add a lot of detail to this story so you'd have the full picture in context, but the summation of "what for" is malicious fun. Everybody.. well i think everybody, does stupid crap when overseas, during those moments of intolerable boredom.

Anyway, with the 550 cord slingshot, how that worked is you take a length of 550 cord (obviously). Tie one end of it to an upright I beam. Add three Horseman to the other end, and have them pull on it with all their body weight, and get a 4th to tie the cord off to another I beam. (For my part, i was pulling on the cord, my buddy did the knot tying).

Then.. since this is a construction site.... all those spent wielding rods that are laying about on the ground? That's your ammunition. Now, how well this works depends on how thrifty the wielder was. In this case the 4 of us were the wielders, so the rods where ours. One guy was what you'd call a "half rodder". meaning he'd burn through half the rod before tossing it and putting in an new one. (No that wasn't me) The rest would burn the rod all the way up to the stinger. Anyway, you take these wielding rods and bend them in half. A longer rod is easier, a shorter rod harder because these rods have a lot of tensile strength.

With your gloves on, take your bent rod, and hook it on onto your mighty 550 slingshot, and hang onto it with both hands. Lean all the way back, with all your body weight, and release it, without falling on your ass. You'd be amazed at how far you can shoot spent rods. By my memory , i think it was to the tune of at least 150 yards. What we were aiming at, was these birds that had started to roost along these power lines that exterior electricians had put up some time earlier. We were taking bets as to who could nail em.

[Gargamel]

All the 550 line I've ever dealt with wasn't elastic enough to do this....?

And, I hate to pull a sailor steve here.... but.... its welding, not wielding. You can wield a welding rod. :oops::yeah:

[Ducimus]

All the 550 line I've ever dealt with wasn't elastic enough to do this....?


Well this was some years ago. We probably doubled it up. We must have otherwise we wouldn't have needed 3 people to get it tight enough to do anything with it. It was great fun for awhile, but honestly anything using oxyacetlyne was much more fun. :D

Apparently nowadays though, even fluorescent light bulbs are great fun if your bored enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42VQoEUheU

[Platapus]

(
- Strategic Air command.. was done away with if im not mistaken. No longer exists, or was folded into TAC.




SAC was transmorgofied into Strategic Command or StratCom.

I was a SAC rat for many years.


So, how many Air Force Academy Grad Fighter Pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Just one. He just holds it and the whole damn Air Force revolves around him. :D

[Platapus]

I have always been confused on the mission of Red Horse.

Is their mission to build stuff and then kill the enemy?
Is their mission to kill the enemy and then build stuff?
Is their mission to build stuff while killing the enemy at the same time.

Of course at least some part of their mission involves alcohol too. :salute:

[RickC Sniper]

US Army 1970-71.

In Basic training at Ft. Lewis Washington in February '70 I swear it rained 5 out of 7 days the entire time. I grew up in frigid Minnesota but NEVER felt as cold as I did during Basic because I was never dry. Pay was $80 a month...paid in cash.
We had a skinny little drill Sgt looked alot like Sammy Davis Jr and he was about the same size. His favorite harassment was to make you do push ups but the kicker was he'd sit on your back while you did them.

Went to jump school at Ft Benning Ga during the summer of '70, but never got to jump again after getting my wings and experiencing that wonderful pinning ceremony. :D Being Jump qualified got me an extra $50 every month.

Jump school mess hall had a sign over the exit door. "If you are still hungry, why are you leaving?" Never saw that anywhere else before or after. That mess hall had the best food ever.

My MOS was 11B4P The 11B means I was a grunt...infantry. The P designates the Paratrooper training and the 4 refers to rank. I was a Buck Sgt E5 when I got out.

No regrets. Had some good times and got close to a few good guys, but in the end if my grandson in a few years wanted to join up I'd try to persuade him to do something else.

[Krauter]

Growing up I loved hearing the stories about my dad's father (he died a few months before I was born) about serving on corvettes in WW2.

Few interesting stories at that :).

It'd be pretty cool if there could be a subsection in GT for those who served to post stories and whatnot.

[antikristuseke]

Estonian defence forces, recon infantry.

[MH]

IDF "Golani" :salute:

[Growler]

Oh, but I was. Scout's honor. :D

Oh, ok, then.:D

[Platapus]

... experiencing that wonderful pinning ceremony. :D

I remember graduating EOD school, our badge was referred to as a "crab" (because it kinda looks like a crab). The term Blood Crab is used to describe the pinning on ceremony. I imagine yours was similar. :yep:

Ah the good ole days in the military, boy they sucked. :D

[RickC Sniper]

I imagine yours was similar.



:yep:

A video was made public a few years ago of this pinning ceremony and it caused an uproar so it is possible that they no longer do this.

For the uninformed, think of a lapel pin but it has 2 pins. Poke the pins through your shirt on your chest then hit it hard enough to nail it into your pectoral.
:arrgh!:

Edit: I looked up your EOD badge. Not much difference from a parachutist badge.

[Platapus]

Edit: I looked up your EOD badge. Not much difference from a parachutist badge.

They probably feel the same too. :har:

[TLAM Strike]

Edit: I looked up your EOD badge. Not much difference from a parachutist badge.

Not much difference between those two MOSes...

..one is crazy enough to jump out of a perfectly good airplane...

...one is crazy enough to go near a unexploded bomb...

I heard once the Airborne tried to get form an EOD unit, but they wouldn't let any of the volunteers out of the asylum...

:O:

[claybirdd]

Never had the privalage to serve, but I love this thread. :salute:

[Takeda Shingen]

Never had the privalage to serve, but I love this thread. :salute:

I agree; this is indeed an awesome thread. I love reading the vets' stories.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

You left out Coast Guard and National Guard. I suspect there's an analog for those in every country, too.

[Schroeder]

You left out Coast Guard and National Guard. I suspect there's an analog for those in every country, too.
Nope, no national guard here.

[August]

...and the 4 refers to rank. I was a Buck Sgt E5 when I got out..

They must have changed that designation at some point. By 1981 Sgt E-5 was a 2 designatior. E-1 to E-4 was a 1 designator.

Oh and how did you get from E-1 to E-5 in just a year?

[Growler]

:yep:

A video was made public a few years ago of this pinning ceremony and it caused an uproar so it is possible that they no longer do this.



Rick, I can tell you from primary source experience that these days, unequivocally, the possibility does theoretically exist that they no longer do this. :03:

[MaddogK]

They must have changed that designation at some point. By 1981 Sgt E-5 was a 2 designatior. E-1 to E-4 was a 1 designator.

Oh and how did you get from E-1 to E-5 in just a year?

Prolly something like meritorious advancement. They made me E-2 on completion of boot camp.

[Growler]

Prolly something like meritorious advancement. They made me E-2 on completion of boot camp.

Shoot, a lot of times, E-2 outta boot happens almost as a given, and if you go in with any kind of real college behind you, you're getting rank on that, too. Still no higher than E-4, but that's still a helluva jump start.

[nikimcbee]

diabetic, end o' story:shifty:.

[Dowly]

Would have served if I could've (knees).

Was stationed at "Konabeach" for 3 weeks in the winter of 2006, before I had to give up. Tried again the next winter at Kainuun Prikaati, lasted for 2 weeks before it got too painful to even walk without biting teeth.

Liked it a lot, probably would've ended up as trying out for a career there. :hmmm:

[Schroeder]

BTW have your knees improved since the surgery?

[Dowly]

BTW have your knees improved since the surgery?

Never had the surgery. Saw another surgeon in January this year and he said there's no point to operate. I had a change of doctor for the 3rd time in as many years, this one is a real Auswitz guard type lady (no offence mean't etc.) but atleast she got me back to eating Prednisolon, which is the same stuff they put into the knees when they take out the fluid, so that seems to help.

All in all, I'm not doing bad, mornings are the worst, they're stiff and painful but I can cope that with painkillers. Usually I'm up and "operating" somewhat normally in 1-2 hours after waking up.

[Schroeder]

That sucks.:-?

[Morts]

sadly, not yet, but im gonna get my draft/conscription papers in less than a year, and i plan on staying in afterwards

[Dowly]

That sucks.:-?

Well, like I said, I'm not doing bad. The experimental drugs we tried (and I'm still doing a drug called Humira) all help, but it's not perfect. I'm still constantly abit weary to give any weight especially to my right foot. But on good days, I can atleast run, something I haven't done since I was 10-12yo and I'm 25 atm, so I'm pretty happy with this. :up:

[RickC Sniper]

Oh and how did you get from E-1 to E-5 in just a year?

Feb 1970 to Dec 1971. Two months shy of 2 yrs. I got a so called "early out", dropping the last 2 months.

I attended this controversial school or NCO Academy as it was called.
http://www.ncoclocator.org/PAGE6.HTM

[Schroeder]

sadly, not yet, but im gonna get my draft/conscription papers in less than a year, and i plan on staying in afterwards
Wait until you are in the armed forces and see what's what before you sign anything that you might regret later.;)

[Catfish]

Someone has to peel the potatoes, and clean the toilets.
Ever thought about that ?

Behind the one percent "cool" jobs like flying a Tomcat or serving in the Virginia, there are 99 percent of bore, cleaning up the mess, maintenance and administration in dusty offices :D

[Gargamel]

Nope, no national guard here.

You left out Coast Guard and National Guard. I suspect there's an analog for those in every country, too.


I mentioned that Coast guard would be the navy since I wasn't sure how each country handled that separation, and the two services are similar enough to lump together.

As for National Guard guard, I considered that too, but as their are different forms of national Guard, And I didn't want some huge poll list, I was hoping people would select the version that fit them the best.

[Dowly]

Wait until you are in the armed forces and see what's what before you sign anything that you might regret later.;)

Precisely. There are things that happened to the squad I was in, that were pretty harsh and not our fault. It got to the point where we were ridiculed infront of the rest of the companies and threatened with official investigation.

All this because we supposedly had smoked in our barracks, but it turned out to be this gupsy fellow who was in the next room. But of course, some of us weren't arsed to take a shower and sprayed some deodarant around to mask the sweat, so we were accused. All in all, the fellow next door just wanted out and said it was him who had done it etc. Anywho, we asked our squad NCO, if we could talk to him freely behind closed doors and asked him to apologize, he was a great guy, we all liked him, so he did not only apologize to us personally, but the next morning in public to every company in the brigade.

Respect to him. :salute:

[Schroeder]

I mentioned that Coast guard would be the navy since I wasn't sure how each country handled that separation, and the two services are similar enough to lump together.

As for National Guard guard, I considered that too, but as their are different forms of national Guard, And I didn't want some huge poll list, I was hoping people would select the version that fit them the best.
I was responding to Torvald von Mansee´s post above mine (edited my original post to clarify). I have served with the mechanized infantry (and hated every day of it.;))

[LtzS_Petersen]

I was 4 Years Sailor on any Merchants, then i was 4 Years in the german Navy, Navigator at a Fast Patrol Boat. Thats why i love surfaced Units i think... :ahoy:
Had a really good time in both Jobs.
But Shipping Trade is not the same today, Container reduce the Time in Ports from 1-2 Weeks to 8-12 Hours. Good for Trade, bad for the Sailors. :arrgh!:

[August]

Feb 1970 to Dec 1971. Two months shy of 2 yrs. I got a so called "early out", dropping the last 2 months.

I attended this controversial school or NCO Academy as it was called.
http://www.ncoclocator.org/PAGE6.HTM

Well darn good job. E-1 to E-5 is usually a 3-4 year journey. Always nice to run into another Paratrooper. :salute:

[Madox58]

Army Infantry, 82nd AirBorne Division.
Back in the 80's

[Platapus]

Someone has to peel the potatoes, and clean the toilets.
Ever thought about that ?

Behind the one percent "cool" jobs like flying a Tomcat or serving in the Virginia, there are 99 percent of bore, cleaning up the mess, maintenance and administration in dusty offices :D

Here is the real Air Force

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fAxC163pU

This is about as real as it gets. :yeah:

[-SWCowboy.]

Did 3.5 years in the US Navy with an S-3B squadron then moved on to a helo squadron which was the biggest mistake of my life... I probably won't do another enlistment but at least I can say I gave it a shot and served 7 years by the time it's all said and done. The navy now isn't the same as it was when I joined in '05, I'm ready for a career change but not disappointed that I joined and served.

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Name says it all.

Nuke MM on a US Fast Attack Submarine. Served before and after the Berlin Wall came down.

Been there, done that. Had fun when we went to sea basically on a war footing every time the dive alarm sounded.

Loved what I did. Hated the BS you had to put up with to do it.

Some of the best times of my life.

[Penguin]

Didn't serve, didn't want to. This doesn't mean that I am anti-military. I don't like state forced labour - we had the draft untill last year. I didn't do no substitute civilian service either.


Nope, no national guard here.

The closest analogy would be the BGS/Bundespolizei - though not 100% comparatible they do have some of the same responsibilities in case of a crisis.

[DarkFish]

What is the National Guard anyways?

All we've got in the Netherlands are Army, Navy, Air Force and Military Police.

Didn't serve, don't plan to. I can see no reason to get involved in wars far away from the Netherlands because some politician deems it necessary.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Never served. Relieved of conscription on medical grounds. Little bit sad of it as my dream was to serve in Finnish Navy.

My still living grandfather served as combat engineer during WWII and another in armour (lied to be 18-yers old to get in). Greatuncle was Air Force fighter pilot flying mainly American built Brewster Buffalos. He retired as colonel in 50's never had honour to meet him.

My still living grandfather didn't talk about war experiences in over 50 years until in one day he told to me about building bridges for tanks during war. Have to be challenging work while being almost constantly under Soviet artillery and air attacks!

He have never bragged on war experiences just casually told about them.

[frau kaleun]

What is the National Guard anyways?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_the_United_States

[Growler]

...Greatuncle was Air Force fighter pilot flying mainly American built Brewster Buffalos. He retired as colonel in 50's never had honour to meet him....

He flew Buffaloes, and lived to retire? Pretty damned impressive.

[Ducimus]

Here is the real Air Force

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fAxC163pU

This is about as real as it gets. :yeah:

For most blue suiters, i'll bet that's true. I came to the conclusion years ago that no two peoples experience are the exact same. You can have two Airmen in the exact same AFSC, but walk away with entirely different experiences.

For example, i knew guys who had the same AFSC i did. 3E3X1. (Structural specalist - carpenter, mason, sheet metal fabricator and wielder all rolled into one). Within 4 years i had 3 different assignments, had been to five different countries for one reason or another, and had a crap ton of experience on projects ranging from Runway and Hanger construction, to building barracks and chowhalls, to revetment and RRR. Then id meet people of the same AFSC, and same rank that I had, who within the same 4 years, had only 1 assignment, had spent their entire enlistment on one base doing minor maintenance work, and had never been outside CONUS.

edit
There are folk in the AF who work for a living!
(I love the Project Manager, he clearly doesn't like answering stupid questions. lol )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP7QzaUYKwk
edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf4EN1nOzAM&feature=related

[Sledgehammer427]

I'm considering Joining the USMC. I'm quickly running out of reasons against joining.

I might look into joining the navy, if I can eek my way into the academy

[bookworm_020]

Have to wonder about the commitment of Singapore's army.....:doh:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/soldiers-maid-carrying-rucksack-sparks-softies-crack-20110405-1d2ah.html

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

He flew Buffaloes, and lived to retire? Pretty damned impressive.
I checked my greatuncle's service record today and I was mistaken. He flew most of his career Curtis P-36 Hawk not Brewster Buffalo. He gained all his air victories in Curtis P-36 in Lentolaivue 32 (No. 32 Fighter Squadron).

Buffalo seems to have quite bad reputation in general but in Finland they served well. Finnish fighter ace Ilmari Juutilainen scored 34 of his 94 confirmed air victories in Brewster Buffalo.

[ETR3(SS)]

US Navy 02-06

Served aboard the USS Kentucky Gold Crew. Came to the boat as an undesignated seaman and then picked up Radioman while onboard. I joined as an E-1 and was up for E-5 by the time I got out but never made it.

Oh and I would disagree that the Coast Guard and Navy have any similarities. We actually went out in water deeper than our ankles.:O:

[Schroeder]

He flew Buffaloes, and lived to retire? Pretty damned impressive.
The Finns loved their modified brewsters and set a quite impressive kill/loss ratio against Soviet planes.:o
Have a look at the "Finland" part of this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_F2A_Buffalo

[flatsixes]

USN 1976-1983

Here's my ship:

http://www.usmilitaryart.com/DE1038_66.jpg

No ice cream machine (unlike, say, the USS Kentucky :O:) , but then real sailors get their treats in port.

[Krauter]

More Stories!

[UnderseaLcpl]

More Stories!

As you wish. So this one time, I was delivering mail to one of the infantry platoons were were supposed to support. We were in camp Fallujah, so there was no danger involved, or so I thought. Anyways, I walk into the platoon barracks and the crazy infantry ****ers are having a competition to see who can ejaculate the farthest. No kidding. As if that wasn't enough, they got mad at me for interrupting to deliver mail. Like I'm the one who is doing something wrong!

Then this other time, I was returning from a late-night supply run. I had to swing by the mess to fill my truck with provisions for the line companies that were in the field. Pretty standard. As I'm returning the truck to the motor pool, I drive by a port-a-potty that has like twenty soldiers and even a few officers lined up by it. I didn't think much of it at the time. I just figured the other portable toilets were in poor condition, not at all unusual. The next day, I find out that 15 Marines were subjected to non-judicial punishment. The reason? Paying for oral sex on a military base. I never found out what happened to the girl.

You asked for stories, and I delivered. I've got better ones if you want to hear them.

[Herr-Berbunch]

As I'm returning the truck to the motor pool, I drive by a port-a-potty that has like twenty soldiers and even a few officers lined up by it. I didn't think much of it at the time. I just figured the other portable toilets were in poor condition, not at all unusual. The next day, I find out that 15 Marines were subjected to non-judicial punishment. The reason? Paying for oral sex on a military base. I never found out what happened to the girl.

You asked for stories, and I delivered. I've got better ones if you want to hear them.

Yep, more please!

I've been away for long times, and I've been to many sh!tholes, but never, ever would I even consider being 20th in that queue! :nope:

[UnderseaLcpl]

Yep, more please!

I've been away for long times, and I've been to many sh!tholes, but never, ever would I even consider being 20th in that queue! :nope:

Somehow, it happens.

Okay, now for a new war story. I think I'll tell you about the time I almost got my ****ing feet blown off by mines. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was part an MTVR platoon attached to 2nd Battalion/ 2nd Marines and all that stuff. For some bizarre reason, 2/2 chose to use us as mechanized infantry. Not that we were at all suited or trained for the task, and it was incredibly stupid to leave our unguarded vehicles that don't require keys behind, but that's what the brass wanted, so we did it.

So we're on a foot patrol, away from our vehicles that we're supposed to be responsible for. We have combat engineers with metal-detectors that we are supposed to support. We're looking for weapons caches, but we know that the area is mined.

Guess what happens next. Our platoon commander puts me, the only remaining M-249 machine-gunner, ahead of the combat engineers. "Cover them", he says. I tried respectfully explaining to him that this was an incredibly stupid idea, as I could easily protect the combat engineers from behind, whereas they could not protect me from mines from behind. I tried explaining that since I was the only person in the whole ****ing platoon with an automatic weapon, it might be wise to use me in support rather than a pointman in a mined area. All to no avail.

So I'm walking ahead of the combat engineers, looking for threats, pointing my weapon at any movement, doing my job, when the freaking metal detectors start going off. We had already passed over mines that would have blown me all to hell had the insurgents known how to make mines properly.

I've never forgiven my platoon commander for that. He never liked me very much because I had a habit of calling him out when he made stupid decisions, but I can't shake the impression that he purposely put me in such a ridiculous position. I hate that arrogant bastard almost as much as I hate the dumbass decisions he made that actually got people killed.

edit- removed "purposely put me in such a ridiculous position on purpose".

[Growler]

Somehow, it happens.

Okay, now for a new war story. I think I'll tell you about the time I almost got my ****ing feet blown off by mines. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was part an MTVR platoon attached to 2nd Battalion/ 2nd Marines and all that stuff. For some bizarre reason, 2/2 chose to use us as mechanized infantry. Not that we were at all suited or trained for the task, and it was incredibly stupid to leave our unguarded vehicles that don't require keys behind, but that's what the brass wanted, so we did it.

So we're on a foot patrol, away from our vehicles that we're supposed to be responsible for. We have combat engineers with metal-detectors that we are supposed to support. We're looking for weapons caches, but we know that the area is mined.

Guess what happens next. Our platoon commander puts me, the only remaining M-249 machine-gunner, ahead of the combat engineers. "Cover them", he says. I tried respectfully explaining to him that this was an incredibly stupid idea, as I could easily protect the combat engineers from behind, whereas they could not protect me from mines from behind. I tried explaining that since I was the only person in the whole ****ing platoon with an automatic weapon, it might be wise to use me in support rather than a pointman in a mined area. All to no avail.

So I'm walking ahead of the combat engineers, looking for threats, pointing my weapon at any movement, doing my job, when the freaking metal detectors start going off. We had already passed over mines that would have blown me all to hell had the insurgents known how to make mines properly.

I've never forgiven my platoon commander for that. He never liked me very much because I had a habit of calling him out when he made stupid decisions, but I can't shake the impression that he purposely put me in such a ridiculous position on purpose. I hate that arrogant bastard almost as much as I hate the dumbass decisions he made that actually got people killed.


Was he a ROTC Nazi or an Annapolis grad? Either way... just plain lucky, man.

Glad you're still talking to us - the alternative just ain't worth thinking about.

[August]

Somehow, it happens.

Okay, now for a new war story. I think I'll tell you about the time I almost got my ****ing feet blown off by mines. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was part an MTVR platoon attached to 2nd Battalion/ 2nd Marines and all that stuff. For some bizarre reason, 2/2 chose to use us as mechanized infantry. Not that we were at all suited or trained for the task, and it was incredibly stupid to leave our unguarded vehicles that don't require keys behind, but that's what the brass wanted, so we did it.

So we're on a foot patrol, away from our vehicles that we're supposed to be responsible for. We have combat engineers with metal-detectors that we are supposed to support. We're looking for weapons caches, but we know that the area is mined.

Guess what happens next. Our platoon commander puts me, the only remaining M-249 machine-gunner, ahead of the combat engineers. "Cover them", he says. I tried respectfully explaining to him that this was an incredibly stupid idea, as I could easily protect the combat engineers from behind, whereas they could not protect me from mines from behind. I tried explaining that since I was the only person in the whole ****ing platoon with an automatic weapon, it might be wise to use me in support rather than a pointman in a mined area. All to no avail.

So I'm walking ahead of the combat engineers, looking for threats, pointing my weapon at any movement, doing my job, when the freaking metal detectors start going off. We had already passed over mines that would have blown me all to hell had the insurgents known how to make mines properly.

I've never forgiven my platoon commander for that. He never liked me very much because I had a habit of calling him out when he made stupid decisions, but I can't shake the impression that he purposely put me in such a ridiculous position on purpose. I hate that arrogant bastard almost as much as I hate the dumbass decisions he made that actually got people killed.

Write a tell all book. Name names. :up::D

[Ducimus]

I could share some stories, but contrary to what Platapus would say, most of my "battles" involved heavy equpiment, metal forms, arc wielders, hammers, sheet metal, lumber, concrete, skill saws, other misc power tools, and the like. Not nearly as interesting.

And UnderseaLcpl 's commander sounds like one of those know it all butter bar's with an attitude that can best be described as a "Captain America" (no reference to the modder on this forum who goes by that user handle intended)

[Platapus]

I could share some stories, but contrary to what Platapus would say, most of my "battles" involved heavy equpiment, metal forms, arc wielders, hammers, sheet metal, lumber, concrete, skill saws, other misc power tools, and the like. Not nearly as interesting.




Ok, then I will do it for you!

When I was in EOD, one time I was working with this heavy equipment operator civilian who was about 400 years old. He was combat construction troop in Viet Nam so he had some pretty good stories of which some of them might have been true. ... like this one :D

Back then he was a bulldozer operator and his job was to scrap up expedient fire camps for Special Forces.

The normal routine would be for SF to deploy to the area and clear the area of bad guys, then they would set up a perimeter in the brush. Then my guy and his dozer would be airlifted to the camp location, he would scrap a berm. When he was done, the Helo would pick him and his dozer up and the SF would fall back in to the new fire camp. Normally he would never see the SF troops.

Well there he was no Shi...He said this was a true story.

He was transported to the camp site one day and he scraped the berm. When he radioed that he was done and ready for a pick up, he was told that the area had not been secured and that no helo could be sent until the SF cleared the area. Since he normally did not see the SF troops he did not know anything had gone wrong. Gulp!

Evidently the mission to emplace the SF was canceled, but no one coordinated with the construction people so he had been spending the last few hours scraping berms completely alone in enemy territory.

WTF :o

The only reason he was not killed was because either there were no bad guys in the area (unlikely) or the bad guys, knowing our procedure assumed that the bush was full of SF so the baddies kept their heads down.

The Army did not want to send in a Helo until the SF could make the area safe. Evidently those helos are more important than a D-5 and its operator. The eventually they sent in a helo to extract him but not the dozer, but for many hours he was really alone out there.

Yikes! Knowing what I do know about the military, I can totally believe this story.

In aside, he told me the real reason they did not pick up his dozer was that he threatened to drive it through the HQ building. I don't believe that part.

[Ducimus]

In aside, he told me the real reason they did not pick up his dozer was that he threatened to drive it through the HQ building. I don't believe that part.

Ha. I can't count the number of times I threatened to drive a D9 Dozer through base finance for screwing up my travel vouchers.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Was in the Militia for a short period, Armored Division.

Stories, remember playing war games at CFB Gagetown:Here (http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/cfb_gagetown/english/index.asp), part of my role was calling in Sit. Reps on the radio. This one time while out of our jeep and moving through a wooded area I forgot I had the headphones on and was barking out stuff to our crew leader pretty much giving up our position.

Needless to say it did not go over well :oops::nope:......

Edit: Also my Great-grandfather fought and died in WWI, Belgium is his resting place.

[Wreford-Brown]

British Army infantry Major. I've done both armoured infantry and light infantry and have served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Uncle was an infantry Colonel during the Cold War, one grandfather was an Royal Engineer Warrant Officer (OR8) in Burma during WW2 and the other was an RSM (OR9) in the Royal Tank Regiment who fought through North Africa.

I guess it's in the blood...

[Platapus]

I could share some stories, but contrary to what Platapus would say, most of my "battles" involved heavy equpiment, metal forms, arc wielders, hammers, sheet metal, lumber, concrete, skill saws, other misc power tools, and the like. Not nearly as interesting.



Not interesting?

Lemme tell you about my first assignment as a brand new EOD troop. There I was, fresh out of EOD school. A steely eyed defeater of ordinance. Knowing no fear and totally dedicated to the mission. :salute:

I get to my first duty station. 2701st EOD squadron, Hill AFB, UT (the best kept secret of the whole Air Force)

What was my first job? The job that the Air Force trained me for 9 months to do?

I was to take a pile of gas cans (about 10) and strip off the International Orange coloured paint and then paint these cans with International Orange coloured paint. Evidently there is a difference between civilian International Orange and Air Force International Orange. So much for the concept of International.

These cans were cylindrical. I was to use my issued K-Bar knife to scrap the paint off. For some reason there was no grinder/wire brush or even sand paper.

Let's go back to our geometry class in High school. Does anyone know what a Tangent is?

When you take a cylinder (gas can) and if you place a straight line (knife blade) against the side, the tiny, itty bitty point of contact between the can and the knife is the Tangent.

This means that for every scraping I was removing about a micron width of paint. :doh:

Being new to this whole military thing, I decided to ask my NCO

1. Why was it important to remove International Orange paint only to reapply International Orange paint?
2. Why was I using probably the most inefficient method to remove said paint?

I quickly became aware that whether an E-2 understood why something was being done was not important to the military.

Ahh the good ole days in the military, boy they sucked. :D

[Ducimus]

Ok, then I will do it for you!

When I was in EOD, one time I was working with this heavy equipment operator civilian who was about 400 years old. He was combat construction troop in Viet Nam so he had some pretty good stories of which some of them might have been true. ... like this one :D....

Oh come on Plat, tell your own stories!


Now i feel compelled to come loose with one, so people don't think every person in the AF sits his ass in a chair. (which is.... mostly... true)

First time I ever saw anyone seriously F'ed up, was on a job you wouldn't think much could go wrong. We were pouring 300 by 300 foot ammo pads for the army to park their patriot missle batteries on. These included grounding points, and were surrounded by built up earthen berms. A pad this large is done in sections, done intermittently. Each run would be about 20 or 30 feet wide. The idea is, after the run dried, you'd use that existing run for concrete forms, and ride the power screed right over the 2 or 3 day ole concrete. (Nobody probly knows what im talking about, so i'll skip this )

Anyway.... We did some concrete runs the previous day and were removing the metal form work. They can be very heavy. (in some cases as much as a few hundred pounds) It was about 0700 in the morning, we had already had our morning formation and roll call, trucked out to the job site and started to work. So with sledge hammers and such we started to pop the forms loose, pull the stakes out of the ground, etc. It was slow going. Then a couple of the more experienced horseman got one of those bright ideas that shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't.

I was grabbing a sledge and was going to help these guys that had gone over to the otherside of the run. I had the impression we were gonna break into two crews, and since the one they were forming had less people, i went there. Turns out one jumped into a forklift, the other started spotting for him. I shrugged, figured they didn't need my help, i turned around and started walking back to the other crew to pitch in. What happened next i saw out of the corner of my eye. Just some movement, and one guy down on the ground.

To make a long story short, what they were doing was using the forklift to pop the forms loose. They had already popped two or three forms and were going right on down the line. Pretty sweet! Saves a ton of work. What happened next though, was on the 3rd of 4th form, the forklift operator, slid the fork a little bit too far under the form, so that the tip of the fork was under the pad. The operator gave it the juice, the form didn't budge, so he pulled back on the stick more. The concrete gave way, the form came flying up, and hit the spotter right smack in the face. This is the part i saw out of the corner of my eye, and I had just passed by them moments before.

The spotter was a SSGT. Blood was coming out of his head like someone pulled a drain plug on an oil pan. He looked up basically asking "WTF?", and i think at that moment we were all a little stunned. I kid you not, his eyes were closer together. It was like a cartoon where someone got punched in the face and it left the impression of the fist... only this wasn't any cartoon. All i remember thinking was "Dear god, nobody tell him what he looks like or hell go into shock". Someone handed him a towel to stop the bleeding, but that didn't do much. Our medic's were on another job. We didn't have one on site. Luckly some army personnel were nearby and saw the whole thing. Had a couple of army medics running their asses off to help our guy.

He was medivacced to Hawaii. We never saw him again. I think he lived, but his skull was fractured in two places. The blood pool he left was as if someone had spilled bucket of exterior paint. It was thick, and when it tried, it cracked into large "plates" of dried blood. Kinida reminded me of a bottom of a dried up river. The Project manager intentionally left it just like that for two or three days as a reminder. That was his "saftey lecture". After about two or three days, someone finally had enough and through several buckets of water over it. That stain never did come out, no matter how much we tried to hose it off.

In retrospect, if they had used chains to latch onto the forms, none of this would have happened.

[Platapus]

The operator gave it the juice, the form didn't budge, so he pulled back on the stick more.

Yikes! I have only been authorized to operate a very limited number of heavy equipment, but they pounded this into us.

When operating heavy equipment, if at first you don't succeed STOP!

They taught us that if anything does not "work right" with heavy equipment, stop and find out why. Don't try to power through it.

This tragic accident reminds me of a tragic accident that happened at Osan AB, South Korea in 1988.

The building we were in had blast doors. These were steel and concrete doors that dropped vertically to cover the entrances to the building. These were normally kept retracted and for safety, two safety bars were extended to physically block these doors from dropping and killing someone.

(bet you can't guess where this story is going)

There was a test of these doors. The cop in charge of these doors pushed the "down" button and the suspension drum started to unwind and lower the blast doors. At the same time the two safety bars automatically retracted.... almost. One safety bar's edge got caught on the edge of the blast door and did not fully retract. After a preset time, the drum with the supporting cables stopped rotating and shut off.

We have a two ton blast door hung up on a sliver of safety bar and that's it. :o

Now, one would think that if you were in charge of operating a blast door, and you hit the down button to deploy the door, and you found the door had not deployed, you would find out why... or at least let someone know... or let everyone know.

But not this cop. His job was to hit the button and he completed his complex mission. :damn::damn: For reasons that would be clear, the investigation team never released the name of the cop to us.

About a half hour later, Lt White is preceding Lt Col Williamson, squadron commander (true story so I use real names) though the doorway.

As soon as Lt White passes the door way, the blast door slams shut behind him. BANG! Lt White turns around and all he sees is a shut blast door, the toes of two combat books mushed up like one would expand a baked potato (his description) in place of where his Commander use to be.

Fortunately, if that word can be used here, the blast door, when dropping down, hit the Commander's forehead, glancing blow, and pushed his body back and his feet forward. A quarter of a second later and it probably would have taken his head off. :nope:

Lt Col Williamson lost the front half of his feet. But he was a tough old bastage. He got special shoes and he taught himself to walk and run. As a matter of fact, he would run the yearly PT test and woe to anyone who could not beat him when he only had two halves of a foot!!!

I lost track of him when I rotated back to the states. By now he is long retired, but probably not due to medical. He was one tough bastage. :salute:

[Ducimus]

Yikes! I have only been authorized to operate a very limited number of heavy equipment, but they pounded this into us.

When operating heavy equipment, if at first you don't succeed STOP!

They taught us that if anything does not "work right" with heavy equipment, stop and find out why. Don't try to power through it.


The best saftey breifing you can ever give can be said in a two word sentence:

Complacency kills.

When you work around heavy equipment, all the time, operating power tools all the time, get used to hearing the sound of a backup horn in the background, and swinging steel somewhere.. you get complacent. Steel mind you, does NOT give. You dont realize how fragile the human body is until your working with steel every day, and You forget this is dangerous work your doing, as it all becomes routine. That's when your going to see something happen. Every accident i ever saw, heard of, or was involved in, was because I, or someone else, got complacent. My own complacenly nearly cost me a finger, a sudden case of what can best be described as "decelleration trauma", and quite literally my head.



Now, one would think that if you were in charge of operating a blast door, and you hit the down button to deploy the door, and you found the door had not deployed, you would find out why... or at least let someone know... or let everyone know.

But not this cop. His job was to hit the button and he completed his complex mission. :damn::damn: For reasons that would be clear, the investigation team never released the name of the cop to us.


SP's are robots. They do what their told to the letter as a matter of proceedure. That was one of the wonderful things about being an engineer - you didn't follow a hard set SOP, or TO. There were several ways to complete the same job, some ways worked better then others.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Was he a ROTC Nazi or an Annapolis grad? Either way... just plain lucky, man.
Actually he was a warrant officer, grade CWO2. Usually, warrant officers are the among the best people to have as platoon commanders, at least from an enlisted perspective. Unlike lieutenants who often have no real experience, warrant officers have considerable enlisted experience and are usually quite popular.

Not so with this guy. He was popular in the same way that a really arrogant jock is popular, which is to say he was an *******. When we were in Camp Lejeune working up for our deployment, he treated the whole platoon to dinner at Hooters, and then tried to get us all to run out without paying the bill because he thought it would be funny. That's what kind of a person he was. WTF kind of leader runs out on a bill or orders others to do the same? A bill from Hooters, no less? Those poor girls are just trying to save money for college, you know.

At the time I was only in charge of a fire team (3 other guys), but my Marines and I stuck around and paid the bill and played PR Marines, explaining that the rest of the platoon ran off to leave us with the bill as a joke. That's what kind of people we were. Good people, right? Not according to the CWO, who not only ran out on the bill and left us to pay for it, but also drove off with the vans we were using, so we had to call a cab. When we finally got back to the camp, he berated us for being, amongst other things, spineless.

That incident, and a few others, earned him the call-sign "Blue Falcon" when we got to teh Iraqs. "Blue Falcon" was a bit of slang we picked up from the Army. It means buddy-********er. The CWO didn't know that, and was immensely proud that his troops had bestowed upon him such an awesome call-sign. He was even more proud of the fact that his call-sign was to be found on the walls of almost every port-a-john on the base. At least until he found out what it meant, which is a story itself.

So yeah, that's the mother****** I got as a platoon commander.

Write a tell all book. Name names.
I did. Well, we did. The whole platoon contributed stories, and I was tasked with putting them all together for our book. Unfortunately, we only made it to about the second chapter before everyone started fighting over the stories being told. Writing a tell-all book is remarkably difficult when some people don't want to tell quite all. Out of respect for my comrades, I agreed to stop writing the book.

[August]

I did. Well, we did. The whole platoon contributed stories, and I was tasked with putting them all together for our book. Unfortunately, we only made it to about the second chapter before everyone started fighting over the stories being told. Writing a tell-all book is remarkably difficult when some people don't want to tell quite all. Out of respect for my comrades, I agreed to stop writing the book.

I see your problem. Maybe a barely concealed fictional piece then? :D

[Growler]

So yeah, that's the mother****** I got as a platoon commander.


I did. Well, we did. The whole platoon contributed stories, and I was tasked with putting them all together for our book. Unfortunately, we only made it to about the second chapter before everyone started fighting over the stories being told. Writing a tell-all book is remarkably difficult when some people don't want to tell quite all. Out of respect for my comrades, I agreed to stop writing the book.

That guy is a disgrace. I've known lots of warrants, and almost to a man, found those guys to be pretty level. This guy being a CW3 just proves the adage: Promote your problem. Blue Falcon fit him perfectly - it's a shame that the Blues he Falconed were his troops. Total failure in leadership.

If you ever decide to finish that book - or any, let me know - I know a publisher who can get you in print and in digital edition for Kindle, iBookstore, and NOOK pretty quick.

[UnderseaLcpl]

I see your problem. Maybe a barely concealed fictional piece then? :D
Oh, you mean like a standard war story?:DL I've entertained the thought, even started writing a few times, but I never got very far. The natures of the incidents I'd like to relate are unique enough that my former platoon would recognize them and probably be very mad at me for publishing them.

Also, I'm a terrible writer. I can't write anything without revising it four or five times, posts excepted. Whenever I try to write something of any length, like a book, I end up revising it until I just throw it away.


That guy is a disgrace. I've known lots of warrants, and almost to a man, found those guys to be pretty level. This guy being a CW3 just proves the adage: Promote your problem. Blue Falcon fit him perfectly - it's a shame that the Blues he Falconed were his troops. Total failure in leadership.
Tell me about it. Guys like him are part of the reason I'm not serving anymore. I loved being a Marine and doing all the good stuff Marines do. I loved being in the field. I loved standing watch and patrolling and all that other junk. But I don't want to be led by people like that. I don't want to be part of an outfit that lets people like him lead at all.

If you ever decide to finish that book - or any, let me know - I know a publisher who can get you in print and in digital edition for Kindle, iBookstore, and NOOK pretty quick.
Thanks Growler, I appreciate the gesture. Not sure I'll ever manage to finish a book, but it's nice to have such an offer.

[TopTorp '92]

Name says it all.

Nuke MM on a US Fast Attack Submarine. Served before and after the Berlin Wall came down.

Been there, done that. Had fun when we went to sea basically on a war footing every time the dive alarm sounded.

Loved what I did. Hated the BS you had to put up with to do it.

Some of the best times of my life.

You'll meet some of the best in the world. You'll never forget them. They are friends for life.