Navy Airfields are all over Florida if you know what you are looking for. There are three in my area (maybe 25 miles apart max.).

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Peachtree/Dekalb Airport was, at one time NAS Atlanta. You can still see some of the remnants of the Navy touches in the old main building. I flew out of PDK for 7 years and I could feel the ghost of Naval Aviation.

Coons being attacked by our gunner, Harmon. I did not know they grew corn in Vietnam.

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I know the feeling. I came back on leave from Afghanistan & was driving on I-81, south of Front Royal VA. I spotted a large cardboard box on the shoulder of the interstate. I was about to jerk the wheel to the left and gun it, to get away from the area, when I realized that it was unlikely that the box was concealing an IED.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

As Jack Nicholson said "I'm bacK!"

I think if someone pulled that it may be a while before they could use the civies!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

THis is how the "Woke Generation" will think it is done.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

When I was getting ready to RELAD, they put me on day shift. I never worked day shift. I had a "short timers" ribbon in my cover. The First Sargent told me to remove it, didn't happen/nothing happened.
I had about a week left when someone remembered that I didn't have my obligatory talk for staying in another two years. Was sent to the XO's office along with an E5. The E5 was in air frames and had 6 years in. He was offered a signing bonus of $8k and E6. He turned them down, said he didn't want to get divorced.
The XO took one look at me and I told him I had already been accepted to a accredited University and that I only had a week left. The XO turned away and started talking to the E5 again. I was getting out 30 days early anyway. Oh the fun we had.

About all I remember about my ETS was during the medical part the dentist told me my wisdom teeth were coming in sideways and he strongly suggested I get him to pull them. Said ok and got the uppers pulled first and got some pain pills. Two weeks later went in to get the lowers pulled. Problem was the dentist forgot to sign the script for pain pills and it was a Friday. Just so happened the wife had half a bottle left over so I used them. I got an early out to do a year in the NG which was sort of like the Boy Scouts but with guns and vehicles. The fire in 74 got my orders messed up so it was 3 months late in me signing in to NG unit. Learned the unit had Just returned from their 2 weeks active. Did my year and got out 1 week before they had their next 2 week active duty stint..

Thought about reenlisting, but they wanted to make me a recruiter. So ended up with an early out. Came home and went to work for Piper. Figured out as a Sgt. I was making about the same money in the Corps and having a whole lot more fun.....so I reenlisted and stayed for 20 more years.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

No real caption needed...........Recruiters will sign up most anyone to meet quota!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

From what I hear the “ standards” have been “ let down” and we as a Nation may Regret this ….

Back in '65 we had a guy in our boot camp platoon who could barely read and definitely could not write his name. (Talk about cannon fodder). The D.I.s decided that the two "college guys" could teach him to sign his name. We had until the end of boot training to teach him to sign his name. He .could sign his name at the end of boot camp. A bit unfair because we were the last series that had 13 week boot camp. Oh the fun we had.

IMHO every male in the US should Have to go through boot, basic training as it could “ get their heads on straight”.
Maybe we should start a funny boot/ basic story thread….

I knew guys that were always ready to gamble! Time and place was anytime and anywhere!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Something a bit different today. Every month the LEATHERNECK magazine would put "pin-up" in the magazine. This is from the February 1969 issue.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Few guys in the unit got Playboy and they “ went around”. Will never forget the time the motor Sgt and I had to go in the ARVN compound near Saigon. He taped pin ups from Playboy under the cab of the M-37. One had to stop, get out of vehicle , go in bunker while “ Marvin looked under vehicles with medicine cabinet windows on roller skates on end of looong pole. We just sat there while the Marvin freaked out over the pics. We laughed about it for several weeks and we told everybody in the unit. Co. and Top thought is was funny. Not sure who else did it but sure word got around.

Just a reminder of what you were fighting for

If I thought she was at the end of the rainbow, I would have fought harder!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

When I was getting close to discharge, I was offered E5 stripes if I reenlisted, but I was seeing misfits and other trash coming into the Air Force. I declined the offer as I thought I would end up in trouble if I stayed in.
I was also contacted by the Texas State patrol to join their organization, but I wanted to get home so I declined that offer too.

Ha, when leaving pistol team at Ft Bragg was approached by couple “ re enlistment guys. They had my records and asked if I wanted to go in a Ranger unit on a mortar team as a Spec. 5! One that has been there and done that can know my reply. Few weeks later I went to work with civil service shop on M-551s which was Gravy duty And no fire watch or such at unit. This position lasted about 2 months then ETS.
Could write several pages of “ tales” about the Va. N.G., lol

Have seen some folks that were that bad, when I was on active duty. I still see lots of them at the local range!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Yep lots of people at ranges are Very scary.

We had a guy on the rifle range who had a loaded m-14 and asked the PMI a question. He turned the rifle mussel towards the firing line. I thought the PMI and RO were going to have a heart attack over it. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the fellow got turned around in the right direction with a stern warning. The PMI's were hard to shake up. Oh the fun we had.

Sadly “ lack of firearms training” is / has been the norm for way to many years. Seems “ most WWII Veterans” taught or saw that their kids got educated. Since then.. well we have the results. Way to much Influence from tv, movies and internet.

Those darn Marines......putting their mark on everything!!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

My Father was to young to be a "WW II Vet", and my Grandfather was to old to be one. My Grandfather had more patience than my Father, so he taught me to shoot. I in turn taught my Grandchildren to shoot. Oldest Grandson joined the Corps and shot Expert every time he had to qualify. The others have never been tested like that, but can hit what they are aiming at pretty much every time with iron sights.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

During basic on rifle range a trainee had a malfunction of some sort and swept ons end of range with his M-16 saying “ drill sgt., something is wrong with my gun”, the DI RSO hit him on helmet with his range paddle so hard it flew off idiots head. IIRC the idiot ran all the way back to the range house holding his rifle over his head yelling, “ I will not point my weapon at anyone” or something similar…

I had to laugh at Greyman50's reference to Marvin(the ARVN). Hadn't heard that one for a while. Marvin had a basic training camp North of Tay Ninh base camp. One night the entire company of recruits deserted...with their weapons.

The powers that be hushed that one up pretty quick.

I, our group was sent to RVN to “ facilitate” the transfer of vehicles and their maint. to MARVIN. Some were pretty good but most were, well you can guess. IMHO it was a lost cause.
When back home several years met a few ARVN officers that got out before it hit the fan, they were good guys that could not do the job by themselves. IMHO that was the whole issue with that “ war”.

The first couple of times my Mother sent me a Care Package of homemade cookies, you could eat them with a spoon!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Most guys who got care packages took out what they wanted the most and shared the rest. Italian care packages were the best because they had cheese and peppers.

Oh the fun we had.

We all shared our Care Packages. Some were better than others......

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Will never forget, never had mayonnaise until I got my wife to send some Miracle Whip that we kept in a Sgt’s refrig. The loaf bread tasted like sawdust and guess the LNs used it to make the bread. Bread from home would be molded by the time it got there or smashed flat.

They all look like that at first!!!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I have had some that I wished would go UA/AWOL, but never told them so......

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I have no idea why this happened but on March 23, 1965 a big dog bus dropped us off in a huge parking lot (aka drill field) at 0430. After the last guy got off the bus the driver said good luck, closed the door and drove off. There was an old wooden barracks with a light on over the door. We must have stood in the area for about ten minutes. Probably long enough for a couple of D.I.'s to get dressed. The silence was broken when a D.I. came rushing out of the barracks screaming his lungs out yelling for us to get into the barracks.
Once inside the barracks he continued to shout. I learned then to keep my mouth shut. Someone else brought in a small reel to reel tape recorder.

We were told to empty our pockets on the bunk behind us and turn all the pockets inside out. Two D.I.'s with a metal a metal garbage can came around to each person and collected all the weapons and other prohibited stuff. I was near the end and when they got to me the trash can was nearly half full with zip guns, brass knuckles, straight razors and other items of mayhem.

Finally they turned on the tape recorder and told us not to say a word. They left the room and didn't come back for about fifteen minutes. That was when I asked myself, "is this worth it". Oh the fun we had.

[QUOTE=AJ;141933566]I have had some that I wished would go UA/AWOL, but never told them so......[/QthUOTE]
While working on a radar set for H&MS 13 at Iwakuni, we would check the equipment by opening the van door and check the range using the mountain behind us. It was approximately 20 miles away and showed up on the first ring of the weather radar scope.
Protocol for testing the radar live was to cordon off the area by blocking either direction of the dirt road behind the van with ropes that had warning signs on them saying hazardous radiation. Having completed all my tasks, I went into the van and was ready to fire up the radar set without the dummy load. I turned on the radar set and was radiating the mountain behind us. While making some final adjustments, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned away from the work bench to see a person standing at the back of the van looking in. The small antenna was moving back and forth and all I could see was the gold on the brim of his cover. I said a few expletives and shouted that the radar set was live and didn't he see the warning signs. He quickly moved away and I didn't hear anything more from him.
While at MCAS Beaufort, I worked on night shift. That was when all the real maintenance was done and the planes were made ready for the next day. No officers or E6's to get in the way of work. We would get the radar sets up and running and this was done by firing the into a dummy load. Running a radar set at the airfield could mess up a whole lot of communications. The fuel truck would occasionally drive by and the drivers were told not to drive in front of a plane with the nose cone open and the antenna was moving back and forth. Sitting in the back in the RIO's seat you could control the antenna manually. We would snap the antenna over to the truck. As the truck would move we would move the antenna and when the truck stopped we would stop. The drivers would freak out. One guy actually got out of the truck and went into the hangar. They were told that the radar would set the truck on fire, not really.
Oh the fun we had.

Breakfast is served.

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My first vivid memory of Boot Camp was when the bus pulled into the Receiving Barracks. The D.I. came on the bus and said "You M-Fer's got 30 seconds to get off this bus and 29 are gone! Now move!!"

The second is I was asleep in a top rack the first night at Boot Camp. I was woke up to a lot of screaming, hollering and banging of stuff. The "banging of stuff was 30 gallon trash cans being kick and thrown around. As I opened my eyes one went flying past my face!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I don't remember getting there but I sure remember being there. Ft. Polk, LA in the middle of the summer

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Battle for Iwo Jima started 79 years ago on February 19.

I remember “ reception station lat Ft Campbell in 71. We were told we had to wait till the last group finished basic. 4 days of BS, police calls 3-4 times a day and formations in the AM and PM, then to “ the real deal”. I had 2 bottles of Boones Farm that I had to get rid of, few of us finished them off before the “ shake down”. IIRC there were no guns but many knives, razors and some dope.

Easier to set any can on intake of any engine for about 5 minutes After putting a vent hole in can with a P-38. Ever see an unvented can explode? LOL

She must have been a busy girl to have three proposals in a week!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

My crew chief had a really LONG set of pliers. He would dent the side of the can and hold it (w/pliers) at the exhaust stack of our idling Huey. When the dent popped out the beanie weenies (or whatever we had) was ready to eat. Just don't hold it up there a second longer. Some one would be scrubbing that tail boom. C4 burns like Sterno. Just don't stomp on it to put it out.

Have done those sort of things with our ground support generators and huffers for the aircraft. On a real cold day, during a launch you could see the maintenance personnel lined up just outside of the exhaust blast trying to stay warm. Works, been there done that!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

This was given to me. The young S/Sgt. that picked it up at Iwo was a driver/bodyguard to the Commandant at the time.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

LOL, at APG in the winter of 71 guys would stand behind an idling M-88. Then some “ Alpha Hotel” goosed the engine and it back fired. Several field jackets got burned and lucky everyone was facing away from the back. Much different in Vietnam where everyone tried to get cool.

I never felt colder than being in VN during the monsoon season. The temperatures dropped to mid to upper 50's and you froze your behind off. Everyone wore uniforms and heavy wool blankets to sleep in. By March the weather warmed up and you were sweating again. Oh the fun we had.

I slept without a mosquito net and had three fans blowing on the bed to keep the mosquitos away. Also had an electric blanket on the bed that was on all the time. It kept me warm at night from the fans and kept the sheets dry from the humidity during the day.

The coldest I ever was, was when I went to Cleveland to see my Father and Grandparents just after getting back from RVN, Nights were in the low 60's and I wore a heavy fringed buckskin coat to stay warm. My Father thought I was nuts. He could not get that I was use to it being 120 in the day and very humid.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.