Same at Lackland and Osan in my day. And at Osan there were "dancers" at the NCO club.
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I actually get where this guy is coming from
- Thread starter CAJUNLAWYER
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Same at Lackland and Osan in my day. And at Osan there were "dancers" at the NCO club.
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.
pantannojack
US Veteran
the intellectual flatulation required to even be a "smoker" can be a major cause of homelessness.
I quit 6mar1988. My freedom day. I will NEVER go back.
I quit 6mar1988. My freedom day. I will NEVER go back.
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LoboGunLeather
US Veteran
While I was in Vietnam the price of cigarettes at the PX went from $1.70 to $1.90 per carton (10 packs), tax-free prices. I thought there would be a mutiny!
C-rations came with a 4-pack of cigarettes in every meal. Winstons, Marlboros, Kools, Chesterfields, Pall Malls, Camels, something for everyone's tastes.
Beer was $2.40 per case at the Class 6 stores, if you could get to a rear area base camp. Ration card limit of 4 cases per month (or 4 quarts of liquor at about $1.90 each, tax-free). The really big problem was getting COLD BEER, with no refrigeration, no ice. Best solution I found was a nearby Marine air base with repair facilities, usually a F-4 or two coming out of maintenance and needing a flight test, so we hauled a few cases over, strapped them into the navigator seat, pilot took the plane up for a half-hour or so at 30,000 feet or more, and we split the cold beer with the Marines. I heard that operating costs for a F-4 fighter-bomber were about $3000 per hour, so I want to express my gratitude to all you taxpayers for my chilled 10-cent beers.
C-rations came with a 4-pack of cigarettes in every meal. Winstons, Marlboros, Kools, Chesterfields, Pall Malls, Camels, something for everyone's tastes.
Beer was $2.40 per case at the Class 6 stores, if you could get to a rear area base camp. Ration card limit of 4 cases per month (or 4 quarts of liquor at about $1.90 each, tax-free). The really big problem was getting COLD BEER, with no refrigeration, no ice. Best solution I found was a nearby Marine air base with repair facilities, usually a F-4 or two coming out of maintenance and needing a flight test, so we hauled a few cases over, strapped them into the navigator seat, pilot took the plane up for a half-hour or so at 30,000 feet or more, and we split the cold beer with the Marines. I heard that operating costs for a F-4 fighter-bomber were about $3000 per hour, so I want to express my gratitude to all you taxpayers for my chilled 10-cent beers.
pantannojack
US Veteran
If "life's toll" requires one to smoke. I say reject "life's toll".
I started smoking at 15, quit cold-turkey at 30, and had my first cancer operation on my 38th birthday.
My father and my uncle (his brother-in-law) both died from smoking-related illnesses.
To say I have definite opinions about smoking would be a gross understatement...
austintexas
Member
rations
Yes, I remember the cheap cigarettes and beer in Vietnam. I didn't smoke or drink hard liquor so I traded off my rations to someone else for their beer ration. When I got to Phu-Cat in '68 the NCO club was not air conditioned, just screens to let the air flow thru. I was in the Civil Engineering squadron. We A/Ced all the shops, most slept down there. We built an auditorium sized air conditioned NCO Club, we imported singers and dancers from all over. No American entertainers,(did get to see Ann Margret and Bob Hope). It was weird hearing Japanese and Thailand singers singing country and western. I remember we ordered an aftermarket air conditioner for the wing commanders car, a 1966 Chevy. Lots of funny stuff happened while I was there. 2 palets of plywood would get you a jeep from the Army, Case of C rations could be traded to the ROCs for any kind of weapon you wanted.
SWCA 892
Yes, I remember the cheap cigarettes and beer in Vietnam. I didn't smoke or drink hard liquor so I traded off my rations to someone else for their beer ration. When I got to Phu-Cat in '68 the NCO club was not air conditioned, just screens to let the air flow thru. I was in the Civil Engineering squadron. We A/Ced all the shops, most slept down there. We built an auditorium sized air conditioned NCO Club, we imported singers and dancers from all over. No American entertainers,(did get to see Ann Margret and Bob Hope). It was weird hearing Japanese and Thailand singers singing country and western. I remember we ordered an aftermarket air conditioner for the wing commanders car, a 1966 Chevy. Lots of funny stuff happened while I was there. 2 palets of plywood would get you a jeep from the Army, Case of C rations could be traded to the ROCs for any kind of weapon you wanted.
SWCA 892
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We all know smoking cigarettes can shorten your life. That said, so will being homeless! If one is a long term cigarette smoker with no plans of quitting - then handing him/her smokes might prevent something bad in the future, as a true smoker will do many things to score a pack of "coffin nails".
BLACKHAWKNJ
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Never took it up myself, plenty who did said I didn't miss anything. For me the C-ration cigarettes were for trade only, no freebies for the smokers for me. I have read Basic Training has been smoke free since the 1980s.
Same here with exception to the beer machine, we had an EM club in the basement that opened after evening chow. Across the street and for that matter on many corners of the town I was stationed in (Russelsheim, A.M.) there was a cigarette vending machine selling European smokes. I smoked at the time and enjoyed Gauloises as a break from Camel non-filtered.
Pack of smokes from a German vending machine was around 1 Mark or .30, pack of smokes in the machine on base was .25. You got less in a Euro pack too. At the P.X. smokes 2.00 per carton...it was that way for quite awhile.
