POSER III

[JSR III]

After losing my 2S deferment due to an introduction to alcohol at Penn State, I received a 1A classification and went through all of the physicals and doctor exams and was ready to be called up. A few months later they came out with the lottery system and my birthdate came up 263 on the list. Needless to say, I was never called up.

 

[pineappleshooter]

One would have to be a bit insane to join the Navy and live on a boat!

You squids are crazy!

I spent my "combat" time secure inside a steel tube that the majority of America's enemies didn't have the capability to shoot at. We hung out places we weren't supposed to and spied on other people. Not too dangerous compared to being shot at by any two-bit dictator wanna be with an AK. Semper Fi shipmate. I was always of the opinion that there should be just as many Marines as Sailors ---- so when the shooting started we squids would have someone to step behind! It used to tickle me to death when, after I made Chief, I would go down the hall to the Marine Corps section of the Reserve Center to go to lunch with my buddy the Gunny. All the junior Marines treated me just like their Gunny even though 9 out of 10 of them could tear off my head and you know what down my neck with one hand tied behind their backs!

 

[pineappleshooter]

One of the reasons I went into the divin', jumpin' & shootin' Navy. Does that make me sane? lol

Most of my Marine friends spent much of their enlistment on big Navy ships except for my Recon buddies.

Which is crazier - going to sea on a ship designed to sink or learning to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, voluntarily I might add!

I remember some of the junior SEALS making their first ride on a sub used to look down their noses at us bubblehead who were all pale and soft in their eyes. It was fun to watch them go pale the first time the diving alarm sounded and they realized they were underwater while we walked by sipping a cup a coffee and going about our business. I have found that every branch or niche in the military thinks the other branches are "crazy" for doing what they do. Except the Chair Force - we all think they have it made!

 

[GKC]

I spent my "combat" time secure inside a steel tube that the majority of America's enemies didn't have the capability to shoot at.

I spent the first two years of my enlistment in school...basic hospital corps school, then OR tech, then Optician tech. I applied for submarine medicine school, and was approved but it required that I agree to re-up, which I wasn't sure I wanted to do. So, I spent my last two years at MCAS Cherry Point. Life took me in a different direction, but sometimes I wonder if I had gone on to SubMed, I might have made a career in the Navy.

 

[Fishslayer]

One would have to be a bit insane to join the Navy and live on a boat!

You squids are crazy!

We take our racks & our galleys into battle!

Even during my 4 years in the 'bees I only spent about 8 weeks total sleeping in the dirt.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

How about some stories about us who served, who did the cooking and supply and the painting:
I'm proud to say that I have a sterling military record:
We did not have a single Viet Cong attack while I was on duty at The Brooklyn Navy Yard.
olcop

Was there 1963/1965-- LOVED the food in NY-- and other things-

 

[MSG Glenn]

Which is crazier - going to sea on a ship designed to sink or learning to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, voluntarily I might add!

I remember some of the junior SEALS making their first ride on a sub used to look down their noses at us bubblehead who were all pale and soft in their eyes. It was fun to watch them go pale the first time the diving alarm sounded and they realized they were underwater while we walked by sipping a cup a coffee and going about our business. I have found that every branch or niche in the military thinks the other branches are "crazy" for doing what they do. Except the Chair Force - we all think they have it made!

My diesel boat seemed to be an indoctrination vessel for Marines, Frogmen & Special Forces. We had a lot of them ride with us to conduct their raid training or whatever. Shortly before 3 of us who were being sent to Underwater Swimmer School, Jump School & UDT School were told to go keep our guest company because we were in training & all had good musculature & weren't fat. Each time shortly after we'd make a dive someone in the next compartment would drop a bucket full of tools & we'd get all wide-eyed & yell "oh no!" & go running out like the hounds of Hades were at our heels. I don't think there was one clean pair of skivvies between our guests, lol.

 

[LTC]

Here's my story. I joined the USAF a year after high school, 1966. After basic and tech school, I was assigned to the 316th FMS at Langley Field, Va.

I was a C-130 jet engine mechanic. We didn't work on planes in the field maintenance squadron. We had 3 separate aircraft squadrons assigned to the wing and they had there own flight line mechanics.

I was assigned to the engine runup test cell out of our engine shop. We would hang a C-130 engine on a trailer mounted test stand, hook up all the electrical, hydraulic and air connections, install a 4 blade propeller and light it off. it took about an hour for the test run and then you just did everything in reverse and sent the engine back to the engine shop.

While at Langley with the 316th I was TDY'd 3 times. Once in '67 to the UK, once in '68 to Japan and RVN at Nha Trang due to TET of 1968. I got to watch and listen to air to ground combat going on near the mountains a mile or so south of the base but that was it. The remainder of the time we sat in the engine shop waiting for one of our birds that might need engine work. This was the only place in 4 years that I actually worked on an aircraft.

The 3rd TDY was back to the UK in '69.

I was separated in March of '70 with 3 years and about 11 months service. One year of it was TDY's to the various countries mentioned above.

While I can't say I loved every minute, I'm glad I enlisted and served.

LTC

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The Soviets did not come charging through the Fulda Gap when I was in Germany 1970-1971. They knew I was there.

 

[olcop]

PoserIII

One would have to be a bit insane to join the Navy and live on a boat!

You squids are crazy!

Maybe so, but that "Boat" took me places that I had only read about, and would never have gotten to see otherwise....I loved my time aboard ship and would do it again in a heartbeat---I often think about the fact that I as a 17 year old, born and raised in rural South Georgia, was in Georgia one day and 6 months later I was at the Rock Of Gibraltar. Then on to Italy, Spain,Greece,Turkey and even to Russia.
Wish I could do it all over again.
olcop

 

[Double-O-Dave]

I was an Army medic before being selected to go to nursing school. I was so proud the day I finally earned my promotion to E-4, and I immediately went to the PX to buy my new rank insignia and have it sewn onto my uniforms. Because I was in a hurry, I had to go off base to a civillian tailor's shop to have the new rank insignia sewn to my Class A uniform. Once this had been done, the tailor placed my uniform jacket on a heavy hanger and placed a clear plastic bag over everything to help keep it clean and dry. As I was standing at the bus stop waiting for a ride back to the base, an old timer stated staring at me, and he finally asked: "what are you, boy?" I proudly told him: "Sir, I am a Specialist 4th class, US Army, sir!" "Oh!" he said knowingly, and then he told everyone at the bus stop: "this man is one of them Special Forces". No!!!!! I tried hurriedly to explain to him that I was a "Spec. 4", NOT Special Forces! Of course, he just sat back with a satisfied grin on his face like he had just cracked the key to the mysteries of life. "Sure, son, whatever you say...Mr. Special Forces!" I could tell I wasn't going to win this one, and I was concerned that somehow, word would get back to the base that I was trying to pass myself off as a Green Beret. So I took the only course of action that seemed to make sense. I calmly left the bus stop, walked over to the curb, raised my hand and started yelling for a cab.

Discretion is indeed the better part of valor, and if war is indeed hell, sometimes peace isn't a whole lot better.

Regards,

Dave

 

[30-30remchester]

I have a friend who served in the air force during the Vietnam war. When asked what he did, his only reply is " I was a tailgunner on a bread truck in Detroit"????

 

[EQGuy]

I was a senior in college in the Fall of 1966 when I got a letter from my local draft board inviting me to come in for a pre induction physical at AFEES Oakland. I passed the physical and got my first of two letters from Lyndon Johnson informing me that I was inducted into the armed forces. I applied for and received an emergency deferment that ran out in June of 1967. I read the tea leaves and realized that my rear was going into the Army so I dropped out of college and enlisted in the Army on the 120 day delayed enlistment program. I was assigned to the inactive reserves and would be called up 4 months.

I then called up my boss in Yosemite National Park where I had been working a summer job since 1964 and told them that I was available if they needed me to come to work early that year. They told me to show up in February and they would put me on a Forestry crew. They had me spraying bug infested trees with Lindane and assisting in other projects. I had a blast until summer rolled around and I had to leave to fulfill my contract with the Army. That Spring I received my second letter from LBJ telling me I was being inducted into the armed forces but I replied to this one that I was already in the Army. I remember my last night in Yosemite getting drunk and driving my Studebaker pickup around and sticking my head out of the window and war hooping. I am 1/16 Choctaw and cannot hold my booze but that is another story. I guess the Rangers cut me some slack as they knew I would be leaving the next day.

When I arrived at AFEES Oakland the first paper they handed me was an honorable discharge from the inactive reserves. They put me on a 707 and we landed in El Paso at about 0200 and then a bus took us to Fort Bliss. I spent 2 months there for Basic and then they put us on a train to Kansas City and from there on a bus to Fort Leonard Wood where I spent the next 14 months. From there I was transferred to the 50th Engineers at the USMA West Point. Our CO there (Captain Ferry) was a real A hole and made our lives as miserable as he could. I was going to request a transfer to Viet Nam just to get away from him but my best friend at home had spent two tours there as a Seabee and talked me out of it. I really wanted to go to Alaska so I requested a transfer to Thailand. About a month later I got orders to report to Fort Lewis Washington for transfer to Fort Wainwright Alaska. The Army does work in mysterious ways. At this time Alaska was considered an overseas assignment. We actually got overseas pay and our address was APO Seattle. The only time I was ever armed while in the Army was the time I had guard duty at the ammo dump on Birch Hill when they gave me a 1911 with one magazine with 7 corroded rounds in it. It was just me and a cow moose up there that day. The only time I was ever in any danger was the time Staff Sergeant Clark decided to mix two different wax removing chemicals to strip the floors in our barracks and the resulting chemical reaction caused us to evacuate the barracks one very cold Spring morning while we aired out the building.

I am glad I served but I was sure happy to get out when I did two years eight months eleven hours and twenty seven minutes later. Oh I discovered the advantage to the 120 day delayed enlistment program when I was promoted to private E-2 the first week of Basic. I also make PFC right after AIT. The best time I had in the Army was when I was chipping concrete off of steel forms one cold February morning in 1968 at Fort Leonard Wood and our first sergeant came and asked for 2 volunteers for a rifle team. My hand shot up right away and I got to try out for the Fort Leonard Wood rifle team which I made. We went to Fort Riley Kansas for the 5th Army matches and I shot good enough to make the 5th Army team. I did not shoot good enough to stay on the team however and about two months later I was sent back. I later learned that I needed prescription glasses and I often wonder what would have happened if I had gotten the glasses while I was on the rifle team. That was good duty. We shot the national match course twice a day and once on Saturday. We were also exempt from the duty roster.

 

[Smoke]

I was getting ready to enlist in the Florida National guard in 1987. When my boss found out he fired me so I enlisted active duty as a 13B (Cannon Crewmember). I did basic and AIT at Ft. Sill Oklahoma and my first duty station was Btry A 3/35FA at Peden Barracks Germany.

In 1990 I had orders to Ft. Stewart GA. But they got deleted at the last minute and I ended up going to Ft. Lewis. Btry A 3/11 FA I got there the day Iraq invaded Kuwait and went through the POM and all that but the war ended before we were shipped over.

In 1992 I reenlisted as a 71G (Medical Admin Specialist) the only reason I went 71G is because the retention NCO lied to me and told me I would be a hospital orderly similar to a CNA instead I became a records clerk at Evans Army Hospital at Ft. Carson it was the worst 4 years of my life.

In 1996 I basically got told that because of the Clinton draw down my "career" was over and that if I got out I would get a 15,000$ dollar severance. My retention NCO told me the only way I would get the 15G was if I went Colorado National Guard. When I went to do the enlistment the Post retention NCO told me she was lying but I went ahead an enlisted in the Guard anyway. Then I went back to her office and she confirmed that she had in fact lied to me because she wouldn't make her quota if I went IRR.

I spent 6 years in the Colorado Guard (Btry B 2/157 FA) and I hated every minute of it. I was in charge of the ammo "platoon" which consisted of 17 guys who I never saw ever but that I had to account for every month. When my enlistment was up I was actually told by the battalion commander that if I reenlisted he'd make sure I never had to go to the field again (that's where the 17 guy's were. I replied that if I didn't re-up I could promise I'd never have to go to the field again too.

And here I am pulling guard duty just like I did in the Army.

 

[Babalooie]

I served Dec 84 though Jan 90 on active duty and have served as a civilian ever since. I worked in the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory for most of my career, but currently work in the Special Instrumentation squadron.

I usually was assigned to an AMS (Avionics Maintenance Squadron) and PMEL was usually part of the same group.

 

[hogwylde]

The closest I came to any action was while cruising off the coast of Cuba. I was on the main deck of my ship when I heard the Commanding Officer announce over the 1MC that we had a visitor.

There was an ~30' foot boat approaching us with the Coxswain at the helm and a gunner manning a (guessing) 50 caliber coming to see what we were up to. Us sailors just laughed with most of us just taking pictures while our Gunners Mates aimed OUR guns at them. Needless to say - they skidaddled.

 

[model70hunter]

Come heck or high water for many years once a month a bunch of us gathered to do 4 hours of US Army reserve functions on Saturday morning, eat lunch and do PT Saturday afternoon, most often it was running (basketball). Sundays we did 4 hours of military functions, work on vehicles, chipped in on Pizza and beer and since we were hard corp we watched genuine training films in the afternoon.

We were the closest to a large military base and were volunteered to deliver ammo to Reserve or Guard Units when they qualified at the range.

Most often they would only break out one or 3 M-16's let everyone who wanted to take some shots. Then they all passed. The ammo had to be used, it could not be taken back.

So it was serious range time for some of the guys and some of us who brought the ammo. I got to fire M-60's until I felt i I get rich I want one, launched many a rifle grenade at tanks at various yardage, shot 5.56 until, well it was all gone. The gents played poker in the shade, pulled adult beverages out of their coolers and waited until the ammo was gone.

Summer camps. Can't go there some of it is still classified. WARNING CLASSIFIED: FILE: A. Some guys are still married to those who do not understand.

 

[Rastoff]

I usually was assigned to an AMS (Avionics Maintenance Squadron) and PMEL was usually part of the same group.

Yeah, PMEL was the ba$tard child of the maintenance group. Maintenance is usually broken up into three squadrons; Component Repair Squadron(CRS), Avionics Maintenance Squadron(AMS) and Equipment Maintenance Squadron(EMS). Most of the places I worked we belonged to CRS.

About 7 years ago, they changed the structure. They combined EMS and CRS into one squadron called Maintenance Squadron. Because they wanted it to have 3 letters when shortened to an acronym, they call it MXS; go figure. At Edwards, PMEL belongs to MXS now. AMS is still a squadron unto themselves.

 

[Rastoff]

Being a war story thread, I guess I should add my hardship to the mix...

PMEL was a tough place to work. Because the equipment was sensitive, we had to have a controlled environment. So, we had no windows at our building. The sun coming in would change the temperature. The temp was 72°F +/-6°F all the time. We worked 5 days a week and had hours of 7AM to 4PM. Even in the desert we had similar temp requirements, but worked 12 hours a day because everyone did.

Yeah, life was tough at PMEL.