Some things never change

[imjin138]

I was reading the the thread about the Beretta VS 1911 and got to remembering my early days in the Army. During Basic Training in the late 70's We had guys who pined for the M14 even though they never saw one. They complained about the M16, and yes those in the basic training battalions were probably well broken in.

But they also complained about the M203 and would rather have the M79. When we wnet to BDU's in the 80's people complained we would look sloppy and would not be able to tell which unit you were in because you couldn't wear unit crests on your cap.

Then they complained about the switch from C rations to MRE's and the M16A2 and the saw. Going from the steel pot to the kevlar.

I never did like the PEWS system it never worked real well.

I had heard they had pulled M14's out for the current war as well as thinking of going back to the .45. I figure most of the time the thinkers never speak to the doers to find out what really works.

I did read that in the 1890's the generals didn't want to give up the single shot springfiled in favor of a the bolt action Krag so some things never change.

And don't foget the Black Beret fiasco of a few years ago, now they are again wearing the patrol type cap in the field or the boonie hat.

 

[H Richard]

Did you ever know a GI that didn't gripe about something?

 

[yaktamer]

Now that I think about it, every time I'm accused of whining, I can blame Army training.

 

[imjin138]

Me too, if you weren't griping you weren't happy. on another forum guys were griping about how many different things you could use your steel pot, washing, cooking digging. And the kevlar can only be used as a helmet.

When MRE's first arrived we complained about them even though we complained about the c rations,

 

[Armyphotog]

God bless the G.I., bitch, bitch, bitch...........straighten up that line, soldier!

 

[Pilgrim]

I liked the steel pot and the C rats.

 

[mg357]

im reminded of an old saying i heard an old army sergeant use when he heard someone complain. gripe gripe gripe you gripe like your being hanged with a new rope

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

To paraphrase Sarek of Vulcan, "Some people do not complain for reasons, they simply complain."
IIRC a lot of people welcomed the BDUs. Several people I knew on Active Duty at the time said the Army was cracking down hard on weight control
and being out of shape and people skipping out on PT, the BDUs made it a lot easier to hide a gut. And the worse complainers were usually NCOs talking about how much better things were in "The Old Army".