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Guest Grayfox

i was former military, and i hope i still know something about it although my main specialty was demolitions.

i really enjoy wargames, and have found some excellent airsoft and paintball sites in my new area. gotta keep those MOUT skills sharp on those indoor matches.

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MOS: 62Everything

For those not in the know, this one is a Heavy Junk Driver, along with all that 12 Bravo Combat Engineer Crap. Hence the 62 Everything.

I also pulled a stint as the unit NBC NCO.

RP

"Are you givin' me a hard time, Private Smucky?" Guess whose protective mask is going to be sans filters."

/RP

[ 10-24-2002, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Wolferz ]

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Military veteran, US Army.

31V10, Communications systems repairer 31CV9, Communications and satelite communications operator and of course grunt, everyone in the army is trained to be a grunt.

Was also a colonels driver for while.

Mostly worked on the M-1 tanks and assorted support vehicles.

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Guest MIKE113

U.S. Navy Aviation Electricians Mate.

VA-174, NAS Cecil Field, Jacksonville, FL.

A-7 A/B, C/D, E

Couln't fly'em(eyesight)so I fixed'em!

(Long ago!)

Started on Flight Sims,and here I am!

[ 10-24-2002, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: MIKE113 ]

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quote:

of course grunt, everyone in the army is trained to be a grunt.

Some of us more than others, 11B baby! And hated every minute of it. Apparently I was good at it, cuz the reserve recruiters won't leave me alone.

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quote:

Jaguar,

I take it you spent some time at Fort Knuts?


Yep, spent 2 years there. 194th armored brigade, BUFFALO soldiers SIR!! LOL

Was the only 31V awarded the Army Commendation medal for 99% communications system readiness of my platoon.

It helps to be friends with the supply sergeant!! LOL

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quote:


Originally posted by Jaguar:

It helps to be friends with the supply sergeant!! LOL


Don't I know it!

Our Supply Sgt recognized my talents very early on. He was always volunteering me to help him and I got anything I wanted when I wanted it. All of my field gear was brand new.

He even went so far as to acquire unescorted access to the Arms Room for me. We were the only unit on Ft Knox with it's own Arms Room and there were only two people in the unit who had unescorted access. Him and me. Neither the CO nor the Armorer could go in there without one of us present.

Whenever the unit needed to draw munitions, he always drafted me. Always a hairy assignment. If you have ever been in the ammo dump on Ft Knox, you know of what I speak. The guards in there carried riot guns loaded with Deer slugs, with orders to shoot first and ask questions later if anyone was found somewhere they didn't have authorization to be.

The first time I pulled ammo duty, I was only a Speedy-4. An E-6 jumped up in the back of the Deuce & a half to start unloading the C-4. I promptly ordered him to get the hell off my truck. Naturally he thought he could pull rank on me until my E-7 Supply Sgt walked up and asked me why this guy was in the truck with me. After explanations were finished, he chewed the guy a new 4th point of contact and told him nothing gets unloaded until it was signed for, and get the hell off the truck! To say the least, I was a bit smug after that. LOL

When I took the NBC slot, my NBC gear was always 100% combat ready. At least until Desert Storm. We depleted some of our contingency supplies helping other units prep for deployment. Not too long after that, the entire Brigade was de-commissioned.

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Guest Grayfox

LMAO 194th SAB. i was in the 19th eng bn attached to the 194th before it deactivated. then we were attached to FORSCOM.

our heavy junkers never did any demo or mine field removal (we never had mine plows) they dug the tank ditches and when they could, the c-tracks dug our fighting positions (which i still am eternally greatful). but that was at knox... in a MECHANIZED engie battallion. campbell was a waaaaaay different story.

light fighter all the way baby. pack enough food and gear for a month, haul it on your back, and EVERYONE carries ammo for the 60.

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Hmm...must be nice to have a position dug for you...I have some not-so-fond memories of holding a shovel at odd hours of the night preparing a defense...somwhere in the mojave desert...ground was hard as rock (actually it WAS rock)...it was like 0200-ish, two men digging, one man pulling security...ugh...now I gotta be a couch potato to supress that memory again...

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Was the 194th deactivated? or was your engineering batallion?

I loved my M-1's, those babies were ALL mine, and I loved them. The colonel attached himself to our platoon and I was the one who got to work on his tank as well.

The best thing I ever remember was when I was called to the colonels tank because his com system wasn't working, and I mean NOT AT ALL. I was a little concerned to say the least. I have this full bird yelling at me to get my ass in his tank and fix his comm system, because it was not working, not even the intercom stuff. Not only could he not talk to the tower, he couldn't talk to his crew.

I got into the tank, looked at the system, and have you figured it out yet? IT WAS OFF!! The whole damn thing had not been turned on. The colonel was standing out his hatch, so I reached over and clicked the switches and everything came on. He popped in and said "what was wrong?" I get this sheepish look on my face and his E-6 gunner is looking mortified. I told him it was off and the next thing I know he is kicking the gunner out of his tank and putting me in his place.

I got to fire 4 rounds downrange, and then 10 more that night. oh and of course I got to fire off the coax, IT WAS GREAT FUN!! Tanker for a day. Took the E-6 over a year to live it down.

By the time I got out, I was FULLY qualified on everything from a 9mm pistol to a howitzer, that's a field artillery piece to you civilians.

I LOVE Weapons, high tech, low tech, it doesn't matter. THEY ARE FUN!!!

Next purchase I think will be a 50 caliber sniper rifle, gotta love those things, except the ammo is like $3 a round, ugh!!

Anyway, back to the supply sergeant.

He gave me everything that I requested, 2 spare VHF radios, 2 extra recievers, all the speakers for the helmets I could carry, microphones, etc, I had 4 spare tanker helmets at all times, and at least 5 spare intercom boxes, etc etc ad nauseum. My tankers knew that if they had a problem, I could fix it in under 5 minutes. they were up for over 2 years while I was there, 99% of the time. While we were on excercises I carried 2 full footlockers with spare parts, and of course everything that I needed, smokes, Coke, ramen, candy bars, you know the drill. There was definitely an advantage being in a tank platoon, you get to ride EVERYWHERE, and I rode in the nicest APC you ever saw in your life!! heater worked, spare parts are EVERYTHING when you're in the field, radios of course worked, had hanging cots, I mean the whole bit. I could sleep while we were moving out in the field no problem. Put on the commo helmet, snug it down tight, and lay down on this wonderful swinging cot, and sleep the trip away. We also set up our internal communications so we had background music, put the cassette in the player, put on the helmet and enjoy. whenever the radio or intercom clicked on with a signal, the stereo was cut off, it WAS GREAT!!!

Hot water? not a problem, turn an M-1 turret around the back, hang a portable shower full of water behind the exhaust and 5 minutes, 105 degree shower, with soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a shave of course!!

Bravo troop, we were the BEST!! and we kicked some butt!! LOL

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In 1988, I entered the Army as an E-1 (Private No-Chevrons), and barely made it through boot-camp. I wasn't a bad soldier, but I did have bad luck.

Field artillery was my MOS, and I took boot-camp at Fort Sill, OK...

I tripped and sprained my ankle during a Platoon run. Got 7-days light duty for my trouble, since ankles aren't supposed to be the size of small watermellons. Also wound up with crutches.

Trying to lose weight is hard enough, but this made it basically impossible, since I could barely walk, much less run.

The day they taught throwing grenades, I had an 09:00 hours appointment to get rid of the cruthces. I did that. I arrived on the field to learn tossing grenades at the enemy at 12:30 hours. Everyone else had been there since 08:00 hours, so they had a good 4 1/2 hours on me.

I found the first Sergeant I could, and asked him what I was supposed to do. He looks around, and points to this wooded area. He says, "See that 3rd tree from the right?" "Yes, Sergeant," I said. He tells me, "I want you to guard it -- it hasn't been acting right here lately. Do that until we can figure out where you're going." I followed the order, but....

Once I got to my unit, they rushed me through the training in 30 minutes. I got it down. They super-emphasized that I had to "pick up the pin" no matter what. You don't argue with Drill Sergeants....

Now comes the live excercise. I go out with my helmet and flak gear, pull the pin.... And drop it. I've got a grip on that grenade that would crush rocks, as I know the thing will kill me if I don't. I reach down, pick up the pin, toss the grenade past the wall with all my might. As I'm dropping down, the Sergeant standing next to me plows me into the ground. After it explodes, he's calling me every name in the book (including some new ones.)

This is an E-5, who doesn't know what little training I just got, and he's just there to make sure we practice safety. My Drill Sergeant comes up, listens to his side, then mine. Then laughs. He then explained to the E-5 that they didn't have time to train me to use my brain in only 1/2 an hour.

In the 13-Weeks I was at Fort Sill, I went from 220 to 185. Maybe I should do that again... NOT!

My Assigned Unit after boot-camp was Fort Hood. I've never seen the place. A week before MOS completion, they TDYed the whole bunch of us to Germany, because the Russians were considered a major threat (as if that was news.)

-----------

When I first got to Giessen, West Germany, my paperwork had been misplaced, and, for all intents and purposes, USAREUR had no idea that I existed. I also didn't get paid during that time. (The catch-up pay was great!) I told one of my Sergeants, "Hey, you can't prove I'm here, or even assigned to this unit. Maybe I'm supposed to be in Guam, for all I know!"

I was having trouble with 13B -- Cannon Crewmember, so about 2 months after I got to my unit, I was transfered to Battery Supply. They noticed I could do paperwork, and seemed to be pretty good at it. So there I was until I exited.

During a Battalion Run, I lost my footing. It was a 5-mile run; no big deal. However, I stumbled in formation; just lost my footing. Instead of knocking over the other soldiers in formation, I fell out, and landed on a pile of asphalt just to the side of the path we were running on. (You know how they have extra asphalt when they pave a road -- they made a small hill out of what I landed on.)

After saying a few choice words, I caught up with my unit, and continued the last mile or so, no problems.

Back at the unit, we're all at attention, and then the Colonel orders us to "At Ease." The guy in front of me is looking around, and looks down at my sweats, and exclaims, "Geez, Stone! What the hell happened to your leg?!?" I was unaware there was a problem.

He calls out to my sergeant, who comes up, takes one look at me, and orders me to report to the Medical Section immediately. I finally look down, and see my sweats are drenched with blood.

That rock I had landed on had cut through my knee, and tore hell out of a tendon. Fourteen stitches and 8-weeks later, I was back in the game. (Be that as it may, I've won sizable bets on what the weather is going to do because of this injury....)

I was 3rd in Command of Battery Supply, and I've stated such on resumes. Of course, readers of that resume have no idea that there was only me, a Specailist, and my Supply Sergeant....

During this time, there was this General who came to the Supply Office looking for a certain record. I pulled out the requested Disposition Form, and noticed that it was not signed by the Captain. My Supply Sergeant hadn't really seen the DF yet, so he didn't know that it was *NOT* an order yet, although he was about to obey it.

I told the General, "Sir, we don't have an order for that yet." He says, "It's in your hand, Private. Follow the orders on it." I said, "No, Sir. This DF is not a lawful order, and can in no way be considered such."

My "Chief," namely the Supply Sergeant, yells at me, "Private, follow the General's orders!" I look at him, and say, "Certainly, Sergeant, but I need one of you to sign a DF to that effect so that the order is valid. Understand, Chief, that if you sign it, it's by your authority alone."

He grabs the DF from me, looks at it, and notices that the order is unsigned. Since this particular order deals with items only the Captain can authorize, had he acted on the order, a court-martial would have been in his future. Had I followed the General's order, which was only verbal, I could have faced the same fate. Unlikely, but 'CYA' is a great idea in the military.

The General was impressed with my standing up to both of them, and said so. That was the last time I saw him.

The next month, when I was expecting to go from Private to Private E-2, I got a surprise -- I had been promoted to Private First Class, or E-3. I just figured S-1 had screwed up again.

My Company tried for months to get my promotion "corrected," but the Judge Advocate General got involved when the Battalion kept being hassled by my Company. The JAG officer told him (and me), "Unless you outrank a General, Captain, no amount of [edited] is going to change his promotion. Do you wish to pursue other legal venues against this Private First Class?" The JAG officer handed my Captain a piece of paper, that clearly stated my name and what my new rank was. I heard nothing else about it from my unit...

Ah, Army life... I miss Germany, but very little of my funky little Battalion. Our Colonel was about to be promoted to Brigadier General, and he didn't give a crap. That attiude went right down the ranks, and got worse the lower you went. As an E-3, I got a lot of the worst of it.

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My fondest Army memories are of sneaking out of the reception area at Benning to buy cigarettes at the PX around the corner and smoking said cigarettes in the back stairwell of the barracks. It was so easy, actually, because they give you camouflage uniforms which are perfect for sneaking through the woods and if you rolled your sleeves up nobody at the PX questioned whether you should be there or not. A warning to any future 11 series enlistees who might try that, though... there's barbed wire in the woods around the reception area, don't trip on it.

Anyways, as you can probably guess from the above display of rebelliousness, I made it to week three of training before they decided to send me home instead of to Pensacola Federal Prison (One drill sergeant in another platoon actually made up a wonderful cadence about me going to prison and had his platoon recite while I waiting to be yelled at by the company CO one time, though).

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quote:

Originally posted by Wolferz:

<--- Former military.

I also pulled a stint as the unit NBC NCO.


Speaking of NBC, when they issued our gas masks in boot-camp, they ordered us into this room with tear gas. I elected not to follow the order. Some may think this unusual, but...

This sergeant comes up to me and yells, "What do you think you're doing, general?!?" "Get your [edited] into that room, now!"

I said, "No, Sergeant, I can't do that." He looks at me, then hollers for my Drill Sergeant, who comes up, and badgers me about following orders. "Not a lawful order, Drill Sergeant!" I said. "It will damage property of the United States Army! Namely, me!"

He looks at me funny, then I explain. "I've been trying to get this piece to fit inside this piece here, but it just won't seal." (I've slept since the last time I dealt with the nomenclature....) He looks at it, his eyes get real big, and exclaims, "It doesn't have the @$&* filter!"

It was fun, it was real... I've never used NBC gear in a live exercise.... Talk about fun...

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quote:

Originally posted by Litvyak:

(One drill sergeant in another platoon actually made up a wonderful cadence about me going to prison and had his platoon recite while I waiting to be yelled at by the company CO one time, though).

One of my Drill Sergeants made a cadence about me, and had the whole platoon sing it to the general companies in the area....

quote:

Stone, Stone, don't feel blue,

Frankenstein was ugly too!

He had a wife, her name was Fran,

Gave their son the name of Dan!

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quote:

Speaking of NBC, when they issued our gas masks in boot-camp, they ordered us into this room with tear gas. I elected not to follow the order. Some may think this unusual, but...

This sergeant comes up to me and yells, "What do you think you're doing, general?!?" "Get your [edited] into that room, now!"

I said, "No, Sergeant, I can't do that." He looks at me, then hollers for my Drill Sergeant, who comes up, and badgers me about following orders. "Not a lawful order, Drill Sergeant!" I said. "It will damage property of the United States Army! Namely, me!"

He looks at me funny, then I explain. "I've been trying to get this piece to fit inside this piece here, but it just won't seal." (I've slept since the last time I dealt with the nomenclature....) He looks at it, his eyes get real big, and exclaims, "It doesn't have the @$&* filter!"

It was fun, it was real... I've never used NBC gear in a live exercise.... Talk about fun...


Using NBC gear in the gas chamber is the easy part... the hard part is when the drill sergeant rips your pro-mask off your face so you can breath in the lovely fumes of riot gas while reciting the answers to his questions in between dry heaves (luckily they serve lunch after you get out).

Really, the most useless part of NBC training is when they toss flashbangs to simulate a nuclear attack and have everybody 'duck and cover'... like it's really going to help... lol

[ 10-25-2002, 03:44 AM: Message edited by: Litvyak ]

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quote:

Originally posted by Litvyak:

Really, the most useless part of NBC training is when they toss flashbangs to simulate a nuclear attack and have everybody 'duck and cover'... like it's really going to help... lol

In BT, they taught us to lie down, facing away from the blast. By the time I got to my unit, they taught us to lie down facing the blast. It seems that the little helmet *does* do more than just keep our brains from falling out of our ears! "Joke's on you, Drill Sergaent! Do what? Yeah, sure, I'll drop and give you 50. In the next life, maybe...."

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Guest Grayfox

quote:

Hmm...must be nice to have a position dug for you...

yes because we were INTELLIGENT enough to take our heavy junkers with us. i wasnt always in a mech unit. i was at campbell first (dope on a rope hooah!)for about a year or so, and that was a light unit. i just remember why i was trying to dig a proper m-16 wide 2 m-16 long armpit deep foxhole in a rockbed with my e-tool.

most of the time i just dug it deep enough to defilade me, or i was smart enough to pick out a natural cover and concealment spot where the digging id have to do was minimal.

and to answer your question jag, the 194th was deactivated after haiti. late 95 i believe. my engineer battallion wasnt deactivated till like 97 or 98. then the remnants got attached to the opfor engie unit down in polk... im glad i got out when i did.

[ 10-25-2002, 03:04 PM: Message edited by: Grayfox ]

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Veteran of the Bomb droppin Air Force.

AFSC 81153 Security/Law enforcement

Best unit: 7206th SecurityPolice Squadron

Hellinikon AFB Greece (16th Air Force)

Never got to shoot anyone but did once stand in front of an angry crowd of Greeks(about 10,000)

demonsrtating to close our base. Stood shotgun while our translator explained in detail our use of force policy regarding our SAC det.(basically shoot first and ask no questions if you come on the flight line) That really got thier attention!

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Guest Grayfox

you know Race, the air force is just another branch of the Army

only guarding i did was at an ammo storage facility. got to pack a loaded ghetto howitzer. thankfully i didnt get to use it.

ive been shot at plenty of times, i dont know if ive ever shot someone... adrenaline runs thru you so fast you tend to blank stuff like that out afterwards...

my fun came when we had to blow an old bridge, or drop a condemned building *EG* and i still want to kill the creator of the bangalore torpedo... i bet HE didnt have to carry those heavy SOB's... oh and lets not forget the lucky fool (usually me) who got to probe thru a minefield with nothing but a fiberglass probe because your squad leader was an idiot and didnt pack the MD... ahhh the fun stuff

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