Criticism from Non-Vets

[Andy54Hawken]

There are two things fall from the sky. Bird poop and fools. and I don't wish to be either.

Guess I was a fool ... Would hate to be bird poop!
I only went Airborne 'cause I'm lazy and gravity does all the work when jumping LOL!
Andy

 

[2A2Dend]

I wouldn't refer to you as a fool at all. later in my term, I may have went airborne. But, my fatigues would have likely been brown camo the first few times when I touched the ground!!

 

[Sgt Nambu]

A few yeas ago I showed my father in law my new AR I had just built. He insulted it, calling it a .22! A worthless rifle.. He then proceeded to tell me what he did. One of his jobs was to replace machine gun barrels. Sustained full auto would turn the barrels white hot. They would just melt from sustained fire. He had a stack of replacement barrels. He would grab the white hot barrels, remove them, and install a new one. And they would continue firing for what? A minute? Then repeat!!

He had never spoken of the war up till that point. My wife over heard our conversation. She was really shocked. In her 35 years, he had not said one word of what happenend over there. Even when asked.

Well....he's wrong.

But his personal experience with early M-16's may have left a very bitter taste in his mouth!

Burning up barrels and switching out hot ones is perfectly common! Another side to a nearly white hot barrel is rounds cooking off! Suddenly you have a "run away" gun in your hands! Only way to stop it is to twist the belt hard where it enters the receiver!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I get you 2A2Dend ... Figured you weren't calling us Airborne types fools or bird poop.
My Dad told me the same thing when I signed up on an Airborne / Ranger contract... LOL
Andy

 

[Sgt Nambu]

That tells me he was on a M60 machine gun crew. I "whited" up a couple barrels myself... DAM did Top get pi$$ed!

"Oh my! The barrel's getting rosy! I'm just going to stop now so Top won't get angry!"

Yeah, Sure! Top.

 

[ikemay]

Non-vet here. When I see people wearing those military baseball hats with information about the ships they were on, or see stickers in the car windows indicating they are vets, I actually go and shake their hands and say thank you. In fact I did this earlier this week to an older Marine. Anyway, I do not preface my thanks by asking or wondering what they did or did not do while they served. It simply does not matter, the fact is they served, they deserve my thanks.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Regarding MG barrels,
I've had a M60 cook off a time or two... Yikes!
Also had my gunner cut through the radio cord with a hot barrel ... We later had a nice "chat" about muzzle discipline!
Andy

 

[Diamondback]

Funny story... I was out shopping a year or so ago and ran into an ex-Green Beret (the only reason I knew was how he carried himself and his shirt having a cryptic note about "O.D.A. [number]") at the store snack bar. Guy lit up like Christmas when I quietly told him "De Oppresso Liber, sir, and thank you."

EDIT to note: Even when you don't get to serve, all those mottoes are still great stars for anyone to chart their course in life by.

 

[Stomper]

Guess I was a fool ... Would hate to be bird poop!
I only went Airborne 'cause I'm lazy and gravity does all the work when jumping LOL!
Andy

Yeah, I always knew Rangers were slackers. They always tried to look French too... with their cute little berets.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Yeah, I always knew Rangers were slackers. They always tried to look French too... with their cute little berets.

Well yeah ... but we looked cool. And chicks digged the wings , tab and beret!
Andy

 

[Ura-Ki]

Oh man, Cookin M2A2 Barrels was always fun times!!! Got my right ear drum blown from a door gunner sweeping a gun nest, dude ran a full belt into that emplacement! We didn't have full coverage brain buckets, instead we had high side for ear phones, Naturally I had my right side up so I could get down on my M4 and Bam! Even better was running a Mini Gun, Man those burned up the ammo with a quickness! Night ops with tracer was awesome to see too!

 

[Diamondback]

And all of this probably explains some of my career goal of even if only for one term teaching at one of the Service Academies... if I can't serve myself, maybe I can serve those who do by helping make the lessons of the past more accessible to them. (And not like that revisionist pinko sh*t Brinkley, but more like the Eisenhower family.)

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Book / History nerd alert * John Eisenhower has written some excellent history books*

Sorry for thread drift
edit to change name , thanks Diamondback!
Andy

 

[Blackhawk357]

When I raised my right hand and said "so help me God." I gave the government a blank check on my life. Being immediate post-Vietnam/pre Grenada, I never had to serve in combat but my skills with a field kitchen were put to use in constant training. I'm not a combat Vet but I'm still a Vet. Nothing can take that away.

Me too, in from 75 - 79. HM3 attached to the Marines for 3 1/2 years of those 4. I consider myself a vet. I may not have served in combat, but was willing and able to do so if called.

 

[Diamondback]

Book / History nerd alert * David Eisenhower has written some excellent history books*
Andy

So has John. Old Ike himself, while not directly an academic/scholarly-works sort, contributed some useful work that helped show the human sides of those he served with too. At Ease: Stories I Tell To Friends is a personal favorite--when you read that one, the stars are off, the Presidential crap is off, and you can almost imagine yourself in an easy chair in his living room swapping anecdotes. (THAT, to me, is how a good story is told... not droning lecture, but in a relaxed, comfortable setting that opens you up to connect more with those who were there.)

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Yikes! I meant John in my post ... OOPS!
Thanks Diamondback.
Andy

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Back to the original topic.. My father enlisted during vietnam. He did not wait to be drafted. He never talked much about that time in his life. But, what he did say, was that it was generally known, that if you did not see active combat, you were somehow less then worthless. I can only assume he did not, or just could not bring himself to say. I may never know. The only other thing he talked about was deploying mobile bridge systems, and other heavy equipment.

Well, the Army couldn't move a, figurative, foot with out the Combat Engineers. Anyone who was a CE is certainly a veteran!

 

[Blackhawk357]

Don't forget REAL showers... and hot food!!


I keed, I keed!!!

On Okinawa it was quite the treat to go Cadena and eat in the mess hall. Darn near like a real restaurant. Great food. Only got down there a couple of times.

 

[Captain O]

VAQ-129 at USNAS Whidbey Island... Best food in the 13th Fleet! Good grub, the Puget Sound beaches were a short walk away, and Seattle was about 2 hours from base.

Good times.

 

[Captain O]

Any of you vets out there ever have a non-vet tell you 'you aren't a real vet if you have never served in a combat zone/conflict' etc.? I have from a few over the years and recently yesterday from a CONSERVATIVE co-worker and it kind of burns my butt. He actually had to tell me he researched it on the internet to prove to himself a vet is a successfully discharged member with a DD 214 regardless of where he/she served - which I already told him but he did not seem to believe me.

This is bubblegum and we all know it.