Son back from the Army on leave

[wired]

My son came home from the Army on leave for Christmas.. Apparently, someone in charge concluded a few years ago that they were having a recruiting shortage and decided to be nice to them instead of yelling at them all the time. He's in AIT now at Sam Houston. He's never seen a floor buffer. I was describing how they operate the other day. "You light the wax on fire and then pour it over the floor " He looked at me like I was insane. They let them order different boots off Amazon while he was in basic training at Fort Sill if they didn't like their issue boots. He's never done a sit up. EATING AIR FORCE FOOD. Computers in the "rooms" , refrigerators. They bring food from the chow hall ( The DFAC ? ) to their "rooms". F' I'm old.

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[Spitpatch]

Some people's kids....

During one of my "disagreements" with the Air Force, I ended up on the "Goon Squad": pulled from the missile field to G.I. the barracks, orderly room, etc.

First Shirt (1st Sgt) put me in charge of a small crew in a barracks building and I assigned a couple guys to a latrine while I buffed the dayroom floor.

Shortly thereafter, a cloud of noxious fumes rolled out of the latrine door into the hallway, followed by two Jeeps coughing and holding their throats, and I was overcome as well for a bit, opened the latrine window and a hall exit door for ventilation.

First Shirt showed up, bellowing, "What the F..k is going on here!", eyes watering and hacking.

Neither of the troops I had assigned to the latrine had ever scrubbed a floor or a toilet in their life. They'd combined Ammonia and Bleach, stumbling on the perfect recipe for Ammonium Chloride (A rough equivalent to insecticide for humans).

Lack of basic housekeeping skills has never surprised me in the male population since. Lots of negligent mothers out there, I guess.

 

[wired]

Some people's kids....

During one of my "disagreements" with the Air Force, I ended up on the "Goon Squad": pulled from the missile field to G.I. the barracks, orderly room, etc.

First Shirt (1st Sgt) put me in charge of a small crew in a barracks building and I assigned a couple guys to a latrine while I buffed the dayroom floor.

Shortly thereafter, a cloud of noxious fumes rolled out of the latrine door into the hallway, followed by two Jeeps coughing and holding their throats, and I was overcome as well for a bit, opened the latrine window and a hall exit door for ventilation.

First Shirt showed up, bellowing, "What the F..k is going on here!", eyes watering and hacking.

Neither of the troops I had assigned to the latrine had ever scrubbed a floor or a toilet in their life. They'd combined Ammonia and Bleach, stumbling on the perfect recipe for Ammonium Chloride (A rough equivalent to insecticide for humans).

Lack of basic housekeeping skills has never surprised me in the male population since. Lots of negligent mothers out there, I guess.

We would regularly strip old wax with ammonia and bleach. Open the widows, put fans blowing out and put on gas masks. Once every 2 weeks.

I understand the chemistry now and to be honest adding the bleach didn't make the ammonia any more effective at dissolving the wax but it sure seemed like we we doing something spectacular

 

[Stomper]

Some people's kids....

During one of my "disagreements" with the Air Force, I ended up on the "Goon Squad": pulled from the missile field to G.I. the barracks, orderly room, etc.

First Shirt (1st Sgt) put me in charge of a small crew in a barracks building and I assigned a couple guys to a latrine while I buffed the dayroom floor.

Shortly thereafter, a cloud of noxious fumes rolled out of the latrine door into the hallway, followed by two Jeeps coughing and holding their throats, and I was overcome as well for a bit, opened the latrine window and a hall exit door for ventilation.

First Shirt showed up, bellowing, "What the F..k is going on here!", eyes watering and hacking.

Neither of the troops I had assigned to the latrine had ever scrubbed a floor or a toilet in their life. They'd combined Ammonia and Bleach, stumbling on the perfect recipe for Ammonium Chloride (A rough equivalent to insecticide for humans).

Lack of basic housekeeping skills has never surprised me in the male population since. Lots of negligent mothers out there, I guess.

I've known about the no-no's of mixing bleach and ammonia since the tender age of 8.... and not from the hard way of learning either.


My dad (who's .>78) has always been a useless mope when it comes to domestic cleaning chores. He was the youngest of 7 and had 5 older sisters, the closest of which was 7 years older than him.... he's had a veritable maid staff for most of his life!

 

[wired]

My dad (who's .>78) has always been a useless mope when it comes to domestic cleaning chores. He was the youngest of 7 and had 5 older sisters, the closest of which was 7 years older than him.... he's had a veritable maid staff for most of his life!

The good old days.

 

[Spitpatch]

We cheated in Boot Camp, and to get the floor super-shiny with very little work, we bought Pledge at the BX, and sprayed the floor lightly, then just dust-mopped it.

It became repeated slapstick comedy when someone not aware (an officer on one occasion) came into our dorm and had not learned how to walk on it.

 

[wired]

We cheated in Boot Camp, and to get the floor super-shiny with very little work, we bought Pledge at the BX, and sprayed the floor lightly, then just dust-mopped it.

It became repeated slapstick comedy when someone not aware (an officer on one occasion) came into our dorm and had not learned how to walk on it.

There was no going to the PX in basic training except in formation with a drill sergeant escort and anything but johnson paste wax in the yellow can wasn't getting approved for purchase. I'll never get that smell out of my nose..


FWIW, apparently Johnson stopped making paste wax. WTF?

SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb - Walmart.com

Buy SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

 

[Spitpatch]

There was no going to the PX in basic training except in formation with a drill sergeant escort and anything but johnson paste wax in the yellow can wasn't getting approved for purchase. I'll never get that smell out of my nose..


FWIW, apparently Johnson stopped making paste wax. WTF?

SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb - Walmart.com

Buy SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Minwax makes a comparable. Best external protection for firearms on the planet: Wood and steel.

 

[Stomper]

There was no going to the PX in basic training except in formation with a drill sergeant escort and anything but johnson paste wax in the yellow can wasn't getting approved for purchase. I'll never get that smell out of my nose..


FWIW, apparently Johnson stopped making paste wax. WTF?

SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb - Walmart.com

Buy SC Johnson Paste Wax- 16 oz 1lb at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Johnson paste wax was THE SHEIT!!

 

[1911Fanatic]

My son was a DI at Fort Sill a few years ago. He just got out a few months ago. 10 years in and medically retired.

 

[wired]

My son was a DI at Fort Sill a few years ago. He just got out a few months ago. 10 years in and medically retired.

Yeah, My oldest son medically retired out of the air force . 100% disability for some botched stomach surgery they did.

 

[gmerkt]

My first day in the army at Fort Ord. In 1940 era two story wooden "temporary" barracks. Clean all the windows. With water and old newspaper. The DI had some of us climb out the windows, and do the outside panes standing on the stub roof between the ground and second floors. I doubt one second of thought was given to safety.

The clothing issue at Central Issue Facility was very hurried and slap dash. Some of later had to trade sizes in the barracks to get stuff to fit.

Everything was very communal, privacy was unknown.

This was in 1969. My cousin was there ten years earlier in 1959. Around 1956, the armed services standardized on black leather foot gear. The army still had warehouses full of brown boots. When my cousin's lot were issued theirs, they also received a bottle of black shoe polish. They all sat outside re-dying their boots black from brown.

The mental testing regimen was accomplished after several nights of two to four hours of sleep and lots of running around during the day.

All the while there were a number of Mickey Mouse "disciplinary" measures being meted out. For a crooked gig line, an unbuttoned pocket, hands in pockets, boots improperly bloused, etc. Any time you were moving in the company area, you were required to move at "double time." Lots of unnecessary shouting and harassment over nothing.

Later I learned that personnel assignments to the training establishment were largely considered a dead end assignment. Lots of short time first term soldiers, and for lifers, it was typically a terminal assignment just prior to retirement. So some lack of commitment to professionalism now seems natural. Yet some of those junior enlisted men were downright sadistic, like the kind of people who might enjoy kicking a puppy or pulling the wings off butterflies. And seeing this behavior set as an example, they participated willingly.

Later I got to see this from the inside. Before I was sent to Vietnam, I was assigned as cadre in the training establishment. In an AIT company. Which was a lot more civil than in a BCT unit. Once I got out of there, I got to see some of the "real" army. And some people might argue that Vietnam wasn't the real army either.

 

[wired]

My first day in the army at Fort Ord. In 1940 era two story wooden "temporary" barracks. Clean all the windows. With water and old newspaper. The DI had some of us climb out the windows, and do the outside panes standing on the stub roof between the ground and second floors. I doubt one second of thought was given to safety.

The clothing issue at Central Issue Facility was very hurried and slap dash. Some of later had to trade sizes in the barracks to get stuff to fit.

Everything was very communal, privacy was unknown.

This was in 1969. My cousin was there ten years earlier in 1959. Around 1956, the armed services standardized on black leather foot gear. The army still had warehouses full of brown boots. When my cousin's lot were issued theirs, they also received a bottle of black shoe polish. They all sat outside re-dying their boots black from brown.

The mental testing regimen was accomplished after several nights of two to four hours of sleep and lots of running around during the day.

All the while there were a number of Mickey Mouse "disciplinary" measures being meted out. For a crooked gig line, an unbuttoned pocket, hands in pockets, boots improperly bloused, etc. Any time you were moving in the company area, you were required to move at "double time." Lots of unnecessary shouting and harassment over nothing.

Later I learned that personnel assignments to the training establishment were largely considered a dead end assignment. Lots of short time first term soldiers, and for lifers, it was typically a terminal assignment just prior to retirement. So some lack of commitment to professionalism now seems natural. Yet some of those junior enlisted men were downright sadistic, like the kind of people who might enjoy kicking a puppy or pulling the wings off butterflies. And seeing this behavior set as an example, they participated willingly.

Later I got to see this from the inside. Before I was sent to Vietnam, I was assigned as cadre in the training establishment. In an AIT company. Which was a lot more civil than in a BCT unit. Once I got out of there, I got to see some of the "real" army. And some people might argue that Vietnam wasn't the real army either.

It sounds to me lie my son joined what we used to call "The 70's Army " maybe without all the pot smoking and long hair.

 

[gmerkt]

It sounds to me lie my son joined what we used to call "The 70's Army " maybe without all the pot smoking and long hair.

I remember hearing about that after the draft was ended. "Beer in the Barracks." They had vending machines for that, I read. They also got away from large squad bays for housing troops. Existing barracks were divided up into smaller living areas with closets instead of foot and wall lockers. No more Russian POW haircuts upon enlistment, the army allowed a reasonably grow of hair to be maintained.

 

[wired]

I remember hearing about that after the draft was ended. "Beer in the Barracks." They had vending machines for that, I read. They also got away from large squad bays for housing troops. Existing barracks were divided up into smaller living areas with closets instead of foot and wall lockers. No more Russian POW haircuts upon enlistment, the army allowed a reasonably grow of hair to be maintained.

We had beer machines as late as 1990 in Europe and I'm sure they continued after that. Our first Sgt specifically did not allow hard liquor in the barracks but he absolutely didn't enforce it. Theyre still doing the strict haircuts .

 

[nwslopoke]

We cheated in Boot Camp, and to get the floor super-shiny with very little work, we bought Pledge at the BX, and sprayed the floor lightly, then just dust-mopped it.

It became repeated slapstick comedy when someone not aware (an officer on one occasion) came into our dorm and had not learned how to walk on it.

It was not allowed but it worked. Our DI yelled at us for getting caught and told us what would happen if we got "caught" again. We never did.

PS: You still had to run the buffer a little just for show. Curious, I was Flight 770. What are they using these days?

 

[P7M13]

I've known about the no-no's of mixing bleach and ammonia since the tender age of 8.... and not from the hard way of learning either.

Same, but between 6 and 12, I was a cross between pyromaniac and mad chemist. The stuff you used to be able to walk into stores and buy.

 

[Stomper]

Same, but between 6 and 12, I was a cross between pyromaniac and mad chemist. The stuff you used to be able to walk into stores and buy.

Like REAL chlorine bleach, not the fake sheite they sell today!

 

[doninoregon]

The stuff you used to be able to walk into stores and buy.

I once bought potassium perchlorate by explaining that we were doing thermite welding at work. Decades ago.

 

[P7M13]

Like REAL chlorine bleach, not the fake sheite they sell today!

30% H2O2, full strength (~30%) ammonium hydroxide, strychnine, ferric chloride, iodine crystals, KCN, NaOH, Carbon Tetrachloride, quicksilver, and on and on. Now, a lot of these you need to go through special channels to buy.