Afghanistan ('06) was more "roughin' it" than Iraq, and I was in Iraq in 2003.

If I hear another douche whinin' about not having AC in their crackerbox, I'll cry.

aw, man, our hootch in 'nam didn't have AC either... :)

That's just the Air Force guys...wondering where the valet parking is.

Used to piss us off when the A/C only worked about half time when I was in the Indian Ocean. Luckily they got it fixed when we got to Australia.

you were so lucky...

:)

Lucky? WTF! Two weeks without dependable A/C. The berthing had to be in the mid 80's day and night. Was like living hell I tell ya!:eek: Then there were nearly two weeks on the mess decks when they wouldn't even have orange soda. None, nada, zip! We survived on 7-Up and Coke. I lowered myself to Dr. Pepper one day, not proud of it. But that's what it came to, so I did what I had to to survive. We made it through. How? I have no idea. But we made into Darwin and were given two weeks liberty. When we returned to the ship the A/C and orange soda issues had been resolved.

You think that's bad, you should have seen what happened to morale when the power converter in my truck caught fire and we lost the sound system and coffee pot :)

Well...you know what they say...

The Marine Corps takes it.
The Army secures it.
The Navy cleans it up.
And the Air Force lives in it.

Ex Air Force here. :thumbsup:

My father was in the Navy for 25 years. He's retired now. He's been restationed alll over the world. Places I know he's been to (deployment or stationed) are:

Virginia
New York
Hawaii
North carolina
Alabama
Washington
Italy
Japan
Singapore
Philippines (where he met my mom and I was born)
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Australia


And all that was just in my lifetime.

I'm a total Navy brat and I'm still under his Tricare health insurance. I HATE Tricare. They make everything sooo difficult sometimes.

I LOVE the Navy Exchange! Thank goodness they've added more designer brands in the last few years. Including one of my faves: Lucky Brand. :D!!!<3

I grew up in military housing.. namely Murphy Canyon here in San Diego.

My dad would always send my family souvenirs from his deployments. My favorite being the awesomely priced gold jewelry from Singapore and coins!

I loved it when my dad would take me around his ship and I got to meet the captain and the captain showed me around and I got to go to the front of the ship (it was windy!). I got to go to the crow's nest and they gave me tons of ear plugs for some reason. Whenever I went there.. they'd give me more and more.

The airshows were cool, too. My dad was a Mastered Arms Chief and I got to stand next to a huge gun when they shot it. I forgot why they were shooting the guns.. I think it was a drill or something. **shrug**

What freaked me out though was when they'd raise and lower the flag. Everybody would STOP and turn towards the flag or the music and salute until the music stopped. It just creeped me out how they did it automatically like robots. XD My dad still does it if we're ever at the base or the hospital.

He tells me tons of stories of his Navy days.. a lot of them were pretty crazy, but cool. haha

It's funny. I make light of this partly because many of the guys and ladies (yes we had ladies on my ship) would complain about anything and everything. The ship I was on, The USS Cape Cod AD-43, went on a diplomatic tour right after I got on her. Hit a ton of countries in 6mos. All over Asia, Africa, Australia, a bunch of south Pacific islands. Never spent any more time at sea then necessary. Once we got to port we stayed there for a week or two. Spent about a month in Australia alone. When we were at sea every Friday was "surf and turf" i.e. steak and lobster. Guy's would complain that their steak was tough or the lobster was rubbery. I not making this up. We went from Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean to Darwin, Australia with, gasp!, one movie for the mess decks, "The Man from Snowy River." I think some guys wrote their congressman.

We had one guy on our ship, really one of my better friends. He was older then most of us and would get pissed when people complained about BS things. One morning at quarters we were told there would be a special presentation for him at 1500. I asked him "what the hell is this all about?" "It's just a silly thing that happen years ago." That silly thing turned out to be him dragging several wounded Marines out of fire and getting shot three times in the leg in the process. Even after he got shot he went back for the last two guys. Guess he was a Navy medic in Nam. He'd never talked about it. I knew he'd been in during Nam but I kind of figured he either served else where or spent the war off shore providing support. I can't remember what else he got but they gave him a Purple Heart.

People didn't complain as much after that day. Well not around him anyway.

A bitching sailor is a happy sailor.

---------- Post added at 05:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 AM ----------


Cool story. But I think your dad might have been a Chief Master at Arms not a Mastered Arms Chief.

My kids got a bunch of stuff from all over the world, she's now old enough to appreciate it a little.

Hahaha, "I like the way this sucks." "I wish it would suck more!"

Are we talkin' field time here... or phrases I've uttered after picking up a girl from the Ugly Stick?

Dunno...the phrase fits either way.

What is it they used to say? "Embrace the suck" I think I also recall hearing "Fuck the suck"

Strangly enough, those work too. :thumbsup:

I was in the ninja special forces, very hush hush. But seriously, what's with the "Other" option, what other branches are there? Is the National Guard considered armed services?

Also, curious. It seems like everyone knows that airforce is better in terms of like not dying and stuff. And the army is the worst in terms of lack of support for its size kind of thing. So why do so many people still join the army and so few the air force? Also, I figured marines would be a lot smaller, or do we just have an unusually high amount here in the TFP?

anyone purporting to be a veteran of the ninja special forces should know that other nations have armed forces, not just the united states...

i was in the Anarcho branch of U.S. homeland defense.

...we the people

That was me being silly. And I didn't think of that, I tend to think of the TFP as American.

TFP is global...

bump for the weekend...

/me is gettin' my fruit salad from 'nam embroidered on patches so that i can sew them on my golf bag...

lame, i know..., but what the fuck, right?

bump...

U.S. Marines 1986 - 1990
6114 UH1N Huey helicopter flightline mechanic and doorgunner.
Camp Pendleton
El Toro
Kaneohe Bay
Marine Barracks Pearl Harbor

OOH RAH GET SOME!

All for it, brother. My motorcycle jacket has the patches I had sewn on my armor for a year in A-stan.

Army

(minimum character requirment filling text)

Air Force since '96 still loving it.

Coast Guard '76 - '98, plus four years at the Academy.

Officer,Royal Navy,Rtd

I'm nothing but a numbnuts poolee, but I did swear into the Marines today, so I am techinically government property.

Hehe, good luck, keep your head down and your mouth shut when you go to basic.*

*No matter how right you are, it isn't worth it.

Best of luck. When you get basic done let us know how it went.

Lemme know how long it takes you to learn the USMC bark language.

I'm still clueless as to how they communicate.

not yet but i'm ready =]

bump...

USAF, '89 to '98

Was first stationed at Clark AB in the Philippines, working F-4 Avionics, then, just days before a big volcano went off, I went to Hurlburt Field, Florida where I was in Special Ops, working on Modified C-130 aircraft. After that, sill in Special Ops, I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

Places I was sent:

England
Pakistan
Jordan
Egypt
Australia
Guam
Kwajlein
Singapore
South Korea
Cambodia
Guyana
Panama
Etc

I really liked the AF but just got burned out. Towards the end I was gone for 200 to 250 days a year. For those still in that probably doesn't sound so bad. But I was in the service, for the most part, during peace time. War is much different. If I could go back in time, I would have stayed in. But then again, I would have definitely had to go to Afghanistan or Iraq. Might not be here right now...

bump...

i'm in the army currently on a naval base.
i gotta tell ya... navy food SUCKS.

I enlisted in something & did something but cant recall what.

I'm a Marine, and proud of it.

S-3, HQ Battery, 11th Marines. KINGS OF THE BATTLEFIELD! OORAH!



oops...my moto got the best of me...:paranoid:

All army would've retired but my body broke....