Posted on Jul 1, 2014
What constitutes being "old school" in the military?
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I'm hearing/reading people saying "I'm old school, therefore..." So out of curiosity's sake, where is that ever-moving line?
Tradition
Humor
Memories
Military History
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1808
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If disputes were solved behing the woodshed and didn't involve paperwork..........
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SSG Maurice P.
YES I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GET ONE SO I SHARPENED THE HANDLE OF MY PAINT BRUSH THAT I USED TO CLEAN MY WEAPON I WAS GOING TO STAB THE FIRST ONE IN THE EYE BUT I DIDNT GET A BLANKET PARTY THE RECRUIT NEXT TO ME GOT IT INSTEAD...I HAD A PROBLEM WHENEVER WE CAME OFF OF A 3 OR 5 MILE RUN I WOULD BE OUT OF STEP AND THE DRILL INSTRUCTORS MADE THE PLATOON PAY FOR MY F K UP SO I THOUGHT THAT I WAS GOING TO GET IT BUT THEY KNEW I WAS TRYING SO THEY DIDNT GET ME...
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-Blood-rank/wetting-down ceremony for promotions
-smoking inside all military buildings
-pt conducted in bdu pants, brown t-shirt and running shoes
-"mickey mouse" cold weather boots
-pyle caps and cold-weather ponchos with fur lined hoods
-GOERS, Gamma-Goats and M151A1 Jeeps
-Officer, NCO and Enlisted clubs on-post
-24-hour Motor Pool Guard
-NCOs conducting morning wake-up of barracks personnel and daily room inspections
-Standing at parade-rest anytime you were being passed by or when passing by an NCO until told to "carry-on"
-smoking inside all military buildings
-pt conducted in bdu pants, brown t-shirt and running shoes
-"mickey mouse" cold weather boots
-pyle caps and cold-weather ponchos with fur lined hoods
-GOERS, Gamma-Goats and M151A1 Jeeps
-Officer, NCO and Enlisted clubs on-post
-24-hour Motor Pool Guard
-NCOs conducting morning wake-up of barracks personnel and daily room inspections
-Standing at parade-rest anytime you were being passed by or when passing by an NCO until told to "carry-on"
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SFC William Swartz Jr
MSG John Wirts - the Senior NCO Club was apparently a little before my time, when I enlisted in '87 it was an all inclusive NCO Club...
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SGT Dave Unangst
Road guard flashlights that were damn near invisible with that thick plastic cone good thing we were dressed up in yellow. My ride over in Graf
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CPT William Jones
Nope that gear is made of nylon and I never saw it looks the same but mine was canvas even had a metal canteen not plastic.
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PO2 Donna McIntosh
Today is my anniversary joining the Navy! got one of my LESs from Navy boot camp, in Orlando Jul/Aug 78.. After deductions, roughly $178 as E-2.
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PO2 Joan MacNeill
PO2 Donna McIntosh - Shortly after I was discharged, military pay got a substantial boost. Shortly after I used up my GI Bill, it also got a substantial boost. Story of my life...
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PO2 Joan MacNeill
SPC (Join to see) - Story of my life: Just after I was discharged, military pay got a real generous boost. Just after i used all my GI Bill, but still had some school expenses, GI bill got a generous boost! Poor timing.
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MSG John Wirts
I still have mine and my original dog tags had a military service number, not a SSAN.
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
Here is a P38 and also its gift wrap packaging it came in with a case of C Rations.
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CPT William Jones
I also have my dog tags and a P38 with Officer service number no ssn It is about my 3rd or 4th P38 others wore out the hole making a slot. tags received in 1965
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Old school:
Saw a Commander strip rank of people,
Smoking in classrooms so thick you could not see the screen
Beer in the Soda machine
Had to be an E-5 to own a car
Putting beer on the window ledge, as no one had refrigerators
Going on field exercises with ALICE pack full of Class VI
Your drove a non turbo deuce made by a company called Studebaker
You remember MOGAS
You knew M880's were built by Dodge
You know the M7 Bayonet was built by the Imperial Knife Company in Providence Rhode Island
Rooms so small, during an IG inspection you had to leave the room so the General could go in.
You had to earn E-4, because there was no such thing as automatic
You have fired the grease gun
You have qualified with a .45
The .45 you fired was made by Singer in 1943
You have eaten C rats, K rats, LURPS, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and I don't know how many other generations of MRE's
If one of your buddies got in a fight, you all got in a fight
Shower parties, meant some scuzz ball got the banjo brush
Conex counseling was not a good thing
First Sergeants gave article 15's
First Sergeants would go on beer runs at the end of a long FTX
You watch a tracked vehicle go through a home on a REFORGER exercise
You know what EDRE stands for.
Saw a Commander strip rank of people,
Smoking in classrooms so thick you could not see the screen
Beer in the Soda machine
Had to be an E-5 to own a car
Putting beer on the window ledge, as no one had refrigerators
Going on field exercises with ALICE pack full of Class VI
Your drove a non turbo deuce made by a company called Studebaker
You remember MOGAS
You knew M880's were built by Dodge
You know the M7 Bayonet was built by the Imperial Knife Company in Providence Rhode Island
Rooms so small, during an IG inspection you had to leave the room so the General could go in.
You had to earn E-4, because there was no such thing as automatic
You have fired the grease gun
You have qualified with a .45
The .45 you fired was made by Singer in 1943
You have eaten C rats, K rats, LURPS, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and I don't know how many other generations of MRE's
If one of your buddies got in a fight, you all got in a fight
Shower parties, meant some scuzz ball got the banjo brush
Conex counseling was not a good thing
First Sergeants gave article 15's
First Sergeants would go on beer runs at the end of a long FTX
You watch a tracked vehicle go through a home on a REFORGER exercise
You know what EDRE stands for.
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SGT Randall Smith
So well remember most of these. Would sneak beer into the barracks in Germany and put it on the ledge outside to get cold. Took a Article 15 from the TOP. Better than the CO giving it but harder. The only rank automatic was Pvt E-2.
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SP5 Douglas Murphy
I remember a lot of these, too. TOP going into the local town with the company fund and a jeep trailer, and buying flip-tops from the local brewery at the end of an FTX (2 beers each), and getting an Article 15 (from the CO, in my case) for beer in my wall locker. No loss of rank (I was an E-4 at the time), but lost 2 months pay. No MRE's for me, but everything else in the list, yes for MOGAS, yes for the .45 (fired Expert, by god, and it was a Singer), watched an M-60 slide through a 15th century church on slick cobblestones (was also a cover photo in Overseas Weekly ... remember that?), never fired a grease gun, though, and skated the outside on the car owning ... bought it as an E-4 and drove illegally for several months.
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CPT William Jones
sounds like this was about the same time I was in. Reforger 1 was conducted while Ii was in Germany between trips to the livefire FTX in SEA.I had 4 years in at this time.
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When you like old music, drive old cars, talk about old values, and are called an old fart!
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PO2 David Wagner
My father owned a '51 Henry J and a shipmate of mine bought a used Allstate in '66. They were the same car with different emblems, sort of like the difference between a Chevy and a GMC pickup today. These were the original compact car and they were quick, but unreliable. Don't forget that it was built by Kaiser the same company that built the Frazer and built the "Liberty Ships" that brought troops and supplies in support of D-Day.
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MSG John Wirts
Ah yes the Henry J (kaiser), and the Allstate both wonderful cars. I would like to see one of these car on overhauling, I would really like to see what Cihp Foose would do with one of these. Remember the king midget? it was one of the last mail order kit cars.
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PO2 David Wagner
I do remember the King Midget. It might not have been a Crosley, but you could assemble it at home.
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Oh and I forgot, when I was in, we used rocks as ammo. Times were tough I tell you.......tough.
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SPC George Allen
You think that was bad you guys should have been there for the fight over picking dirt's color.....
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Jumped a Huey
Jumped a C-141
Cussing was normal speech
Kept a wall locker inspection ready at all times and had extra uniforms and gear for daily use
Most of your Senior NCO's and Officers were Vietnam vets
Put Mop and Glo on your Jump Boots for Class A Inspection, that little secret really messes with peoples head. Do not try it now!
Troops actually feared the 1SG and CSM
NJP was feared more than an Article 15: Being the 1SG's / CSM's boy was to be avoided at all costs! Mowing the Brigade Parade field with a push power in full battle rattle!
Jumped a C-141
Cussing was normal speech
Kept a wall locker inspection ready at all times and had extra uniforms and gear for daily use
Most of your Senior NCO's and Officers were Vietnam vets
Put Mop and Glo on your Jump Boots for Class A Inspection, that little secret really messes with peoples head. Do not try it now!
Troops actually feared the 1SG and CSM
NJP was feared more than an Article 15: Being the 1SG's / CSM's boy was to be avoided at all costs! Mowing the Brigade Parade field with a push power in full battle rattle!
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SP5 Douglas Murphy
Jumped C-141, no Hueys. ALL of my senior NCO's (and even most junior NCO's) and officers were Vietnam vets; NO Mop and Glo. Every 1SG I ever had could spot it 10 miles away, and yes, we actually feared TOP.
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1SG (Join to see)
'Cussing'. Too funny; back in the day everyone from the BC to CSM to PFC's said 'f*ck' every other word :) Any it wasn't considered disrespectful!
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1LT Peter Suedfeld
Back in my day, sharp troops used 5-Day Deodorant Pads for a really hard final shine to already spit-shined boots. I continued using them after I got out and joined ROTC. The first time my then girlfriend saw the giant jar in my room, she started wondering whether I never took a shower or just had naturally horrible B.O. I had to give her an on-site demonstration of what they were really for.
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LCpl Kimberly Wells
I could not even imagine asking for a safe space, first any NCO who heard me would have gave me a nice "safe place" to do some sort of shit duty for a long while and if happened to be a WM my life would have been turned into living hell for embarrassing my fellow Women Marine by being a whiner.
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