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?
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1808
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In the Marines, I've hear it said many times that "old school" was pre McKeon incident. It apparently changed the way traing was conducted after that. Who knows for sure except that my grandpa in law is definitely old school. Pearl Harbor doesn't get much older than that.
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SSgt Jim Rooth
M-37 Utility Vehicle (Jeep)
M-37 Personnel Carrier
C-Rats
M-35 deuce and a half
No Multi-fuel engines in any vehicles
Heating unit for C-Rats was tabs off motars
Disbursing was always somewhere else
"My pay is correct, Sir" on paydays. No Checks etc.
M1 Garand, M14 - no M16A1 (Went on R&R to Bangkok in '67, returned and was issued this plastic toy from Matty Matel. Had never seen nor fired one before. Patrol that night had a much larger pucker factor because of that damn plastic rifle...)
M-37 Personnel Carrier
C-Rats
M-35 deuce and a half
No Multi-fuel engines in any vehicles
Heating unit for C-Rats was tabs off motars
Disbursing was always somewhere else
"My pay is correct, Sir" on paydays. No Checks etc.
M1 Garand, M14 - no M16A1 (Went on R&R to Bangkok in '67, returned and was issued this plastic toy from Matty Matel. Had never seen nor fired one before. Patrol that night had a much larger pucker factor because of that damn plastic rifle...)
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MSG John Wirts
M-37 utility vehicle was a dodge powerwagon 3/4 ton "pickup". The jeeps were M-38, M-38A1, and M-151. Also the M-16 was the first Mattel rifle, then came the M-16A1,and then the M-16A2. All were worthless in my estimation.
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LOL I was in for 4 years, came in a PFC, left a SGT. Deployed twice. This is what a leader means when they are "old school".
- You do PT instead of getting counselings
- You do FM 21-20 instead of PRT
- You dont care about being PC (Politically Correct), you just want the job done
- You do PT instead of getting counselings
- You do FM 21-20 instead of PRT
- You dont care about being PC (Politically Correct), you just want the job done
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That's a matter of perspective - depends on when one served. My ideas of old-school would likely be different from someone currently serving.
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SSG Selwyn Bodley
Absolutely correct, so out of curiosity... what IS your perspective of Old school?
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PO1 Mike Wolff
Old school - well, I was active duty from 1990 to 1995. Old school was Viet Nam vets who were senior on my ship, and the stories it had in its history. CGN-9 (U.S.S. Long Beach) was the first nuclear powered surface ship, and it had some other interesting firsts. It was the first to shoot down a MIG with a missle during Viet Nam... As a nuke electronics technician, there was a lot of 'old school' instrumentation and control hardware down in the plants that I worked on. Magnetic Amplifiers for temperature and pressure instruments driving meters would be something that comes to mind. I mean seriously - no transistors in that gear. Ironically, we had no vacuum tubes in any of that gear. The newest instrumentation and control gear were 70's technology, with a lot of original gear designed and built in the late 50's. It was kind of like going to Cuba and seeing all of the old 1950s cars that are still on the road. Other old school stuff would be dealing with discipline issues 'in the family' rather than sending somebody up the chain of command to be dealt with.
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I am so old school that the voices in my head are in Sanskrit! PO2 Ed C. But I am not complaining because my mancave is literally a cave.
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PO2 David Allender
I remember entering Boot Camp at Great Lakes, and the first thing I hear is "YOU'LL BE SORRY!" I've often wondered how many times since January, 1962 that phrase has been repeated?
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Honestly it all depends on when you're in. Example Marines can now roll their sleeves again, so old school before that was people who previously rolled their sleeves, now that they roll sleeves again, the ones that were in when they couldn't would be more old school than the ones who came in when they couldn't. It's all a matter of what changes were made that affect boots that came after you that had something you didn't. When I joined the Crucible was still new, so if you were in before the Crucible event, you were old school.
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Cpl Ray Fernandez
Cpl Dennis F. and Cpl Phil Mason I've told others that unless you're the oldest living Marine, you're boot too some one else.
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MSG John Wirts
I remember that the Army and Corps both had to develop their distinctive sleeve roll, the Army pulled the sleeve up above the elbow, rolled the cuff down to hide the inside of the sleeve, the marines just rolled it up with the inside left showing.
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SSG Maurice P.
CPL FRESCH my brother i remember the night forced march to ELLIOTS beach where we were tested the next day on our skills as marines......
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I am the old school white guy in the rap world - I start with Chuck D in the 1980's...
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Major Petrarch,
Will burying our father at Arlington National Cemetery last Friday 7 Mar 2025, finally joining him up with our mother who’s been buried there since 1973. I was talking with my Brother who’s older about old Army PT stuff. I went down memory lane with all the old stuff I did in the 1980s in the US Army. Kinda like your list you wrote. My brother just looked at me as he’s a 101st guy from the early 1970s and said, “but did you do PT in combat boots and fatigues like he did.” In his day they had no PT uniforms every PT session was in boots and utes. I laughed and said you got me there. He laughed a big laugh and said uh huh. My 12 years in US Army I’m very proud of and as I transferred to the USAFR in 1995 And spent another 24 years until retirement. I and my brother just sat there as the old guard US 3rd Infantry did a flawless ceremony with Chaplain CPT Philip Morelock officiating with the absolutely best ceremony and prayers we have ever heard. I wish I knew the rest of the details names as I will be writing a letter to the 3rd Infantry commanding general acknowledging and thanking them all for their great work. To every veteran out there I just want to thank you for your service. This country would not be free without you.
Will burying our father at Arlington National Cemetery last Friday 7 Mar 2025, finally joining him up with our mother who’s been buried there since 1973. I was talking with my Brother who’s older about old Army PT stuff. I went down memory lane with all the old stuff I did in the 1980s in the US Army. Kinda like your list you wrote. My brother just looked at me as he’s a 101st guy from the early 1970s and said, “but did you do PT in combat boots and fatigues like he did.” In his day they had no PT uniforms every PT session was in boots and utes. I laughed and said you got me there. He laughed a big laugh and said uh huh. My 12 years in US Army I’m very proud of and as I transferred to the USAFR in 1995 And spent another 24 years until retirement. I and my brother just sat there as the old guard US 3rd Infantry did a flawless ceremony with Chaplain CPT Philip Morelock officiating with the absolutely best ceremony and prayers we have ever heard. I wish I knew the rest of the details names as I will be writing a letter to the 3rd Infantry commanding general acknowledging and thanking them all for their great work. To every veteran out there I just want to thank you for your service. This country would not be free without you.
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I used to have breakfast with some WWII vets at a place in Bandera, TX (all motorcycle riders). One guy told me about riding his cavalry horse to the next fort in Oklahoma to take the flying physical. That’s as old school as I ever saw.
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