What is your favorite military prank?

Getting ready to return to the states from Saudi in May '97, one of our NCO's in the tent we were in decided to have some fun with the in coming group that was replacing us. We put alarm clocks in the ceiling of the tent set to go off at different times. We heard about it later that it drove them nuts when we got home.

I got the go to support and get a spray can of K9P.

The one that I was expecting was go get me a piece of flight line. My response would have been ok, the Swiss cheese type or the concrete type. Since I knew the different types of flight lines.

Of course, you can't forget the ID Ten Tango form.

The good old 25mm blank adapter or the PRC E-8 were some funny ones 

One time in Subic Bay, our little diesel submarine was moored along side a Destroyer. Our guys sneaked aboard and stole one of their tampion from one of their 5" guns. When they complained, it was returned to the ship with an engraved message, "compliments of the USS Bluegill (SSK-242). They then tried to board our boat and were captured with a boat hook and we blew our sanitary tanks around them. The next night we stole the same tampion again, and returned it with the additional engraving, (again). Their CO wasn't too happy.

For context I am currently stationed in AK. I told one of my new Soldiers to take the winter air out of the tires and replace it with the summer air. The rest if my platoon could barely keep a straight face while I explained to the new Soldier that the winter air has anti-freeze in it so that the tires don't freeze during the winter, and that driving with the winter air in the tires during the summer could damage them.

I wish I had seen the look on the motor Sergeant's face when a new private asked him where he could get summer air for the tires.

We would put thick zip ties on the drive shaft of our super's truck. You could hear that thing clicking a mile away.

Man it just goes on and on doesn't it? Tank pranks.

Frequency grease for the radios
A box of ground guides
A torsion bar stretcher.

When I was about to rotate out of RVN I was the senior in our hootch. My only rules were keep the floor swept and the shaving water bucket full and don't bother me with BS.

We got a couple FNG Pvts. in from the states and decided that we would make them think they had arrived at the unit from hell. I posted "Pistol inspection 7pm" on our bulletin board and then pulled a couple of our guys aside to explain the prank, one of them went up to the comm. shack to tell the Radio pouges. The newbies whined me "This doesn't mean us does it?" My response was "Of course it does, what do you think this is Pendleton?" One of our guys put on a FU belligerent act and we dragged him out of the hootch to be sent to LBJ (Long Bin Jail). I turned around and an inspection party had arrived, all of the comm. pouges, now promoted from E3s and 4s to staff and gunnery Sgts. One of our LTs got in on it loaning out a silver bar to lend credibility. While going down the line for inspection I heard one say to the other "lets volunteer for a CAP unit, these guys are crazy!" (Combined Action Platoons suffered very high casualty rates) The inspection finished up and the party left to quickly return wearing their proper rank and give up the prank. The sigh of relief was physical from the two newbies. We took them over to our club and bought them a beer.

Mine would be when we sent a new girl for the "keys" to a jet. We sent her to Maintenance Control, who sent her to QA, who sent her to the PR shop, who sent her to the ready room. The only one in the ready room was the skipper, who had had his car in the shop and used a rental on this day. She runs in, asks for the key, he flips her his rental key and back she came to the line shack. So....there we all are laughing and carrying on about the fact someone gave her a key, when the door flies open and there's the skipper. It was time for him to go home and he wanted his car key back...dead silence for about 30 seconds after he left and then we erupted into hysterical laughter

I just returned from XCTC in Grayling. I do feel a little guilty for asking for the BFA (blank firing adapter) for the 9mm I drew. We only let him search a couple minutes.

In my first unit, the training NCO typed up fake orders to S.Korea for a Soldier who was bragging about his ETS in 18 months to others in the unit. So the PSG and others were talking and one suggested we do it. I have never seen the training NCO type so anything so fast and the PSG presented the "fake orders" to the Soldier. The look on his face was of near death.....no joke those "fake orders" looked like the real deal. He went back to his room nearly crying to his parents that he was going overseas. Two days passed before he found out they were fake indeed and he didn't speak to anyone for a week.