Who remembers "raking sand" and "policing/field stripping" cigarette butts?

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:42:45 -0500

The Original Hard Core Military....

Response by SPC James Mcneil made Nov 14 at 2014 6:45 PM

SPC James Mcneil — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:45:21 -0500

Raking sand, organizing the rocks, etc. Yep!

Response by PFC Zanie Young made Nov 14 at 2014 6:50 PM

PFC Zanie Young — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:50:53 -0500

Area beautification it was called... I've had my fair share of raking sand...

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 14 at 2014 6:58 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:58:13 -0500

I remember that and policing UNDER the WWII barracks. And if anybody screwed up (back to your basic training question, SGM Private RallyPoint Member), we got to do police call in a squatting position. That was "fun" ... I used to call such things "good training" to keep my morale up.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 14 at 2014 7:05 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:05:37 -0500

How about this classic from Basic Training:

Drill Sergeant: "Who here has a driver's license?"
Unsuspecting Private: "I have a driver's license, Drill Sergeant"
Drill Sergeant: "Here, Private (Hands Private a rake), drive this rake"

END SCENE

Disclosure: I was that Unsuspecting Private.

Response by CPL Rick Stasny made Nov 14 at 2014 9:51 PM

CPL Rick Stasny — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:51:37 -0500

I got stuck as a holdover at Ft Sill awaiting my clearance. I was the master of raked dirt, but the worse detail I was assigned to was when a sergeant showed up and I was told to get in the truck. He drove me to cannon hill. They only used a tractor to mow so close to the old artillery pieces. The sergeant had a lawn chair and a cooler. I had a push mower, goggles, and ear muffs in shin deep grass. Hot and miserable, I thought what the hell did I sign up for. Every time I caught sight of that sergeant, I beat feet.

Response by SSG Jeffrey Spencer made Nov 14 at 2014 10:07 PM

SSG Jeffrey Spencer — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 22:07:07 -0500

We once had to low crawl across a field and turn over every stone in our path so it wouldn't get sunburn.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 14 at 2014 11:29 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 23:29:08 -0500

I remember we had just finished "beautification" of my Kaserne when I was stationed in Darmstadt Germany. There was a gravel parade field in the center of the place, and a couple of details had finished sweeping the sidewalk perimeter. No soon had the brooms been put away when a lost helicopter pilot landed right in the middle of the field to run and ask for directions to the nearby airfield.

The bladewash, not only sprayed gravel and dirt on all the cars parked around the parade field, but completely undid (and made worse) the gravel covering the sidewalk.

All the CSM could do was shake his head and throw up his hands in defeat as the copter flew off.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 15 at 2014 7:24 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 19:24:40 -0500

I remember turning rocks over in the motor pool.

Response by Lt Col John Grimes made Nov 16 at 2014 10:31 AM

Lt Col John Grimes — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 10:31:20 -0500

lived in a number of those old wwII barracks - often they would get upgraded with sheet rock wall and ceiling covering and new florescent lights. Then opened them to the cretins who would stand around with their feet propped up on the walls, and then lay on their top bunk, and kick holes in the ceilings. The Army always hung on to these old, difficult to maintain buildings long after they would be empty - waiting for a change of mission to fill them back up. When I switched over to the Air Force, I was impressed by their strategy for these old buildings. As soon as one became empty, they would send in the Civil Engineers, and tear them down. This gave them the advantage of telling congress that they needed to provide funds for new buildings if they were given new missions. It worked!!

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Nov 16 at 2014 8:56 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:56:05 -0500

OLD SCHOOL!!

God, How I used to hate police calling the woods because the old man found an un-field stripped butt somewhere. Sand raking was always fun, I used to pretend is was etch-a-sketch. Nobody could do a parquet sand bed like I could!

Response by PV2 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2014 10:14 PM

PV2 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 22:14:29 -0500

Holy crap! I do!! wow!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2014 10:14 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 22:14:39 -0500

Me!

Response by SPC(P) Jay Heenan made Nov 16 at 2014 10:44 PM

SPC(P) Jay Heenan — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 22:44:08 -0500

Shoot, I still field strip my cigarettes and put the but in my pocket...let me just tell you how pissed my wife gets during washing day!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 16 at 2014 11:55 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:55:35 -0500

SGM Private RallyPoint Member Well, I still do that. I try to keep myself in line, but you know how that goes. Today's old school youth!! LOL

Response by SSG Selwyn Bodley made Nov 17 at 2014 8:14 AM

SSG Selwyn Bodley — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 08:14:27 -0500

WAIT???!!! We don't rake sand anymore? I qualified expert with the Rake

Response by SFC Dave Joslin made Nov 17 at 2014 8:57 AM

SFC Dave Joslin — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 08:57:49 -0500

I've painted rocks once upon a time!

Response by SSG Tim Everett made Nov 17 at 2014 9:47 AM

SSG Tim Everett — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 09:47:46 -0500

I never raked sand, but I did rake gravel. Also never field stripped a cigarette butt, but I did my fair share of picking them up.

I had SDNCO one night and I had an extra duty private show up. I forget what offense he'd done but I was told to make sure he got some creative training. So I made him shovel all the snow off the grass, cut the grass, then shovel the snow back on.

Response by SGT Terry White made Nov 19 at 2014 9:43 AM

SGT Terry White — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 09:43:17 -0500

As a PFC in Fort Belvoir in 1981 taking the Defense Mapping Schools 81B coarse the Forts CSM would drive around the Post and discover the most minute areas where leaves had fallen (in the woods of coarse) and we had to rake the woods clean of leaves. Oh well, we had a great time doing it.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 19 at 2014 10:47 AM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:47:25 -0500

...or maybe picking up road kill?

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made Nov 19 at 2014 10:55 AM

LCpl Steve Wininger — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:55:57 -0500

Raked sand around the barracks at 29 Palms. Simple instructions, If it is green and growing, it has to go.
Squad on line for policing parking lots and fields.

Response by TSgt Tim (lj) Littlejohn made Nov 19 at 2014 12:09 PM

TSgt Tim (lj) Littlejohn — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 12:09:16 -0500

oh boy the fun things they had for out time, how about FOD walks!!!

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Nov 19 at 2014 2:15 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:15:31 -0500

I qualified expert on rifle, pistol, buffer, rake, and mop.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Nov 19 at 2014 2:15 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:15:04 -0500

Please let us honor the tradition of painting rocks. One day the 1SG discovered that the underneath of the rocks had not been painted. A horrible time was experienced by all.

Response by SP5 Michael Rathbun made Nov 19 at 2014 2:29 PM

SP5 Michael Rathbun — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:29:13 -0500

My best-ever sand raking detail came early in my brief stay at the Cam Ranh Bay DEROS transient area. Normally, you plopped your gear on an empty bunk way down the road from the Head Shed. When birds left for CONUS, empty space opened up, and everybody moved down. The wait, I was told, was usually five to eight days.

On my first afternoon there, somebody came by and said "I think they keep calling your name on the horn down at the Head Shed." Not having anything else to do with my time, I sauntered down there and asked "You looking for me?"

It turned out that when I turned down the two-month drop, the orders for the original depart date made it to CRB, but the orders modifying those to reflect the later DEROS never made it.

I had been, as far as they were concerned, AWOL from every freedom bird load roster for over two months, including two so far today.

They were happy to have me off the books, I suppose; they set me to raking sand for an hour or so (no shortage of sand at CRB), after which I grabbed my gear and got on the bus to the flightline.

Response by SSG Christopher Parrish made Nov 19 at 2014 3:15 PM

SSG Christopher Parrish — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 15:15:16 -0500

I've had to plant grass along the walk way, after I had just raked up the grass seed I planted the day before. I did this for a week. Stupid Article 15.

Response by SSG Christopher Parrish made Nov 19 at 2014 3:17 PM

SSG Christopher Parrish — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 15:17:23 -0500

Response by SP5 Joel O'Brien made Nov 19 at 2014 6:13 PM

SP5 Joel O'Brien — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:13:56 -0500

My dad told me about "field-stripping a cigarette" during his time during WWII. Hel also told me about tucking the paper match back in the matchbook and not to drop it on the ground.

Response by CPL JeMario Laurie made Apr 14 at 2015 8:21 AM

CPL JeMario Laurie — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 08:21:14 -0400

Sweeping the flight line during a sand storm