New Scaratings

If you can't say anything nice, then...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wui-PNqJrxs

Bo, you might not understand this, but being in the military is not just about blood and guts, fighting, killing, death, heroics, and the nightmare of combat. Those, who served, share a certain comradery, wether or not they ever got shot at. I don't understand why a few old farts sharing stories about their time in the military should be upsetting to you.

My light attitude only applies to my, and others like me, military experiences, and in is no way intended to diminish what terrible things others in the military went through, great bravery they exhibited, and the incredible sacrifices those better than I made.

As to your assertion that "those who saw action rarely if ever discuss it", there are probably more than two or three books out there, written by people, who did.

I will agree with you that there are jerks out there, who make up totally fictitious tales of their heroics in combat. Yes, I will agree with you again, that there are those, who's memories of war are so terrible, that they are unable to talk about them. However, so far I don't think any of the posts that anyone has made on this thread fall into the made up, bullshit category.

Come on, BO, let a few old farts share some stories about their experiences in the military.

p.s. In the nearly five years I spent in the Marine Corps, I met more than a few Jar Heads, who saw combat. None of them had a problem talking about it, and I never met one, who had lost their sense of humor about what they went through.

.......................................................... HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING...!

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"The game is afoot."

May I gently suggest to Cloudy and Bo that they cease posting on this thread ? If other veterans choose to post we can see what their opinions are; on the other hand if none post the silence will tell us something as well.

Hey Bo, since you are clearly offended by the intent of this thread why are you reading it?!?! Or even a part if it?!? Cloudy di d not create this thread to hurt anyone but rather to reminisce and give tribute to the military and those that gave service. While a lot of stories are not pleasant and aren't told, there's many that are worth sharing.

Your assumption that if you weren't in combat made you less of a soldier is very offensive. Of course front line and battle soldiers deserve the utmost respect but any person that's served needs the same. It's a hard and dedicated life that's not for everyone. Those few that do it well, no matter what the position need to be appreciated, past & present.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

Frank, when we wrote those blank checks, few of us knew where they would take our lives. Many lost theirs, and others didn't. Some were terribly wounded, and others never got a scratch. Some went through Hell, while others, who thought they would, never did. We didn't know where fate would take us, but we signed up and marched down that road anyway.

Frank, I feel honored to know you and the others on the "ScaRatings", who have served, or are serving in the military. We have a comradery that transcends branch or service, action seen, where we were, what we did, or the years we were in uniform. We all wrote that blank check...

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"The game is afoot."

(I doubt this will offend anybody.)

In the summer of 1968, I was in Rome, NY, and my Marine recruiter was in Syracuse, when I called him and said that I was ready to swear in. He asked me when I wanted to do it, and I said I would like to do it on July 4th. The recruiter laughed, and said that wouldn't be possible, because that was a national holiday, and their office would be closed. So on July 3rd I rose my right hand and swore:

"I, Keith MacLeod, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic... So help me God."

It was a lonely drive that day, after I borrowed my parents' only car, and made that short trip. My mother's fingers trembled as she handed me the keys to the car. It was a day that would change my life in more ways than I ever could have imagined. Looking back, I think most of those changes were for the good.

How many of you guys remember the day that you took the oath, and changed your lives forever...?

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"The game is afoot."

I think it must have been in 1970, I was flying one CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in a flight of two, as we headed back to MCAS New River in Jacksonville, NC, coming back from Florida. As we neared MCAS Myrtle Beach, SC, Air Traffic Control came up on our radios, and asked us to divert to search for surviors of a F-4 Phantom that had gone down about 100 miles off the coast. We replied, and said that we were low on fuel and would have to land first to tank up. While they were refueling our helicopers, we attended a briefing. Once it was over, we kicked the tires, lit the fires, and took off. When we got to the place where the F-4 went down, we searched the area for about an hour, but found nothing but the vertical stabalizer from the aircraft still floating in the swelling sea.

We went down just above the water, lowered the aft ramp, and while we hovered about a foot over it, our three man crew pulled it on board as far as they could. We couldn't raise the ramp fully, because the F-4's vertical stabalizer was too big to bring through the opening. We lifted back up to flying altitude, and were going to search some more, when we started smelling smoke in the cockpit. At first we thought the smoke must have been coming from the F-4's vertical stabalizer, until our crew chief screamed over the ICS...

"Sir, we're on fire...! We're on fire...! We're on fire...!"

Yep, we were, and the smoke got thicker. We radioed our wingman, and told him what was going on, declared an emergancy, and dropped down to about 20 or 30 feet above the water, in case we had to put her down. At this low altitude, we could not pick up Myrtle Beach's TACAN, so our wingman, flying about 5,000 feet above us, radioed us directional corrections as we headed back to land. He did a damn good job, because when we hit land and jumped over the sand dunes, there was the runway straight in front of us.

As we did a roll-on landing, it was reassuring to see the ambulances, fire trucks, and things that looked like cherry pickers lined up on the side of the runway, which pulled out and followed us until we came to a stop.

The fire in the aft pylon was quickly extinguished. The helicopter didn't blow up, and we all survived.

What had happened was that our APU (That's the auxilliary power unit that started our two big turboshaft jet engines.) didn't shut off, and got very hot. When that happens, it is supposed to automatically shut down, but it didn't. That alone wouldn't have been a fatal problem, except for the fact that our aft transmission had an oil leak that ran directly down on the APU. Combustible fluid flowing over something very hot, and you get a fire.

It's not fun to catch on fire in a helicopter 100 miles out at sea, unless you make it home alive to tell your story.



It was in the back end of this wonderful aircraft, where the fire was.

p.s. MCAS is an abreviation for Marine Corps Air Station.

p.p.s. "TACAN" stands for "Tactical Air Navigation"




.......................................................................

...................................................... Goodnight I'm going to bed, as soon as I make sure that we aren't on fire anymore.

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"The game is afoot."

--Many expletives deleted, thankfully the message was received loud and clear.--

Bo, I'm sorry. I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying that you didn't want to read goofy stuff about people's expeiences in the military. I didn't realize that you didn't want to hear anything about people's experiences in the military.

Seeing that this effects you so greatly, I will refrain from making any more posts to this thread.

Please forgive me, I had no intention of upsetting you.

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"The game is afoot."

I believe you, and that's why I didn't go totally crazy, just a little bit crazy. And I thank you for not relaying any more stories.

Naturally, this shouldn't stop people for thanking those who serve at the appropriate times.

Proud of you dudes for handling it yourselves. I thought you might, hence why I didn't insta-lock it.

Props.

There was this one time...at military band camp...

You had a double reed instrument up your ass?

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Buzztime is a company full of dumbshits.

How about if you don't like a thread topic or what is written in it, DON'T READ IT?!?! Why can't Cloudy feel free to post what interests him? Not everyone is offended by his stories. If you are, then don't troll the thread. I don't get why everyone has to bow down to Bo.

I know that I am breaking my pledge not to post to this thread again. However, BO is a friend of mine. Even though I might disagree with him, I am going to respect his request that people not post any more military stories or jokes to this thread, and I would ask all of you respect his wishes also. They effect him very emotionally, because of the terrible experiences his family went through in wars.

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"The game is afoot."

Well said, my sentiments exactly!!

Well being that I haven't been here in awhile, I figure me chiming in on this thread is better late than never. I was U.S. Army from 1988 through 1992 with a tour in Desert Storm in 1991. Actually I spent the majority of 1991 in Kuwait as our unit was there from the war through September that year. My unit (3/11 ACR) was sent from Bad Hersfeld Germany and I was never so happy to be back in country after that. My Army career, or what was left of it was fairly quiet after that. From basic at Ft. Knox, KY, I spent almost two years stationed at Ft. Carson, CO which I absolutely loved. My MOS was 19E which turned into 19K. Basically an M60A3 to M1 Abrams armor crewman and spent most of my career in the driver position. So in layman's terms, I drove a tank. Beats walking anytime. LOL

Cheers,
--Tony