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War stories you got them? Leave them here; Lets share
Topic Started: Jul 24 2007, 06:27 PM (318 Views)
greatwhiteelkhunter
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I don't want to limit this thread to a particular kind of story or to clean or dirty stories just stories. My intent is to share with other veterans and to share with those who never served but deserve a glance at what it's like to serve.

These can be funny, sad, heart breaking or even I'm being shot at stories. No particular era either, any war time or peace time or any country. Private or General don't matter to me.

Lets hear them guys! I'll be posting here more then any other place I have a feeling. After 21 years in the Corps I have a lot of stories.

Lets start off with funny ones and see what happens.

God Bless!
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Condor
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I was assigned to Bien Hoa AB in RVN. I traveled in country (and others) a lot while I was there. The travel was both rough and dangerous because I would go weeks without hearing a word of English or eating anything I could recognize. Vietnamese food there was not like it is in an American city.

I had been on the local economy after being dropped from a Huey for about 2 weeks. I was at Phu Cat Air Base, RVN, after Vietnamization. That meant no chow halls, no AC, no laundry, etc. I had flown up early in the morning to do what I expected to be a couple of hours work. I took only the clothes on my back, tow bandoliers, an AK-47, a 1911A, a B-4 bag of spare parts and my tool kit.

It was summer and hot - not Iraq hot, but good enough.

The job I went there on stretched out and was cursed from the start. Of course, I didn’t know that then.

I was working on an IBM keypunch that was used by the VHAF to order parts and supplies for the birds that they flew out from the fighter base. The problem was a programming cylinder star wheel relay pull up one. It took me a while to figure that out. It was a problem that didn’t occur consistently, but reoccurred just as I would prepare to leave.

I finally got the punch working about mid-morning on the ninth day. I decided to celebrate by going outside the gate to a bahmny bah stand for a Vietnamese coffee.

I was sitting, sweating while my coffee cooled. I heard the particular sound an incoming 122 rocket makes. I hit the dirt and waited until after the blast to look about to assess damage. I saw smoke coming up from the building that I had just been working in.

I rushed back into the area and entered the building. I had been the only one there before my coffee break. Turns out that was fortunate (or maybe planned?).

The 122 had scored a direct hit on the machine I had just fixed! If I hadn’t felt the urge to go for coffee, I would have been killed or messed up real bad.

After that, I figured there was no point in staying and trying to resurrect the keypunch from the dead. It truly knew the definition of Hades – it was there! I called the OPS tower in Bien Hoa by HF radio and was told that a Huey would pick me up in an hour or so. It was something like a four-hour flight back to Bien Hoa.

The return flight dropped me in the quad at Bien Hoa. By then, the chow hall was closed until dinner. I dropped my bags in my hootch that was along the quad and rushed into the exchange snack shop to get something to eat that I could recognize.

I ordered six hot dogs and three milkshakes. I came out still in my Jungle fatigues and carrying my six hot dogs (yum!) and three milkshakes. As I was walking out of the snack shop toward my hootch, I passed a captain. He was new in country to judge by his white T-shirt and silver bars on his 1505's.

I passed him and said "Afternoon, sir". He paced about five steps and stopped me with a sharp "Halt sergeant!” I said something like "Sir?" He said, "Sergeant, you failed to render proper respect to an officer." I asked, "Sir, what do you mean?" He said, "Sergeant, you must render a proper salute to an officer". I said, "Sir, I am just in from the field and my arms are full of real food." He said, "Sergeant, that is no excuse to fail to render proper curtsey to an Officer". I said, "Sir, I report to Major John Skaggs. If you have problems with my military bearing, I suggest that you take that up with him." The Capt left in a huff and I went to my hootch to savor my food.

About 3 hours later, the First shirt woke me up. He said, "Sergeant Barnes, did you have an exchange with a newbie Diwee a couple of hours ago?" I said "It was more like he had an exchange with me." He said, "You know that he reported you to the OM don't you?" I said, "I suggested that he do that very thing. Can I go home now?" He said, "No Sgt Barnes, but the newbie is enroot to as close to the DMZ as we can assign him as we speak." The Major thought it would enhance his career to actually see some combat. Good afternoon, Sgt.” I asked him if they had given the good Capt. an in country uniform issue. He said, "If he doesn't know he needs it, why should we tell him?" I rolled over and went back to sleep and never heard of the incident again. I have no knowledge of the Captains name or what happened to him in theatre. I hope he learned enough to survive the tour.

Yeah, it was a bad trip, but it could have been a lot worse.


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Almtnman
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I had already posted this one, but will place it here to get this topic going. I'll try to dig back deep into my brain and come up with some more.

Talking about killing spiders, I once almost destructed the hooch we lived in over in Korea when one of my buddies told me that he had put a black widow spider in my bed. I don't like spiders and am afraid of them more than a snake, they turn me off and I go insane if someone kids me about putting one on me. I have seen how the flesh is destroyed on people where they bite. So, when my buddy played the trick on me, I grabbed an entrenching tool (a little fold up shovel to you non-military folks) and started swinging at everything that moved including the buddies in the hooch. Those entrenching tools are bad stuff and the U.S. Army special forces in 'Nam favored to use them as tomahawks, not on spiders though. Anyway, it took about 5 seconds and I had the whole place to myself. Funny thing is, nobody ever mentioned a spider around me for the rest of the tour. After they got the stove pipes put back up and the rest of the stuff fixed that I tore down, they apologized and we were the best of friends from that point on. I figured that they wanted to be on my side in case I had a bad nightmare and grabbed that entrenching tool and went to work again.
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greatwhiteelkhunter
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Did I ever tell you Oliver North?? Yes I did but I'm just saying it again. I MEET OLIVER NORTH ND HE IS THE MAN!!

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greatwhiteelkhunter
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Did I mention I meet Chuck Norris????


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Gary, you have been fortunate to meet them.
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greatwhiteelkhunter
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IN 1994 I was sent to Gitmo, Cuba.  At that time Haiti was up in arms and fighting and they were sailing in anything they could get their hands on trying to get off the island.  The coast Guard was picking them up and taking them to Gitmo.  We headed over for a humanitarian mission (feed and take care of them) and arrived in May of 94.  The Haitians were in bad shape (70% had aids) and on top of that they treated us like crap and constantly were breaking out of their camps and hurting our reactionary force, but we kept feeding them.  Our work load was not bad but it was HOT and so it made you feel miserable, then it got BAD!  The Cubans started leaving on anything that would float, at that point we had 18,000 Haitians on the island we were trying to take care of.  Then the US moved into Haiti and they stopped leaving witch is a good thing because now the coast guard is picking up Cubans and bringing the to Gitmo.  The flow of Cubans was so fast that as we were setting up tents and driving in stakes they were moving in.  We were working 18 hour days and the whole island was on water hours (no use of fresh water except between certain hours) the desalt plants could not keep up with the demand for water.  I was pulled off the camp building and was put in charge of a warehouse (I worked with 2 other Marines in this warehouse) distributing items to the Marine and the Army units to issue to the different Cuban camps (by the way we had 2 Marine battalions of infantry and 11 Army companies of Military police) in total we had about 17 camps set up all over the island and a total of 33,000 Cubans were being taken care of.  Remember this is not a combat mission, so ALL of our weapons and ammo was taken away from us when we hit the island and locked up in an armory, so the crowd control was done by hand with riot gear.
Hard work and long days but I found the Cubans to be very hard working and pleasant to work with.  the camp closest to my warehouse (mike camp) was where most of the families were put that had children.  All ages of kids but a ton of them and about Aug I was feeling bad for the kids because it was not their fault they were there, but they had to suffer for it.  So myself and my 2 friends would make soccer balls for the kids using the shrink wrap from our pallets, also I found 1 case of 4 giant cans of hard candy in my warehouse.  this was not enough to go around so the 3 of us stashed it away and about 2-3 times a week or so would sneak the kids candy in our pockets.  Needless to say the kids were GREAT! and they enjoyed us very much, we made them feel special and treated them well. 

We had strict orders, and had we been caught doing this stuff we would have been in a great deal of trouble, but we still felt this was the right thing to do.  Over a period of about a month the parents of the kids began coming up to the gate with the kids and would thank us (all the their words we got thorough an interpreter) and smile and you could see the happiness on their faces because their kids were happy.  To be honest besides taking care of the kids I was also trying to win the hearts and minds of the Cubans, we were representing the US and I wanted to make a good impression on them.   One of the items the Cubans were giving was a little transistor radio, when the batteries went dead they would get more.  this little radio almost cost me my life!! 

If you remember my sister was murdered on July 4th 1987 and my family suffered greatly! My mom and the rest of us fell apart, I had Lisa and the girls to help me but I was suffering from many of the typical Why Her? or only if I had been there? How could God take this 18 year old girl who had done nothing to any one? or she had so much ahead of her?  WHY???????  These things should have pulled me closer to the church but it did the opposite and I let it happen rather then go and talk to a priest.  For MANY years in the summer I suffered! and I spend so many of those following summers deployed (away from my family the support network) that I just felt like I was wandering around looking for something.  Didn't know what but I was and I felt like a half of a man, or a guy missing some parts.  It was at this point I began speaking with the priests they were in our commands and begun receiving counseling.  Many summers I talked and listened to them give me guidance and try to restore my faith but I guess with me being the visual person, I needed a sign, something to tell me God cared about me.  Enter Gitmo!!

One afternoon in Oct 94 the only radio station these people could receive announced that president Clinton announced that NONE of the Cubans that were on Gitmo would be allowed to come to the US.  As if on queue 30,000 Cubans broke out of their camps and begun destroying everything in their sight, nothing was being left un touched! Straight across from me I watch about 3000 Cubans just lay waste to about 100 Army dogs many of them were hurt very bad.  The Cubans used anything they could get their hands on.  The sharpened up the ends of their cots and turned them in giant knifes, rocks, sharp sticks, tent poles with metal ends that were sharpened, everything was a weapon.  The 3 of us had a helmet, flack jacket, and a night stick to protect our self's and that was it.  We had a radio relaying what was going ton to our command but there was NO WAY for them to get to us to help, we were cut off.  The 3 of us knew this was the end, and said our good bys to each other and then took turns telling our command what we wanted them to say to our families because there was just no where to go and it was 3 against 3000. 

It took the Cubans about 8-10 minutes to destroy the MP HQ building and kick the crap out of the MP'S, then they turned around and started coming our way.  They only had about 100 yards to go and all we could do was watch there was NO way out.  We decided to stand our ground and also had decided to take out a few of the Cubans with us, we each had a KBAR knife (we were not suppose to have them but the 3 of us hid ours) and we were not going down without a fight.  About 30 yards away about 10-20 Cubans jumped in found of the crowd and began yelling and screaming.  At this point the interpreter (a Cuban who we became friends with) came running to us and was standing with us in the warehouse.  He began translating to us the yelling and screaming that was taking place.  It was at this point we realized the people out in front were some of the parents of the kids from mike camp.  I could not believe my eyes and the 3 of us just looked at each other in disbelief.  Some of the things said was "this is wrong, these Marines never did us wrong"  "These Marines have taken care of our children don't do this" "if you destroy this place your hurting our kids and us alike it has all the things were going to need"  "DON'T DO THIS TO THEM" 
 
This yelling went on for 45 minutes, the crowd would serge forward at times but was always held back by the Cuban parents.  During this time we continued to rely what was happening to the command over the radio, and while this was going on they were trying to get a platoon of Marine up the valley behind us to get to us and help, but it was slow going.  At the end of 45 minutes the Cubans with their heads hanging a little low turned around and walked away!!!  most of them headed to join in the fight on other buildings and other paces but my ware house was left un touched and we 3 didn't have a scratch on us!! not even one.  I hugged the interpreter and some of the mothers of the kids came up and also hugged us.  later when I was by my self reflecting, I fell on my knees and began to cry and just thanked God for saving my life, there was no way he was no involved in what had just happened, it was at this point I saw my sign, I saw God working in my life and my life was forever changed at that very moment!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Since that day I seem to have the ability to see even the smallest things that God does in my life, and I also see them in others lives.  I pray weekly that others be give the ability to see God working in their lives and that they see and feel him in their life.   I heard Gods message loud and clear that day, I have even felt better about my sisters death, bottom line is God has a plan and we are all a part of it.

Thats my story!! Thats part of what made me who i am today!!
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greatwhiteelkhunter
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I just thought I would share some motivation :) LOVE the bikini poster!!! Talent :) Only an air force Guy would create that. :D
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Those were great! I loved them and may use some as wallpapers of the computer.
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loved THOSE - ALL OF THEM!
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greatwhiteelkhunter
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Ok lets talk about the knuckle heads you have known in the service. You all have at least one guy who will forever stand out for something stupid or just because he was CRAZY.

I have a number of them from over the years BUT there is one guy who stands head and shoulders above the rest. BRYSON! PFC X2 Bryson! This POS was the biggest leadership challenge I have ever had. He was a fat little rolly polly guy who was always over weight and didn't have clue in life. The list of stupid things is extensive but I'll cover a couple funny ones!

No one liked him and every time we put him in a room with room mates it was a problem! He was a sick basta$% and when the feeling struck him he hooked himself up and didn't care who saw him. When not deployed the building we worked in was L shaped with the rooms going down the long length and the office spaces in the short area. I hear screaming one day and look out the window and I see Bryson hanging out the window of his first floor room. You say so? Well it the kind of window that folds in with a hinge at the bottom. I see him fighting with someone on the other end but they have 1/2 his body lodged in the window and working on the other half.

We run down the hall and bust into the room and there are his 2 room mates with chairs trying to push his half naked body out the window. Apparently they came back from chow and he was watching a porno move and that was the straw! So after the fight started they wedged him into the window after throwing him into it and they were working on forcing him out of "their" room!

On float he was told to NOT bring booze on the ship, HE DID! And got caught. While on float he was being verbally abused by the 30 roommates he had and with his KBAR in had threatened to kill them one at a time in their sleep! WELL they took his weapon away, all his knifes, anything he could hurt anyone with and then took his access to the ships ammo magazines away (he was one of my ammo techs and ONLY ammo tech on that ship) SO from that day on I had to cross deck by hilo and do all the ammo work while his butt was working in the chow hall on mess crank! YEA the same over weight guy working ion the mess hall.

While in Okinawa his first duty station he was given NJP for writing bad checks! While going into his NJP he was asked by the 1sgtsgt if he had anything to say for himself and he said he was in oki working deep cover with Miami Vise trying to break up a bad check cashing ring! The 1sgtsgt kicked him into the CO's office to stand his NJP.

Before leaving he asked and was given permission to open a checking account to pay bills. My SSgt help him set it up and made sure he knew how to use it and he had 2000 bucks in the account. He over wrote the account by 3000 bucks!! Most of those checks went to 3 or 4 of the local titty bars!!

When he was being discharged for being a fat body he told me "if you're ever in the Ft Walton Beach area look me up and we can talk" WHAT THE HE&& ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT NUMB NUTS?? GET OUT OF HERE! I have yet to go to Ft Walton Beach for fear of seeing him. ever in Florida
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Almtnman
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I would have to say the knucklehead I knew was when I was stationed at Ft. Ord, CA. We had one guy from Arkansas in our barracks that just never would take a bath. I'm not knocking anyone from Arkansas as there's probably others like this one from every state. Anyway, he got to stinking pretty bad and it was getting hard to sleep in the barracks from his BO. We asked him to take a shower a bunch of times, but he refused and told us that he didn't take baths. We kept asking and he kept refusing. Pretty soon he was smelling like one of those septic tank cleaning trucks and it was unbearable anytime he was in the barracks. So one night, he hit the rack for his nightly sleep and a bunch of us went over with a blanket, threw it over him and drug his nasty butt to the shower. We were well prepared with brushes, soap and cleaning supplies. We scrubbed him down real good with soap and those hard bristle brushes and cleaned him up to where he smelled much better. He sure didn't want the brush treatment anymore and took regular showers after that from that point on. We had did a good job on our training of personal grooming. :D

I bet his parents was proud of him when he went on leave and got there smelling much better.
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greatwhiteelkhunter
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Almtnman,Jul 26 2007
06:19 PM
I would have to say the knucklehead I knew was when I was stationed at Ft. Ord, CA. We had one guy from Arkansas in our barracks that just never would take a bath. I'm not knocking anyone from Arkansas as there's probably others like this one from every state. Anyway, he got to stinking pretty bad and it was getting hard to sleep in the barracks from his BO. We asked him to take a shower a bunch of times, but he refused and told us that he didn't take baths. We kept asking and he kept refusing. Pretty soon he was smelling like one of those septic tank cleaning trucks and it was unbearable anytime he was in the barracks. So one night, he hit the rack for his nightly sleep and a bunch of us went over with a blanket, threw it over him and drug his nasty butt to the shower. We were well prepared with brushes, soap and cleaning supplies. We scrubbed him down real good with soap and those hard bristle brushes and cleaned him up to where he smelled much better. He sure didn't want the brush treatment anymore and took regular showers after that from that point on. We had did a good job on our training of personal grooming. :D

I bet his parents was proud of him when he went on leave and got there smelling much better.

You know I have heard many stories like this one over 21 years to include one from a guy on ship. Forced hair cuts, baths, clean uniform.......... Amazing how people can live.
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