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MOS Fads?

Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
edited July 2006 in US Military Veteran Forum
Is it my imagination or is there a causal relationship between the glamorization of various military occupational specialties and the number of people claiming to have "been one"; Following Band of Brothers former members of the Screaming Eagles appeared as if by magic- though several thought Fort Campbell was where Tomato Soup was made. Then there were the groupies after the Tom Berenger Sniper movies- all of a sudden ex-snipers lived on every corner. Then a few years back Underwater Demolition Teams, commonly referred to as SEALS got a movie, so now Seals are barking in every bar. I hope they don't make a movie about the guys that burned the crappers.

Comments

  • Tiger6Tiger6 Member Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ray B, CENTER TARGET Man.. your right on the money.. The wanna-b syndrome is something I just can't understand.. These folks have no pride in who they really are, so they just conjure up some alter ego identity and within seconds become an expert on whatever it is that they just became!

    Now this is not all bad... When finding one of these studs in a bar, and after they explain that if they tell ya, they have to kill ya.. you will normally find that they will either run for the door, or better yet, they start buying you rounds and pumping you for "real deal" insight... LOL... What a bunch of losers!
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tiger- long ago, was at the Benning School for boys. We had a new Cpt (well, new to us) Real baby faced gent, no combat patches, no qual badges, etc on his daily utility uniform (back then, fatigues) Went by his quarters for dinner with him and his wife- after dinner, walked into living room, and noticed the bamboo crossbow and elephant hair bracelets on the bookcase. As it turned out this very quiet gent was SF, Pathfinder, Swimmer- and had 3 combat tours behind him in Nam. The ones that don't run their mouths are generally ones that have been there.
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I remember when I was in Force Recon on my tenth or twelfth tour in the NAM being attached as a sniper to a combined SEAL-Green Beret group responsible for burning crappers. I ain't kiddin', neither.
  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000
    edited November -1
    DWS,

    You must have been one of those Lieutenant Corporal's I heard about![}:)]
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dheffley
    DWS,

    You must have been one of those Lieutenant Corporal's I heard about![}:)]

    Yep, I was one of them, too. And I got a special Combat Action Badge, too...kinda a cross between a CAR and a CIB. I was so bad and so secret and so back behind enemy lines, I'd have to kill ya even if I didn't tell ya about it. I ain't kiddin', neither.
  • bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,866 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    exactly my point made earlier about how it seemed that unless you were in country, you werent a hero. i say EVERY person who was in the military doing their part for God and country was a hero. it takes 80% outside the front lines to keep the 20% on line fighting and winning.
    EVERYONE WAS IMPORTANT.
    i was a 43echo. nec7352/9554/7353/9501/2. when i was working liason duty with the army, they use to call me a sgt/col, because my crow consisted of a sgt's chevron upside down under a bird. thus...sgt/col! theyd salute me. knuckleheads![:D]
    i cleaned snots out of dirty o2 masks. i sewed tool pouches. i packed rigs. i jumped. i never saw action. so what.
    im a vet and proud of what i did for my people. let them make a movie about mundane reality of military boredom. it would be the most honest movie ever made.
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • Henry0ReillyHenry0Reilly Member Posts: 10,893 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Before I enlisted I had met a man who claimed to have served as a dog handler in the Corps. After I came home from MCRD I asked him which phase of boot camp he washed out in.

    His (approximate) response, "I got kicked out right after rifle range. A guy in our platoon killed himself and the DI's laughed about it. That made me so mad I kicked the fooey out of two of them. It took an entire MP platoon to bring me down."

    quote:Originally posted by Ray B
    I hope they don't make a movie about the guys that burned the crappers.


    I just had to comment on this. When I was on Team Spirit in '82 or '83 a couple of morons assigned to that task decided to add more fuel to a fire already burning.

    They both ended up in the burn unit in Seoul.

    Henry (who served long after Vietnam)

    [The autocensor now edits the four letter word for excrement spelled with a ! into "fooey" - how about that?]
    I used to recruit for the NRA until they sold us down the river (again!) in Heller v. DC. See my auctions (if any) under username henryreilly
  • rovernutrovernut Member Posts: 256 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Jeeze[xx(]I can still smell those things burning, and its been what, 35 years??
  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    You guys are getting the rank wrong; a Lt Cpl was a mere enlisted man about the same paygrade as spec 4; I think you are confusing it with Lance Colonel, which is in between Lt Col and full bird- it is commonly referred to as schittbird kernal. And I've seen the Combat Action Badge- It's similar to the expert rifleman badge, but flattened so as to fit above the ribbons.
  • bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,866 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    this is what the army called a sgt col!!
    [:D][:D][:p]
    131-3143_IMG.jpg
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Ray B
    You guys are getting the rank wrong; a Lt Cpl was a mere enlisted man about the same paygrade as spec 4; I think you are confusing it with Lance Colonel, which is in between Lt Col and full bird- it is commonly referred to as schittbird kernal. And I've seen the Combat Action Badge- It's similar to the expert rifleman badge, but flattened so as to fit above the ribbons.


    Ray,

    It was a joke from another post here. I meet a guy who claimed he was a Lieutenant Corporal in Vietnam. When questioned, he stuck by his story. See my post here named "I must have been confused" for the full story.
  • kimikimi Member Posts: 44,719 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hollywood and advertising certainly glamorizes military heroes, and or special branches within a particular service. Young Americans eat this type stuff up! When Snipers, Seals, or special units like the Green Berets are viewed in terms of numbers, there are literally hundreds or thousands of each to go around in the active and retired ranks. The specialized training of these units, to include, physical conditioning like the Force Recon Marines, who in the early 1960s made their daily "morning" run from Camp Horno to the San Onofre Gate and back, in formation before 0500 reveille, is something that will certainly get ones attention, and keep it! I've forgotten what distance Horno is from the subject gate, but I have not forgotten being awakened by their chanting every morning before reveille six days a week.
    What's next?
  • A J ChristA J Christ Member Posts: 7,534
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by bobski
    this is what the army called a sgt col!!
    [:D][:D][:p]
    131-3143_IMG.jpg


    No

    That's a Corporal Colonel, one more chevron and he'll be a Sergeant Colonel. He was a PFC Colonel before he got promoted. Those Navy ranks always had me confused.

    Semper Fi
  • MN HunterMN Hunter Member Posts: 2,299 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    AJ...there are 3 stripes there..

    turn your monitor upside down...you can see it better (i had to) [;)][:D]
  • bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,866 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    see it now? dont look at the gap. look at the 3 silver bars.[:D]
    th131-3143_IMG1.jpg
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    Oh No!! The eagle is going to crash!!!
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