Likes and dislikes while in the Service

[Rick]

Seeing some of the post I thought I would ask what you liked about the service and what you hated.

I had great officers and leadership on my ship the USS Independence. The food was good, and everyone worked good together for a common goal to get aircraft safely in the air and then to get them back down again.

I didn't like the long family separations and would rather be at war than standing inspections in peace time. Also discipline was not distribute evenly between the races.

[mike24d20]

Well since I started a rats nest on the other post, I will say I liked my CO at the 48 shop in San Diego. He was a mustanger. Liked the chow at the sub base. One dislike was after getting back off leave, you would find youself in another div. Was strange beign a ex army nco from the nam era stuck in with a bunch of kids who had never fired a shot. An I hated the weekly inspections an extra duties on base.

[JohnMOhio]

Loved the work on the Bom/Nav System for the B52 E. Hated Barracks life. Worked with a great bunch of guys, NCO's and Officers, with only a couple of exceptions. If promotions had not been frozen when my enlistment was up, I think I would have stayed in. Was guaranteed Staff but beyond that was very much in doubt in 1963 in SAC with the most promotions going the Atlas guys.

[joem]

Dislikes? Cold showers, mouldy boots and cloths, high humidy and mosquitoes the size of humming birds. Other than that not bad.

[jon_norstog]

The 4-8 watch on a 3-section watch list. You get up at 3:30 AM, relieve the mid waTCH at 3:45, get relieved at 7:45, late breakfast so the eggs are cold and the raisin bran is all gone, then work a full day, then stand another watch at the end of it. Drop in your rack exhausted. Repeat, until the watches are rotated.

jn

[Griff Murphey]

I loved it. I got to shoot, enjoyed serving with the Marines (Army ROTC came in very handy) as a dental officer. When I was a dental student at Baylor a next-door neighbor was a USMC Vet and he predicted "They are gonna treat you like a king!" and he was right. Had the Navy end of it being out on DUBUQUE, DULUTH, DURHAM, BLUE RIDGE, OKINAWA, and NEW ORLEANS. Visited Cambodian and Vietnamese coastal waters (maybe not voluntarily on those), as a "tourist" I experienced Okinawa, PI, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oceanside, San Diego. Couple of examples of how the Marines treated me. My cabin on the DURHAM became the 1-4 Arms room which was no problem with me but it was a small hassle as people would come in at 2 AM to get a shotgun or pistol. I put a note on my door (hatch) saying "Please be quiet when retreiving weapons." and the next day they had MOVED THEM someplace else on the ship to avoid bothering me. We left for the Vietnam evacuation on Easter Sunday 1975 and my BOQ room was full of my models and model building projects including a craftsman-built 5-car HO (La Belle wood kits) passenger train almost finished, 1:1200 ship models, a couple of big scale plastic models like a 1/300 SHINANO, etc. I was told "Someone from the Battalion will pack up your Q room!" OK, fine, that's war. I met the guy in the Philippines who had that job about two months later. "Doc," he told me, "when we went in your room and saw all of your stuff, we really did NOT want to pack it up and store it. The base was not THAT short on housing. So we just locked your room up and it will all be there for you when you get off float." Another funny story, when I got on NEW ORLEANS my pack seemed heavier and bulkier than normal. There was a big bottle of Chianti in it. Gift? Attempt to get me in trouble? Whatever, it was enjoyed! My only criticism was I lost two years in building a practice, and the dentistry was not varied. But I did get VERY good at fixing badly broken down teeth and I can still fix teeth today, 36 years later, that the kid dentists today would extract.

[phil441]

My main complaint was with the E-1 and E-2 office types who with a careless stroke of the typewriter could cost you a much deserved leave or even a promotion. When the CO put you in for a promotion and the promotion list came back with your name left off, well, you started to get a little bitter.
Even when the CO got you a promotion at your next duty station, the time-in-grade was shot to hell.

[TomSudz]

I liked breakfast. I disliked having to wake up early enough to eat it!

[dave]

Politics played by many, especially senior NCO's, may not have been universal but I was working mid nites with a couple 5 stipers who were very early into secound tour, 5 years or so. I was a 2 striper and went thru the routine for 3rd stripe, writen test, oral board, etc. I was a radio repair tech guy while the NOC's were radio operators. To keep awake and cause they were always talking about how good service was, a couple times I pulled their chain about how I had a job waiting when I got out and would make more then them right off ( it was true). I really was going to re-up (the job was a lousy one). Well the CO called me and said how well I had done BUT he was holding up promotion cause "I was talking against the service"! So those two SOB's went behind my back and complained like a couple 6 yr olds instead of telling me to shut the f**k up! 3 months later my promotion came thru, 3 mo. lost time-in-grade! 3 mo. more time was up and I got the re-enlist talk and promise of 4th stripe, which was a damn lie cause T-in-G was very strick in my MOS. Oh well, I did miss Nam!

[Michael Tompkins]

I loved the food, especially the SOS. I loved the excitement and challenge that came with being a divisional MP (sometimes it was too exciting!). I loved the guys I hung with. I loved the German people and their culture.

Hate is such a strong word, but I hated the 24 hour shifts. I hated the kiss-asses. I hated the alerts. I hated the bull-sh*t. I hated the O.D. green permanent-press uniforms. I hated responding to the traffic accidents and domestic disturbances. I hated that I didn't travel more.

[Kirby]

I pretty much liked every thing but I did not care for Dept of the Army civilians and having to work with ring knockers.

[raymeketa]

What is not to like? Being an 18 year old American Sailor, with American Dollars, a free ride to Europe, the Mediterranean, and South America in the post WW II years, good chow, good shipmates, beer, and girls.

I vaguely recall that were things that I didn't like but I'll be danged if I can remember what they were.

Ray

[Dan In Indiana]

Three R&R's in Bangkok, 'nuf sed!

[Rick]

We got I & I ( intercourse and intoxication) instead of R & R although I think it the same thing.

[TomSudz]

The buddies. You lived together, ate together, drank together, laughed with each other, and suffered when your brother did. With few exceptions, nowhere in life will you be closer with non-blood relatives. Their backgrounds didn't matter (unless you were poking fun) and their skin tone meant nothing. We were willing to die for each other and just might have been dumb enough to do it. I think about some of those times and always smile. One of the most vivid memories is from a road march. One of the guys managed to get a couple of HUGE blisters and they popped. You could hear the blood squishing in his boot every time his foot hit the ground. He was in pain- bad. We gathered around him and two guys shared his gear while two others helped him walk. We switched off carrying his gear and helping him walk- for 15 miles.

[Weasel]

Liked stationed with VRC 50 at NAS Cubi Point PI for 15 months.:banana100::banana100::banana100: Disliked stationed at NAS Whiting Field Milton FL for 2 yrs. Now you talk about chicken sh!t that was it.:eek::eek::eek:

[coastie]

Coast Guard!
1966-1970
Alternate good and bad:
I have yet to be shot AT!
Going out in the proverbial "dark and stormy night".
Bringing in a vessel formerly in distress.
Obtuse senior petty officers
Great senior petty officers.
Leaving Port Aransas [Oh, the beaches in summer!]
Leaving Port O'Conner--[actually would be a good station if you like to fish and HAD A CAR!]
Aced Navy Quartermaster School
Bombed Navy Signalman School, ergo no Coastguard QM3
CG had you take both courses because CG had no signalmen.
Posted to Buoy tender in Galveston and home is Houston.
Assigned to buoy gang after meet and greet with pompus XO.
New XO and recent Bosun Mate Chief finally got to take servicewide for QM 3....aced it!
Reserve Ensign didn't recognize symtoms of severe Mono and had me up on insubordination charges untill squashed by XO and Doctor's reports. [his history: 12 years getting Navy signalman, 5 years getting his degree from Kingpoint, then CG Ensign at age 35{?}]
Did my job on the bridge and got to like it.
Terriffic row with above noted Ensign when I believed our position returning to Galveston from Sabine Pass to be too close to shore and then being ORDERED OFF THE BRIDGE BY THE CAPTAIN!
[40 minutes later, the East Jetties were seen through the heavy haze by the bridge and bow watch as set by the BM Chief who "had concerns" after my bridge fiasco. and a HARD TURN to port was executed.
Was not allowed to take test for QM2.
When asked about reenlistment by the [good] XO, what he saw was air moving where my body had been.
Yeah, I miss SOME of it, and wish that, as a 2nd class--E5, I might have stayed in, but my mouth got me in trouble when I knew I was right.
And I was more right than in error.

Oh, 10 weeks after separation, the QM striker--3 years in that position--called me at my parents home.
I returned the call.
He and the QM2 wanted me to come back and update the nautical charts that had been my duty and they had been neglecting!
Gee, talk about "good" shipmates!

[C5M1]

Was stationed at Ft Bliss Tx after I got back from VN. If it weren't for Juarez just across the border and a 22 pistol, I may not have made it through it.

Spit and shine, typical stateside bull crap, man, that was hard duty. Never showed up for any work details, missed everything except most morning roll calls. Always being called in by the CO for many a a$$ chewing. Just didn't give a chit. After roll call and breakfast it was to the desert with the 22 to kill Jacks and while away the day. Juarez in the evening for a good buzz and some female companionship.

One occasion the CO called me in and had someone slam a door while I was standing at attention. Jeezus, I almost melted. Looking back, many yrs later, I think he done that just to gauge my reaction, cause he never gave me anything more than an a$$ chewing...... I think he understood.

I got away with some crap that would have landed just about anyone else in prison.
Can't remember the CO's name, but, my hat is off to him, and others like him.


regards, dennis

[Art]

Dislikes:

The "bait and switch" they ran on me when I was recruited but that actually turned out ok.
The Reception Station.
"Busy work"
Drunks, lots of them in the Army in the late 1960s
Squad bays
Hurrying up to wait.....
....to do "busy work."
A truly incompetent C.O. (he was a West Pointer to boot.)
The realization that for a lot of the N.C.O.s the title really did stand for No Chance Outside.
The latrines weren't in the barracks in Korea which meant a 30 yard run to get a shower and shave in -20 degree weather in the winter.

The good stuff:

I'm with Tom Sudz on breakfast and I thought the food overall was pretty good, there was enough of it and I didn't have to pay for it.
I had two excellent Drill Sergeants who taught me a lot in 8 weeks.
My M.O.S. was good so like I said the bait and switch worked out ok and may even have saved my life.
I got to travel a little.
The Army paid for my college, and gave me three years to get ready for it, I wasn't up to the challenge right after High School.
My military time also got me a guarantee on my first mortgage.
I didn't get shot, see any of my team mates shot or have to shoot anybody

[alibi]

I was in ROTC in high school and went to college with the idea of a career in the military. This was in the 1960's, the attraction of a career wore off and I was eventually drafted. I was on active duty as Correctional Specialist (PMOS 95C) and was discharged 5 months early because the Army was reducing and at the same time promoting the Volunteer Army (VOLAR). I was in the inactive reserve for a year when a friend talked me into transferring into the National Guard. Shortly after I started drilling with the Guard I was accepted to the State OCS program, although I didn't sign up for it my friend wanted a "buddy" to go through the program with him and had submitted my application. As it turned out his marriage conflicted with OCS so I went and he didn't, then near the end of the training tried to talk me into resigning and restarting with him in the next cycle. I was commissioned and while I was in OCS the unit had been reorganized and redesignated and there were no billets for me. I found a position in the Division Cavalry Squadron. Later I was in the Division G-4 Section and the S-4 of the Signal Battalion.
I transferred into the USAR that did annual training at the same place I had discharged from active duty. Later I got in on an annual training in Korea and was scheduled to go back the following year but Bubba Clinton cancelled the exercise. I assumed command of a detachment that went through 2 or 3 MTOE changes. The unit supported the Boy Scout Jamboree at Ft. Pickett, an air defense exercise at Ft. Bliss, a brigade exercise at Ft. Polk and one annual training in Panama. I retired with 27 years service. I only share this to indicate how much there was to appreciate, love and hate about the military, that it is difficult to state exactly what was most appreciated and what aspect was most despised.

In general terms I enjoyed the travel and found adventure and interest in new places everywhere I went. I often enjoyed the challenge of leadership and successfully guiding people through events and exercises. The Armor Officer Basic Course training at Ft. Knox is mostly a great experience and conjures pleasant memories.

My most unpleasant memories are of people that for whatever reason made the situation more difficult and demonstrated a lack of ethics in their actions. My assignment as a Correctional Specialist (stockade guard) was in an environment that was nothing but negative and personally depressing. There was no aspect of that 14 months working in a prison environment that appealed to me or brings pleasant memories. Overall I regret missing out on opportunities for training and assignments that probably would have been interesting and challenging.

[blackhawknj]

My overall impression was one of Lack of Integrity. Vietnam was the bloody fiasco it was large part due to the constant lying about the body count, in the peactime Army-which included all that wasn't directly involved with Vietnam, it seemed that most training and maintenence was conducted via the M-1 pencil. When I left Active Duty in 1971 the MOS mismatch rate was running between 25 and 50 percent.