Cooks in Vietnam

[broom jockey]

At IIFF, Long Bien, there was an Officer's mess. Along side that mess hall were the Officer's quarters. At 0500, the Vietnamese KPs showed up. One of their duties was to light the immersion heaters for hot water. These heaters were outside, 30 feet from Officer's quarters. Just prior to the KP's arrival, one of the cooks would splash a little extra gas in the bottom of the heaters. The KP would drip a few drops of gas then throw in a match to light the heaters. Well, with all that gas present, there would be a loud boom and the 4 foot metal chimney would take off like a rocket. Of course this woke up the Officers, who would be pissed, and singed the hair of the KP. KP always got blamed and received instructions on how to light the heaters. That old KP received a lot of instruction. And the Officers had their sleep cut short many times.

[m1ashooter]

Officers should have moved their quarters.

[Michaelp]

We used them on the farm to keep stock tanks from freezing. Used them throughout the service.
Those explosions were so common you' think they could have fixed that feature.

Good source of cheap entertainment.
We rigged a shower with an old water tank and immersion heater.
The team medic was in charge and never could get the hang of lighting it.
We'd line up to watch sometimes.