Apolyton Military Rollcall....

[Wittlich]

Nope. Over 20 years of service, and never seen a day of combat.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Wittlich
Nope. Over 20 years of service, and never seen a day of combat.

I left USAREUR on 2 Feb 79.

My mind was, at the time, consumed with Ouzo and Asbach and something called , IIRC, Kerchflagen(??) you could light it and it would burn a blue flame...

I remember doing alerts a lot, and we had to watch out for the Evil, Communist Bloc countries

What was the designation they had on their vehicles..like a sticker..SOXMIS?? or something like that..

I forget..but remember seeing a couple near Crailsheim as well as occassionally while enroute to Graffenwohr or Hoensfeld or Wildflicken..a.k.a. The Rock

Peace

Grandpa Troll

[ThePlagueRat]

Interesting story, Troll.

Some guy I worked with in northern Norway, told me he had been on a border patrol in Grense-Jakobselv... And with his heavy-duty binoculars, he was watching a Soviet cp.
He had seen a young Soviet conscript trying to escape towards the Norwegian border.

The soldier walked towards the colonel, they saluted as they crossed paths, and walked on... Then he ran for the forest. And the colonel fired his pistol in his back. He was lying there for over an hour, on Soviet side, until his comrades had to pick him up on a stretcher...

Tough life, back then!

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
Interesting story, Troll.

Some guy I worked with in northern Norway, told me he had been on a border patrol in Grense-Jakobselv... And with his heavy-duty binoculars, he was watching a Soviet cp.
He had seen a young Soviet conscript trying to escape towards the Norwegian border.

The soldier walked towards the colonel, they saluted as they crossed paths, and walked on... Then he ran for the forest. And the colonel fired his pistol in his back. He was lying there for over an hour, on Soviet side, until his comrades had to pick him up on a stretcher...

Tough life, back then!

Yeah..back in the 1970's thats what we were facing..shame about today..THE Real Deal..not some "alleged" enemy


Peace

Grandpa Troll

[ThePlagueRat]

I think that pictures why war is so unfair, and that's why I hate the army. Even that one I served in! It's just young boys who gets pushed onto the front line by some hardass officers, while the generals are sitting safe at the base plotting destruction with their cuban cigars. They don't care what happens to this world, as long as they win. It goes for all of us, not just 'them'. Sorry for threadjacking, but I just felt like saying that.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Frankychan
K-here's a question from a civilian.

My cousin tried explaining this to me but I didn't understand.

Whats the difference between a commission and a non-commissioned person?

My cousin was talking all military speak so I didn't understand a word he said.

A commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces holds a commission from congress, and has the authority to issue legal orders. Non-commissioned officers have authority delegated to them by commissioned officers. These distinctions go back to the days of class distinctions, where officers were usually noblemen, and non-coms freemen.

[Sikander]

I served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1984-1987, as a 98G, intercept operator / Russian linguist. My most interesting duty station was Field Station Augsburg, which was a facility (now defunct) that analyzed Soviet Bloc military communications in East Germany and Czechloslovakia during the Cold War. It was intersting and fun work, like being a detective minus the messy crime scenes but including the donuts. I ended up as an E-4 on active duty, though I made E-5 later in the reserves. (bfd!).

I'm a little leery about sharing my most interesting stories on a board with so many active commies, though obviously there is unlikely little that I could give away at this point that would be of any use to anyone. I'll give it another decade just to be sure.

[ThePlagueRat]

Sikander, don't be such a 'smokingman'.

I can't see no commie-spies here. If you refer to my NK-flag, it's just for provocative reasons. I just like to be a little plague.
In fact, the commie-spies dissappeared with the cold war.
So give us a story, please...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
Sikander, don't be such a 'smokingman'.
I can see no commie-spies here.
In fact, they dissappeared with the cold war. So give us a story, please...

I was mostly (but not entirely) kidding. OK, one time we were listening to our radios when one of the operators stumbled upon a frequency that was being used by the Soviet Army. This was our job of course, and not unusual in any way except that this unit (motorized rifle company) was obviously in combat. We quickly figured out that the signal originated in Afghanistan and had "skipped" along the atmosphere to our receiver in West Germany. This happens fairly frequently, though you certainly can't count on it. The frequency is usually a harmonic of the original broadcast frequency. This is the same thing that happened in the movie "We Were Soldiers".

Anyway, the IMs were flying about, and pretty soon every operator had one of their receivers tuned in to this spectacle. The Soviets weren't faring too well, they were apparantly ambushed (I listened to the whole tape later) and lost some BMPs. Someone held down their broadcast button on their handset throughout the heaviest part of the fighting unknowingly, so instead of the usual clipped transmissions we were used to, we had a long period of uninterrupted sound. There was a lot of panic, explosions and small arms fire. It seemed like it went on forever, but it was really over in 5 about minutes. The Afghans fled (IIRC on horseback!) as Soviet helicopters arrived.

What was really interesting to me was the emotional response we had to this. I remember almost crying when I heard a young man just screaming. It was not a war cry, just raw terror. The sonofa***** just wouldn't quit screaming. Some of us did tear up. I never thought I'd give a damn about the enemy, but this was such an intimate thing, hearing them talking to one another on their own radio net in a sh!tstorm. I think I was unconsciously supporting the Soviets in my mind as I listened, for a moment the enmity of our countries completely faded as hoped that they wouldn't all be killed.

The whole thing was over very quickly. Whoever was holding down the key quit doing so, and within 5 minutes after that we lost the signal completely. Every smoker wanted a cigarette, and I could tell by a quick glance that there wasn't a single person who wasn't effected by what we heard.

[DarthVeda]

Sorry not in the military... don't quite have the physical fitnees they are looking for.

However I did have a great*5 uncle that was a general in the American revolution. I think he's on some currency...

[ThePlagueRat]

This was indeed an intriguing story, Sikander.
It makes me hate war even more. The actual reason why I asked earlier if someone had any kills, was because I wanted to know how they felt about killing another man. I guess I would have felt bad about it, even if it were a russian, a german, or american.

That's something which didn't strike me back then when I was a soldier, and I was on the shooting range with my mates firing our AG3-rifles at all kinds of targets, and people was yelling "kill the commie bastard", "shoot the naziswine", etc. Generally just joking about.

These people had no choice, whether their governments were fascists og commies. They are just conscipts like myself, thus NOT my personal enemies. This is something that do strike me, and makes me sick, in my dreams, when it's about killing another man in selfdefence, and it feels almost real. So I guess that's why I am so much against war?

[Kramerman]

It makes me hate war even more. The actual reason why I asked earlier if someone had any kills, was because I wanted to know how they felt about killing another man. I guess I would have felt bad about it, even if it were a russian, a german, or american.

My father has killed many people, a couple at point blank even. He told me that at the time, during combat, you dont think about it, you're entirely in a kill or be killed mentality. Afterward, tho, you begin to think about it a lot. He said it was kinda weird after the first time with a mixture of awe, wonder, sadness and a bunch of other emotions (everything but guilt. my father said he never felt guilty for what he did), and he never grasped its entirety before he killed again. He thought about it less and less. It essentially became easier, and any bit of hesitation he would have had before was completely gone.

Kman

[ThePlagueRat]

Yeah... that's like in this dream I had too, kman. A kill or be killed mentality, and I just stab the dagger into that man until he is silent, afterwards I get kinda sad, a strange feeling, and a a bit sick, but not guilt, cause he would have done the same to me. It just feels so realistic. IRL I never killed anyone, and I'm not on medications either. I dunno what it means, might be a glimse from an earlier life maybe?

[Dis]

Branch: U.S. Navy
Paygrade: E-5 upon leaving. MM2 (machinist mate second class or you can use the generic petty officer second class)
Job: Machinist mate was my rating, but that doesn't even come close to explaining my various jobs. I joined the nuclear navy. Machinist mate wasn't my nuke job of choice- its what I got stuck with . Near the end of schooling I got accepted to ELT school (Engineering Laboratory Technician). Our primary job was water chemistry and radiological control in addition to normal reactor mechanic watch stations. Although on a carrier you can either qualify on the reactor mechanic side or the steam plant mechanic side. I also did some time at a Shore Intermediate Maintenance Acitivity- basically we did intermediate maintenance .

Most interesting duty station: I won't include my ports of calls- they weren't actual duty stations (they were all in the mediterranean and middle east region) I guess all of my schools in Orlando, Florida- although it was a shame I wasn't 21 though . Although strangely you can get into some juice strip clubs in Orlando if you are 19. I mainly went to concerts though and studied.

Sea Story: I've never been a good story teller. Some people have those story telling qualities and can exaggerate at the right time to make them seem more interesting. I've never been good at that. I mostly just saw some touristy sites (Vatican etc), drank, and chased women.

[alva]

Paygrade: ( 2$/€ a day) / conscript
Service: Belgian army
Jobcombat/frontline) Engineer
Stationed : Westhoven (Germany)