MS wasn't always bad...

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by Gonusto:
Those years you all spent abroad sound like they were a lot of fun.  They sound so fun that it *almost* makes me wish I had joined the Service instead of going to college . . . though I'm sure it wasn't all just fun and games.  Do any of you regret the time you spent in the Armed Forces?  Just curious . . .

If you are interested I would *highly* recommend it. If I had it to do over again, and if I had the opportunity I would have gone to school *before* joining the Air Force. I really wanted to be a pilot since I was a child but as we discussed in a post in one of the other forums that requires a degree (I did take my private pilot lessons while in though). It's much more difficult to go to school and put 10-12 hours a day in, not to mention taking off every few months for temporary duty somewhere. But I don't regret even that. Sure you work hard, but you play hard too. Sure you may be called to do an important job but there's nothing like the satisfaction you get from doing it well. And you make lifelong friends (even if you don't see them you always think of them and of the experiences you've shared).

Nope, I don't regret any of it. I think I'll always look back at it being the best 15 years of my life and the most meaningful. The opportunities that you have are truly amazing (if you take advantage of them). You will come out with experience that you just can't get anywhere else. I know for a fact I wouldn't be half as well off today if it wasn't for my service time.  And it gave me a true appreciation for how well we have things (I certainly mean no offense to anyone not from the U.S.). Damn, I should do a commercial!

[Centurian]

Hey,

 

quote:Originally posted by Gonusto:

Those years you all spent abroad sound like they were a lot of fun.  They sound so fun that it *almost* makes me wish I had joined the Service instead of going to college . . . though I'm sure it wasn't all just fun and games.  Do any of you regret the time you spent in the Armed Forces?  Just curious . . .

-Gonusto

Oh yes it was a great deal of fun. It was also a great deal of hard work. We worked hard and we played hard. For example I remember doing 75 hours of straight flight ops. There was alot of difficult times. Spending many months away from loved ones was no picnic either. Also I never really fit in with the military. I never took orders well and my rank went up and down like a yoyo because of it. Funny part was when I finally got out everyone in my squadron tried to get me to re-enlist.

Do I regret it? NO WAY! I learned many things about myself during that time. I also made good friends most of whom I don't see but I still remember. Also there are life long benefits to being in the military.

Having the knowledge I have now would I go back in time (retaining the present knowledge) and join the military? NO WAY!
Would I recommend it to others? YES! Whether or not you are a "happy" service person you will gain knowledge and experience that can never be gotten any other way.  

So to close I hated the military but it gave me perspective that I could never have gained otherwise. I would not be the same person without the time I spent in the military.
It "was worth" the time.

[Centurian]

Hey,

 

quote:Originally posted by VoidMain:
I had a 3 litre Bitburger Bier stein that I emptied at least once every night for three years.        

HEHEH Sounds like you did your fair share of drinking too.

 

quote:
(I had them trained like that as they knew if they would do that *in* my cockpit they would later be digging my boot out of their ass).

Now your starting to sound like me. Trust me that could get you busted.  

 

quote:
And I remember the Ouzo, where you end up in Disney Land if you had enough of it.

For 3 months I drank Ouzo every night. Got towhere I could drink a pint or more without getting drunk. The bad part was when we went back to sea it took 2 weeks for me to get it out of my system. Man was I hooked on Ouzo.
 
 

quote:
And my favorite part about Spain were the beaches at Sitges (sp?) near Barcelona. We always had to go there on at least one weekend during the trip. I think that's where the phrase "ugly Americans" was coined.        I remember the first time we went there were 3 or 4 of us walking down the beach in single file. The first guy stopped to ponder and the other 3 piled right in to the back of him because their eyes were "not on the road" so to speak. It was like a scene right out of "The Three Stooges".

I was there once and your right the scenery was quite nice.      Gliffada beach in Athens was the same way.    

HEHEH I like the 3 stooges thing.  

Probably my favorite experience was sitting quietly in the gardens in Athens. With the Acropolis looming above my head. I used to spend hours there.

Another one I liked alot was Naples. Most people hated it because they said it was dirty and nasty. I liked it though myself. It had a rustic feel to the place. Everything about it was very old world. There is alot to be said for sitting on a hill side, drinking wine and eating bread while watching beautiful Italian girls go about their daily chores. The quiet beauty of the place was truly awesome.

Meanwhile back at the ranch.......

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by Centurian:
Hey,
It goes faster with every year that passes. Get used to it.

Like a runaway freight train to the grave.

[Centurian]

Hey,

 

quote:Originally posted by psyjax:


Like a runaway freight train to the grave.

HEHEH you got it.  

[creedon]

To be perfectly honest, I didn't really like my time in the military.  I was a Seabee, and I ended up in Spain building an airfield.  When I was there, Spain was still a Facist country, and not too long after I got there, the US lost 2 H-bombs off the coast.  Needless to say, we weren't popular over there.
When I was supposed to re-up, I found out that my next duty station would have been Camrahn bay.  The life expectancy of Seabees was real low in 'Nam; Charlie figured out if you kill the guys that fix the runways before you fuck up the runways, it lasts longer.  I guess I never got any of that real "good" duty, but my ass is still attached, and all my original parts still work- that's somethng.

[Centurian]

Hey Creedon,

Sounds like you got out just in time.

[voidmain]

It's true I was in post Vietnam and I heard many horror stories from the guys who were there. I did the Saudi thing which must have been like boy scout camp compared to Vietnam.  I believe there were a lot of lessons learned in Vietnam which caused us to have a better chance in Saudi. I went over about 3 weeks after the invasion of Kuwait (20 miles south of the Kuwait/Iraq/Saudi border).

During the buildup stage it was a little nerve racking and the whole time we had this one engine mechanic who spent time in Vietnam telling us how bad it was going to be and how things were going to go down when they overran our base (he had me scared shitless). Luckily things went a little better than that. We had several Scuds shot at us and luckily the Patriots did the trick (most of the time). There definately were tense moments but we definately had things better. And I for one appreciate what you guys had to go through when things didn't go so well. Thank you! We can only hope that history will not repeat itself.

[creedon]

quote:Originally posted by VoidMain:
It's true I was in post Vietnam and I heard many horror stories from the guys who were there. I did the Saudi thing which must have been like boy scout camp compared to Vietnam.  I believe there were a lot of lessons learned in Vietnam which caused us to have a better chance in Saudi. I went over about 3 weeks after the invasion of Kuwait (20 miles south of the Kuwait/Iraq/Saudi border).

During the buildup stage it was a little nerve racking and the whole time we had this one engine mechanic who spent time in Vietnam telling us how bad it was going to be and how things were going to go down when they overran our base (he had me scared shitless). Luckily things went a little better than that. We had several Scuds shot at us and luckily the Patriots did the trick (most of the time). There definately were tense moments but we definately had things better. And I for one appreciate what you guys had to go through when things didn't go so well. Thank you! We can only hope that history will not repeat itself.

That guy was giving you good info; I had a real good buddy who was an EO (equipment operator).  He was repairing a forward airbase that had been mortared, and they started dropping rounds again.  One hit the bulldozer he was operating.  There wasn't anything to ship home.  He was a good guy, and I miss hm.

[voidmain]

I was lucky enough to not lose any close friends but we did lose a couple of pilots that I knew. We also had a patriot take out a SCUD but not detonate the warhead. It came down in our tent city and took out a few of the coalition guys. I almost got taken out one night by a U.S. F-4G. For a time I was working the 6pm-6am shift.  Well one morning around 2:00am it was pitch black out and extremely foggy, you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.  Well I was on the taxiway working one of our planes when I heard an IFE (in-flight emergency) announcement come over the radio.  

An F-4 was coming back from a mission low on fuel, apparently missed his tanker hookup.  Well we could hear it coming in but we couldn't see it, then we heard the engines flame out, then no sound, then directly above our heads we see these two flashes of flame from the rocket motors on the ejection seats. Really made the fog glow for a couple of seconds. They couldn't have been more than about 100-200 feet directly above our heads when they punched out. For about one second we thought "wow!" and a nanosecond later I realized that there were going to be canopies and other pieces of debri coming down around us so I began to run for cover. Well I didn't get one step when I heard the thuds from canopies and ejection seats hitting the ground on either side of us, and a little too close for my liking. Shortly followed by the sound of the airplane hitting the ground (couldn't see any of it because of the fog by the way).  

Well a couple of seconds later, one of the pilots came down in his chute right on the taxiway next to us. He was obviously shaken up and we walked him to our crew building where we met up with the second pilot. Neither one were hurt. Come to find out they were from my old unit in Germany. I was chatting with them about how things had changed since I was there last (trying to get them thinking about something other than what they just went through). The fog cleared some by time the sun started to rise and that's when I saw where the airplane had ended up.  It hit the ground, bounced over the road and between a couple of buildings and stopped in an open patch about 400 yards from where we were standing at the time it came down. Not a soul was hurt, truly amazing. I think I have some pictures of it lying around somewhere. That's one experience that will stick with me for a long time.