Vets and the word, "Gun."

[Len]

It's sunny, warm and humid today. Memorial day weekend, and as an older, nostalgic sort of guy, I'm getting sentimental. *Raise my cup of coffee to the memory of, among others, "Chip."*

For some reason, I think back, a bunch of years now, to Harmony Church, Fort Benning. I have the misfortune of going through basic in southern Georgia in August. I'm stressed out, underslept, underfed, dehydrated. Surrounded in the noonday sun by a palpable heat and fiendish biting flies. [Remember this? Standing at attention, sweat dripping in your eyes, flies biting and crusing up your nose, and not damn thing you can do about it?] Steel pot on your head acting like a "heat magnet," concentrating the vicious sun. Red Georgia sand and mud caked on your butt, elbows, and trickling down your back.

I've just finished some punishment runs...Must look like an idiot to the casual observer. One hand holding a rifle overhead, the other on my crotch...shouting, at the top of my voice, "this is my weapon, this is my gun, one is for shootin', one is for fun..." Some drills preferred "rifle" to "weapon" but you get the picture.

Sgts. Forbes and Dover watching. They seemed to be immune to the heat. They were ice men. But, amongst the list of grievous errors a maggot might make, ["are you puking on MY EARTH, boy?"] one of the worst...calling the M16 your "gun."

After basic, we went all over the earth, some never came back, most did. But it still strikes me as funny; that short time in basic left me with a lasting habit. Bear with the guys who still have a hard time calling a "weapon" anything else, and especially, never, a "gun."

"This is my weapon, this is my gun..." I still laugh about it.

Here's to everyone who serves in uniform. Happy Memorial Day!

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I agree with you a weapon is a weapon and a gun is a gun. Got drilled into me in Basic as well. I have weapons now. Before I joined the Army I had guns. Never looked at a gun the same since.

 

['Card]

LOL!

Sand Hills, Fort Benning here. August and September of 1986. Marching back from the rifle range one day, with rifles at port arms, apparently some of us got slack and let the weapon hang a little lower than Drill Sergeant Graham's concept of the 'ideal' position.

"Is the weapon heavy, men? Is it heavy? Let me show you how heavy the weapon can be."

So there we were. Standing in an empty field alongside the road. On our tiptoes. Knees bent. Back bent. Crouched over with arms sticking straight out in front of us, and the rifle laying across our wrists. You better not move. You better not let that rifle droop. That's how he left us. Hours passed. Days slipped by. Week upon week and on into fall. Well, it was probably about 30 minutes, but it felt like an eternity.


Oh, your story reminded me of this: Later that same year, a freshly-scrubbed E-2 and graduate from AIT, I show up at Airborne School. As I'm walking along savoring my newfound freedom, I see a guy with two fully-packed duffel bags come charging around the corner from behind one of those concrete buildings. He ran full blast straight towards me (not easy with two heavy duffel bags) then he froze, dropped to the ground, did 50 push-ups, rolled over and did 50 set-ups, then he jumped to his feet, threw his hand in the air in the classic 'Iron Mike' position and screamed "I left it unsecured!!" Then he grabbed his duffel bags and took off running again, around the other end of the building.

 

[Len]

Card...great story.

I'll add one you reminded me of. Everyone is at the "difac." ["Dining Facility," as only the army could call it.]

Four platoons are rushing through their allotted two minute dining experience. Four of us are left to watch the stacked "weapons." The company XO, who recently transferred over to ITB from finance...[ohhhhh, noooooo!], was reaming the first guy standing guard over his stack for not knowing "exactly how many weapons are in his charge!"

I sneak a peek over to "my" charges...and hurriedly count, two, three, four times, still not sure I have it right when this fat LT gets to me.

"HOW MANY WEAPONS ARE IN YOUR CHARGE, MAGGOT?" I quickly replied, "ALL OF THEM, SIR!"

First and last time I ever saw him laugh...and he walked away, still smiling.

 

[Onmilo]

Ahhhh,,,,,,Thanks for the memories.
SFC Fish, Ft Knox,,,,,,
This is my rifle, this is my gun, with this I kill the enemy, with this I have my fun,,,,,
I actually liked Basic, the rest of the experience pretty much sucked.

 

['Card]

...rushing through their allotted two minute dining experience.

LOL! I remember that. "EAT IT NOW!!! YOU CAN CHEW IT LATER!!!"

My first meal at home, on my first leave after Basic, AIT and Airborne School. My Mom laid a huge spread out on the table. Prayers were said. Everyone said "Amen", and there was a veritable tornado of activity at my end of the table. Once everything had clattered to a stop, my entire family was staring at me, and all of the empty plates in front of me with a mix of horror and shock.

One more story: I had a Drill Sergeant who stood about 5 foot 1, and as far as I could tell he hated everyone who was taller than he was. His favorite way to torment recruits was to get in front of you, ask you a question, and then he'd say "Private, look at me when I'm talking to you!" Then you'd look at him and he'd punish you for "having the audacity to look down your nose at him." The classic no-win situation that Drill Sergeants love so much.

So one day he was chewing me out for something in formation and he gave me that line about "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" so I took a half-step back, sank down on one knee, looked up at him and said "Yes, Drill Sergeant?"

My arms still hurt when I think of all the push-ups I did that day.

 

[MICHAEL T]

I loved Basic at Sand Hill Ft Benning so much. I did it twice 6 1/2 weeks first time and after 30+ days rest at hospital I got to start all over. After all I couldn't be in shape after laying around hospital.. Yes summer of 1966 was so much fun. I was a E-2 when I left boot camp by time in service

 

[Devonai]

Been there, done that, got the coffee mug.

Sand Hill, A co 2/54, May-September '05.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Ahhh, thanks for some memories, Len. I went through only last summer, so it's a little more recent for me. DS Holmes favorite trick was to have us squat and then "pinch the front sight post and pull the charging handle back." Holding the rifle at arms lengths AND holding the charging handle back. God help you if you tried to be sneaky and lock the bolt back. He didn't smoke us too much, all things considered, but he was inventive when he did.

The Army didn't get to me though. Within a day of leaving Sand Hill (happiest day of my life) I was slouching comfortably in a chair and eating without my feet together. And I guess I do still say gun. HA. Take that Army.


Edit to add: Echo 2/58
"We are the men from Echo! The ones you heard about. Mothers hide their daughters whenever we got out!" And so on and so forth...

 

[BigFatKen]

I'll add one you reminded me of. Everyone is at the "difac." ["Dining Facility," as only the army could call it.

What a change. It was still "mess hall" when I was in basic.

On a more serious note. I believe there are guns after basic. Machine guns, shotguns, and "the big guns"; artillery pieces or Naval guns. You do not squeeze the trigger on an M-60 as it is hard on the sear. It appears that the common thread is:

you pull the trigger.

This is just my observation.

Is this correct? Any other guns?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Yer all a buncha weenies!

I did basic at Fort Polk, in the summer of '62, with the M1 rifle. I also got to carry the BAR in AIT.

And for my sins, I got sent back to Polk a few years later as a Company Commander (okay, they were pretty bad sins.)

And if that ain't enough for you, let me tell you about the Jark Marches in OCS at Fort Sill -- 5.4 miles with pack and M1 rifle in 50 minutes, without bending your knees.

Don't even make me tell you about the Great Doughnut Disaster of '63.

 

[psyopspec]

C co 1/38 Ft. Benning, May to August, 2003. Lots of mixed memories in garrison and out, but basically it was a fun game and I'd put my life on hold to do it all over again if the opportunity came up.

PS-the stuff I carry and take to the range are, indeed, my guns. When I'm in uniform it's a weapon or rifle.

 

[Len]

...Card, I remember the "civilian-watching-you-eat" look too. My family called me the "Tasmanian Devil" for a while, until I concentrated on slowing down a little.

Vern...uhhhhh, sounds like you knew Alexander the Great when he was only a corporal?!

"Here's to us, and those like us..."

 

[Preacherman]

Heh.

Basic training, South Africa. A squad of trainees (including yours truly) are goofing off spectacularly at some rather complex manoevers. The drill sergeant is not impressed, and many of us get to run to various points of the camp and back as punishment for our sins.

In my case, he points to a tree on a hillock about half a mile away. "You! TROOP! You see that tree?"

"YES, SERGEANT!"

"Well, you go and get me a leaf from that tree, and bring it back here. What? Are you back already? MOOOOOVE!!!"

Puff, puff, puff, pant, pant, pant, run, run, run. Grab leaf. Puff, puff, puff, pant, pant, pant, run, run, run.

"HERE, SERGEANT!"

"What's this? WRONG LEAF! Go and get me the RIGHT one!"

Puff, puff, puff, etc., etc., etc. . .

 

[Ala Dan]

U.S. Army Basic Training (B-10-2)

Ft. Benning, GA at Harmony Church (Nov. 1965 to Jan. 1966)~!

Yes, I remember it well. Those were the good ole' days, living in the
old 11th Air Assault's barracks; toteing those M-14's around. NEVER,
did I call mine a gun~! Even during the cool November/December
nights in the pines of Georgia, with temps hovering around 20 (+ or -)
degrees, did I ever refer too my weapon as a gun~!

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

For me it was B-1-3 Fort Leonard Wood Misery, autumn 1965. M-14's, not some plastic lightweight kinda bang-stick either. However, having been the sole progeny of two WWII U.S.M.C. veterans, NCO's at that, I had no trouble with things like the difference between weapons & guns.

I would note though that the military, lawmakers, & other non-cogs have seriously erred concerning the nomenclature. The weapon is between your ears, anything else is a tool.

900F

 

[Mortech]

Ugh , C-4-3 during the winter of '84 at Ft Dix , if anyone remember the CBS special on military basic training I was the poor bastid the when sliding head first down the path inito a trench of ice water . My family has it on tape and it never fails to come up in a dscussion (Thats what I get for belonging to a family of ex and present miltary people)

 

[fordfan485]

Summer of '03 here for me. D Co 2/28 INF. Regt. at Ft. Jackson,SC. Was hot as hell that summer. I would give almost anything to go back through BRM again and shoot all that ammo and not have to spend a dime for it

 

[Leanwolf]

BIGFATKEN - "What a change. It was still "mess hall" when I was in basic."


Yep, "Mess Hall" it was when I went through Basic. 1959, Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Issue gun was ... uhhh, just kidding, folks! ... issue weapon was the late, great M1 Garand rifle.

L.W.

 

[enfield]

Another Polk graduate here, 1971.

 

[armedandsafe]

Summer of '58, Ft Ord, CA. Not that hot to a desert rat raised in So. Nevada. It was passably tough, but I had spent 2 years in Oregon National Guard under a FirstSgt who made jello out of Gunnys for fun.

Then, Summer of '60, somewhere outside London, with SAS. Had a DI who was short, round and made by Caterpillar. He'd run right over you and then yell at you for lying down when you were supposed to be standing up. Tough training, but it kept me alive a time or two.

Pops

 

[XLMiguel]

B-5-3, Fort Dixiecup, NJ, September, 1970. Not all that bad an experience, overall. I was just out of college, in good shape, and smart enough to keep my mouth shut (for the most part). Average educational level of training company - 13.5 years. Average educational level of cadre - 9 years. Made for an interesting dynamic.

 

[Oldnamvet]

E-4-2, July 68 Ft Lenard Wood, Mo. New college grad enlisted. Dust speck on my boot. Drop and give me 10.
Start.....
"I don't hear you counting!"......9, 10
"Start at 1!"
1, 2, 3, 4, ......9, 10. And I get up.
"That's one Sgt.............."
Back down 1 sgt, 2 sgt, ....10 sgt and I get up.
"Who gave you permission to get up!"
Do it all again and ask permission from FLR position. After sweating several minutes, I was allowed back up.
Sgt looks at me and asks me why I'm sweating and have dirty hands. My boots are scuffed. Says if he wasn't such a "nice" guy he'd have me doing pushups as punishment but he could see I couldn't even handle 10. Poor out of shape maggot.

3 years later I used the same routine when I was the drill sgt at Ft Hood for 6 months before discharge.

Always called it a rifle and never got the opportunity to see what happened when someone didn't. An old MSGT warned us in the reception center what would happen if we did.

 

[Zen21Tao]

I also remember old Sand Hill basic at Benning (1st Bat 38th Inf) in August. One day we were smoked by having to do exercises in full MOP gear.

On another occasion we were cleaning our weapons and the guy next to me, who was leaning against a wall, was dropped for pushups for "holding up the DS's wall." Isn't it funny how the DS's seem to personally own everything? Oh, and of course I was dropped then too for "being me." :banghead:

 

[cosine]

I love these threads where you all recount your old military stories!

Mr. Humphrey, since you mentioned it, you have to tell us of the Great Doughnut Disaster of '63.