Active,inactive & retired members anecdotes

[uncle Alan]

In November 1952 the 8th Cavalry Regiment moved to Camp Crawford ,Sapporo,Hokkaido Japan ,the Northernmost Island. We were refitting and taking in some of the last draftees of the Korean war era.

Most were good ,well trained but there are the mis-fits,sadly in the ranks as well as a few officers. One 2nd. john used to come into my barracks, find a few comic books & lay on someone's bunk & read . I was so embarrased that I'd ask him to use my private room.

Our regiment had several chores. We watched the Russians on the Kuriles to our west,protected an Airforce base to the North at Chitose ,furnished a radio & wire net throughout our area . The airforce kept 6 planes in the air 24/7 ,watching the only Pacific deep-water port the Russians had.

One morning I was training Nco to make a ski patrol , with basic ammo,2 akios & close to 200 men. Our Lieutenant was a West Point wannabee. He wore a similar ring but would never let you get a good look at it.

We had a lease on routes through the farms & after we were a few miles Lt. Klack Corn signaled a stop at the top of a near-mountain & told me we'd take a particular path through the farmyard . In the Orient human waste fertilizes their crops . It is collected in the towns & stored in huge olympic sized pools '


I could see he was leading us across such a pool . The heat had caused the snow to melt & the surface was obviously lower but our boy saw nothing .


Sgt. Uncle Alan , From the troops & follow me ! But sir...! Don't but sir....

Well he ALMOST made it ! He spit up a bunch of poopwater & told me to give him a hand . I refused but extended my ski pole . He got out ,retched ,pulled out his .45 & said he'd shoot the first to laugh .The troops,transfixed started roaring & I told him he needed many magazines.


A rto called a copter & he vanished from Mike co. forever !


Uncle Alan an old trooper

 

[UffDa]

I was stationed at Point Arena AFS from mid '64 to mid '65. The base commander was a LTC who was a fighter pilot before he got some sort of thyroid condition that caused him to kind of blow up. He couldn't fit in the cockpit anymore. He was a cool guy.

The base commander for most of the time that I was at Sondrestrom AB, Greenland was also a pilot. Again. a nice guy. He was replaced by a bird colonel from SAC who failed an ORI. He was not happy and did his best to make everyone miserable. :grumpy: Among other things, he had people policing cigarette butts in the snow. There was some "art work" at the entrance to the fjord (picture below) that he wanted removed because it could be seen from aircraft coming into the base. The Danish engineers said that it would cost over $75,000 USD to sand blast the paint off.

Fortunately, I was in a detachment that he had no direct authority over.

 

[orca8589]

During our '87 Med Cruise, we were manning up for a recovery - I served in Arresting Gear on the Nimitz - but we couldn't begin landing airplanes because our RO (Recovery Officer), a newly-trained Lieutenant, wasn't on the flight deck. The RO is one of the most critical positions on the flight deck; nothing happens as far as planes landing without him up there.

So, fifteen minutes after we were supposed to start, we have a dozen airplanes in the pattern, some going into LFS (Low Fuel Status) and we're searching for this guy everywhere. We heard the orders given to man up the motor lifeboats, in preperation for calling for a man over board. We launch two tankers, and we're getting ready to rig the barricade if needed. Well, we finally sent one of our senior Chiefs back to Arresting Gear who was qualified to serve as RO, and before he goes up to the flight deck, he stops to visit the loo, because he knows this will be a long recovery. (The order of landings was totally hosed by this time because of the fuel status on more than half the planes.) So, he goes into an enlisted head (bathroom), is doing his business, and he hears . . . snoring. Apparently the Lieutenant was headed back to man his RO post, made a quick 'head-stop', and fell asleep in one of the stalls. The Senior Chief recognized the sound, because our lovely lieutenant (FORMERLY the RO) constantly fell asleep in the Division office, and everyone knew how he snored. So the senior chief *politely* wakes the lieutenant up, and tells him to get to the Div-O now, so they don't call man overboard.

Well, after the recovery - there were too very close calls due to fuel state - said lieutenant was called to the map room behind the bridge, where not only the Air Boss tore into him, but then the ship's CO, the Air Dept. CO, our Division officer, and two squadron CO's reamed him for probably an hour. The poor 'Louie' probably thought he was on an extended tour in hell; a friend of mine was a meteorologist on post at the bridge at the time, and he said the verbal mauling was so bad that it literally made everyone on the bridge blush. Most of the time senior officers maintain their composure very well, but seeing as the possibility existed that we could have lost at least a couple of airplanes, everybody was several steps beyond mad.

The poor 'Louie' probably flew paper airplanes for the rest of his time in.

thx - cpr

 

[mwerner]

Our company was to take part in a big NATO exercise in Norway back in '65. They sent us down to Bad Tolz in the alps to take the Special Forces mountain training course.
At the time, we had an insufferable "First Looie" from West Point who everyone hated. (including the Special Forces trainers)
At one point, we were supposed to cross a freezing alpine river, climbe the 100-foot or so cliff on the other bank, and slide down the "suspension travois" to return to the same side of the river we left from.
Our Lieutenant, ever "gung ho!" swarmed across the river, climbed madly up the hill (unencumbered by any equipment) and made it to the top first. He clipped his carabiner to the rope, and launched himself down the slide.
Stopped halfway. Seems the rope was a bit too slack.

There he was, dangling about 30 feet above the river, trying desperately to get the thing to slide further.... He finally had to let go and fell the remaining distance.
There were many smiles.....
I always wondered if the Special Forces boys didn't set it up that way....