Military Sevice Without Basic Training?

tuica said:
And, he's an Elder in the LDS church, so probably as truthful a person as you would meet.
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If you think that means something. People are the same no matter what they believe or what their title is.
 
What are his years of service and what did he do in the service?

Especially for sub duty, the basic communication for sailors is something covered in boot camp.
 
My friend went to the USCGA. Left the Coast Guard and a few years joined the Army National Guard. Did not have to to boot camp. Her friend was a also a USCGA graduate and her husband was a Bubble Head. An officer but washed out after not being promoted after two times. I doubt that anyone who did not go to a military academy would not have not go to boot.
 
Stuff happens.

Maybe some secretary ticked the wrong box somewhere. So even if it wasn't by design it could have been a simple mistake.

Even German Beurocracy makes mistakes (I know, hard to believe) which caused a second world war and millions of dead soldiers and civilians, especially Jews. Yep that guy. By mistake they allowed an Austrian to serve in the German Army in the time of World War 1. Biggest beurocratic error ever if you ask me. Without serving there things would have turned out very differently.

Another "fun" fact, before that first war when this crazy man was supposed to serve in his home country Austria, he cowardly refused and tried to weasel out and finally escaped his duty by running to Germany. There years later he was so excited about war that he wanted to join the German army. Inconsistent personality much?
 
I worked with an older engineer who passed a few years back. He served in Vietnam. When he was a teenager he broke his pelvis, and had to get screws in his hips, which should have made him ineligible for the draft. But when his draft number got picked, the recruiter told him that he had to meet his quota, but not to worry, because as soon as the army performed his physical exam he would be declared medically unfit.

He never got checked, no one looked at his X-rays.

Then he found out that soldiers got another physical exam done before they could become paratroopers. So he signed up to be a paratrooper so that he could finally get his medical disqualification.

Once again, no one examined him. And so he spent the rest of his term of enlistment jumping out of planes.

All this is just to say, while I have never heard of an enlisted soldier fresh out of high school skipping basic and serving on subs, I can believe it is possible. At any given time we have about 3 million people in uniform in the country, so if there was a one in a million chance of someone slipping through the cracks like this, then there would be about three people in the military who didn't go to basic. The odds of any individual skipping basic are extremely unlikely, but the odds that it does happen at least sometimes in the uniformed services as a whole seems plausible.
 
tuica said:
And, he's an Elder in the LDS church, so probably as truthful a person as you would meet. So there you go. Stranger than fiction...;-)
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Shotgun said:
If you think that means something. People are the same no matter what they believe or what their title is.
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I had to laugh at this too. I had the misfortune of having to work with 3 elders in the LDS. They gave scumbags a bad name. On the other hand, my immediate manager was also an elder in the LDS.
He was as straight and honest as anyone I ever met. People are people. What their religious affiliation is has nothing to do with the kind of person they are.

If you are really concerned about this gentleman's story, as to see his DD214. As the old saying goes, BS walks.
 
Just a couple of comments. Tuica works with this man as they give guided tours on an retired Navy submarine. Not just casual conversation, but its his job to transmit truthful info on sub technology, and sailor life to the visiting public. My friend has done this for nearly ten years, so he has some sort of sense of who's truthful, or not.

And yes, I tend to give more credence of truth to a church official. Yea, yea, I know. Everyone has examples of people who's position gives them more legitimacy than may prove out. But that does not mean that we can't make some judgments on this. And lastly, Tuica has some advantage in judging this fellow as he works with him. Plus, I trust my friend Tuica's judgment as I have been friends with him since 1975.

So, there you go. An interesting tale of a non-boot-camped submarine Sonar Tech...;-)
 
Wow, Val. Both on BF simultaneously. Thanks for the ringing endorsement! Don't know much else to add to this - except what's a DD214? Just kidding. I would only ask this of someone whom I suspected of lying. Will not dishonor this veteran who volunteers his time working for my organization by doing that. If your suspicion's linger feel free. Time for me to move on...;-)
 
I've heard of somewhat frequent exceptions in the medical field, though those are from WWII and Vietnam not anything recent.
 
As the old saying goes, "The devil is in the details."

It seems to me that there is some piece or pieces of critical information missing. For instance, the part about joining an active reserve unit and not being sent to basic training. There were 3 guys in my USAF training flight that had joined a reserve unit. They had to go to boot camp. This was in June 1963.

I'll just say that I am skeptical and leave it at that.
 
Valeniiman said:
And yes, I tend to give more credence of truth to a church official. Yea, yea, I know. Everyone has examples of people who's position gives them more legitimacy than may prove out. But that does not mean that we can't make some judgments on this.
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I get your point but if I were to make judgments on it I would fall on the other side of the line and be inclined to DISbelieve him because he was a church official. We'll have to agree to disagree on it. :D

And I know exactly where your friend works. Been there. ;)
tuica said:
Wow, Val. Both on BF simultaneously. Thanks for the ringing endorsement! Don't know much else to add to this - except what's a DD214? Just kidding. I would only ask this of someone whom I suspected of lying. Will not dishonor this veteran who volunteers his time working for my organization by doing that. If your suspicion's linger feel free. Time for me to move on...;-)
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Yeah that's cool. At a certain point you have to take them for how they are and just enjoy the story. A story is just a story. Especially if it has no real bearing on anything. Sounds like a good guy.
 
Buddy was active reserve during college as apart of the Navy NuPOC program. Went into OCS after graduation, then nuke school. So it is possible. There are multiple routes you can take to serve, not all of them require boot camp.
 
Is OCS not boot camp? Google it. It looks like boot camp to me with a lot of extra stuff tossed in.
 
Believe you are correct UffDa. OCS is the "Boot Camp" for officers. Have a good week, everyone. And visit the USS Blueback if you are ever in the area. I am the weekend supervisor (Fri - Mon).

Bussekin fans get through for free. How will I know you? We have our own language, right?... SJTACLE. Who else would know what that means?...;-)
 
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