Big Phoenix
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Military Thread
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Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Not sure if it's just cause I was in AIT at Fort Gordon, but I hated Augusta. I'm sure it's an awesome little town otherwise, but every weekend we'd go off base and it just seemed trashy.
The fuck? You humped a god damn 50 cal and MK19? That seems like it'd fucking suck. Marines are god damn retards. Mount that shit on a vehicle you dumb fucks. Glad the Army wasn't THAT retarded.
calhoonjugganaut
Trakanon Raider
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I'll be a 25C, so a radio operator maintainer. Hopefully I can drop an OCS packet pretty quick though.
And as for the age thing...I turned 29 a couple weeks before I went to basic as active duty. I think the cut off for the Army is 34 but I could be wrong about that. There is only one person older than me in my PLT and it's a 30 year old female in the National Guard.
Spoiled Army is spoiled. I did alot of port ops during the build up in 2003, and every once in awhile we'd have to load up some Army vehicles, its like ya'll are the kids that got your toys and never took them out of the package. Not to mention some of the mouth breathers I saw made even the WMs at felony creek seem legit. The suadi gear was even more impressive, they saw the shit storm coming, already had their humvees up armored
Brikker
Trump's Staff
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What is all this shit about going home during basic? Weekend passes to go into town? What the fuck. Granted mine was only 8.5 weeks, but the most freedom I got at all during AF BMT was choosing which section I wanted to read of the little Military learner guidebook we had to carry around everywhere.
Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Nice. I was a 25B. Worked with quite a few 25C's.
The going home during basic thing is because of the holidays. They do a stand down and everyone gets to go home for 2 weeks or so. I'm pretty sure every branch does it - I know for a fact the Army and Navy do, and if they both do, the Air Force certainly does...so I'd assume the Marines would too. The reason being it's pretty fucked up to make the cadre of the basic/entry training work through the holidays without seeing their family.
The weekend passes I was talking about was during AIT.
Fadaar
That guy
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Big Phoenix
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Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Some brief Googling makes it sound like only the Army lets basic trainees go home. Everyone else does a stand down. The only one that actually talked about the stand down was the Marines, and it said they get off base privileges though. So that still sounds to me like being able to leave.
I'm not 100% on Navy, I just know that for OCS they sent everyone home. I just assume that the NETC would stand down everyone, and not just OCS. They actually also did one for the week of Thanksgiving, which was VERY unexpected.
I'm not 100% on Navy, I just know that for OCS they sent everyone home. I just assume that the NETC would stand down everyone, and not just OCS. They actually also did one for the week of Thanksgiving, which was VERY unexpected.
Those 81mm mortars were a bitch when we humped them. It's not about being retarded its about not having a vehicle around to drive from point A to point B and being able to take your shit with you. Not all wars are fought in the desert you can't mount shit when you are in the jungle. One more reason why I would rather go to war with a Marine Pogue then any army infantrymen. You guys truly do recruit the dumbest mouth breathers on the planet.
Gravel
Mr. Poopybutthole
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You're absolutely right. My last battalion commander was in charge of a an AOB (SF company) in Afghanistan when Operation Red Wings happened. Because it was the mountains, none of his teams were able to take vehicles. I don't know if it was that the furthest team was 50 miles away or the closest, but either way, none of his teams were in good enough physical shape to hump the distance to send a rescue effort.
When he took over as battalion commander, he made it a requirement that everyone (not just the teams) was able to hump 50 miles in 24 hours.
When he took over as battalion commander, he made it a requirement that everyone (not just the teams) was able to hump 50 miles in 24 hours.
Erronius
Macho Ma'am
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It would depend on what specifically, and I'd be curious if you were seeing prepositioned stocks or something similar. I was in a decade or so earlier and pretty much everything we had was run down pretty badly.
Motorized units: true. I was only ever Armor and Cav, and 99% of the time the only humping of weapons we did was from the arms room to the motor pool and straight into/onto vehicles. But to be fair, I think that there must be something else at play - I had times during training, road marches and things like that, where they were reluctant to even draw M16s out of the arms room. We'd do guard duty unarmed, even when guarding things where you think you'd be armed. That was pre-9/11 for me though so that may have changed.
Worst thing I ever had to take on a road march was a 60 and IIRC 2 ammo cans in a ruck. Wasn't terrible but it wasn't a MK19 or a .50 either, LOL.
Brikker
Trump's Staff
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I went through Air Force BMT, and I was there for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I sat inside of our dorm and talked to my flight mates for all three holidays (and slept through New Year's). The only non-trainee's there were a handful of sucks-to-be-you MTI's stuck with holiday duty and the kitchen staff (who were civilians).
calhoonjugganaut
Trakanon Raider
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Just finished up BCT. We didn't get a graduation because of the snow/ice. Not having to stand at parade rest for 30 mins is cool with me though. Headed to Fort Gordon in a couple of hours.
When we got back it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things after our VBL leave. We had a PT test a couple days after we got back and then we were tested on everything that we had learned up until that point to see what kind of stuff we retained. So after the PT test we did a Fit To Win obstacle course, some BRM, some Combat Lifesaving, and a test of our general knowledge of the army and our battalion. From there we did NIC at Night...crawling about 125 meters through this beachy sand while rounds were flying over our heads and shit was exploding. It was pretty cool but fuck that low crawling shit. It was exhausting. We then did a Field Training Exercise and spent 3 days and 2 nights there doing move and cover drills most of the time.
We had more MRE's and Hot A's this time around. Maybe it was just the platoon I was in but they never really let up on us so there wasn't much of a change in how the drill sgts treated us as we moved from one phase to another. My senior drill sgt was on her last cycle and trying to win everything. We ended up winning everything. D&C sucked but we still won that. I think our platoon won 8 straight D&C's after we were finished. I was one of 5 chosen to be tested in my platoon near the end of blue phase on everything we had learned. We outperformed every platoon in the brigade so our drill sgts were really happy about that. We had like 88% retention of what we had learned while some platoon's were only scoring 6%. We also threw some grenades at Remagen, did more cover me while I move stuff at Omaha and stayed overnight there. Victory Forge was our 5 day field training exercise. We stepped off from our barracks at 0530 and got there about 1130. The march wasn't too bad. I think it was 8 or 9 miles but different drill sgts were saying it was anywhere from 6 to 12 miles. Victory Forge was 90% pulling security and about 10% of actually going out on missions. It was cold as fuck and laying in a foxhole for several hours without moving made it worse. Our company started with 138 and 110 graduated. People were caught with cell phones, got into fights, snuck off to the PX while they were supposed to be at church, had character issues or just performed poorly on the PT tests.
I'm glad I didn't have to do that shit somewhere like Fort Leonard Wood because I'd imagine it would be much colder there. Also have no idea what basic would be like during the summer when its hot as hell. It probably sucks more. I was told by one of my drill sgts that its mostly 18-21 year olds during the summer. Anyways, that's all I can really think to post of my experience at Fort Jackson. I'm looking forward to Fort Gordon now. Hoping I can get a weekend pass since my family is down but not sure if I'll get one or not. I will try to chronicle my time at AIT if I can.
When we got back it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things after our VBL leave. We had a PT test a couple days after we got back and then we were tested on everything that we had learned up until that point to see what kind of stuff we retained. So after the PT test we did a Fit To Win obstacle course, some BRM, some Combat Lifesaving, and a test of our general knowledge of the army and our battalion. From there we did NIC at Night...crawling about 125 meters through this beachy sand while rounds were flying over our heads and shit was exploding. It was pretty cool but fuck that low crawling shit. It was exhausting. We then did a Field Training Exercise and spent 3 days and 2 nights there doing move and cover drills most of the time.
We had more MRE's and Hot A's this time around. Maybe it was just the platoon I was in but they never really let up on us so there wasn't much of a change in how the drill sgts treated us as we moved from one phase to another. My senior drill sgt was on her last cycle and trying to win everything. We ended up winning everything. D&C sucked but we still won that. I think our platoon won 8 straight D&C's after we were finished. I was one of 5 chosen to be tested in my platoon near the end of blue phase on everything we had learned. We outperformed every platoon in the brigade so our drill sgts were really happy about that. We had like 88% retention of what we had learned while some platoon's were only scoring 6%. We also threw some grenades at Remagen, did more cover me while I move stuff at Omaha and stayed overnight there. Victory Forge was our 5 day field training exercise. We stepped off from our barracks at 0530 and got there about 1130. The march wasn't too bad. I think it was 8 or 9 miles but different drill sgts were saying it was anywhere from 6 to 12 miles. Victory Forge was 90% pulling security and about 10% of actually going out on missions. It was cold as fuck and laying in a foxhole for several hours without moving made it worse. Our company started with 138 and 110 graduated. People were caught with cell phones, got into fights, snuck off to the PX while they were supposed to be at church, had character issues or just performed poorly on the PT tests.
I'm glad I didn't have to do that shit somewhere like Fort Leonard Wood because I'd imagine it would be much colder there. Also have no idea what basic would be like during the summer when its hot as hell. It probably sucks more. I was told by one of my drill sgts that its mostly 18-21 year olds during the summer. Anyways, that's all I can really think to post of my experience at Fort Jackson. I'm looking forward to Fort Gordon now. Hoping I can get a weekend pass since my family is down but not sure if I'll get one or not. I will try to chronicle my time at AIT if I can.
Big Phoenix
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And all I have to say isMilitary nears holy grail: Pizza that lasts 3 years
NATICK, Mass. (AP) - They call it the holy grail of ready-to-eat meals for soldiers: a pizza that can stay on the shelf for as long as three years and still remain good to eat.
Soldiers have been asking for pizza since lightweight individual field rations - known as meals ready to eat, or MREs - replaced canned food in 1981 for soldiers in combat zones or areas where field kitchens cannot be set up.
Researchers at a U.S. military lab in Massachusetts are closing in on a recipe that doesn't require any refrigeration or freezing.
"You can basically take the pizza, leave it on the counter, packaged, for three years and it'd still be edible," said Michelle Richardson, a food scientist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.
Scientists at the Natick labs also are responsible for developing equipment and clothing that improves soldiers' combat effectiveness and their survival, but the quest for good pizza has become known as the holy grail there.
Pizza is one of the most requested items when soldiers are asked every year what they'd like to see in their rations, said Richardson, who has spent nearly two years developing the recipe in a large kitchen full of commercial equipment.
Scientists' efforts were long thwarted because moisture in tomato sauce, cheese and toppings migrated to the dough over time, resulting in soggy pizza that provided the perfect conditions for mold and disease-causing bacteria to grow.
But on-and-off research over the past few years helped them figure out ways to prevent moisture from migrating. That includes using ingredients called humectants - sugar, salt and syrups can do the trick - that bind to water and keep it from getting to the dough.
But that alone would not help the pizza remain fresh for three years at 80 degrees, so scientists tweaked the acidity of the sauce, cheese and dough to make it harder for oxygen and bacteria to thrive. They also added iron filings to the package to absorb any air remaining in the pouch.
How does it taste?
Most soldiers haven't tried it because it's still being developed, but Jill Bates, who runs the taste lab, said she was happy after tasting the latest prototype batch of pepperoni. She describes it as a pan pizza, with a crust that's a little moist and not super-crispy.
"It pretty much tastes just like a typical pan pizza that you would make at home and take out of the oven or the toaster oven," she said. "The only thing missing from that experience would be it's not hot when you eat it. It's room temperature."
Turkey pepperoni pizza also will be available for soldiers who do not eat pork products.
David Accetta, a former Army lieutenant colonel and spokesman for the lab, tried the pizza and also liked it. He said having food soldiers can relate to and enjoy has added benefits.
"In a lot of cases, when you are cold and tired and hungry, having a hot meal that's something that you like and you would get at home, it increases your morale - and we consider that to be a force multiplier," Accetta said.
Spaghetti is the most popular MRE option. It has been on the menu since MREs were introduced, and it is the one thing that soldiers have never recommended be removed from MREs. Vegetarian tortellini is also one of the most popular choices.
The lab brings in food technologists to taste recipes and give feedback.
One of the technologists, Dan Nattress, agreed the pizza deserves a thumbs-up.
"It tastes pretty much what you would get from a pizza parlor," he said.
also fadaar I've never heard of anyone complaining that they don't have to go stand around in sleet and ice for hours on end. Of all the places i've ever been in the states there is no where worse then being stationed in Jacksonville. I'd say Twenty Nine Palms but I never had to deal with that bullshit
calhoonjugganaut
Trakanon Raider
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No one really got to use their cell phone but like once when we got back. The folks that got in trouble had snuck them in and got caught with them. Normally you would get a phone call home on a payphone but our phone calls never went beyond 30 minutes so it really wasn't that great. If I had something other than Sprint I may have gotten better cell service and had been able to to venture deeper into Augusta than where I was at. Ended up getting a weekend pass til Monday because of President's Day. Still had to check in and all of that. Definitely seemed more laid back than what I experienced in BCT. Went out tonight and saw a big hair band called Mad Margritt that fucking rocked at the Wild Wing Cafe. Hoping to use the rest of my time off to rest up and do a good job on my PT test that is forthcoming.
Big Phoenix
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As shitty as Jacksonville is(spent two months @ camp johnson), it doesnt compare to 29 Palms or NTC(armys version of 29 palms). Both of those shit holes aside from being in the mojave desert are a good hour at a minimum from civilization. If anything I would say 29 Palms is slightly better than NTC just for the fact its only 2 hours from LA.