A military meme...


Andy in NH said:
Do you think that the Army has a monopoly on parachute operations?
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Yeah! Wait, what? I was best man for one instructor, groomsman for another instructor, and between them they had hundreds and hundreds of jumps. A couple of demos a week, training and teaching. Then there's free fall school at the Academy in Colorado. Those cadet-instructors get in some serious ff jumps each summer.
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Matt_SERE said:
Yeah! Wait, what? I was best man for one instructor, groomsman for another instructor, and between them they had hundreds and hundreds of jumps. A couple of demos a week, training and teaching. Then there's free fall school at the Academy in Colorado. Those cadet-instructors get in some serious ff jumps each summer.
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An Army buddy was in the Golden Knights and jumped with President HW Bush.

He told me back in the day (‘82) he had 3,300 jumps.

Hats off to the USAFA jumpers as CS is at 6,500 foot elevation so thry must hit the ground pretty hard.
 
garandman said:
An Army buddy was in the Golden Knights and jumped with President HW Bush.

He told me back in the day (‘82) he had 3,300 jumps.

Hats off to the USAFA jumpers as CS is at 6,500 foot elevation so thry must hit the ground pretty hard.
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Once upon a time I hung out at USAFA for a weekend or two or three, and it puzzled me that it seemed like every damn cadet had airborne wings. This was weird because I'd gone through jump school during a summer class and I remembered lots of ROTC and USMA cadets, but no USAFA.

Then I found out USAFA has its own jump school, and it's nothing like the real one at Benning.

I tend to think that school should produce a different badge, but I'm aware that's me being an old crank. To me, the Army wings mean something specific: static line mass-tac jumps into the night with camo paint.
 
garandman said:
Your post derided the Army by implying the USMC has a monopoly on difficult training.

Just pointing out that is bullshit.

Do go on.
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Marines recognize that some Army units undergo difficult training. We know they don't just give out jump wings, and Ranger school is no joke.

But All Marines undergo difficult training. And there are many 03 Marines who are jump qualified.
 
fencer said:
Marines recognize that some Army units undergo difficult training. We know they don't just give out jump wings, and Ranger school is no joke.

But All Marines undergo difficult training. And there are many 03 Marines who are jump qualified.
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My brother was a Marine Reserve Infantry Company Commander after active duty service. So very familiar with his training and the mindset.

Not the right thread for that discussion. Maybe someone has some Warrant Officer memes?
 
fencer said:
Marines recognize that some Army units undergo difficult training. We know they don't just give out jump wings, and Ranger school is no joke.

But All Marines undergo difficult training. And there are many 03 Marines who are jump qualified.
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The meme works, anyway, as a critique about recruiting. The Marines have a recruiting philosophy that emphasizes difficulty. The Army, to be fair about it... does not.
 
frenchman said:
Oh yeah, I remember the McDs and BKs on my deployments. NOT!!! Here’s how it went for us:
Good day: Legionnaire, here’s your MRE. We supplemented it with an apple and a bag of chips.
Bad day: Legionnaire, here’s your survival ration. You can fill your canteen from the water trailer.
Really bad day: Men, all meals of today will be substituted by a short whistle from first sergeant. Y’all too fat and ugly anyway.
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One day onboard my ship the chef burned my breakfast omelette. The side sausage, hash browns, donut and coffee was still pretty good though.
 
garandman said:
Your post derided the Army by implying the USMC has a monopoly on difficult training.

Just pointing out that is bullshit.

Do go on.
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Everyone knows that there is no monopoly on difficult training in any of the services.

You got triggered by a meme.

If that meme had reversed the roles of the services you wouldn't have seen me complaining.

I'll go back to snacking on crayons now.

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Picton said:
Once upon a time I hung out at USAFA for a weekend or two or three, and it puzzled me that it seemed like every damn cadet had airborne wings. This was weird because I'd gone through jump school during a summer class and I remembered lots of ROTC and USMA cadets, but no USAFA.

Then I found out USAFA has its own jump school, and it's nothing like the real one at Benning.

I tend to think that school should produce a different badge, but I'm aware that's me being an old crank. To me, the Army wings mean something specific: static line mass-tac jumps into the night with camo paint.
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You could tell the difference on BDUs by the stitching color - black for Army as you described and blue for the USAF version.
 
NHKevin said:
You could tell the difference on BDUs by the stitching color - black for Army as you described and blue for the USAF version.
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This is true, but most of the cadets I interacted with at that time were wearing blues, and the badge looks identical.

Now, every time I see a USAF officer with jump wings, I'm not very impressed. I just assume it means they went to school in the Springs and did some weekend free-fallin'. I no longer assume they made it through the struggles of 1/507, or however that unit is designated now, at Benning, or whatever it's called now.

Enlisted zoomies with jump wings? I figure they actually earned them.
 
Picton said:
This is true, but most of the cadets I interacted with at that time were wearing blues, and the badge looks identical.

Now, every time I see a USAF officer with jump wings, I'm not very impressed. I just assume it means they went to school in the Springs and did some weekend free-fallin'. I no longer assume they made it through the struggles of 1/507, or however that unit is designated now, at Benning, or whatever it's called now.

Enlisted zoomies with jump wings? I figure they actually earned them.
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I only ever heard the term 'Zoomie' as meaning USAFA graduate.
 
Picton said:
This is true, but most of the cadets I interacted with at that time were wearing blues, and the badge looks identical.

Now, every time I see a USAF officer with jump wings, I'm not very impressed. I just assume it means they went to school in the Springs and did some weekend free-fallin'. I no longer assume they made it through the struggles of 1/507, or however that unit is designated now, at Benning, or whatever it's called now.

Enlisted zoomies with jump wings? I figure they actually earned them.
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I went through US Army Airborne School with several USAF officers, and there were several enlisted as well. I was first stick leader in my platoon; a USAF captain was third stick leader. She was about 5'1", and weighed maybe 95 pounds (yes, she was hot).

For those who have been there, this means she was the first one out of the plane on the starboard (right) side, followed by the rest of her stick, then me and my stick.

On every one of our five jumps, she was the last one to actually reach the ground. The entire drop had chutes packed up and were heading off the DZ, while she was still floating around up there.
 
Picton said:
I think I left Kosovo the day before the Burger King arrived, about four months after we set up Camp Bondsteel. Good to know their BK reaction time has improved, lol.
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they had a BK in Taszar, but we never got one in Bosnia... the best thing was finding the Dunkin Donuts in Budapest.... my section sgt and WO put me in for a medal for that one, lol
 
inerlogic said:
they had a BK in Taszar, but we never got one in Bosnia... the best thing was finding the Dunkin Donuts in Budapest.... my section sgt and WO put me in for a medal for that one, lol
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There was a Dunks in Budapest???

Damnit... I'd have cheerfully driven from Taszar to Budapest for Dunks. Well deserved medal, that.

Didn't see a BK there, but we had already been briefed by our commander that it would be '...better if the army didn't notice we were here'.
 
KBCraig said:
I went through US Army Airborne School with several USAF officers, and there were several enlisted as well. I was first stick leader in my platoon; a USAF captain was third stick leader. She was about 5'1", and weighed maybe 95 pounds (yes, she was hot).

For those who have been there, this means she was the first one out of the plane on the starboard (right) side, followed by the rest of her stick, then me and my stick.

On every one of our five jumps, she was the last one to actually reach the ground. The entire drop had chutes packed up and were heading off the DZ, while she was still floating around up there.
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She would have been a perfect B17 ball turret gunner in that era.


IMG_9456.jpeg
 
KMM696 said:
There was a Dunks in Budapest???

Damnit... I'd have cheerfully driven from Taszar to Budapest for Dunks. Well deserved medal, that.

Didn't see a BK there, but we had already been briefed by our commander that it would be '...better if the army didn't notice we were here'.
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yeh, i was the first from my section, and i think my unit as a whole to go on pass. so it was recon time....
this was mid-August, we'd been in training and re-certification at Benning and Stewart since about May.

the first order of business was a cab ride to that dunkin, i left with two sleeves of cups, lids, napkins, stirrers, sugar, 5lbs of coffee, basically one of everything.
and i told them there'd be more guys after me every couple of weeks to restock, lol

i have a photo from the bus heading to the hotel of the pizza hut in budapest, dunks was on the next block and we were by it before i could get the camera ready again.

SSGT: "ok, where are the best bars and whore houses?"

SPC Me: "never mind that shit Chuck.... look at THIS"
*unzips suitcase

My Entire COC in unison: "HOLY SHIT"
 

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Picton said:
Once upon a time I hung out at USAFA for a weekend or two or three, and it puzzled me that it seemed like every damn cadet had airborne wings. This was weird because I'd gone through jump school during a summer class and I remembered lots of ROTC and USMA cadets, but no USAFA.

Then I found out USAFA has its own jump school, and it's nothing like the real one at Benning.

I tend to think that school should produce a different badge, but I'm aware that's me being an old crank. To me, the Army wings mean something specific: static line mass-tac jumps into the night with camo paint.
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I have a belt buckle made by a Navajo friend of mine that makes jewelry. It is the Army Jump wings made with almost 4 oz. Of Sterling Silver.

STB_0099.jpg

Was at a trade show in Vegas one year and three AFAcademy cadets came by and one noticed my buckle. He asked me where he could get one, so I asked him if he went to Jump School at Ft. Benning. He told me he got his wings at the Academy and I laughed in his face.
"You have to be a real Parattooper to earn one of these buckles!"
Man, was he pissed![rofl]

ETA: I did meet a couple of Enlisted PJ's that were training here in Albuquerque who did go the school at Benning, and introduced them to my buddy who sold them buckles! My buddy was also a Marine Recon and went to Benning the same year I did (67)
 
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Rockrivr1 said:
One day onboard my ship the chef burned my breakfast omelette. The side sausage, hash browns, donut and coffee was still pretty good though.
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One day in Al Dhafra AB in the UAE, I sat down in the chow hall across from another guy. It was lobster night and the guy across from me was bitching that the lobster wasn't very good. I just looked at him and in my best Clint Eastwood / Gunny Highway voice growled out "Yeah, war is hell, ain't it?"
I think I pissed him off because he didn't say anything else.


To be fair, the lobster wasn't the best I've ever had. I would definitely complain if it was in a beachside restaurant. For being in the middle of the freaking desert, where the steak comes in boxes marked "Fit for convicts and military", I was appreciating it was there and enjoying it.
 
tuna said:
One day in Al Dhafra AB in the UAE, I sat down in the chow hall across from another guy. It was lobster night and the guy across from me was bitching that the lobster wasn't very good. I just looked at him and in my best Clint Eastwood / Gunny Highway voice growled out "Yeah, war is hell, ain't it?"
I think I pissed him off because he didn't say anything else.


To be fair, the lobster wasn't the best I've ever had. I would definitely complain if it was in a beachside restaurant. For being in the middle of the freaking desert, where the steak comes in boxes marked "Fit for convicts and military", I was appreciating it was there and enjoying it.
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Steak and/or Lobster in the Navy meant you've been extended for an undetermined amount of time on station. It was usually followed up with ice cream..... [wink]
 

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