10 years ago today...

[Guest WyattEarp]

Was my first day in the United States Army. Time has flown by. Today, I am out celebrating at the range with my friend Bill shooting an AR-15 semi-automatic.

Didnt realize it was 10 years ago to this day until Bill and I got to talking about the differences in recoil on the Ar-15 and m-16. Seems just like yesterday. Man was basic fun!!!! Miss those days!

[buck1032]

10 Years ago today I was on deployment onboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) with HS-8 and dont miss those days and I am glad I am retied now! LOL

[daddyo]

Yes, time does fly and it seems to accelerate as you grow older. I can't believe that I will be a sexagenarian (stop snickering and look it up) in 2-1/2 years.

I still feel like a 30-yr old.

And THANK YOU for your service!!

[Guest db99wj]

If I were had stayed in, I would be finishing up my 22nd year, or at least retired 2 years ago....wow...that's a long time ago. 1990 doesn't seem that long ago, but damn.

[Guest bkelm18]

Yes, time does fly and it seems to accelerate as you grow older. I can't believe that I will be a sexagenarian (stop snickering and look it up) in 2-1/2 years.

I still feel like a 30-yr old.

And THANK YOU for your service!!

You gonna have a sex change in 2 and a half years?!?!

Been about 8 yrs since I stepped foot into a hellishly cold Navy boot camp.

[R1100R]

It goes by quick, Just a few months ago I went over 35 years. First AD, then Reserve, now AD.

[Guest WyattEarp]

Thanks guys! And lmao at DaddyO, thats just too funny!

And i still have my shooting skills to go with it.

Ar-15 from 100 yards.

Ar-15 from 200 yards

Not bad for a rusty soldier. Only the 2nd time in 10 years ive picked up an ar-15 and got some practice.

Cant wait to build my new Ar-15 and hone my skills and marksmanship here before long.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Thank you.

No, seriously, thank you for your service.

[Guest uofmeet]

10 years ago I was a senior in High School.....

[DWARREN123]

10 years ago I was thinking about being retired from the Army for almost 10 years. Retired in 1992.

[Guest WyattEarp]

to the other service members in here, thanks for your service as well!

10 years ago I was thinking about being retired from the Army for almost 10 years. Retired in 1992.

thanks for your service!

[Timestepper]

10 years ago I had been out of the Army for 16 1/2 years, looking at turning 41 in a few days and feeling kinda' old. Now... I'm looking at 51 in about 9 more days and realize that I've got underwear that's older than you are, Wyatt. (And I'm feeling like a fossil!)

[Spook]

On 1/15/2012 it will have been 37 years since I entered basic at Ft. Polk, La., at about midnight after a bus ride from Texas. Spent 3 years, six months and 19 days active duty. Loved it. Bless all of you for serving your country.

[Dennis1209]

Forty-Two, count them, forty two years since I went to Army basic training. Try counting that number on your fingers and toes

Didn't care much for my extended vacation in Southeast Asia though. Don't let anyone tell you dog tastes just like chicken and MPC is just as good as the dollar.

42 Now that's a big number...

[Guest capt usa]

Thank you for your time spend in service, much appreciated on this end. 10 years ago (on the 12th), my second son was born.

[EMB145]

I went to Basic at Ft. Polk as well in June 89. I got off active duty in 95 and finished my 20 yrs in the reserves.

Hang in there to get that retirement. Its all down hill from here and thank you for your service.

[Guest dubaholic2]

10 years ago I was a senior in High School.....

i was a junior. lol

[Patton]

It will have been 10years in October for me. I have been out completely for about one year. I tell you the Army has changed a lot in the last 10yrs.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I have a lot of respect for people who put on a uniform for their country.. Thanks to all of you

I wanted to go in the Air Force when I was young.. but then people kept telling me that since I was not a US citizen , I could not go in..I guess now..( or even back then) they fast track you to a citizenship and get it once you graduate out of basic.. Now its to late for me.. but would have loved to do it..

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

It was 37 years ago that I was first called a maggot by a Drill Sergeant.

Basic Training at Ft. Dix NJ in Dec and Jan is not something that this mostly FL raised boy will ever forget. I can still remember thinking "It is flipping cold out here and why are they yelling at me, do they not realize that I am a volunteer?"....ahh being so young and naive.

I had several breaks-in-service over the years so next month will mark 4 years since the last time I took the uniform off due to a medical discharge. It had been 18 years since my previous discharge when I joined the TN Army Guard to lend a hand in Iraq. Injury or not, I am glad that I did and I still miss it. Even with all the breaks-in-service I would have hit my 20 last year and I would go back tomorrow if they would let me.

Heaven help the enemy if they ever do let all us old fart Vets back in, I dont know any that would not gladly go.

10 years ago today I was in the cab of an 18 wheeler hauling freight somewhere across this great country but I would have no idea of just where in the country that I was.

[Guest buck7997]

jan 29, 2002 for me in great lakes, IL yeah i went trough in the winter I have never seen snow blow perfectly side ways before or since.

[Guest WyattEarp]

It was 37 years ago that I was first called a maggot by a Drill Sergeant.

Basic Training at Ft. Dix NJ in Dec and Jan is not something that this mostly FL raised boy will ever forget. I can still remember thinking "It is flipping cold out here and why are they yelling at me, do they not realize that I am a volunteer?"....ahh being so young and naive.

I had several breaks-in-service over the years so next month will mark 4 years since the last time I took the uniform off due to a medical discharge. It had been 18 years since my previous discharge when I joined the TN Army Guard to lend a hand in Iraq. Injury or not, I am glad that I did and I still miss it. Even with all the breaks-in-service I would have hit my 20 last year and I would go back tomorrow if they would let me.

Heaven help the enemy if they ever do let all us old fart Vets back in, I dont know any that would not gladly go.

10 years ago today I was in the cab of an 18 wheeler hauling freight somewhere across this great country but I would have no idea of just where in the country that I was.

i had the bright idea to go to Ft. Jackson, SC in winter to avoid the summer heat of SC or Ft. Benning, or Ft. Sill, and I still have the frost bite cracks on my fingers. we had a few weeks where it was cold enough to make you lose feeling in your hands, toes, fingers and feet, probably low 20's, upper teens for about 10-14 days, and if that's durned cold, it's too cold for me! but after that the rest of our BCT was manageable and the temps were high 40's, to low 60's.

On the first day of Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) about 3 weeks into BCT, I had to report to Kitchen Patrol after we zeroed in to let some other soldiers zero in, and then halfway through the rest of KP, I got real sick, they called the meat wagon for me, and I got laid up for 9 days with bacterial pneumonia. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me at first, and because my neck was stiff and I couldn't hardly move it up or down, they thought I had meningitis, I about my pants when the doctor who was a Major came in with this big ass needle and told me they were gonna do a spinal tap to check. I refused to roll over, said there was no way that was going in my spinal cord. Thanks to the Sergeant that was attending to me, he suggested an x-ray of my chest to rule out bronchitis or anything else, because my primary complaint was my chest was on fire, the Major relented. Wheeled me into x-ray, and bingo, bacterial pneumonia. Sarge bailed my ass out! I wanted no part of that needle, and when he came back with the results, he was grinning like a recruit fresh outta basic who'd just gotten a little lady companionship while on leave. They admitted me as a patient, had a Lieutenant waiting on me, fetching sprite, jello, bed pans, newspapers (oooooh boy, did Drill Sergeant pitch a fit over that! Wheeeeeeweee, he was mad. I ended up stuck on fire guard every night for 4 hours, for a week because of that after I got out of the hospital) not supposed to read newspapers, but I dont see what his problem was, the darned tv was on and CNN and foxnews were on When I finally got out, DS said the only way I wasn't getting recycled, was if I went and qualified on the range first time go, because he said that was all I had missed, didnt see any sense in recycling me if I could hit 23 of 40. Told him I could do it, and got 27/40 with nothing more than 1 day of zeroing in for practice 9 days prior to qualifying. Rest of my platoon didn't care too much for that, but the DS's told 'em to shut it, I qualified, I earned my right not to be recycled.

I loved all the jousting, and hand to hand combat and grappling. We had this funny little Vietnamese DS, maybe 5' 4" at best, think his name was Phong, or Pham. He left me and my battle buddy out on roving patrol for 12 hours once without food one day, and every time we tried to call in to ask for relief to grab some chow, he'd yell through the radio "You no talk privut! you just listen. I tell you when you do things" Yes, Drill sergeant. come hand to hand combat time, he asked for volunteers. Payback time. a couple people snickered cause they thought I was about to get my ass handed to me, but I stood up, he looked at me and goes, oh so you want sum of me? Yes Drill Sergeant I do. Well come over here Pvt. Went over there, he ran through a few demonstrations, then it went for real. He went to grab me, I side stepped, grabbed the back of his bdu top, looped my leg around the back of his knee and slammed him down and got him in a hold, and he tapped out. He got up and shook my hand and said I was the first soldier to best him...haha, I told him I had, had a bit or Ryu Kyu Kempo martial arts training when I was younger and so I knew a thing or two. The whole Platoon was laughing at him...and it got us all smoked for about 20 minutes, lol.

damn, those were the fun times. BCT rocked! If they'd let me I'd go back and do it again, but im too busted up now for their standards.

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

Cool story Wyatt, Boy does it bring back memories. Sorry for Hi-Jack guys.

I was a bit more of a bad boy. It wasnt my smartest or proudest moment but I actually hit a DI about the 4th or 5th day. It was the first day that we had arrived at our actual unit to train. They pulled us apart and took us both to a room with those gym floor pads on the floor and the walls, had us take off our boots and shirts and go at it. I guess these things had happened before.

I too had some prior martial arts training starting with Judo while living in Japan at about age 6-7, but I got my butt handed to me that day. I landed the first blow but that was about all I did, I was bruised in several places for weeks into the training cycle. I also got my only ever Article-15 and it cost me $86.50 in pay but I did not get any other extra duty over it.

The thing was that the DI wasnt around for a week-10 days after and when he did show back up he was still wearing the remains of that shiner that my first blow had given him. I had already been made a squad leader and then later in the cycle the platoon guide as they called us. DI Richards was his name and he became a good friend throughout the cycle.

But what still sticks out the most to me from those days was those darn speed marches in snow literally up to my backside. If you stopped you just had to do it all again on another day. Myself and one other soldier were the only two in our company who did not ever stop on any of the marches but I can still remember and even feel just how miserable it was to be sweating inside all those layers and Lord knows how cold it was outside, I remember how badly that I wanted to stop and how badly that I didnt. I took it one step at a time, one step at a time. To this day I am still darn proud of myself for not ever stopping and having to do it again as dumb as that may sound.

They told us that AIT (Infantry) would be much different than basic.....it was, it was in another state at Ft. Polk LA. and training days were much longer.

They would take us by truck out to train in the mornings and we would have to double time back to the company area for evening chow. They told us that if we did not make it before a certain time that the chow hall would close and we would not eat that night. We were all pretty certain that they would not ever do that to us but they had told us the truth about that and we only missed eating that one time. Our speed as a group increased tremendously after missing out on that one dinner no matter how tired we were.

They did ease up on us about halfway through that cycle and started letting us go to the PX at night and on the weekends. Our first free weekend I managed to drink one beer at the bowling alley and went back to the barracks and pretty much slept the entire weekend. Those who didnt paid dearly that Monday.

After being in the infantry for a bit I got tired of always being in the field and volunteered to go into the Signal Corps thinking that I would not be in the woods so much:rolleyes: I did not realize that the Signal Corps were the first in and last out every time anyone went anywhere back then. I really wasnt that smart.

These days communications are so different the things that we once did are no longer needed and each unit has a signal person or two and that is all that they need. I was a Radio Teletype Operator when that was the highest tech stuff the Army had. We did about what we are all doing here only then it was over high frequency FM radio waves which still boggles my mind that it even worked. I loved that job woods or not.

I am pretty busted up myself these days but I would still go back if they would let me, I just could not do the things that are required of a soldier anymore, that is why they gave me the medical when they did. I sure was not happy about it nor was my unit but I have learned to live with it because there isnt anything I can do about it anyway, if there was I would be doing it. I miss it all very very much, even the dumb stuff they always had us doing and they never seemed to run out of those things;)

[/hi-jack]

[Guest WyattEarp]

haha, that's an awesome story Sgt. Joe. Bet you never made that mistake again! I never once wanted to swing at them because I knew it would be a bad bad decision.

that vietnamese DS, he was a scrawny short little fella. now im glad i didnt get into a kickboxing match with him, because he was about the most limber little dude I've ever met, but I was ready for him that day. But later he did a cool kickboxing demo for us, and he was getting his legs up really really high when he would snap his kicks out, and those kicks had some serious velocity and power behind them.

After he shook my hand, one of my DS's who was in charge of my platoon, his name was Corrales, big Mexican dude, stood 6'5", 260#, all solid muscle, barrel chest with enormous arms and mean looking eyes. He was a 13B. Dedicated infantry. He'd been through Ranger school 3 times, twice he bowed out because of being bitten by brown recluses and his commanders ordered him to drop out and get medical treatment, 3rd time he fractured his leg, think it was his tibia or something, made it like 7 days before he couldn't go on and figured if he couldn't do it after 3 times, he wasn't going to get through it at all. anyhow, he came over after I bested DS Pham, and asked me if I wanted some of him next, cause he said he'd like to see me try that on him. I swear, i shrunk to about 3" in height and said absolutely NOT Drill Sergeant. he just grinned and said "thought so". lol. Half the battle is knowing when, where and who to pick your battles with. The rest is just exercising common sense!

we also had a 2nd drill sergeant, his name was DS Brown. I nicknamed him Elmer Fudd from day 1, because he looked just like Elmer Fudd, short, between athletic and stocky build, but with a Smokey the Bear hat, but he was physically fit, he didn't look like much in terms of being a powerhouse. I never bothered to tell him that I nicknamed him that though, I just kept that one to myself. 6 days before graduation, I found out why I was glad I kept that to myself. One of the male soldiers in our platoon made the mistake of swinging on him on our FTX. DS Brown, was all over him like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm in the middle of a full blooming cotton field. messed him up bad. Never seen anyone strike as hard or as fast, as many times in a row as he did, but it was like lightning. MP's showed up about 20 minutes later and took the recruit off to jail and charged him with assaulting an NCO. it was ruled self-defense for DS Brown. whoever underestimates him, is in for a rude wakeup! That little dude is dynamite!

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

No, I never was quite that stupid again.

The closest I came was entering a kick-boxing contest at Ft. Hood and facing off with a dude who was all of about 5' 6maybe7" and 110 or so LBS. I KNEW I was gonna win that one and move on in the competition. That happened to be the last coherent thought that I had that day, I cant even remember just what that dude did to me. All I know is whatever he did he did it FAST. He did end up going on to win the thing which is some condolence but I never entered another one and again hurt for days afterward.

I have the utmost respect for anyone who raises that right hand and pledges their life to our country so I dont mean to take any of that respect away from the young soldiers of today.

But I got to serve with some of them when I went back into the Guard here in TN in 04 and there were more than a few who could not even take down and reassemble their M-16s without help, some did not even know the rank structure past E-4 and some were in really poor physical shape, I have no idea how they even made it through basic.

These days the guys on delayed entry have their own special drills that they can go to and get paid to train before they ever actually leave for basic which to me is a great idea. It would be nice to be young enough to start it all over again. In 07 they were giving 15K bonus' just to become a truck driver and 25 and 30K for some other jobs. I thought that I did well in getting 25 hundred for going infantry.

Back in the 70's when I started out there was no way that a person could complete basic training and infantry school and not be in top notch shape physically, a person would be re-cycled until they could pass all the testing. Some of the smaller guys were some of the toughest we had.

Physically it seemed we were all tough as nails.

But mentaly?....I did join the Signal Corps thinking I would not be going to the woods so often:rolleyes:

And those NCO's back then told us that we had it made compared to what they had been put through. I never really believed that until much later after seeing how some (certainly not all) of the younger soldiers were.

It is sad that with two wars going on one would think the standards would be higher but the opposite was the truth. They dropped the ASVAB passing score from 51 (I think) to 31, yet when I worked with the recruiters I sent guys to test who came back with single digit scores.

But my family and I thank each one of you who have ever served and we Pray daily for those who are still serving and for those who live with the wounds and scars of their sacrifice.

And with that I will stop the Hi-Jacking of this thread.....Promise:)

10 years ago I was 10 years younger and at that point in time still tough as nails and dumber than dirt. Amazing how much difference a decade can make while some things remain the same.