Military Chow

[mikewint]

competency is the deciding factor.

I've known several females who could "kick my butt" even on my best day. So personally gender and/or persuasion never made any difference to me even back in the '60s BUTBUTBUT. The Army had Two Different Sets of physical standards to qualify AND the female set was considerably lower than the male requirements based on the old Men Have More Upper Body Strength.
So plain and simple I resent putting my combat life in the hands of ANYone who is physically incapable.

 

[aacs45]

Competency isn't just job proficiency. Glad to see the new PT test is more combat focused...though the instructions and guidelines need a lot of work.
That said, the young folks generally prefer us 'has beens' to stay out of their lane and let them get the job done. Our opinions don't really matter. I respect your experience in its time and place, just as I can sleep soundly with mine.

 

[mikewint]

Again I have absolutely no problem with females in combat as long as all standards are the same
For the current Army Physical Fitness Test, male soldiers between 17 and 21 years old must complete 71 pushups within two minutes, run two miles in 13 minutes, and complete 78 situps to get perfect scores. Female soldiers in the same age range must do 42 pushups, complete the two-mile run in 15 minutes and 36 seconds, and also do 78 sit ups to get full credit on each event.
Males and Females with the same score are not physically equal.
SOOO....Let's have a professional baseball all female team. Since they are not as physically capable as their male opponent teams their hits count double, OK?
Time and Place??? Yea I'm a dinosaur and am rapidly approaching extinction but "boots on the ground" combat is still PHYSICAL and that requires a certain amount of PHYSICAL strength. How mentally tough you are is certainly a factor but if I'm carrying 1000 rounds and you can only manage 750 whose going to have my back when you run out.
Everyone has a job in combat and everyone's life is in each others hands and you can't do someone else's job. A chain breaks at the weak link and I don't want to die because of some PC bureaucrat's wet dream of Gender Equality

 

[soulezoo]

Yeah, I have to agree with Mike on this one.

What I see going on with Ranger testing now for the females, just not right. Just so they can have a Ranger tab and have better promotional opportunities and feel all PC. But at what expense? We've already seen the breakdown of good order and discipline with the "hook-ups" in the units. Last one I read was a Sgt Maj with a private. If the girls can pass the same tests, great. If not, then they don't. And you don't just lower the standard to make it work.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

I've known several females who could "kick my butt" even on my best day.

In the 70s we had some WAVES on base who were cute, attractive, AND FORMIDABLE. We had one who was a crew chief on an SH3 who looked like a shrinking violet, but was hard core. Every chopper flight carried a reluctant, not-trained-for-rescue-work corpsman because most flights turned into Cuban refugee rescues. These corpsmen were not aircrew trained, not eligible for flight pay, and ordered to fly outside of their regular duties at the whim of the base CO. So in a fifty foot hover over a leaky boatload of sick, starved, parasite infested refugees, all eyes turned to the corpsman, who would make a long slow routine of getting ready to go over the side. This would drive DeeDee mad, and she'd stick her flight helmet on the corpsman's head, shuck her quick donning Velcro flight boots, grab a pair of fins from the rack, and be out the door in a flash in her poopie suit from 50 feet up!! She wore a first aid kit and water bottles on her flight suit as well as a rescue radio, and sometimes had to stay in the boat with the refugees practicing her Spanish while the chopper delivered the first load ashore. This went on for awhile until some reporter interviewing a refugee wrote a story about the "angel from the sky" and a young WAVE ensign went on a crusade to get DeeDee recognition for what she was doing. The CO went ballistic, declared the SH3 a "combat aircraft" (because some were used for ASW sonar dipping), tried to court martial the Lieutenant Commander in charge of Operations, and wrote up DeeDee for NJP, but since he wrote the chit, she had to go to Admiral's Mast at the Naval Station downtown. She was stripped of her AMH3 rating, busted back to E-2, banished from the airedale Navy and sent to the black shoe Navy as a designated striker Personnelman.
The old boys club strikes again!
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Wildr1]

When I was in early 70's, the women were ugly.... referred to as war dogs, chow had too many Carrot and
Raison salads...I hated lime jello. SOS was good, forget the egg like material.

 

[Glider]

In 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus we were flown out to HMS Hermes to help with the aircraft handling when she started rescuing civilians from the shore. These included a number of Russians who needed picking up. As you would expect most were from the embassy or were officials of one type or another. They were delighted to be on board an operational NATO warship and were often found pocking around. One of the Russians kept going back to the kitchens which were working flat out as if he suspected that we had put on a special spread just to impress them, he couldn't believe the quality of what the crew were fed.

 

[GreenKnight121]

They say that in the Army the coffee's mighty fine
It looks like muddy water and tastes like turpentine
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go home!

They say that in the Army the chow is mighty fine
a chicken jumped off the table and killed a friend of mine
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go home!

They say that in the Army the biscuits are mighty fine
one rolled off the table and crushed a friend of mine
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go home!

Completed it for you.

 

[jetcal1]

In the 70s we had some WAVES on base who were cute, attractive, AND FORMIDABLE. We had one who was a crew chief on an SH3 who looked like a shrinking violet, but was hard core. Every chopper flight carried a reluctant, not-trained-for-rescue-work corpsman because most flights turned into Cuban refugee rescues. These corpsmen were not aircrew trained, not eligible for flight pay, and ordered to fly outside of their regular duties at the whim of the base CO. So in a fifty foot hover over a leaky boatload of sick, starved, parasite infested refugees, all eyes turned to the corpsman, who would make a long slow routine of getting ready to go over the side. This would drive DeeDee mad, and she'd stick her flight helmet on the corpsman's head, shuck her quick donning Velcro flight boots, grab a pair of fins from the rack, and be out the door in a flash in her poopie suit from 50 feet up!! She wore a first aid kit and water bottles on her flight suit as well as a rescue radio, and sometimes had to stay in the boat with the refugees practicing her Spanish while the chopper delivered the first load ashore. This went on for awhile until some reporter interviewing a refugee wrote a story about the "angel from the sky" and a young WAVE ensign went on a crusade to get DeeDee recognition for what she was doing. The CO went ballistic, declared the SH3 a "combat aircraft" (because some were used for ASW sonar dipping), tried to court martial the Lieutenant Commander in charge of Operations, and wrote up DeeDee for NJP, but since he wrote the chit, she had to go to Admiral's Mast at the Naval Station downtown. She was stripped of her AMH3 rating, busted back to E-2, banished from the airedale Navy and sent to the black shoe Navy as a designated striker Personnelman.
The old boys club strikes again!
Cheers,
Wes

 

[billrunnels]

Completed it for you.

I like. Thank you

 

[michael rauls]

In the 70s we had some WAVES on base who were cute, attractive, AND FORMIDABLE. We had one who was a crew chief on an SH3 who looked like a shrinking violet, but was hard core. Every chopper flight carried a reluctant, not-trained-for-rescue-work corpsman because most flights turned into Cuban refugee rescues. These corpsmen were not aircrew trained, not eligible for flight pay, and ordered to fly outside of their regular duties at the whim of the base CO. So in a fifty foot hover over a leaky boatload of sick, starved, parasite infested refugees, all eyes turned to the corpsman, who would make a long slow routine of getting ready to go over the side. This would drive DeeDee mad, and she'd stick her flight helmet on the corpsman's head, shuck her quick donning Velcro flight boots, grab a pair of fins from the rack, and be out the door in a flash in her poopie suit from 50 feet up!! She wore a first aid kit and water bottles on her flight suit as well as a rescue radio, and sometimes had to stay in the boat with the refugees practicing her Spanish while the chopper delivered the first load ashore. This went on for awhile until some reporter interviewing a refugee wrote a story about the "angel from the sky" and a young WAVE ensign went on a crusade to get DeeDee recognition for what she was doing. The CO went ballistic, declared the SH3 a "combat aircraft" (because some were used for ASW sonar dipping), tried to court martial the Lieutenant Commander in charge of Operations, and wrote up DeeDee for NJP, but since he wrote the chit, she had to go to Admiral's Mast at the Naval Station downtown. She was stripped of her AMH3 rating, busted back to E-2, banished from the airedale Navy and sent to the black shoe Navy as a designated striker Personnelman.
The old boys club strikes again!
Cheers,
Wes

A great story with an unhappy ending

 

[XBe02Drvr]

A great story with an unhappy ending

This was early 70s, and most airedale Captains and Rear Admirals were WWII aviators on their sunset tours, seriously old-school, and disgusted with the "new Navy" of the Zumwalt era. Our skipper was a Helldiver pilot.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[soulezoo]

In 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus we were flown out to HMS Hermes to help with the aircraft handling when she started rescuing civilians from the shore. These included a number of Russians who needed picking up. As you would expect most were from the embassy or were officials of one type or another. They were delighted to be on board an operational NATO warship and were often found pocking around. One of the Russians kept going back to the kitchens which were working flat out as if he suspected that we had put on a special spread just to impress them, he couldn't believe the quality of what the crew were fed.

I was a Crew Chief on C-141's and on a particular mission supporting inspections of Russian nuclear sites under the new INF treaty (Reagan days...), we had a Soviet Captain that was our chaperone as we flew inspectors to the different places in the Ukraine. This Captain was with us for a week and they had given him a salted piglet to eat for the week. It was nasty and it stunk. Also, he was supposed to just sleep on the plane the whole time, which of course we could not allow. So he got a room and we all chipped in for his meals. At first he protested loudly about American lies and indoctrination. This wasn't real, it was a show of course to influence his thoughts. At the end he came to realize the wretchedness of his own country and the way they lived and the utter wealth we had in turn. Anyway, we parted with a new Soviet friend. A grateful one at that. He stated that week he had never eaten so well in his entire life. He especially liked the sauerbraten and Jagrschnitzel.