stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Dec 17, 2023 15:26:15 GMT -5
A flight in an A-37 sounds very cool Ski. I remember seeing those in the mid 80’s flying as simulated SU-25s at NTC during our rotations there. They looked like pretty snappy light attack birds.
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Medicman71
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Post by Medicman71 on Dec 18, 2023 10:33:37 GMT -5
My dad was career Army and we were stationed a few times at Ft Sam Houston (San Antonio). We spent most of our time there and he retired from the Army there.
We lived near Randolph AFB most of the time and I remember seeing T-37's and T-38's and now the T-6's.
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Dec 18, 2023 12:19:33 GMT -5
My dad was career Army and we were stationed a few times at Ft Sam Houston (San Antonio). We spent most of our time there and he retired from the Army there. We lived near Randolph AFB most of the time and I remember seeing T-37's and T-38's and now the T-6's. Those posts now all fall under “Joint Forces Base San Antonio”, along with Lackland AFB. Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t say what the purpose of these base combinations truly is. I take it that your dad was in a medical MOS?
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Medicman71
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Post by Medicman71 on Dec 18, 2023 15:56:28 GMT -5
My dad was career Army and we were stationed a few times at Ft Sam Houston (San Antonio). We spent most of our time there and he retired from the Army there. We lived near Randolph AFB most of the time and I remember seeing T-37's and T-38's and now the T-6's. Those posts now all fall under “Joint Forces Base San Antonio”, along with Lackland AFB. Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t say what the purpose of these base combinations truly is. I take it that your dad was in a medical MOS?
Yeah he was. Not a medic (he got that after he retired from the Army) but worked in the lab. And I could never call it "Joint Base" anything. I call them what they are.
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Dec 18, 2023 19:20:48 GMT -5
Oh I know what you mean about calling them “joint base”. It was Ft Lewis when I was up there, and we flew in and out of McChord AFB, not JBLM… I figured if your dad was at Sam Houston, he was medical corps, that is the home of those MOSs for the Army… like Benning was for Infantry, Bliss for ADA, Leonard Wood for Engineers… etc…
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Medicman71
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Post by Medicman71 on Dec 19, 2023 9:15:54 GMT -5
We've been stationed at Ft Bliss, Walter Reed Army Hospital, Ft Huachuca and Ft Irwin. We were stationed to Ft Sam three different times.
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Post by Steve Zuleski on Dec 19, 2023 11:32:21 GMT -5
A flight in an A-37 sounds very cool Ski. I remember seeing those in the mid 80’s flying as simulated SU-25s at NTC during our rotations there. They looked like pretty snappy light attack birds. Before going to Howard AFB, we did a 3-week fam course on the Dragonflys. I personally hated the buggers because you had to squat to work the bomb racks, or sit down, but the GAU-2 in the nose was a piece of cake. I much preferred the F-15's, 16's, A-7's, and even the Uh-1N's over the A-37. Working from the waist up when loading is much easier on the back than crouching or squatting. That's an Army C-12 in the background, as well as the infamous sh@thook in the distance, which just happened to be there when we took the pic, oh well.
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Post by tcoat on Feb 10, 2024 0:32:05 GMT -5
Had a pile of new people join so time to bring this back to the top.
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lyle
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Post by lyle on Feb 10, 2024 8:52:30 GMT -5
Being blind in one eye, I could not serve. But, my dad was a tank crew in North Aftica, mom was a nurse in the Army, My wife's uncle was USAAF, her Dad was Navy, her Brother-in-law was Marine, my son was Army National Guard, my daughter-in-law was Air Force National Guard, a nephew was Army...so our family is well represented.
You folks that served are a special kind of person. One I look up to with a great deal of respect. Thank you.
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Post by TOWGunner on Feb 10, 2024 11:01:57 GMT -5
I joined the Army in 1982 at age 18. I maxxed the ASVABS so they said I could have any job in the Army. I SHOULD have picked the smart choice, Warrant Officer Flight School, but I got beat up a lot in high school so I asked for the toughest thing they had and went Infantry. Yeah, I know. I chose 11Hotel, heavy anti-armor weapons crewman, or TOW gunner. Started out in jeeps, then got HMMWV's, then went Mechanized Infantry and was on M901 ITV's. Did really well and loved it. Officers kept trying to send me to OCS but I wanted to be an NCO. I made E-6 in 6 years. Became a TOW Master Gunner. Got transferred to 11M when we got Bradleys. Went a lot of places and saw a lot of sh!t. Won't go into details. I served proudly until August 1994 when a devastating on-duty accident cut short my 30 year career plan. 7 major surgeries later the Army handed me my medical discharge and a pension and said have a nice life. Well, I have had a nice life. I work for my town as a Fire Police Officer, part time. But man, I miss the Army. I wish I could have done my 30.
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Post by Steve Zuleski on Feb 10, 2024 11:44:37 GMT -5
I joined the Army in 1982 at age 18. I maxxed the ASVABS so they said I could have any job in the Army. Dang Matt, you coulda been in the Air Force with a score like that! My daddy was a retired full bird colonel in the army and I always used to kid him, "Hey Pops, be all you can be, "if" that's all you can be, HA!" He'd laugh and say, "Awe, that's funny, son."
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Feb 10, 2024 21:40:58 GMT -5
I joined the Army in 1982 at age 18. I maxxed the ASVABS so they said I could have any job in the Army. I SHOULD have picked the smart choice, Warrant Officer Flight School, but I got beat up a lot in high school so I asked for the toughest thing they had and went Infantry. Yeah, I know. I chose 11Hotel, heavy anti-armor weapons crewman, or TOW gunner. Started out in jeeps, then got HMMWV's, then went Mechanized Infantry and was on M901 ITV's. Did really well and loved it. Officers kept trying to send me to OCS but I wanted to be an NCO. I made E-6 in 6 years. Became a TOW Master Gunner. Got transferred to 11M when we got Bradleys. Went a lot of places and saw a lot of sh!t. Won't go into details. I served proudly until August 1994 when a devastating on-duty accident cut short my 30 year career plan. 7 major surgeries later the Army handed me my medical discharge and a pension and said have a nice life. Well, I have had a nice life. I work for my town as a Fire Police Officer, part time. But man, I miss the Army. I wish I could have done my 30. You did pretty damn good! Making E-6 in six years was pretty unheard of in the infantry in the 80's Army. Sorry to hear about the career ending injury.
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dodgy
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Post by dodgy on Feb 11, 2024 5:14:32 GMT -5
Nothing special here. Joined the RAN in 72 as UW, (Underwater Weapons), rate. Served on DDG's, medically discharged in 75. Now on a veterans pension with a few screws loose. Now where did I put that screwdriver?
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castelnuovo
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Post by castelnuovo on Feb 12, 2024 1:10:53 GMT -5
Hey Stick, I remember that place from the second photo.... My service life was one year in the Yugoslav National Army-Navy branch. I was a radio operator, you guys remember the Morse code. It was a mandatory service and the Army referred to it as paying the debt to the homeland. Well, we believed in it, more or less but didn't dare to ask. I served in the Central Adriatic command HQ, sending/receiving messages to and from navy ships. Went to the navy patrol boats for few tours chasing and catching Italian poachers. When we caught them it was a fish feast and we would share the fish with locals. These boats were the equivalent to the Coast Guard and were armed. Mostly was in the HQ which suited me just fine.
As for Balkan wars, I was just an ordinary dude trying to stay alive. I have number of pics but just have to find them.
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dodgy
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Post by dodgy on Feb 12, 2024 4:45:08 GMT -5
Hey Stick, I remember that place from the second photo.... My service life was one year in the Yugoslav National Army-Navy branch. I was a radio operator, you guys remember the Morse code. It was a mandatory service and the Army referred to it as paying the debt to the homeland. Well, we believed in it, more or less but didn't dare to ask. I served in the Central Adriatic command HQ, sending/receiving messages to and from navy ships. Went to the navy patrol boats for few tours chasing and catching Italian poachers. When we caught them it was a fish feast and we would share the fish with locals. These boats were the equivalent to the Coast Guard and were armed. Mostly was in the HQ which suited me just fine.
As for Balkan wars, I was just an ordinary dude trying to stay alive. I have number of pics but just have to find them.
Such a different experience than many of us. Be safe and kind to yourself mate.
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Feb 12, 2024 21:39:12 GMT -5
Hey Stick, I remember that place from the second photo.... My service life was one year in the Yugoslav National Army-Navy branch. I was a radio operator, you guys remember the Morse code. It was a mandatory service and the Army referred to it as paying the debt to the homeland. Well, we believed in it, more or less but didn't dare to ask. I served in the Central Adriatic command HQ, sending/receiving messages to and from navy ships. Went to the navy patrol boats for few tours chasing and catching Italian poachers. When we caught them it was a fish feast and we would share the fish with locals. These boats were the equivalent to the Coast Guard and were armed. Mostly was in the HQ which suited me just fine.
As for Balkan wars, I was just an ordinary dude trying to stay alive. I have number of pics but just have to find them.
Palé was an interesting place. When I was in Bosnia, I had changed over to a communications job myself. Although we did not operate in the manner in which we had been training for in all the years beforehand. An Adriatic coastal command HQ assignment sounds ideal. Such a beautiful place! Your Coast Guard boats sound like ours, which are also armed when it's time to do the job for real. I can only imagine your experience during the war there. Damn the rabble rousers who started that mess and continue to stir up trouble today.
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castelnuovo
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Post by castelnuovo on Feb 14, 2024 0:23:10 GMT -5
Here is a photo of some of the gang from the navy days in the in 1988. We are wearing Winter Working Uniforms. The Summer Working Uniform is the same beige colour as our hats are. There is also a Winter Parade Uniform which is the same navy blue as well as the Summer Parade Uniform which is white.
You will see that the guy on the far right has torn pants at his crotch, he somehow escaped the inspection. The guy to his right is holding another guy by his neck, classic jackassery :-)
Yugoslav army was quite paranoid about photographing so these photos that are not staged are relatively rare. But, like any rebellious boys in our late teens, somebody would sneak in a camera and take few pix.
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Post by Steve Zuleski on Feb 14, 2024 13:06:24 GMT -5
Ah, themz wuz the dayz, great pic. We did a lot of goofy stuff in our youth, didn't we?
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Feb 14, 2024 15:50:43 GMT -5
Ah, themz wuz the dayz, great pic. We did a lot of goofy stuff in our youth, didn't we? 18 years old, still an E-1 Private and on my first field exercise... had a 60, a .45, and a steel pot...
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Post by Steve Zuleski on Feb 14, 2024 16:30:40 GMT -5
Ah, themz wuz the dayz, great pic. We did a lot of goofy stuff in our youth, didn't we? 18 years old, still an E-1 Private and on my first field exercise... had a 60, a .45, and a steel pot... I can't imagine needing anything else Carlos, except some grub in the ruck, you're good, HA! Ya, I used to handle millions of $$'s of high explosives and aircraft in my early 20's, but couldn't land a job at McD's, HA! The McD's part is a joke, btw. Civilian life was not so receptive to any of us actually having had responsibilities at such a young age, but we did.
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aaronw
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Post by aaronw on Feb 14, 2024 17:13:32 GMT -5
Yes indeed. I was a paperboy when I was 13-14 years old, delivering a couple of the local newspapers. Since we had MCAS Tustin nearby, which based the helicopter elements of III Marine Air Wing at that time, the papers would carry the news of their mishaps. Which I remember happening fairly often with fatalities. And that was in peacetime. When I was regular Army, it was fairly common for guys to get killed in training accidents. Usually it was from vehicle rollovers, or being run over by a vehicle while sleeping in the field. I was surprised that even during major wars "other" deaths (accidents, medical issues etc) often equal the number of combat deaths. At least the case for the US, I think the info was from a VA paper. It makes sense as you have lots of people doing dangerous stuff, many with minimal training / experience so even for people who never enter a warzone there are lots of ways to get killed.
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Post by aaronw on Feb 14, 2024 17:32:08 GMT -5
No never was in the military. Closest I got to that was spending a few years working for both the Army and Navy as a civilian firefighter at Fort Ord, the Naval Postgraduate School and Camp Parks. I also worked for the Coronado National Forest where we did a lot of work on Ft Huachuca.
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Post by tcoat on Feb 14, 2024 18:58:44 GMT -5
18 years old, still an E-1 Private and on my first field exercise... had a 60, a .45, and a steel pot... I can't imagine needing anything else Carlos, except some grub in the ruck, you're good, HA! Ya, I used to handle millions of $$'s of high explosives and aircraft in my early 20's, but couldn't land a job at McD's, HA! The McD's part is a joke, btw. Civilian life was not so receptive to any of us actually having had responsibilities at such a young age, but we did. Sure there was more that was needed! Every person in this picture hauled fuel, ammo or other things that go boom every day and drank about that much every night. The oldest guy in the picture is 20!
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Feb 14, 2024 19:37:53 GMT -5
Well, for some reason, the County of L.A. thought my service was not a bad thing and hired me as a Deputy Sheriff Trainee... scary thought there...
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castelnuovo
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Post by castelnuovo on Feb 15, 2024 1:08:18 GMT -5
Found this one from 1992 or 1993
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Golikell
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Post by Golikell on Feb 15, 2024 3:23:47 GMT -5
To toss in my chip: I've been in the Dutch army for 3,5 years. From 1999 till 2002. My path was an rather winding one: having applied for a job as fire control officer in the artillery, I went to the officers'school. During the final phase of our initial training they managed to convince me that I was not suitable as officer (only years later I found out that, if I hadn't quit the training myself, I would have become officer anyway, but they had been right). Then they offered me a job as technician on remotely piloted vehicles (early drones). Again they didn't think me fit for that job after a few months. I then ended up with the IT section of the divisional staff. I went for a tour in Bosnia in 2001-2002 to help and keep the peace. Beautiful country with generally friendly people. I still cannot fathom why they tried to kill each other so desperately. And still there are a lot of tensions going on! Not having become an officer has had it's use, as I am still working in IT today...
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Post by Steve Zuleski on Feb 15, 2024 10:21:14 GMT -5
Fine pics, Erwin. A lot has changed since then, tech and all.
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TOWGunner
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Post by TOWGunner on Feb 15, 2024 11:02:39 GMT -5
You look like a cold hearted killer, Erwin.
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stikpusher
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Post by stikpusher on Feb 15, 2024 13:46:27 GMT -5
Great photos Erwin! Is that Banja Luka Metal Factory where your standing by the HMMWV?
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