It's Memorial day,, Tell a cool military experience:

[Flying Tiger]

If you're a veteran,, post a cool military experience:
I had an old Aunt Sharky who lived in Florida and love to have card games at her home on the inland waterway.
She taught me how to mix drinks and bartend, and be affiable. She was awsum,, but wouldn't hesitate to lite ya up with a Maple stick if ya got "fresh".
I'll get back to Aunt Sharky.
When I returned from Viet Nam in the Marines I was sent to Hawaii.
I was changing 50 gallons of oil in a Terrex Bulldozer,, and an officer pulled up in a jeep with his driver and asked me if I knew anything about mixing drinks.
"Cocktails sir?" I asked.
"Yes" the 1st luey said.
I said: "Yes sir,, when I was a kid I mixed drinks at my Uncle Bills partys and Aunt Sharkys card games" I told him.
"OK" said the officer of the day. "Put on your Tropicals (Uniform of the day),, and get over to the Officers club, and report to Sgt Marshall, I'll square it with your CO, Capt. Patterson."
I did just that,, and Sgt Marshall put me in a Hawaiian shirt,,, and behind the bar. He explained the cash register,, and the booze had prices written on the bottles in crayon,, so it was easy.
Without a doubt,, the coolest officers club in the whole US Military.
Over looked Kailua and Kaneohe bays in Hawaii. Awsum beyond words.
Did good that nite, and was paid for it.
I worked a few nites each week,, and was able to get outta duty too.
One evening, then CBS producer Andy Rooney (pre-60 minutes fame) and Arthur Godfrey (the most forgotten man in television) came in.
Godfrey was kinda the Regis Philbin of his day, held a reserve, retired or disabled Military ID card.
Godfrey also had a custom built, long range DC3 in the Pre-Lear jet days.
An official USO emblem on the fuselage entitled him to land anywhere this side of the Iron Curtain, and take on Military AVgas. Godfrey always paid his way, and for his AVgas, later jetfuel when he rolled in in a Commander Biz jet.
They held court at the bar, sang corny songs, chain smoked Pall Malls, Rooney told WWII stories, had all kinds of nice women in tow, picked up the tab for everyone,, and I got a $10 tip,, A BFD. Still is a BFD.
Harvey Wallbangers and Tequila Sunrises, Chi Chi's and Pina Colladas' were the BFD drinks of the day. And of course, Primo beer.
The absof#ckinlute coolest guy that came in was Jimmy Stewart.
He had a officers ID card,, and loved to come in for drinks and dinner.
He was that guy ya see on the screen.
Hollywood was his job, but the military was his life, and he loved it. Being on a Marine base was as deep in, and high and tight as the Military gets.
He'd stay with his wife at the plain wrap Married Officers Quarters, and pay the Per Diem $5.25.
The public would leave he and his wife Gloria alone in the secure surroundings of a military base and they loved it.
They had knockout Twin Daughters Kelly and Judy.
Cornish Game Hen and Fillet Mignon, with a Glenfiddich and water.
His wife Gloria drank my Aunt Sharkys Martinis.
He'd bring in Jimmy Doolittle,, Francis Langford (toured with Bob Hope),,, Don Ho,, a teriffic, funny as hell evening, always mixing it up with the bartender.
He was always up for a bomber story.
"We'd leave England with 20 gallons of Alcohol for de icing, tons of red AVgas,, 50 gallons of oil, 2 tons of bombs, and return dry and empty hungry thirsty and scared."
" Occasionally leave an engine behind too ".
"Wright made the more powerfull engines,, but Pratt and Whitneys were more reliable". He tell in his mid-western genuine character.
I wouldn't go through the Marines again,, but some of the memories were awsum.
Ya gotta a good military story? It ain't all bad.

[BajaMike]

Good post for this weekend..... :idea:
From my dad's Air Medal, (he died last month) ......which “is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Armed Forces of the United States, shall have distinguished himself/herself by meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight”.
As stated in his recommendation for the Air Medal:
Lt. Chase, as pilot, has accumulated 940 hours in the India China division, and the accumulation of these hours was accomplished with distinction and without accident to aircraft or injury to passengers aboard and is deemed well beyond that normally expected and represents meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
On numerous occasions Lt. Chase safely carried high-ranking officials aboard his aircraft through adverse weather conditions and with limited navigational aides.
On three separate flights, Lt. Chase successfully accomplished his flights without damage to personnel or equipment, in spite of an engine failure in flight.
We never knew about this until after he died and we found his flight bag in the garage. He did say he regularly flew General MacArthur from India over the Himilayas to China and the Phillipeans and other generals from India to Guam.
:rollside:

[Beer Factor]

Good post for this weekend..... :idea:
From my dad's Air Medal, (he died last month) ......which “is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Armed Forces of the United States, shall have distinguished himself/herself by meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight”.
As stated in his recommendation for the Air Medal:
Lt. Chase, as pilot, has accumulated 940 hours in the India China division, and the accumulation of these hours was accomplished with distinction and without accident to aircraft or injury to passengers aboard and is deemed well beyond that normally expected and represents meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
On numerous occasions Lt. Chase safely carried high-ranking officials aboard his aircraft through adverse weather conditions and with limited navigational aides.
On three separate flights, Lt. Chase successfully accomplished his flights without damage to personnel or equipment, in spite of an engine failure in flight.
We never knew about this until after he died and we found his flight bag in the garage. He did say he regularly flew General MacArthur from India over the Himilayas to China and the Phillipeans and other generals from India to Guam.
:rollside:
That's cool. My father was also in WWII on an aircraft carrier in the pacific. He is still alive and well and i've heard some pretty cool stories.

[bilgewiper]

Flying Tiger, that was a great post and most apropos being it is Memorial Day weekend. I am not ex-military but have only the utmost respect for those who have or are serving our country. I lived in Honolulu during my grade school years (’65-‘72’) and was well aware of the strong presence of the military on Oahu especially with all the soldiers on R&R from Vietnam. I remember going with my parents to the Services on Memorial Day at Punchbowl the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and then being in complete awe at the incredible sacrifice that was represented by a flag on every grave in the whole cemetery. It was quite moving.

[HocusPocus]

i spent 12 years in the Air Force 1980-1992. i worked in the security police and my first duty was at March Air Force Base. my very first night on duty i was set up as a "gap guard", on the alert aircraft pad. at around 3:30am a vehicle was approaching fast from the run up pad. it was my job to stop them from gaining entrance to the alert pad. i called over the radio to get the vehicle identified and no one responded. i got the vehicle stopped and the two occupants out and on the ground before my supervisor got there. when he got there he quickly realized who they were. our squadran commander and flight chief. i thought to myself.. not good. the rest of the night i had to put up with lots of ribbing from the rest of the guys on duty. i thought for sure i was in deep doo-doo. the next night we gathered for inspection and standing in front of me were the two men i had "jacked up". they called me forward and instead of getting my butt chewed.. i got a letter of accommodation.

[HOSS]

Well there was this retarded boy and a cactus,,,,oh,,,wrong topic,,,,,myself and about 8 others got drunk on duti one morning reporting to PT formation. FTA

[BajaMike]

i spent 12 years in the Air Force 1980-1992. i worked in the security police and my first duty was at March Air Force Base. my very first night on duty i was set up as a "gap guard", on the alert aircraft pad. at around 3:30am a vehicle was approaching fast from the run up pad. it was my job to stop them from gaining entrance to the alert pad. i called over the radio to get the vehicle identified and no one responded. i got the vehicle stopped and the two occupants out and on the ground before my supervisor got there. when he got there he quickly realized who they were. our squadran commander and flight chief. i thought to myself.. not good. the rest of the night i had to put up with lots of ribbing from the rest of the guys on duty. i thought for sure i was in deep doo-doo. the next night we gathered for inspection and standing in front of me were the two men i had "jacked up". they called me forward and instead of getting my butt chewed.. i got a letter of accommodation.
I grew up in Riverside and my dad was a pilot at March Air Force Base. It was one of the few "alert" bases in the U.S. They had B-52s, loaded with nuclear weapons, on alert 24 x 7. They had to be in the air in less then 7 minutes. The flight crews slept in an underground bunker about 100 yards from the planes.
I remember many nights, when those B-52s would take off in the middle of the night, on a "training" alert, and my bedroom would rock and roll from the jets flying over at full "military" power....and I knew my dad might be up there in one of those planes.
You never knew if it was a training flight or "the big one"......
Those officers and airmen at March Air Force Base of that era are truely some of the great heros of our winning the cold war....and some of those giant B-52s first flown in the 1960's out of March Air Force Base are still flying combat missions today over the Middle East.
http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/t-b52.jpg
Those are some bad-ass pilots and one bad ass airplane....still striking fear in the hearts of our enemies!
http://public.andrews.amc.af.mil/jso...52-2_large.jpg
B-52 and B-2.....
http://www.alaska.faa.gov/fai/images/Aircraft/B52-a.jpg

[HocusPocus]

I grew up in Riverside and my dad was a pilot at March Air Force Base. It was one of the few "alert" bases in the U.S. They had B-52s, loaded with nuclear weapons, on alert 24 x 7. They had to be in the air in less then 7 minutes. The flight crews slept in an underground bunker about 100 yards from the planes.
I remember many nights, when those B-52s would take off in the middle of the night, on a "training" alert, and my bedroom would rock and roll from the jets flying over at full "military" power....and I knew my dad might be up there in one of those planes.
You never knew if it was a training flight or "the big one"......
you could always tell if it was real or not.. if any of the "Alert Aircraft" left the ground it meant all hell was breaking loose somewhere. they would always just taxi.. then return. (thank goodness)

[Wolskis_Bar]

Spent 6 years in the Navy, beside all the drunkn' memories in the PI, Korea, Hong Kong etc, the coolest was plane guarding the carriers out at sea. Plane guarding ships trailed the carrier by 1000 yards, on approach these planes flew directly over our boat several hundred feet above. At night the moment before the plane landed, the carrier turns on all landing lights, from complete darkness, (you don't know how many stars are above us until your in the middle of the ocean) to daylight, and back to black.
One time we were about 500 yards off starboard and witnessed a complete squadron of fighters take off, soo coooolllllllll.

[Sleek-Jet]

Spent 6 years in the Navy, beside all the drunkn' memories in the PI, Korea, Hong Kong etc, the coolest was plane guarding the carriers out at sea. Plane guarding ships trailed the carrier by 1000 yards, on approach these planes flew directly over our boat several hundred feet above. At night the moment before the plane landed, the carrier turns on all landing lights, from complete darkness, (you don't know how many stars are above us until your in the middle of the ocean) to daylight, and back to black.
One time we were about 500 yards off starboard and witnessed a complete squadron of fighters take off, soo coooolllllllll.
Out there, doing this (http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photoga...night_trap.wmv)... just so we can sleep at night.
Thank you to all of those that have served, both past and present.