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The CO figured the clearance renewal would be a quick rubber stamp

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Wow. In my 11 years in I have NEVER seen a clearance renewal take less than 6-8 months.

Stationed in Korea in 96 we got a new full-bird newly transferred from the infantry assigned as the BN CO of a heavy armor unit. During our next alert roll-out heading to the old 38th parallel, he decided the water was too cold on the tanks to be fording the rivers. He then proceeded to dismount, walk to the middle, and hop up and down on each bridge to personally ensure their sturdiness. Just imagine the laughter from 100+ tracked vehicles waiting patiently in line for his goofy "thumbs up" approval. He never understood the nickname Colonel Crow-Hop, but then again, he didn't understand much.

I was with a BN HHC in Iraq, we were a small, close group and we had a couple of officers who would literally duck in doors or around alleys to avoid large groups of enlisted going by so they didn't have to return a bunch of salutes.

So one day, a group of about 10 enlisted were heading to chow and encountered one of these guys coming the other way. There was nowhere for him to duck and cover so we formed a single file line with each of us about 7 paces apart and he had to salute each and every one of us individually. He was cracking up by the end of it.

Saluting in Iraq?

Back in Iraq, I was based on a smallish FOB. We knew all the O-5/6's on the FOB, as there were less than 10. One day I was walking in a group led by a Major to the DFAC, some d-bag LTC (visiting IG) stopped us to chew us out for not saluting.

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Saluting in Iraq?

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You've never been to VBC or JBB have you?

Oh don't get me started...but we were on a large COB in the middle of nowhere surrounded by empty, flat terrain...so the higher ups were not that worried about snipers.



[This message has been edited by Maroon Dawn (edited 3/15/2011 8:55a).]

Oh, I'm just being a smartass. I lived on Slayer and in Martyr's Monument in OIF 1 and on Justice and Hope in OIF 4 where we didn't salute but I have indeed been on the VBC and seen the sillyness.






We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

Long time ago, peacetime, different era.

Summer of 1976, Fort Hood, 1st Cavalry Division.

The Division CG decided that we needed to have a Division 'parade' (What we would call a Review) over on the Division Parade Ground one morning. Of course we all had to practice this, much to the enjoyment of about 16K soldiers of all ranks. The Field Grades were up in front of us, Troop Cdrs, then us lowly Platoon Leaders as the front rank of the Squadron mass formation. Repeat this for every Bn in the Division all across the Westerly side of the field. Said CG decided that he would ride his white horse in front of the entire Division at the end of the show. About halfway across the horse reared up, and the CG rolled backwards, completely off the horse and wound up landing on his 4th point of contact right there in front of 16K hot, hysterically laughing VOLAR soldiers. Field Grades were trying to get us all to stop laughing but found that a losing proposition. A reasonable amount of decorum was established, CG got his (_,_) back up and on his white horse, and the 'parade' got finished.

The CG's name was Julius Becton. Years later I read a book on Korea and find out what a true hero this guy was as an IN 1LT in the 3rd ID. Especially in the early days of integration. Kinda felt bad about laughing at the guy back then, but I had no idea who he was. Anyway, by a factor of 10, this was the absolutely most stupid thing I ever saw an officer of any rank do - shutting down the entire Division to have a silly parade just to have one - not falling a__ over teakettle in front of us all, we figured that was just payback for making us stand/sweat there all morning long.

Met several other guys over the years who were there in formation with me that day. We all remember.

Biggest load of carp I've ever seen:

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I hope for the sake of his Soldiers that the person in question either retired or has changed his ways if the Army is stupid enough to make him a Brigade Commander. He's one of two people in the entire military that I cannot stand to be in the same room with.

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Please don't take offense to this: I'll bet his soldiers absolutely love him for "standing for the grunt's and sticking it to REMF's who love to throw around regulations."

I am not saying this is right, but having the crossed rifles, crossed sabres (with or without a tank) or crossed cannons on the collar and telling a signal/maintenance/intel/ordinance/logistics officer where to go used to hold a ton of weight with the troops (whether they were right or wrong about it.)

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Stationed in Korea in 96 we got a new full-bird newly transferred from the infantry assigned as the BN CO of a heavy armor unit. During our next alert roll-out heading to the old 38th parallel, he decided the water was too cold on the tanks to be fording the rivers. He then proceeded to dismount, walk to the middle, and hop up and down on each bridge to personally ensure their sturdiness. Just imagine the laughter from 100+ tracked vehicles waiting patiently in line for his goofy "thumbs up" approval. He never understood the nickname Colonel Crow-Hop, but then again, he didn't understand much.

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This is so damn funny but scary at the same time!

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I am not saying this is right, but having the crossed rifles, crossed sabres (with or without a tank) or crossed cannons on the collar and telling a signal/maintenance/intel/ordinance/logistics officer where to go used to hold a ton of weight with the troops (whether they were right or wrong about it.)

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So telling someone that an ARMY REGULATION doesn't apply to you because you're a certain branch is a good example to set? You won't last long at the operational level with that attitude.

Again, I didn't say it was right.

An example I witnessed: we weren't supposed to use a wash rack because it wasn't our turn on the published schedule. Our XO - "Eff that schedule. We don't have time for this! Go get in line and if he gives you any sheet about it tell him that I told you to and he can come and talk to me about it." We got our tracks cleaned and prepped for turn in a day ahead of schedule which made the next couple of days much easier to deal with. It was awesome for us, so we appreciated him standing up for the grease and mud stained tankers!

Yes, he broke (or at least bent) the rules. The case you sited is obviously more extreme that this but I'd have to beleive that if he was going to do it then, he's done it in other occasions and wins some battles and loses others. Troops often repsect that. Or perhaps they are in 100% agreement with you.

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Saluting in Iraq?

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You should be on my FOB here in the 'Stan. It's like garrison...

Quote attributed to CPT(R) Mike MacElerhan, circa 2007:

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"I wen't off to war and garrison broke out!"

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I'll be on Bagram in 4 months, I'm sure it will be uber silly (although I'll be lucky to see the light of day!)

Iraq 2005:

We had been in country for about 5 months and we got sent 2 butter bars, who just graduated MOS school, to do some OJT. I was on watch at our motor pool at Haditha Dam. They had been there 3 days when the obvious sound of mortars started to come. One of the LTs bursts out of his hatch, in his skivies, with his weapon, flak, and kevlar. "INCOMING, INCOMING, INCOMING!!!! LCpl. FFUSMC, get the frock down! What do we do???!!!"

Me: "Uhhh, Sir? Those are outgoing."

He was my XO for our next deployment.

[This message has been edited by FightnFarmerUSMC (edited 3/18/2011 7:14p).]

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but I'd have to beleive that if he was going to do it then, he's done it in other occasions and wins some battles and loses others

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Yea, ****ing over other units and screwing creating an accordion affect goes a long way. But you are right...he will probably do that **** again as a commander and again as a staff dude on a higher staff. It is just a matter of time before he is ****ing over your unit for his own good.

So, yea, troops usually respect that because they don't realize how they got screwed over by a commander who didn't know his left and right limits or how to be a team player.

BTW Cavgrunt - I'll be just north of you in about 4 months as well.

[This message has been edited by Fly Army 97 (edited 3/18/2011 10:52p).]

I'm basically in the forward deployed equivalent of the Bragg JTF Compound on steroids.

FlyArmy, hooah! Be safe if you're flying. My tour will be behind a computer this time.

[This message has been edited by CAVGrunt97 (edited 3/20/2011 4:57p).]

julius becton attended prairie view a&m and at one time was the president. he also was the head of fema, and the washington dc public school system.

Will do, I'm meeting everyone downrange after they RIP/TOA. Guess I'll be hitchhiking a flight out of BAF to get there. We found a house down in HH...looks like a damn fine place to live. Never would have thought.

You should have another Aggie on your cell who got out of SAMS last year.

[This message has been edited by Fly Army 97 (edited 3/20/2011 1:07p).]

nm








We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

[This message has been edited by CAVGrunt97 (edited 3/20/2011 4:56p).]

I was the only aviator other than some girl out of YG98.

[This message has been edited by Fly Army 97 (edited 3/20/2011 8:13p).]

OK gotcha.

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I was the only aviator other than some girl out of YG98.

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I think I know who that is. Was she a BQ?

Not a BQ, but a 6'3" Day Duck

Ok, I know who you're talking about now. I knew she was tall, but not THAT tall.

[This message has been edited by CGSC Lobotomy (edited 3/21/2011 6:09a).]

Not for certain on the height, but she was somewhere near what I am. A little awkward and got picked for a Battalion Commander spot while a day duck in V-1. The perceived PCness bugged a lot of folks.

There was some event in Duncan my pisshead year in which there was a contest for "worst pickup line". Her's was something to the effect of "baby, you're so tall, I bet you could wrap your legs around me twice".

Same deployment from my other story. This one was my actual platoon commander. 2nd LT "smith," was the epitome of a bad officer. He was brilliant. No joke, one of the smartest men I ever met. And he honestly believed that all the enlisted he had were "not smart enough for major leadership because we didn't have any college." That is a direct quote from him.

He came into a bad situation. 85% of our platoon had just gotten back from Fallujah and were combat vets. There were at least 20 E-3s and below in this category. They were young and invincible. The last thing they wanted to do was listen to a guy a year older than them. And LT "Smith" was smart, but had no command presence and even less personality. Regardless, we all hated him. And not in the good way where it brings a platoon together. We saw our senior enlisted leadership argue with him in the open and talk sheet to us behind his back. It was hands down the most dysfunctional platoon I have ever been in. And I base a lot of my leadership philosophy today on what I learned not to do from that platoon.

Okay, story time:

We are 3 weeks in country and on a mechanized patrol. Our ROE at the time is pyro, warning shot, kill. By pyro, I mean the cylinders where the cap is taken from the top, placed on the bottom end of the cylinder and used as a firing pin. The pyro will not fire without the primer on the bottom being struck by the tit on the inside of the top cap.

A car comes at us down route bronze. It rounds the corner, sees us, makes a quick u, and hauls ass. We chase. I'm in the turret of my AAV and LT is in the troop commander hatch. He is screaming through the comm to go get this guy. He pulls a pyro canister out of his flak, takes the top off and THROWS IT OFF THE MOVING AAV LIKE A PIN TO A GRENADE. He then bangs on it fruitlessly about 7 times. He screams misfire and demands I get him another one quickly.

He claimed in the debrief that we must have a batch of old pyros because the ones at OCS didn't need the cap. It's 5 years later and I have yet to see one that didn't need the cap. And LT "smith" is now Capt "smith" and works at the pentagon.

[This message has been edited by FightnFarmerUSMC (edited 3/24/2011 11:45a).]

Don't the Marines differentiate between officers who will command and staff officers fairly early?

If my recollection is true, Platoon-level will be the last time he ever leads Marines. (hence the Pentagon assignment)

You're asking the wrong guy about that, CGSC. I do know that we've had PC's leave to the pentagon as LTs and come back a few years later as Company COs or Battalion XOs