SwiftVets.com

[Harvuskong]

Things useful or useless you learned while in the service.

Things like welding, machine work and anything else.

Useful or useless to you depends on your idea or whatever.

This is meant to be a very casual coffe shop subject. Which is why it is in the Geedunk & Scuttlebutt.

I was never in the military. But of course, I have friends and kinfolk who were in the military in the past. The opinions and storys get a little funny at times.

[Me#1You#10]

Well, I trained as an aviator thanks to Uncle Sam. That training reached the pinnacle of a career when I captain'd a Boeing 757 for a major airline.

I guess you could say my military training was more than useful...it was a career enabling experience.

[AMOS]

In the Marines, I learned THE MOTTO, 'Semper Fidelis' (Always Faithful). In boot camp, I also learned that 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going'. I 'slapped' that one on my kid after he lost his job. He hasn't stopped 'going' since.

[baldeagle]

Like Me#1, I started my lifetime career in the military. I became a Navy AirControlman, did 14 1/2 years active duty and got out to go to work for the FAA as an ATCS. Did 20 years for them and retired. Stayed in the Reserves during that time to also retire as a Chief AirControlman. Along with SS, I guess you'd call me one of those "triple dippers".

edit to add: I also became a fair poker player while there which also helped the finances a little bit along the way.

edited again to add: I forgot to put in any of the useless stuff, so here is;
As a sailor I naturally learned a little bit about BS'ing the ladies............
.......................................................................................................
which has absolutely no affect on the lady I married and have been living with for the last 42 years.
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"In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home." --George Washington

[LewWaters]

I was working in a gas station as a mechanic (very junior at the time) when I entered the Army. I asked for and received training in Aircraft repair, ended up in Helicopters, which I did for the entire 8 years I spent on active duty.

Upon leaving the Army and while working towards my A&P (which I stopped working for), I discovered that the pay was better if I went back to cars, since I had a wife and 2 children to support by then.

However, the expertise and attention to details I learned working on Army helicopters carried over into my Auto work. As I tell the guys at work who think I am a little too slow, I learned it as "if it breaks down, you cannot pull over to the side of a cloud and get out and fix it."
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Clark County Conservative

[Guest]

failed radioman school by typing 5 words less than required. was told i would be on a tin can chipping paint for the next 3 yrs, ended up with shore duty, coxswain on an lcm-8 in athens greece with my own apartment cause there were no barracks for 18 months. no vietcong got into athens on my watch

[Deuce]

powmias,

Drafted when I got to the first day on the job, my 'Greetings' was the first piece of mail I opened, Dec. '68. Bosses called Gen. Hershey's office...one question was did I have my greetings? If yes, do not pass go, don't collect $200! So I learned that not only can't you fight city hall, pretty much goes without saying you can't fight Unca Sam either!

Long story short, I got to Ft. Dix, only went AWOL once, from there was sent to the USASESS (signal School)...Ft. Gordon, GA pulled my orders and I went permanent party right there!
Married my current spouse, on a 2 week vacation out of Augusta...shortly thereafter, musta got lucky on the lottery or something cause got orders to Nam.(never had to chip paint tho').

Same deal, on the way to a 'decent' job in Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay pulled my orders and I 'volunteered' to stay there on the Beach @ 22nd RepoDepot! 12on12off, just like everyone else wearing green! But again, no chipping paint, and the hooch wasn't all that bad!

Life Lesson: if it looks better than the planned alternative--Volunteer!
And the Lord knows I sorely needed time sending people back to the world, 'cause I sure sent a lot to the Nam!

Deuce

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Useful things:
1. Nothing lasts forever. Except that last little bit in the coffee pot.
2. Don't quit.
3. Do your best.
4. Keep lint rollers in your car, your locker, your desk, your hall closet and your purse.
5. Women are tougher on the women that they supervise than they are on the men. So are men. This is life - suck it up and drive on. Don't be a crybaby.
6. There is no such thing as a roll of flight line. Or a can of prop wash.



No longer useful things:
1. The coffee in the Chief's mess is undrinkable by mere mortals. If you're that adventurous, you might be one of those who can be in the same room with real kim-chee. (It's a requirement that real Chiefs eat kim-chee and like it. I think that's in all of the 1&C books.)
2. If you spend an hour spit-shining your shoes, it will be rainy and muddy when you get up in the morning.
3. Annnnnd, in addition to your muddy shoes, if you just tore a run in your last pair of panyhose and all your slacks are at the cleaners and you drop your combination hat on the grass and a "clip" (you know the Navy word for clip!) fell off your ribbons... there will be a muster for personnel inspection in fifteen minutes.
5. If you join the Navy to see the world, you will be sent an hour from home. Conversely, if you are hoping to be stationed at NAS Backyard, you will go to Adak or Rosie Roads.
6. If you spend the first half of a cruise learning Italian so that you can get around in Naples, your first port call, the op schedule will be amended and you will go instead to Portugal.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[AMOS]

From VN, I learned to 'Remember the good times and forget the bad'. Doesn't apply to past marriages. They all bad.

[DLI78]

I can think of nothing more useless than learning how to make my socks "smile". In one Army NCO school we had to roll each sock so that it had a curve in it that looked like a smile. Each sock had to be exactly like the others. This made us better "leaders."

Good thing for the USSR they gave up before they challenged the US Army's NCOs to a sock rolling contest. Ivan would have had to shoot himself in shame.

And don't get me started on raking lines in the sand and policing up the filter tips. I wonder why they held out so long against such superior combat skills. Lucky for them my unit at Ft Bragg didn't have its own weapons or gas masks or radios or vehicles. Ivan would have had to give up in '82.
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DLI 78
Army Linguist
1978-1986

[streetsweeper95B]

Most useless thing was policing butt's, raking out the sand pits in BCT.....

The most useful things I learned? How to make do, adapt & overcome; To do whatever it takes (within reason) to accommplish the task. When I enlisted, I wanted to become a machinist, learn a new trade & live somewhere else. Typical smalltown boyhood stuff, lol.

Instead, I wound up being an MP & I'm glad I did.
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"Proud Member of the Freak Show"

[Nutso]

It taught me how to take life serious. I had a good work ethic after starting working at 14, but after high school I spent 2 yrs in college with a major in pool and a minor in fooseball, but only achieved 14 credits in 2 years cause I spent all my time having fun. After 4 yrs and scrubbing a few toilets in the Navy went back to school and was on Deans list and achieved degrees in business and electronics.

[AMOS]

[dusty]

Joined the Navy just out of high school because riding the waves seemed like it would be a good thing.
Learned the importance of teamwork instead which has paid off during 15 yrs. of construction building multistory buildings. Also got a good basis in early electronics in tech schools in Bainbridge, Md which has finally paid off in my third and I hope final career.

Found out that the Relative Bearing does not need grease after all and is a really hard thing to find on a ship. You can spend hours looking for that damned thing.

Found out that you and a buddy could take an Austin Healy 3000 from Md. to Tx. and back on a 72 hr. weekend pass.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Bainbridge was the Waves boot camp at that time.

Dusty
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Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!