It amazes me sometimes that a kid born with Asthma and Bronchitis (and many allergies) who could not swim did what I have done.

Perhaps without all that I may have lasted longer.

But at times I think about strange languages, and am very glad I do not have to learn to speak them!
It's hard enough to figure out the accent of the guy at the local convenience store...

Here's some hallmark fun for ya, from the movie "SHORT CIRCUIT"




Le AUDACE! Tou jours l'audace....

 

"Strange languages" Ha!, I get those from Donna sometimes. I'll never understand female-speak.
But Ben Jabituya in the video looking for a job "Now I will have to smack the sidewalk" that I can understand

 

True story!

For some reason in Jebal Ali the ships I was on insisted that no one was going ashore without a long sleeve shirt. They brought local merchants aboard for those who had only brought their favorite t-shirts. Everything displayed on the mess deck by these people was some kind of a flannel shirt - and worse yet "PLAID", in all colors of the rainbow...

I was expecting cotton, rayon, anything else... So I asked one of them if they had anything different. He said:
(and I'm not making this up)

"Oh yes sir - there is the different one, and this one which is different..."



Most of us left the ship looking like we all came from the same indian reservation

 

lol, foreign tongues in busy bazaars are sorta' exhilirating. Gets the blood stirring. And yea, the arms: we convoyed into Saudi land in the short Gulf War - not so many armed religious nuts there then - and the female soldiers had to keep their long sleeves down to avoid offending a blushing bob or something. But that wasn't good enough, of course, and the young Saudi men driving by swerving at us, banging the sides of their cars and yelling at the women. Hypocrites too - in their walled villas we'd hear them partying and figured what's good for the gander isn't good for the goose. Confirmed when my Captain was invited to a welcome party, invited a half-dozen of us along, and we saw some serious splendor with good liquor and nice ladies. After months there, and some port stops, I've never figured out Arab culture. But that's nothing, I can't figure women out either.

 

I think it differs from "CASTLE CULTURE", where everyone else is a serf - in that it has to do with gathering what is good and precious within a "CITADEL" - that place wherein all good things can be nourished and cherished.

European castles are at times noted for their gardens, but not so much as Moorish castles - wherein the height of achievement is to create a paradise of sorts. Thus they have the best and lushest gardens to be had, and all manner of creature comforts. These are not apparent from the outside, and better so. Why tempt vandals?

The Euro version is more one of strength and impregnability. The raw materials exist in the surrounds to build siege equipment and the like. In desert lands there is less of that available, or there was until the age of motor and mechanized transport which became the game changer.

Believe it or not - AIR CONDITIONED living has altered the people of the middle east to a great degree. Where you see people working out of doors, they are darker in color than many - I asked a driver about that in Jebal Ali, and was told:

"Many of us are now accustomed to the cooler air of air conditioned work places. Those who you see working on the roads and such things are like what you would call aboriginals, who are still used to the outdoor conditions of our ancestors"

~ and that was in the late 90's

It is a part of the world in transition - but is it good for them? Would they be better off elsewhere? Why should they wish to leave? Why should they wish to stay???

This - 'transition' - requires a technology from other parts of the world, how bad do they want it?

SOLAR POWER is likely a huge business over there, what else have they got besides oil, which must eventually play out...

In the shade of a solar energy array - who knows what might be possible.

 

Some of the folks there are getting a bit westernized. The ones with money or that like rock and roll. That stark desert life pales when you can buy a Lambo, dinner at a 3-star and good liquor at a nightclub in Bahrain or Kuwait. Or better yet a Ford truck with all the trimmings.

I did love the food. The Greeks and the Arabs know how to cook lamb to perfection with delicious side dishes. I never much liked lamb before. If they opened a restaurant here I'd be homesteading in it.

 

USMCR, 1966-71 then didn't learn the first time and went back 1975-82. As for age of the respective services, for 199 years we were the oldest then the army miraculously determined Flag Day was their birthday.

For those of you who have never seen a Marine Corps Birthday Ball, you have missed on heck of a party!

Greywolf, you mentioned the USS Nimitz, I retired from NNS in 2011, due to broken time I missed working on the construction of the first few Nimitz class carriers, was there the first time the Kennedy fired her boilers, worked two different ROH on Enterprise, and was there for the start of the Ford class.

Family background, a lot of Navy, dad and uncle USN Capts, uncle was at Pearl Harbor 7 Dec 1941. Dad spent his WWII service in the pacific, Guadalcanal on a WWI 4 stacker converted to minelayer, later on a new Fletcher class. Grandad was a WWI and WWI veteran, retiring as a RADM. Great Grandad was a USNA graduate, class of 1891, took up an Marine officer's position and was on the Maine when she blew up in Havana Bay, survived that, served in Mexico, earned an MOH at Veracruz and commanded the 6th Marines at Belleau Wood.

 

Welcome 85lebaront2!

You and your family have a dedicated family history in our military, thanks to them many times over. A Medal of Honor winner, I salute.

I worked with the Marines a few times, the most in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in 1990-91. I've got a lot of respect for our tip of the spear.

How did a Marine reserve (if I'm reading that right) spend so many years in the shipyards building our ships?

Regards,
Rex
USN (Retired)

 

Because, it payed very well, was one of the few big operations in the area outside the government and I really enjoyed it. I worked in our laboratory as my late wife put it "breaking things for a living" as I was a mechanical test technician making sure that what we made ourselves or purchased met specifications, The last 5 years, I was, in my supervisors words doing engineering and calibration. No degree, but I left them with three redesigned calibration devices, a water meter calibration weigh tank that was accurate to .04% indicated value, and two torque calibrators accurate to .1% indicated value. All three had the ability to export data to an excel spreadsheet or anything else the desired. I also speced out and ordered an Instron universal test machine to replace a dead Tinius Olsen one.

 

An interesting job with good pay are big parts of a successful career - thankyou for the improvements to our shipbuilding.

 

SSgt USAF 1983 - 1992
AFSC 63170 Fuels Specialist (POL)
Zweibrucken AB, Germany 1983 - 1988
George AFB, CA 1988 - 1992

Dutch, that ASVAB score of 28 you mentioned a while back, will not open up many jobs to that young fellow you were talking with. I hope he attempted to increase that score before raising his right hand.

 

I dunno what's up with him, really. I took him for a bible raised, Mom overshadowed, potential follower. But a healthy son of a gun...

I thought he was much more of a bookish type before he told me that, but maybe he had extra curricular activeties that cost him his focus.

Myself, I always chased after what made things work, even though my grades did not reflect it.

Some people don't come of age until their hip pockets skid on the street outside their parents doorway. But the ASVAB is a whole different judge of what we have collected to ourselves over the years coming up.

A score like that amounts to HAY BAILING in this part of the country, on the civvy side


Maybe he'll become a preacher?

 

Did the above-mentioned ASVAB replace the AFQT that I took in 1966?

Pop

 

I'm assuming (which is never a good idea) that AFQT stood for Armed Forces Qualification Test.

The ASVAB is an acronym for:
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

~ and it is probably the same thing, but renamed over the years because it was updated over time to include more areas or new information.

Among other things it does now, is indicate areas or MOS's where the applicant might be most effective.

They wanted me for example to be a nuke tech, but I was too old at the time (thank God!) and instead wanted me to be an electronics guy - which turned out to be a lot of fun.

I wasn't thinking any further than playing with jeeps and trucks.

I TOOK THAT TEST IN 1984. Whenever it changed was before that.

 

All I got to say to you vets is,Thank you all for your service God bless you all.Never had the honor of serving.
However,my Father and his oldest brother served in the trenches in WW1.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo