Campfire Chat - General DiscussionsThis is a forum for posting discussion topics, questions, current events, and anything else you'd like to chat about. Please post serious Civil War History threads in appropriate History Forums.
By the way no offense ment to anyone on the board.
Pinckney
None taken, none taken at all.
You ever hear the one about the Gunny Sergeant and how he learned about 'TACT?'
A young 2nd Lt. Marine had just gotten through ROTC and been assigned to a Marine Rifle Company in Okinawa.
He was observing a morning roll call being conducted by the company's grizzeled old Marine Gunny Sergeant. The Gunny was passing out the day's details, information and such, when he checked his clipboard and then called out to a Marine Private in the first row of the formation, to which he snapped in a gruff and loud voice, "JONES! YOUR MOTHER DIED!"
The young Marine immediately passed out, face first into the tarmac from shock of this awful news.
The 2nd Lt. was horrified! After the old Gunny had dismissed the formation and Jones was carried off by his fellow Marines, he called the Gunny over to talk with him.
"Gunny," the Lt. began, "I know you are used to the old days of the Corps and such, but this is a new time and a new generation! You just can't suddenly come out and give a man bad news like you did with Jones. You have to use TACT when giving out bad news to the men and I expect you to use TACT whenever giving out bad news of a personal nature in the future."
"TACT." the old Gunny repeated, "YES SIR! GOT IT!" Where upon he saluted the Lt. and went about his business, leaving the young officer quite pleased with himself on how well he had dealt with the situation.
About a week later, the same 2nd Lt. was observing the old Gunny Sergeant conducting another roll call for the company. The Lt. was anxious as he had been informed that one of the men's Father had died of a heart attack and he wanted to be sure that TACT was used in conveying this sad news to the man.
The old Gunny finished with his official business and orders for the day, and then called the entire company to attention. He then barked out, "ALL THOSE MEN WHOSE FATHERS ARE STILL ALIVE, TAKE TWO STEPS FORWARD!"
These words were quickly followed by the Gunny, exercising TACT, who yelled, "NOT YOU, SMITH!"
Long Live The Marine Corps and Long Live Gunny Sergeants!
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
This is why we should be worried. Fear the squirrel.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
There is always a way.
The easy way is always mined.
Stories of the trade, bland though they be:
MSgt tells Airman Basic to go get a yard of flightline.
Airman Basic, not being all that fresh off the turnip truck wanders around for a while and sees some guys with a dump truck full of broken up concrete.
MSgt, seeing the truck pull up, nearly has apoplexy and has visions of career disintegrating like so many feet of runway.
Other:
You know, it took me about 3 years to purge my vocabulary of the words I picked up. Even today, however, I'm cautious about allowing people or combustible items nearby when I attempt plumbing.
-------------------------------------------------- "If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal -----------------------------------------------------
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." - U.S. Air Force Manual
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"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
- General MacArthur
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"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." - U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.
------------------------------------------------------ "Tracers work both ways."
- U.S. Army Ordnance
------------------------------------------------------ "Five second fuses only last three seconds." - Infantry Journal ------------------------------------------------------- "Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once." -------------------------------------------------- ---- "Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."- Unknown Marine Recruit ------------ -------------------------------------------
"If you see a bomb technician running, follow him."
- USAF Ammo Troop ------------------------------------------------------- "Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death , I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing." ------------------------------------------------------- "You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." - Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot) -------------------------------------------------- -----
"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire." ------------------------------------------------------- "If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe." -------------------- ----------------------------------- "When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."
------------------------------------------------------- "Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club." ------------------------------------------------------- "What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, .... The pilot dies."
------------------------------------------------------- "Never trade luck for skill." ------------------------------------------------------- The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" And "Oh S...!"
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"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight." ------------------------------------------------------- "Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!" -------------------------------------------- -----------
"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
-------------------------------------------------------- "The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." - Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot) ------------------------------------------------------- "There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." - Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970 ------------------------------------------------ --------- "If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to." --------------------------------------------------------- "You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal." --------------------------------------------------------------
As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?".
The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!" - Attributed t o Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)<SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Have seen some of those before, but there were a few new ones that got the chuckle. Thanks.
Quote:
"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."
That one brought up a non-military axiom in my past: We have fast, good, and cheap. Pick two.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln