Little too much for human endurance

SWMODave

Sergeant Major
Thread Medic
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46 Months With The 4th RI Volunteers 1 Pvt George H Allen.jpg


From Forty-six Months with the Fourth RI Volunteers
on a ship somewhere off the coast in the Atlantic​
 
Gotta' love enlisted men, no matter what service they are in, as they will make their feelings known and put humor into the telling.

The above reminds me of a tale when I was with the old Army Security Agency as a Morse Intercept Operator, or 05 'Hog.'

During the 1970s in Udorn, Thailand, there was an ASA Field Station with the mission of copying morse code transmitted by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units in Vietnam. As the US Army 'Hog's' entered the station through a gate in the fence surrounding their operations building, there was a large rock just before the gate.

Well, soldiers being soldiers, used the rock to express their displeasure at being assigned to such a remote station, so far from home. They would paint phrases upon the rock, none flattering to the US Army, Thailand, the station commander, etc. None of the powers-that-be at the time, took any special notice of the troops expressing their opinions on the rock until a new station commander took over. Instead of being a laid-back intelligence field type officer, the commander was a line officer in the artillery and was used to strict Army regulations and having a proper military attitude towards all things Army.

The new commander therefore upon seeing the rock, ordered it destroyed (not removed) but broken up into gravel. His order was carried out by Army engineers. The enlisted men upon seeing THEIR rock destroyed immediately organized a funeral for the remains. The smaller stones were gathered up, placed in a large box, and then a detail of six pall bearers was assigned to march the box to a newly dug grave for the internment of the rock's remains.

A rather large crowd gathered for this solemn ceremony and all the men present sang 'Rock of Ages' as the box was lowered into the earth.

At least, that's the story I got from an old 05'Hog.'

And I'm sticking to it. :wink:

Unionblue
 
The above reminds me of a tale when I was with the old Army Security Agency as a Morse Intercept Operator, or 05 'Hog.'


Unionblue

Hey Unionblue - I was Naval Security Group. Learned to copy code at Pensacola Fl and spent 2 1/2 years working
in a tunnel in Japan. 66-68 Loved every bit of it. Wasn't a ditty bopper though.
Larry
 
Hey Unionblue - I was Naval Security Group. Learned to copy code at Pensacola Fl and spent 2 1/2 years working
in a tunnel in Japan. 66-68 Loved every bit of it. Wasn't a ditty bopper though.
Larry

Hi Larry!

I had the honor of working with NSG types while stationed in Karamusel Common Defense Installation (KCDI), Turkey.

The Navy guys ran the Direction Finding section and used to 'fix' our morse code targets for us that we were copying. Great bunch of guys!

Speaking of tunnels, I used to work in the 'Tunnel' in Kunia, Hawaii, a converted WWII underground aircraft factory converted into an intel station 35 feet under a pineapple field. Was there four four, wonderful years.

Nice talking at you.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
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There's a lot of history in that tunnel also. Did you get involved in classic Bullseye in your travels. The one that used
the elephant cages?

That's what Karmusel, Turkey and Augsberg, Germany, both used, the copied WWII German designed "Flare Nine" antenna or Elephant Cage as it was called by all us ditty boppers. I remember the evacuation plans in case Karamusel was over run by the Russians. ASA personnel first, and then women and children!

The Tunnel at Kunia, Hawaii, was using the satellite/remote antenna relays with the receivers in Thailand and the ditty boppers copying morse code remotely at the Tunnel.

Morse code has long since been abandoned and was dying out even in my last few years with the Army. Used to be both a Basic Morse Code Instructor at Ft. Devens, MA, and then was a Master Instructor teaching others how to be instructors at the Basic Instructor Training Course (BITC) eventually becoming the NCOIC of the school/course.
 
I served on a WWII DD during the 1970's and remember the cooks opening cans of bacon canned prior to WWII. That stuff stunk up the ship for days, the jungles of Nam smelt better than that stuff. Needless to say with out fanfare the rest of the case of bacon was opened and dump into the sea...

And yeah we used Morse Code and read raw IFF data...
 
I served on a WWII DD during the 1970's and remember the cooks opening cans of bacon canned prior to WWII. That stuff stunk up the ship for days, the jungles of Nam smelt better than that stuff. Needless to say with out fanfare the rest of the case of bacon was opened and dump into the sea...

And yeah we used Morse Code and read raw IFF data...
A family friend who served in the 'Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club'said one of the best meals on their menu was made with 1944 canned hamburger....
 
Walker's Greyhounds did the same thing in Louisiana....but with beef, and with no ship or water :smile: With fife, drum and torches, they marched the carcass (in a makeshift coffin) outside of camp and buried it with full military honors, a headboard and footboard.


Can you imagine some poor Civil War buff coming across that grave today? You know, thinking perhaps these are shred of head and footboard from a soldier buried 150 years ago? They'd be awfully confused.

Not the same thing, just another example of how fall down funny they inventive men could be, when war got boring. Great grandfather, serving in France in WW1 left a good amount of writing. Found entries where he and buddies named their lice, bragged of their prowess in areas of sport and whose was most handsome. Went on for awhile.
 
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From Forty-six Months with the Fourth RI Volunteers
on a ship somewhere off the coast in the Atlantic​
That's a funny story. You know that pork musta really been bad. Like everyone else,I've read accounts of how imaginative soldiers made all kinds of slop edible.
 
Times did change for me during my 20 years of service.

When I first entered the Army in 1971, C-Rations were still big, pork slices being my favorite. Warmed up more than a few on the engine of the then still in service Jeep.

Then in 1991, MRE's (Meals, Ready to Eat) were the biggies. I would tear open the plastic bag while sitting in the then newly issued HUMVEE. But, as I recall, when they first came out to the field, my guys in my platoon renamed them Meals, Rejected by Ethiopians.

I am a member of the Yacht Club and my TinCan was of 1944 vintage. We found some rations in a life raft on board that were dated 1943 so we threw em overboard.

You squids! Always throwing away the good stuff! A waste of the taxpayer's money, if you ask me! :wink:
 
Speaking of menus and creativity, here is a copy and paste from a pdf doc. of the menu from a Wash. D.C. CWRT dinner from 1959.
Fruit Cup: Poke berries and green apples
marinated in stump juice

Salad: Young horse corn leaves,
sassafras root and bacon fat

Entree: Stolen tough turkey and chitterlings,
ground acorns,
swamp cress
Hard tack and cornpone

Buggy-rut water
and roof drippings
Desserts: Mess Sergeant's special soggy pie
or scuffled wild onions
There's other neat stuff in there too.

http://files.cwrtdc.org/Archived-CWRTDC-Newsletters-1959-Volume9.pdf


 
I am a member of the Yacht Club and my TinCan was of 1944 vintage. We found some rations in a life raft on board that were dated 1943 so we threw em overboard.
Thanks for your response.
So you and your shipmates passed up the opportunity to eat the delicious stew made from those products of a bygone era? Another 'sea story' was that he was something of a 'picky eater' Sometimes the dinner menu was unpalatable, so he and his friends would wait until just before the mess was closed. It seems at those times when they were running out of the 'main course', the cooks would 'break out' the 'duty ham'- canned hams, or even on occasions New York Strip steaks!
 
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