Having been raised in a small remote Wyoming ranch town in the pre-television days, there were a heckuva lot of things I never knew existed before I enlisted right after high school. Started noticing this the first day of basic training

grits
SOS
ketchup on eggs
drinking fountains for "blacks" and "white" off base.
hand jive
chittlins (sp?)


Must be others, the memories grow dim after almost 60 years.

Anybody want to add to this.?

What I learned after enlistment.....

That being raised as an Air Force dependent did not give me any idea of what I was getting into when I raced off the bus and got on the "yellow foot prints" outside the Receiving Barracks on that warm humid night of June 23, 1977 at Parris Island, SC.

And that was only the beginning.

But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world.

Semper Fi

StarchedCover

I learned people are supposed to not like other folks of a different race even if they are really nice guys.

Chittlins (sp?) were so bad they would flavour everything served for the next two days. I remember blacks getting ticked off because the Navy thought they were stupid enough to each such garbage.

I learned 105 things a smart sailor never says to a Master Chief.

I learned Marines can be OK people too.

I learned if you don't want to go serve in Vietnam just volunteer for duty there along with switching to the Army Warrant Flight Program. You get orders to hard hat school in DC with final orders to Holly Lock instead.

I learned there are times you can punch your division officer, a pissant O1 in the face and breaking your hand in the process. While in sickbay getting the bones set and a cast I learned your XO can investigate, find out he deserved it and more, come to sick bay and chew you out while handing you 30 days basket leave and when you get back to your ship you can learn the pissant O1 was no longer in the Navy and you are now a first class not a second class.

I learned shipboard fires can be terrifying and fun at the same time up to the point someone dies.

I learned after seven years and nine days of active duty you can walk off the ship with an Honourable Discharge even with your chief telling you you can't go until you get his special project done.

I learned you will be changed forever. You will still like pressed work shirts and pants and you will have a clean pressed dress uniform hanging in your closet for the rest of you life.

I learned that if a former shipmate has something bad happen to him you will feel real bad even if he was someone you didn't like.

I learned every veteran who served before me and who served after I did is now and always be special in my eyes.

I learned everything I do with our flag and our National Anthem will still cause me a couple of tears.

That you don't want to be in the chain locker, ever.

Painting a small space using lead based paint without a blower is bad.

How to say Muddapuckingsheiit with a Filipino accent well enough to get an extra run as scullery bitch.


That I don't get seasick.


Eating a cherry out of belly button of a 45 year old, hairy BOS'N, ain't worth an Order of the Blue Nose Certificate.


Never pass out on the wrong ship.


What a heat and beat shackle is.

I was rejected by all 5 branches of the military due to my bad knee, from a motocross crash at 17, & my flat feet.

cool, whats the feller with the shop hammer for?

this one is true for me as well. I cant help but feel that choking up feeling when the National Anthem is being played my mind flashing pictures of what it means to me as I sing along.

I never punched an officer but I did ask an O2 if he had [bleep] for brains because he was about to open a red tagged valve in the mainspace. only reason I didn't take him down was it had double valve protection (and I was just out of arms reach), the words made him freeze and look at me like no way I said what he heard. I used that opportunity to point out his near mistake. he turned red and thanked me and walked away. my chief was watching and never said a word, just smiled.

I learned that even if you don't have enough hair on your head for a Marine Corps barber, they'll just work on the scalp.

I learned that you can't EVER move fast enough for a DI.

I learned that all DIs; black, white, Hispanic, Asian, from no matter where, all have EXACTLY the same accent.

I learned that there are quarterdecks where no ship has ever been.

I learned that "duck" is a specialty of Marine Corps chow halls, and that carries over to the Infantry.

I learned that Marine Infantry is a fully amphibious unit of the military; so much so that they will go out of their way to find water to get complete wet in just so they feel at home no matter where they are on the planet.

I learned exactly how dirty a human being can get without being buried alive, and the true value of a pack of wet naps in an ALICE pack.

I learned how to function for days on end on minutes on end of sleep.

I learned that what happens in the tree line stays in the tree line.

I learned that "improvise, adapt, overcome" is often code for "steal, borrow, requisition, or otherwise get" whatever it was that Uncle Sam hadn't seen fit to provide for his Misguided Children.

I learned that there is absolutely nothing on this planet that cannot be destroyed by U.S. Marines - often unintentionally and to their own detriment.

I learned a meaning and appreciation for "Taps" that most never will, and for that they should be thankful.

Lots more...

Oh, and I learned that the Marine Corps is run by Senior NCOs, especially in the field; that even an O3 or O4 will STFU and listen when a Gunny or a Master Guns speaks (like Dean Witter, only with your life and not your money in his hands), and that EVERYONE STFU when a WO3/4 speaks. To the point that an O3 will knock the Hell out of an O1 that just got his ass handed to him by an E3 when ordered to do so by a Master Guns ("KNOCK THAT STUPID SOB DOWN!") and tell him the next time that he'd be lucky to not be in a damn bag.
Friggin' GREAT thread, Mr. York. Thank you!

Forgot than one. I shouldn't have. Thanks for the reminder.

I learned how to sleep in a tree, without really being asleep.

I learned sometimes you have to salute a dam woman

Truer words...

I learned out to get the asshats at ball games etc to remove their hats and shut their mouths during the anthem without saying a damn word.

Olangapo!

I learned.. A black man could easily become your best friend.

.. AF chow really was the best.

.. The Navy always seemed to snag the hottest chicks.

.. Being tall was a handicap.

.. Guys from NY weren't all butt wipes

.. Airplanes were like cantankerous women.

.. Grunts weren't really all troglodytes.

.. The enemy were real people too.

.. The true meaning of "The Flag of our fathers"

And as my dad said to a young Lt in his Army days when he was told (you salute the rank, not the man). "So I've I go past an officers uniform hanging on a clothes line, I'm supposed to salute that?"

You are saluting the man.

It is a lot easier when the man or woman in the uniform deserves the respect but if you raise your right hand and swear the oath the salute become mandatory like it or not.

learning a schema to get removed from the duty roster and made ED was an application of good hustle. I pride myself on what I learned about large, structured organizations. it has paid large dividends in the real world.

Great Lakes is cold in winter
Recruiters lie

Surprised to find I had to pay the Barber for the haircut I got in basic.

And yes, recruiters lie.

The worst was being a Warrant Officer, you salute/get saluted by EVERYONE.

Every officer rank is above yours and obviously every enlisted rank is below.

That said, I never saluted JO's.

I learned that officers didn't hang around in the places I was assigned...

Geedunks.. (vending machine candy/ice cream etc)

"There's a right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way..."

Torpedos are "fish"..

No walls - they're 'bulkheads'.
No stairs - they're 'ladders'
No ceiling - that's 'overhead'
No left - that's 'port'
No right - that's 'starboard'
No rope - that's 'line'
Big line = 'hawsers'
Not a parking lot - that's the 'grinder'.
You don't say "sir" to a female officer
You don't look at anything other than the EYES of a female officer..
'Up & forward starboard, down & aft port' (to action stations)
Torpedo fuel is "pink lady" (Mk 14 steam fish)
A drip or drips is definitely NOT "flooding"..
Rolled hats are worn by gay skimmers ( I just threw that in)..

The rule in basic to avoid details is to stay in the middle of every line and NEVER speak unless spoken to. Do nothing to attract any kind of attention.
I avoided 90% of the details that way.

I learned that a Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief is worth their weight in Gold.

I learned that if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the job.

Petty Officers are experts at their professions.

Day cat shots and traps are fun...night cat shots and traps are work

Flying is is the best job in the world.

Flag ceremonies are special ( and worth teaching that fact to people at sporting events)

If you can speak after TAPS is played, I'd rather not be in your presence.

That's the truth

Being a warrant has to be tough but a decent Warrent officer gets more respect from enlisted men than many line officers.

No, not in the least, concerning tough. You get to tell a whole bunch of officers to pound sand (JO's are mostly 'afraid' of Warrants) and of course enlisted like us.

It's a neat place to be.

We had a meterologist CW3 that lived to tell everyone to #sand.

"I don't control the f'n weather, [bleep], I just try to predict it."

Whiners suck.
farting while waiting in ambush can cause chain reaction giggling among grown men.
mags, frags and water get priority in your loadout.
You are never so tired that you can't run when properly scared.
No matter how bad things get you will find something funny about it.
combat chopper pilots are the bravest men on earth.


mike r

In boot camp I learned so many things I thought I had known before, just weren't so. But my real education occurred when I got to the fleet.

I learned that on a submarine you were a NUB, a sub-human, worthless, non-qual, air-wasting POS until you qualified ships and got your "fish." I learned that the fastest way out of that unenviable position was to keep your head down and mouth shut, to get qualified as fast as possible, and never go DINK (delinquent). Because the nail that sticks up, gets hammered down. I also learned to qualify watch stations as soon as possible and give your division and watch rotation some relief, because no one likes a sandbagger. Being a sandbagger leads us to point number two.

I learned you are going to get hazed on a submarine, there is no way out of it, period, until you prove yourself. The more you whine and cry and piss and moan about it, the worse it is going to get. Take it with class, and pull your load, and you will pass the test. Be a whiny baby, and you have entered a world of hurt.

I learned that in most cases, what you could do trumped who you were, or what rank you had. Not always, but usually. I learned when to say yes sir and shut up, and also when to speak my mind even if I was outranked.

I learned to never, EVER, volunteer for ANYTHING!!!

In several cases, I learned if you aren't terrified you just don't understand the situation.