Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 07, 2010

It would be rude if Mel said, “Yes.” But that’s what she’s implying.

We had awards formations at the beginning of each month. Promotions, stuff like that. How long were you at Bragg? I joined the army in ‘76 after serving in the Marines during ‘Nam (2 tours). I got out after the war and stayed a civvie for a year but I liked the military better so I rejoined. I first hit Bragg in ‘78.

Airborne.

I hope you took a shower once in awhile; GT had to pattern Ned after somebody.

Got my 5 in Iraq and we had a unit ceremony - we did for all our promotions and awards. But we had an outstanding Commander and First Sergeant too….That surely helps.

Orion

There weren’t any ceremonies when I was promoted either, but so what? This isn’t Nha Trang in ‘68, sure enough. Institutions change.

And Mel deserves a ceremony! Besides she’s in the Air Force. They take good care of their people! (or so I’ve been told….) The banter is great, and I really think she means it about not having to shower. She’s very down to earth, and really someone people can look up to.

Always PC, GT’s controllers won’t ever let him address dentistry for carnies. ;^D

Mel’s not in the Chair Force. Army flies those choppers over there. I got E-5 between my last school and my first run on the boats. Made E-6 while underway. The skipper pinned it on me on halfway night along with all the folks who got their dolphins on that run.

@Avlounteer: What MisngNOLA said. Mel is currently, if memory serves, a Specialist (E-4). Definitely not an Air Force rank.

Not to go (too far) off topic, but has anybody seen our favorite troll this morning? His services may be required over at the Brewster Rockit strip, which seems to be promoting Laundry Apartheid…

Not showering? My alzheimer’s makes me sketchy on the details, but in the Corps we had Octagon soap

Ned seems like a good guy, even with the non-showering issue.

@heeyuk

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Someone should have thought of your idea before.

Great HM put-down.

BTW How does GT get away without addressing the mud-puppy overpopulation situation in Lake Andes SD? It’s GOT to be those noodling controllers again!

Hasn’t anyone noticed that Mel no longer looks afraid and actually looks happy?

There’s not much water available in Afghanistan, especially at the outposts.

Our people frequently use bottled water for bathing.

Hopefully things are better now, but in Korea, we would have spells of water shortage where we were allowed one 2 minute shower per week. You wet down with one minute and lathered up. The second minute rinsed it off. Worse was the toilet paper shortage. One sheet per day.

The WWII wooden barracks (open-plan, two-story) in Memphis (NATTC actually in Millington TN) in ‘64-‘65 were so dry and so soaked in old floor wax, they’d go up in about five minutes too. ‘South-42’ IIRC, went up like that just before I got there.

Fire watch (and fire alarm) was serious business there, whichever of four duty sections had the duty that day/night. Cpl. Ron Surges (a re-tread for avionics school) came in a bit tipsy from the E-club one night and tried to flip on the light in his cube, which (of course) wasn’t a light switch. We all stood out in the cold in skivvies for an hour or so, to be sure he got the idea we were unhappy.

The sailors had new concrete barracks with dividers between four-bunk cubicles, where our bays were divided only by wall lockers.

how can a formality (established procedure) be not required ?

it seems that alot of the posters are referring to “wars” of the past.

if the military did not change with the advancement of arming themselves and the political “correctness” of treating people we may not have the enlistee’s that we do have.

homophobia still runs rampant however. what a waste of man-power…

watch out for shoe-spam! I just flag it, but to let others know.

So, stebon, would you like to explain to the veterans who have commented here about their own ceremonies that they were hallucinating?

http://shockdom.com/open/carl/

Wow Stebon, apparently you know all about every Army outpost due to your 3 years active duty. It’s funny too, because every month while I was in the desert in 2004-2005, the Army folks I worked with had a formation to honor advanced personnel and folks who received other meritorious note (good conduct medals, ArComs, etc.) I saw and participated in them even though I was Navy because it was for folks I worked with on a daily basis. And I also took part in similar ceremonies when I was a Navy Reservist drilling at Fort Dix. Perhaps you had several COs who didn’t care about the troops morale.