| From: | "I.M. Legion" <legion@***.SC.COLOSTATE.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Oh yeah? Well... (was: Re: Playing by the book) |
| Date: | Wed, 27 Jul 1994 11:10:12 -0600 |
> Ivy writes:
> > > Legion -- who spent 6 years in the Army and knows that the Signal Corps is
> > > not part of the 'real' Army. They pretend pretty good, but they
> > > just don't quite have it down yet. Damn flag wavers... (signal
flags)
> > >
> > 6 years? 6 WHOLE years? Wow, what experience! You might think we
> > weren't "real army" but we were on the job 365 a year, 24 a day, and
we
> > worked for it. I've been in 4 combat zones (1 twice) and under fire a
> > few times. And we women weren't even supposed to _see_ combat the whole
> > time. And, FYI, the only signal flags I ever saw were on my brass.
> >
> > Ivy <Who has see Tel Aviv from the top of the Golan Heights, The senic
> > Sinai, Viet-Nam, the Russian Border from the wrong side and T-54's from
> > 60 feet on the Korean DMZ. 20 years of fun, travel and adventure>
> Ivy, do you always take everything as a personal attack? I dont think he was
> trying to make your experiences seem less valid than his. I feel he was just
> having a joke at the signal corps expense. We all know you have experienced
> more than almost all of us on the list put together, but hey, it comes with
> age, neh? :-)
Thanks, Damion, for seeing the jab for what it was. Too many damn politically
correct Clueless-Victim-Losers running around these days.
Jesus, can't people take a joke anymore? I rag on the Signal Corps as a whole,
not on individuals within the SC. And before I get screamed at again, I know
what I'm talking about. I spent the first four years as a tanker, M1- and
M1-A1 Abrams MBTs. I was totally into (still am) the combat arms ideal of
how an army should work; for the purposes of war only. Each part of the whole
should contribute equally towards the achievement of a goal. The press should
be kept in small underground cages and fed dis-information during/around
military operations. Schwarzkopf should have been given permission to pitch
a tent in Baghdad. All of this, and more, I believe.
Then, post Middle-east proving grounds (that's "Desert Storm", it was never a
"war"), I re-upped for 74F, Software Analyst, so I could put my computer
interests to work. I had four years of fun in a high-speed fraternity and
found myself dumped into the 11th Signal Battallion, the largest Signal
battallion in Europe. This single fact did alot to inflate the egos of the
members of this unit. Yes, they did spend time in the field, but only after
the continued existence of the unit was brought into question. And only then
for a maximum of two weeks at a time (including shower runs). I'm sorry, but
I've spent more time in the field on tanks than the entire officer corp in
that unit(with _no_ shower runs) put together. Their field SOP was borrowed
from Beetle Bailey and no-one thought twice about it, except for me and my
Ranger-buddy, who was in the same situation I was in.
The people in this unit behaved like they were in college. There was no
effective discipline and the professionalism was the lowest I had ever
seen it. I had PV2s work for me on my tank that acted with more professionalism
than even the Section Sergeants in this place. Always bitching and moaning
and scared to death of the 1SG.
--
Legion -- Who has been on the wrong side of both the East German border and
the Czech border (while the wall was still up), been inside everything from
a T-62 to a T-72M(T-80), scared border guards out of their pants by throwing
gravel at their "hidden" guard towers and waking them up, been targetted
and run on by A-10s, showed Generals Saint & Galvin around my tank during
a full-fledged gunnery, targetted HIND-A's, -D's, -E's and -F's with my 120mm,
and proven time and time again that the governor on an M-1 tank _can_ be
over-ridden with the flick of a switch (70mph on hardball).
Mike Loseke, legion@***.sc.colostate.edu
