Open Mouth insert Foot
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| Convoy with Four Fire Teams in vehicles, one Fire Team in the Chopper led by US Marshal |
On a FB Group (tied back to my early USAF days) today when Michael Kurtz chimed in and a rush of memories came back at me . I quickly responded with the below.
"Kurtz , doing well on this end. Here's why I remember you so well... lets see If I can jog your memory Back around '81 time frame, we were doing a convoy that day. Out on the site, the multiple fire teams were taking a break while the maint guys did the war head swap. You were looking like a badass in your Jungle fatigues , while everyone else were in a normal green fatigues. I was an AIC at the time. One of the other A1Cs was rolling up your sleeves in a perfect fashion. So, me being a smart ass said something along the lines of "hey ***" ( I don't remember his name) .." how about your roll up our sleeves? Doing a damned good job right there" .. to which he said something along the lines of .. " I do my wife's all the time .. heck .. I help her get dressed .. I do the cooking , etc, etc" ... I replied "WTF? She doesnt' have any hands?" At that moment .. most everyone looked at me liked I just done the unthinkable... making noises ( ooooh ... nooo.. dammmnn..).. I'm now thinking , WTF? One of the guys says " dude .. she doesn't have any" I don't really believe him .. but .. apologize about inserting foot into mouth. Fast forward a week, in the commissary . I see you girl about my age .. with both arms deformed ( tiny ) .. and thinking .... "huh' .. when .. her husband comes around the corner, sees me and says " hey baby .. that's the guy I was talking about" .. You can't make this shit up! Believe you were a TSgt there... You had all our respect. You are one of the few I remember back then. Two years later, I retrained into Electronic Warfare, retired in '99 from the USAF. My three years in Security molded me for the next 17. Missed lil things like the beret, carrying a weapon , blousing the boots. But, couldn't pass up the guaranteed retraining option that was in my contract . Good Times.. seeing some of the pics, comments, names .. in this group .. brings back a rush of memories .."
I've told that story a dozen times over the last several decades; remember it like it was yesterday! TSgt Kurtz had some Jungle cammies he wore which stood out back then. Rest of us where in olive green garb, but most of us thought of ourselves as badass. Most in the USAF were in a different mode; we were in the trenches playing war games with a lot of firepower and enjoyed it. Me personally, did a lot of time carrying the M60, M16 and sometimes .. the M203 (my fav back then). Now, we ween't the marines or some hard core Army unit.. but compared to the average airman, we felt we were. Nothing but good memories.
After BTMC, headed across the base for SP Tech School for about Six Weeks. From there, up to Camp Bullis for Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD). Five weeks of good times there playing war
games, up to Ellsworth AFB for my first and final assignment as an SP (Security shred). I lucked out into Missiles (vs aircraft) and spent the next several years in different duties. We all started out in SETs ( Security Escort). After a year of crazy hours, volunteered for CATs (Camper Alert Team). Did that for year with an awesome work schedule, then moved up to a year of scheduling. That 4x4 work schedule was to die for! Twelve hour shifts, no deploying to the field and you got 4 days out of every 8 off. Damned! Then, after 3 years, retrained into Electronic Warfare. The next seventeen years... ... .. maybe that's another post later on.
"Kurtz , doing well on this end. Here's why I remember you so well... lets see If I can jog your memory Back around '81 time frame, we were doing a convoy that day. Out on the site, the multiple fire teams were taking a break while the maint guys did the war head swap. You were looking like a badass in your Jungle fatigues , while everyone else were in a normal green fatigues. I was an AIC at the time. One of the other A1Cs was rolling up your sleeves in a perfect fashion. So, me being a smart ass said something along the lines of "hey ***" ( I don't remember his name) .." how about your roll up our sleeves? Doing a damned good job right there" .. to which he said something along the lines of .. " I do my wife's all the time .. heck .. I help her get dressed .. I do the cooking , etc, etc" ... I replied "WTF? She doesnt' have any hands?" At that moment .. most everyone looked at me liked I just done the unthinkable... making noises ( ooooh ... nooo.. dammmnn..).. I'm now thinking , WTF? One of the guys says " dude .. she doesn't have any" I don't really believe him .. but .. apologize about inserting foot into mouth. Fast forward a week, in the commissary . I see you girl about my age .. with both arms deformed ( tiny ) .. and thinking .... "huh' .. when .. her husband comes around the corner, sees me and says " hey baby .. that's the guy I was talking about" .. You can't make this shit up! Believe you were a TSgt there... You had all our respect. You are one of the few I remember back then. Two years later, I retrained into Electronic Warfare, retired in '99 from the USAF. My three years in Security molded me for the next 17. Missed lil things like the beret, carrying a weapon , blousing the boots. But, couldn't pass up the guaranteed retraining option that was in my contract . Good Times.. seeing some of the pics, comments, names .. in this group .. brings back a rush of memories .."
I've told that story a dozen times over the last several decades; remember it like it was yesterday! TSgt Kurtz had some Jungle cammies he wore which stood out back then. Rest of us where in olive green garb, but most of us thought of ourselves as badass. Most in the USAF were in a different mode; we were in the trenches playing war games with a lot of firepower and enjoyed it. Me personally, did a lot of time carrying the M60, M16 and sometimes .. the M203 (my fav back then). Now, we ween't the marines or some hard core Army unit.. but compared to the average airman, we felt we were. Nothing but good memories.
After BTMC, headed across the base for SP Tech School for about Six Weeks. From there, up to Camp Bullis for Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD). Five weeks of good times there playing war
games, up to Ellsworth AFB for my first and final assignment as an SP (Security shred). I lucked out into Missiles (vs aircraft) and spent the next several years in different duties. We all started out in SETs ( Security Escort). After a year of crazy hours, volunteered for CATs (Camper Alert Team). Did that for year with an awesome work schedule, then moved up to a year of scheduling. That 4x4 work schedule was to die for! Twelve hour shifts, no deploying to the field and you got 4 days out of every 8 off. Damned! Then, after 3 years, retrained into Electronic Warfare. The next seventeen years... ... .. maybe that's another post later on. |
| CATs |
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| Peacemaker : Fire Team Duties |
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| The Old Stomping Grounds at Ellsworth AFB. One hundred fifty missile silos there... |
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