h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Are you a vet, on active duty, interested? Sound off and introduce yourself.

As for me, I was on active duty in the US Army from 1987 through 1993. I was an infantryman in Korea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. After my return from the Gulf War, I went to Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, and I served another year in the DC area.

In 1996, I joined the Georgia Army National Guard. I served as a Cavalry Scout for a year. Then I returned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal. With them, I went down to Panama right before we turned it over. I left the service in November of 2000.

Vet, here. I was active from 1993-1999 in the US Navy, where I served as a computer technician for a cruiser based in Pearl Harbor. I did sea-donuts in the Persian Gulf enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq, sailed all around the world... you know, all the usual crap.

I alwsy kind of envied the Navy and getting to bounce around all over the world. When I was in, they prefered that you stay in one place for 4 years. Of course, I wound up going all over the place due to my short tour in Korea, the war, and switching MOS's.

I did take a hop out to Hawaii one time. It looked pretty nice from what I saw. I don't think I would have minded that one bit.

One of the things I've thought about career wise was getting my BS, and then trying for the Naval Investigative Service. I'm too old and broken down to really fight for my country. I'd like to support the guys, but all I really know is how to police.

What do you think, cool job or not?

I'm probably the wrong person to ask. I've never been the 'military type', if you know what I mean. I joined up because I was out of options. I did my six (minimum tour if you wanted a technical field, since you spend almost 2 years in school), got an education and experience I could actually use, and got out.

And I don't know too much about NIS, to be frank. I know they engage in some sort of counter-espionage stuff, which sounds exciting, but I think they also do really mundane stuff like investigating sexual harassment charges. I guess they also get involved in mishaps, like when that sub sank the Japanese fishing boat a few months ago. I guess it would be cool to be on the leading edge of that kind of development.

Yeah, Hawaii didn't suck. I had a perpetual tan. I went scuba diving every weekend I could. Some of the guys on the ship were great, and we had all sorts of misadventures downtown as well as overseas. There was a good concert scene that had me going to outstanding shows roughly twice a month.

But it all changed. As is typical in the military lifestyle, all my friends went away. The radio station that fueled the concert scene went under, and the concerts disappeared. The big crunch in the Asian stock markets several years ago killed tourism in Hawaii (they get much more business from Japan than from mainland US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand combined), and all the clubs that I loved went under. All I had left was slow customer service, awful traffic, and worse drivers. I had a great time there, and will always remember it fondly, but when it was time to leave, it was *time to leave.*

A lot of cherry assignments are disappearing. As the U.S. pulls back from its cold war footing, fewer people are going to be overseas, and there were some pretty cool places.

In 1999, I was down in Panama to help close down some of our facilties down there. I wish I had known about that while I was on active duty. It was incredible. The country was beautiful. The bases were nice. The locals seemed to be okay. There was a ton of stuff to do. Now it's all gone over to the locals and the Chinese.

US Army 96-00 REMF Sat com
Fun stuff


About base closeings all I can say is that I joined and thought I would get out of NC next thing I knew I was back there for 3 of my 4

That's one thing about the Navy... you *are* going overseas, no doubt about it. What really annoyed me, though, is that they did a poor job of selecting the ports. On my first deployment, I got to see Sydney and Perth, Australia. The next time we went to Sydney and Perth, Australia. Boneheads. If i'd stayed in, I would have gone to Melbourne and Darwin on my third deployment. Why the hell couldn't they have done those the second time around?

Other visits were to Newcastle, Australia; Singapore; Hong Kong; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon, San Diego; and Port Louis, on the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. And of course, who could forget scenic Bahrain, or the lovely United Arab Emirates ports of Dubai and Jebel Ali?

Umm... I could.

The Army can pick some winners too. Whoever buys land for the Army has a pretty easy job. Let's find somewhere remote. If there aren't any bugs there now, we'll move them in later. The best land will have nothing to do with the mission of the unit stationed there.

I was in the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia in 1989-1990. Our specialty was desert warfare. Where were we stationed? In a swamp. Forst Stewart was originally a costal artillery training center. Guess what. No coast.

I bet the Army's purchasing agent wears a suit.

I guess I'm an Air Force of One. USAF active duty 1982-1992. I was an E-5 (Staff Sergeant), Ground Radio Comm Equipment Repairman. Did four years at Charleston AFB, South Carolina (great location, nice beaches, terrible workcenter). Then did six years at Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska. Absolutely incredible assignment! Don't even get me started on Alaska. Worked for Armed Forces Radio and TV Service - constant TDY's maintaining radio transmitters,etc. all over Alaska and Greenland. Also the Phillipines and a few others and was lovin' every minute of it. Had to get out in 92 on a medical and am now disabled, but I did OK while it lasted.

Welcome. I've heard about Alaska. I just started another thread about the best places to be stationed or the best TDY trips.

We have the Navy, Air Force, and Army listed. Now we need a Marine and [whatever you call a person in the Coast Guard]. Then we can start looking for foreign veterans.

I don't think there are any Marines who can write.

As for Coast Guard, I had several in my electronics school... we caled them "Coasties." Of course, the other nicknames weren't very flattering... "Puddle Jumpers" and "Puddle Pirates."

Colonel Sellers, now braced for all the tasteless jokes about "seamen."

Well, I almsot wrote Coasties, but I didn't know if that was offensive to them or not. I hate to piss people off without intending to.

Hey
I served in the USAF active duty 85 to 89 as a crew chief on kc-135's. Ive been a reservist since working on c-130. I traveled all over with the 135. And honestly, the best place we went was any where in Canada or to Iceland. Thats from the perspective of a horny guy. But I loved Japan and Germany.
I now work as a Air Reserve Tech, doing my reserve job as a civilian. And making an obsene amount of money!!!
Quick question, how do I join The Barracks?

You just did.

Welcome to the Barracks. I'm thinking about joing the Air National Guard or Air Reserve. I always thought you wound up gettting screwed as a reserve technican. I was under the impression that you you didn't get a retirement like full time reservists.

The retirement for an Art is the same as the reservist, but the big draw back is promotion is usually slower and you have to keep you reserve position to keep your job. But the up side is I dont believe there is a high year tenure for an Art. So as long as you remain eligible for the reserves, you can stay in until your civilian retirement, so you get civil service and reserve retirement

Hi there, Red Dog reporting - Combat Engineer, 129 Field Squadron Royal Engineers 1983 ~ 1991. Glad to be aboard - you seem to need some Brits here

I'm glad to have you on board.

Name : Steve Clark
User#: stephen
Branch of Service:RAF
Dates of Service :1962 to 1979
Specialty:Photographer
Misc:Probablythe squarest peg in the roundest hole ever

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