Memoirs of Division

[DHICKS]

1.How about traveling to Lejune for mout training because we didn't have a MOUT site (MOBA) and finding out the Marines had removed some floor boards as you went thru thru the buildings at night.

2. SCOPES training with blanks, Scopes and Numbers on your steel pots cami covers, Blindly yelling out numbers and fireing you weapon hoping that number was out there like BINGO game.

3. No money for Aircraft or Ammo while jumping out of teh back of a Cattle truck and doing PLF's down the flight strip at Sicily DZ and then yelling BANG, BANG , JAM at each other...

4. Piscaugh National Forrest doing OPFOR for SF and feeling sorry for the young troops (Not) going through phase training.

5. Tossing that extra can of peanut butter from your C-rats into the squad fire in the middle of winter and leaveing before it exploded covering everyone with peanut butter NAPALM.

6. Eating beans and weenies on a flight to panama and just before the twenty minute warning puking it up into an air sickness bag only to dig out your spoon and eat it again while saying its still warm.

7. Bombing Germany with air sickness bags after the last REFORGER jumper clears the door so you dont have to deal with gallons of puke flying back to the USA.

8. Taking a pair of BOLT Cutters, Letter and Number stencils and black paint down to another units Motor pool at night and securing additional Jeeps and GAmma Goats for your field problem.

9. Selecting trees with large trunks to sleep in between because of teh stories your SL told you about the Sheridan drivers running over troops in fire breaks at night for fun (Crunchies)

10. Fireing off every bit of ammo and explosives before teh new FY kicked in and not having enough troops to do it. Talk about a mad minute, Also seeing if you could melt the barrells on our M16-A1's before we tunrd them over to the NG.

Ah the good old days

[abnxray]

Ricks lounge and the Flaming Mug, just like peas and carrots ! I think about all the stupid shit that used to go on, and I think about it some more, and then I think, man I sure do miss it ! not to mention all the fukn knuckleheads ! And to think, those idiots have been released upon society to function in some respectable manner ? Some days are more difficult than others, not to mention harder ?

[CAL]

Remember that U shaped mini mall off of Bragg Blvd. that was nothing but Korean massage parlors and strip clubs? You could start at one end early in the evening and still not hit them all before sunrise.

[SpongeBob]

Remember that U shaped mini mall off of Bragg Blvd. that was nothing but Korean massage parlors and strip clubs? You could start at one end early in the evening and still not hit them all before sunrise.

Don't forget about the Plasma joint in that same plaza...

[AbnJack]

anyone remember the bar at St James Place Inn (right?) called "Popeyes"? the owner was a pencil thin guy who had a perm, and drove a corvette? Rosebud from "A" co. 2/508 DJ'ed there (between 83-85 that I remember)

HEY!! I knew a Rosebud in the 2/508! And he had a job at a bar....musta been the same guy!! Big black dude?? Before he left he was attached to the transportation platoon even tho he was a grunt.

[SlipAway]

Ricks lounge and the Flaming Mug, just like peas and carrots !

Ahhh.... the good old days....also, Gruber Road...that's kinda like the Indy 500

[CAL]

Ahhh.... the good old days....also, Gruber Road...that's kinda like the Indy 500

Like the Yadkin 500? That road is nuts to drive down!

[ShortBusDriver82]

I loved living right off Yadkin... we could leave the barracks, hit the light at Gruber and then start speeding up to 100+...

That plasma joint was the shit... I'd go there Friday and donate to get my weekend beer money or stripper tip money!!!

[LRS Guy]

This something 4 of us old guys, Div, Bat, & SF wrote up one time



You know you are old school:

1. You remember when there was only 2 Ranger Bn.
2. You have passed out at Rick’s on Hay St.
3. You dated a dancer from Rick’s
4. Still refer to the NATO countries Hungry, Poland, etc as Warsaw Pact
5. Have at least one pair of jungles and khakis in the closet
6. Have been issued “chocolate chip DCUs at Green Ramp
7. Qualified with the 45. M16A1 & M60 MG
8. Fast Roping was classified means of insertion
9. Cringed when someone referred to the 82^nd as the “Jumping Junkies�
10. Had a Jungle Expert or Recondo School patch
11. Remember replacing your baseball cap for the maroon beret
12. Airborne School was still kind of hard
13. There was no SF tab or HALO wings.
14. Not everybody had to be� Special Operations�
15. You have STABOed (before everybody went to SPIES)
16. The seats were removed from Blackhawks so you could cram 20 Joes in it for air assault ops.
17. Had a MC-1B drivers license
18. 7^th & 5^th SFG was in ‘Old Divison�, then 3^rd SFG lived there.
19. You were levied to 7^th ID to cadre the Light Fighters
20. Ranger School had a Desert Phase with live fires
21. There were SF babies, never mind they brought that back
22. Used a PRC-77 radio
23. Your entire chain of command from Squad Leader on up had tours in Vietnam
24. You could have a beer at lunch
25. Bronze Bruce was the 5 mile turn around point
26. You believe a “Single Point Release� is a piece of crap and still have your H-Harness.
27. Still look good in your UDT swim trunks
28. The “Purd� was in your chain of command
29. Have done a jump exchange with the PDF or Canadian Airborne Regiment
30. Maj Howard smoked you bags on a ruck run out at Mackall
31. The reception for your Wedding was at the Flaming Mug. Then your wife was back at work at Rick’s the following night.
32. Didn’t have Gortex, Refused to ever wear a field jacket. Just wore the “smoking jacket underneath your top.
33. You have laid awake at night dreaming of doing parachute assault on Havana, Managua, Tripoli or Tehran
34. Your Plt. Daddy ensured that you wore�highly shined� jump boots on a weekly basis when in garrison. Cause “that’s the way his Plt. Sgt. did it back in the day.�
35. You have seen an ugly, pregnant, chick in her tennis shoes and maternity BDU’s wearing a Green Beret
36. You have done many airmobile ops in a “Huey�
37. You fondly remember writing your name/unit in the “tar shacks� in Mountain Phase
38. You know where the “John Wayne Memorial Shitter� is.

[LRS Guy]

More "old school" stuff


39. Have seen a “candy striper� from Group
40. Have wore BDU’s with your foreign jump wings sewn on.
41. Remember when there was only one “Selection� course in the Army
42. If you were a sniper and you had a M21
43. When Sicily DZ was labeled North & South
44. When Fun Jumps consisted showing up on Friday night, drinking beer and doing helo blasts all day on Saturday.
45. When women ran separate formation in Jump School.
46. When cherries were held upside down in a mountain sleeping bag outside third floor window by the E-4 mafia.
47. Have been fed by the student pilots in Florida Phase.
48. When the 82^nd had kevlars and the Rangers had steel pots.
49. You had P-38 on your dogtags
50. When the name of 2 man detail you were on was “Hey Cherrie you & the new guy!!!!�

[SlipAway]

Ahhh - good memories. But alas, I guess that makes me old school - I had more than I thought. This one really stuck out -
"23. Your entire chain of command from Squad Leader on up had tours in Vietnam"
Platoon Sergeant on up though. The good ole' days

[Ferret_LE426]

remember when they made us buy the summer BDU and get rid of our OG 107's.
and all of us having a heart attack when we were told no more starch in the BDU's and brush shine our boots. All the old timers were screaming that it was the end times of revelations.
and when 618th was ordered not to wear their philipine presidential unit citation for action in the phillipines during WW2.
i remember when guys would have 2 or 3 foreign jump wings on their uniforms and then we were told to only wear one pair above the pocket.

and the 18th Airborne Corps Recondo Badge.

[Crown and Sword]

51. Qualifying on M-1, M-1 Carbine, M-3, M-1919A4/6, M-1911.
52. Stand up "ridgeway" cap with wings & background.
53. Running in boots, longjohn top & gloves (no hats, crybaby)
54. Riding the "Vomit Comet".
55. Throwing tear and vomit gas at the cops in Fayetteville during the '63 summer integration activities.
56. Sitting in the bar that became Ricks, wearing an M-9 mask because the gas was so thick outside.
57. All SF at Bragg was on Smoke Bomb Hill.
58. There was no White House or High Rise.
59. There were E1-3 Clubs in the different Battle Group areas, an E-4, and E-5 Club and everybody paid money into the "Division NCO Club Fund" because "someday you'll be an NCO, boy".
60. It was the Sport Parachute Club.
61. There was nothing on Yadkin Road for a couple of miles off post.
62. IRF had everybody chained inside the barracks.
63. If you needed new equipment you put the cutter blade in backwards on the heavy drop.
64. Opening St. Mere Eglise with a night drop.
65. Holding the record of unassing a C-130 with 62 PAX in 11.4 seconds!
66. Having NCOs that served in the 555th.
67. Having NCOs that had multiple combat jump stars on their wings.
68. Having an NCO celebrate some trivial event by bringing beer into the motor pool.
69. Enjoying off time by getting out of the barracks and sleeping under a tree to avoid "Hey, You" details.
70. Making runs to Lumberton to buy sploe (moonshine-it was the best around).

[ShortBusDriver82]

Hey Dark...

What are your memories of your "Airborne" days.... oh, wait... you haven't had any!!!!! LMAO....

[CAL]

51. Qualifying on M-1, M-1 Carbine, M-3, M-1919A4/6, M-1911.
52. Stand up "ridgeway" cap with wings & background.
53. Running in boots, longjohn top & gloves (no hats, crybaby)
54. Riding the "Vomit Comet".
55. Throwing tear and vomit gas at the cops in Fayetteville during the '63 summer integration activities.
56. Sitting in the bar that became Ricks, wearing an M-9 mask because the gas was so thick outside.
57. All SF at Bragg was on Smoke Bomb Hill.
58. There was no White House or High Rise.
59. There were E1-3 Clubs in the different Battle Group areas, an E-4, and E-5 Club and everybody paid money into the "Division NCO Club Fund" because "someday you'll be an NCO, boy".
60. It was the Sport Parachute Club.
61. There was nothing on Yadkin Road for a couple of miles off post.
62. IRF had everybody chained inside the barracks.
63. If you needed new equipment you put the cutter blade in backwards on the heavy drop.
64. Opening St. Mere Eglise with a night drop.
65. Holding the record of unassing a C-130 with 62 PAX in 11.4 seconds!
66. Having NCOs that served in the 555th.
67. Having NCOs that had multiple combat jump stars on their wings.
68. Having an NCO celebrate some trivial event by bringing beer into the motor pool.
69. Enjoying off time by getting out of the barracks and sleeping under a tree to avoid "Hey, You" details.
70. Making runs to Lumberton to buy sploe (moonshine-it was the best around).

I've highlited a couple of my favorites.