Leaner?  Maybe.  Meaner?  Bwahahaha!

Your gym is dusty?  Frikkin' clean it up then!  OOhh, did you bweak a widdle fingernail?  Have the Tech Sergeant kiss it and make it feel better.

 

 

If latrines were any indicator, I served for twenty years and the writing on the Airforce latrine walls was always the most intellegent, funny, or stimulating, and often went to a paragraph or more. The Army and Marines latrines usually contained single sylable words, rarely more than three words long. The navy had a lot of vulger pictures, usually poorly drawn.

The reason the USAF is leaner and meaner is because the young people joining it are dumber and less able to follow orders than at any other time in history!

 

It isn't all their fault. Most of it is their parent's fault for not paying enough attention to them growing up. Instead of teaching them basic discipline and manners, they stuck a game controller in their hands and ran off to the bar or went out partying themselves. The internet or video games became their mother and father.

 

The other part of the problem is our education system that never taught these kids history, literature, philosophy, debate, music, art or any of the things necessary to give them a rounded education so they could determine ethics and morality for themselves.

 

So do me a favor, HeavyD, as a woman who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, take your mocking and bullshit and jam it.

 

I made Staff Sergeant in four years. How long did it take you?

No offense to the Air Force brethren, but I think this article is spot on. I spent 23 years in the Navy, mostly on submarines and remote places, and it was common knowledge that the Air Force had the better bases/quality of life. It was particularly depressing when I would drive from Pearl Harbor Naval Station onto Hickam AFB via the old back gate, and it was like stepping into paradise! This was in the late 90s.

 

But my opinion always was "good for them!" When my son considered joining the military, I encouraged him to try the Air Force. Nothing wrong with wanting the best quality of life!

 

Another example: in the early 90s I was stationed at NAS Keflavik, which had a sizable USAF population (as did all the branches). I lived in a 60s era cinder block multi-family building that housed six families in separate apartment style units. Everything worked, they were comfortable, and perfect for the harsh conditions. These were average on the scae of amenities and modernity among the houses on base, and they were also the most plentiful. And living on-base was mandatory for everyone. I was the senior person in our building, and was thus designated the "Senior Occupant" (I was an E6). Theoretically, I was supposed to attend meetings and hold meetings in our building, but nobody in my building was interested, and all were content. Then one day an Air Force family moved into our building (we had a couple already, he wasn't the first). The day he moved in, he came and knocked on my door. He was furious! He told me that the living conditions of the house did not meet Air Force standards, and his unit was unacceptable. I asked what was wrong specifically, and he said everything (the Icelandic contractors were meticulous in their maintenance of all of the base housing, so I doubted anything was actually wrong with his place). He demanded that I, as Senior Occupant find him new housing (he was an E4). I told him there was nothing I could do. I told him he could talk to the housing office. He told me was going to take it up with his First Shirt (I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I knew it was supposed to be ominous, like hearing from his lawyer or something). Before I closed the door I told him that if his house was really that bad, he could stay at the Navy Lodge until it was resolved (I stressed the NAVY in Navy Lodge). Hee hee. He stayed in our building until I left. 

 

 

So you were a bubble head, huh?

 

I worked in the Norfolk, Virginia area for 5 years and it was the worst 5 years of my life. I often said that if the world needed an enema that No-fuk was the place to put the pipe in!

 

You know that the running joke about bubble heads is that they send down 100 men and they get back 50 couples?

 

Anyway, being ex-Air Force, I thought I would explain to my poor mentally disabled Navy brother that a "First Shirt" stands for "First Sergeant". Most times that means an E-9 (although it can be an E-7 and up) with a diamond inserted in the stripes.

 

I have no idea how the Navy feels about E-9s but in the Air Force the legend goes that Major Generals plan strategy, consult with Presidents, Chief of Staff and God.

 

An E-9 is God.

 

So if you see six down, three up and a diamond in the middle of the up and down then fall to your knees and confess your sins. 

StephanieD, yes I was a proud bubblehead, and although I've heard the "100 men/50 couples" joke a zillion times, I never saw anything like that happen. Maybe I missed something, but I seriously doubt it.

 

I lived in Virginia Beach for a few years, and I would tend to agree that the Navy bases in the area were severely lacking and probably not up to Air Force standards. Smelly sea water, noisy ships with all their dirty people, and facilities that haven't been modernized since the Civil War are indeed disappointing. When you say it was the worst 5 years of your life, I can totally understand! A submarine is way cooler and all the dudes get partners, so I hear!

 

I admit that at the time I had no idea what "First Shirt" meant. But I've since been educated (I know, huh? "Poor mentally disabled Navy brother" that I am?). In the Navy those are called "Command Master Chiefs", or "CMCs". On submarines they have the same rank but are called "Chief of the Boat", or "COB"  (by the way, see how much smarter we bubbleheads are than the rest of the Navy? They have to address their E-9 as "Master Chief". On submarines we realized this was inefficient syllabical use, so we address our E-9 as "COB". 

 

As for your E-9 joke, I heard and was encouraged to memorize that and about 8,000 other jokes, but all involving Navy Chief Petty Officers, when I underwent CPO Indoctrination. But I can't talk about that.

 

One last anecdote, Stephanie: I had to travel to a base in Japan, so I called their barracks, oops...sorry, dormitory to make a reservation. I told the I was "Chief XXXXXX", because in the Navy, I was. When I got there, I found they had put me in the VIP suite.