bravo1102 wrote:
Every fucker is armed. It's the fucked who are not.

Hahaha! That made me blow snot out of my nose ^_^

The only people I've seen with guns while I was in the US were the police… But I've only been in California, New Orleans and New York…
My mum has been all through the middle states, Texas and up. She tells me guns were a much MUCH bigger thing with those people- people openly carrying rifles and shotguns in their cars, people carrying rifles into shops, in some places even wearing pistols on their hips quite openly.
That's a real SPECIAL sort of no-dick syndrome! You'd really have to work up to that one.

The scariest people I saw weren't in the states- they were the federales in Mexico.VERY intimidating.

I can't imagine going around carrying a gun, or any large visible weapon for that matter.I've be very conscious of it and probably tempted to use it on annoying people :)
So, yeah not been around a lot and I keep trying to change that, so i made the decision to make a proper effort, not only to post here more but to get lite bites back out of the doldrums. i can't do the latter alone so if anyone is interested in helping follow this link to the lite bites forum and volunteer.

http://www.drunkduck.com/forum/13064/
yeah i know, it's kind of spammy but maybe I can get people talking too.
Tomorrow I attend a stag do, where I am also the bast man. On saturday I shall mostly be a vegetable, maybe even a dribbling one.
Other than that… i've been working lots, christmas was brief as i work commitments kept me away from home and the family. :(

A mix of hangover and the flu… eugh…

I regularly carry a sidearm when I'm on duty because I'm an MP. It's honestly not all that weird of a feeling, but you do get the impression that everyone is going to make a lunge for it as soon as you take your eye off of them for the first week or two. After a while though you almost forget you're carrying and I've never felt the urge to pull it or do anything dumb though.

It actually occurred to me the other week that the current standard issue desert boots we get are literally the exact same design as the old canvas sided panama style jungle boots they used to issue. Now they're suede instead of green and black but they're identical otherwise. And I know about the whole lectures on proper boots and socks. I'm a hardcore believer in it myself, and I'm obsessive about my guys having the right size and type of gear to the point that I'm pretty sure I drive the civilians who issue it to us insane.

As for ComicCon, it boils down to that I was supposed to have several thousand dollars available of free cash, but because of various things like my bed getting water damaged while I was away ( I'm currently sleeping with my bivvy sack on my bedroom floor with an air mattress until I can get to the nearest major city to buy a new one. ) I'm down to hundreds instead. I'm just going to try and save up for next year instead. It's kinda lame but that's how it goes.

Jungle boots and desert boots are different in that jungle boots have cooling/drainage vents in the side. The original ones were leather and green canvas and in the 1980s out came the speed lace all black ones with the top in nylon. Which I still wear at work. Canvas and nylon dries faster than all leather.

The cooling vents were removed on desert boots to keep the sand out. (at least the ones issued in 1991 just in time to leave Saudi after DS1) The Germans used suede and canvas boots in the Western Desert. British officers often wore suede loafers. Leather cracks and loses it's finish fast in abrasive desert sands. Naturally it took fifty years for the US Army to come up with something the Germans had had in 1941. Wearing jungle boots in the desert meant getting sand in the boot. As a tanker I wore tanker boots except the one time I tried wearing Israeli boots which are entirely canvas and looked like nothing so much as Converse high tops but the First Sergeant wouldn't have it.

The Army had been trying to go to rough out suede boots since the end of the Vietnam war. It took Desert Storm to finally convince the general officers that shined black boots weren't always practical in combat.

I could go on with an entire disertation on military footwear through the ages, but I'll spare you.

I bet your feet still stink! :)

I had an awful headache yesterday, my sister drove me to the afterhours doctor it was so bad. Got some anitbiotics for my sinus infection (which is causing my current round of headaches), some anti-vomit pills and some strong pain meds. >;[

What's good and funky…? Well, I'm trying to put together a cool artpiece based on a Muslim medieval helmet, made of Fanta cans, sheet metal, old dental slides, a paper mask and a bikini.
If it gets selected for the exhibition I'm going to price it at about $750, or maybe $800. WOULD be $1000+ but my parter who I'm working on it with reckons that's arrogant… :P

ozoneocean wrote:
I bet your feet still stink! :)

Naturally.

Last week I had a liver biopsy. That's where they put a long needle in your abdomen to get some tissue samples. It's directed by CT scanner and sonogram and the interesting part of my liver is in the middle. It's really weird feeling something inside you and hearing this loud *snip* and a pulling inside as the sample is taken. Now comes the fun part, waiting for the results!

GROSS!

ozoneocean wrote:
GROSS!

Could not agree more. The only good part about going to the hospital is watching Turner Classic Movies.

When I was sitting around waiting in the hallway of the afterhours section of the hospital yesterday all they had on was a cricket testmatch between Australia and SriLanka…
Mind NUMBINGLY dull at the very best of times but with a migraine it's like audio torture- sounds specifically engineered to make you go slowly insane.

Oh lord how I hate televised sports… I do understand why people get into them and I can sort of tolerate it when I'm watching it with someone who is enthusiastic about it, the enthusiasm bleeds over. But on its own any sport is so effffffffffin boring to watch. Sport was never meant for TV, the only stuff that is are those stupid gladiator things and Japanese gameshows etc.

ozoneocean wrote:
Sport was never meant for TV, the only stuff that is are those stupid gladiator things and Japanese gameshows etc.

Exception: American Football. It was designed to be televised. There were rule changes in the 1950s to make certain it fit perfectly with a commercial television schedule. American baseball also easily allows for commercial television because of all the pauses that pitchers and batters take. In fact, baseball games have noticably lengthened since they started to be televised. The batter often signaled to step outside the box when the commerical is playing. It really stinks when a runner decides to steal a base during the break and all you get is the replay.
NHL hockey had rule changes in the 1970s(?) to make it easily televisable. It's strange going to a game and watching the play suddenly stop with a new face-off a minute or so later to allow for a commerical break.

I rarely is ever watch sports on TV but I listen to sports reports and even like the history of sports. I've learned over the years how valuable it is to always be able to BS about last night's game.

The new boots are identical, vents and all. Most guys these days won't wear them though. Ever since the army started allowing all soldiers to buy their own footwear, the majority of what you see guys wearing are after-market boots they buy themselves though.

I don't ever remember there being breaks in hockey games for commercials ever since I was a kid. Growing up watching the Red Wings all I remember is that they usually just played the game and the game was chopped up and edited to add commercials afterwards. I might be wrong, but at least I never saw them stop for a commercial break or recognized it as such since I rarely ever watched the game on TV instead of just going to the arena.

The new boots are identical, vents and all. Most guys these days won't wear them though. Ever since the army started allowing all soldiers to buy their own footwear, the majority of what you see guys wearing are after-market boots they buy themselves though.

According to the AR 670-1 (wear and care of the military uniform) going back to the 1960's soldiers were allowed to wear after market boots at the discretion of the unit commander. In the 1980's it was generalized to any black laced boots that could be worn bloused with BDU trousers with non-laced boots only in armored units at the discretion of the unit commander. In around 2001 all soldiers were granted non-laced boots at the discretion of the commander taking another distinction away from tank crewmen. In order to become an NCO you had to go to class on wear and care of the military uniform so you could correct others. When in schools I had to have a note from my company commander allowing me as a combat vehicle crewman to wear strapped boots.

I don't ever remember there being breaks in hockey games for commercials ever since I was a kid. Growing up watching the Red Wings all I remember is that they usually just played the game and the game was chopped up and edited to add commercials afterwards. I might be wrong, but at least I never saw them stop for a commercial break or recognized it as such since I rarely ever watched the game on TV instead of just going to the arena.

I noticed it attending Devil's and Rangers games since they were broadcast live on commercial television.

Very rarely have I ever seen anyone being allowed to wear unlaced boots. Most commanders still don't allow that one, but everything else you said pretty much sums up what I know. OCS requires more or less the same class, but it's taught a little less formally than an actual class. We were just expected to read the regs and know them on our own time to be quizzed on it.

And speaking of the Army, I've gotten released from one unity to find out that apparently nobody in my old unit kept track of where all their officers were, so nobody within my division seems to know exactly where I'm supposed to report or what unit I belong to. I've spent the last three days calling everyone and anyone so I can turn my packet in, but all I get is “we don't have you on file”. The closest I've gotten is that I have to turn it in to the RSA office, which as far as I can tell apparently doesn't exist because nobody seems to know where that is. It's almost as if they completely forgot that they shipped me to another installation for training and now they just don't have anywhere for me to go.

lba wrote:
OCS requires more or less the same class, but it's taught a little less formally than an actual class. We were just expected to read the regs and know them on our own time to be quizzed on it.

In Primary Leadership Development School (the old title for initial NCO school) there was a formal class. It included how to do on the spot corrections. I know the cirriculum has changed since then. It changed within two years of my attending the school because of the experience of Desert Storm.

It's almost as if they completely forgot that they shipped me to another installation for training and now they just don't have anywhere for me to go.

Excess officers without a home have been part of the Army since at least George Washington. You actually may not have a unit assignment and will have to make noise until someone decides to add you to their establishment. Some types occasionally use the system to coast for a time until someone notices they are drawing pay and rations and have no unit assignment because no one forwarded their orders.

Yeah. Now it's the Warrior Leadership Course. And that's about all I know about it realistically beyond that it's the NCO equivalent of what I went through. I went the college option route and was promoted from E-4 to E-5 specifically in order to send me to OCS so I never looked into WLC.

As it turns out, our previous officer strength manager got himself fired or something and just didn't brief his replacement on who was out from the brigade so they were still searching for a whole bunch of people's papers when I came back. I have an assignment, exactly where I expected to go, but it was pretty much literally lost, sitting collecting dust in an unused office. Luckily the new strength manager is my future XO, so they now know I'm coming but this is the first they've heard of my existence I guess.

Should've costed :)
If that was Pinky she'd definitely have done that!

Speaking of Pinky, and army boots, I based hers on my dad's Vietnam war era 1970s Australian army boots. They're different from the American ones… the stitching and the structure of the overlaying leather on the sides. I like it.

Back when I was in uni I bought my own pair of Chinese made ones for reference and wearing, that was back in 1997 or something. In 2011 my friend Bianka wore them as part of her Pinky TA costume at San Diego Comic Con, but she'd had them altered to add platform soles and massive high heels to them.
I thought that was a baaaad idea… And I was right- her feet were destroyed by the end of the con.
But, of course it was my fault… apparently. You know how ladies can be. ;)

If she'd have taken my advice originally I'd have mocked up some black sandshoes with black gaiters instead, but noooooo…

The Aussie jungle boots were based on the Commonwealth issue boots that came out with tropical weight Battle Dress and the 1944 pattern gear. Photographic evidence shows a lot of Aussies wearing US issue boots in Vietnam. In fact it's hard to tell an Aussie from a US soldier when the Aussie isn't wearing his gear or carrying a rifle. I was tasked with doing the Aussie contingent for a Vietnam display that unfortunately never came to pass so I did some research back in the day. I only ever finished the M113 FSV. I still intend on doing a North Vietnamese T-59 tank which was my other assignment.

The Aussies wearing US boots and tall canvas gaiters in 1942-4 is interesting because they wore better than the Commonwealth hobnailed boots and short gaiters in the jungles. Immortalized on the Airfix Australian infantry figures.

Day 4 of flue : I was alright yesterday, even whent to work which I kinda regret. I felt terrible at the end of it.
Had a pretty interesting phone conference with my instructors for my thesis. Basicly they had to huddle together with one phone while I, sick on the other end explained my idea. Came pretty well out and I got ton of points that I can use.
Luckily my friend is coming over with something to ease my headache/heat/pain, so I can manage….

Bravo-
Maybe that's earlier on in the conflict? Later on it's more like olive drab loose trousers, loose olive drab blouse, black boots and gigglehat. Maybe the trousers and blouse were US?

The typical aussie in Vietnam is easy to distinguish in most photos in that they wear a floppy giggle-hat as opposed to the helmets typically worn by the Yanks. Of course there are individuals who always did whatever, but that's like it is always. (Aussies in helmets, Yanks in gigglehats etc)

Here's a pic of what I meant about the boots:



Like this: http://www.dinahlee.com.au/USERIMAGES/aus.jpg
and this: http://bit.ly/RXRbFb

That's regular troopers. The SASR did their own thing.

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Gullas, that's terrible man! I hope you get better fast!

And suddenly…boots. XD

In World War II the Aussies initially wore US herringbone twill cotton uniforms with the US gaiters and boots. Later on there was the skirted jungle tunic and trousers as well as the tropical battle dress and the low rise predecessor to the Aussie boot you drew worn with wrap gaiters. The US boot pictured came out in the 1960's replacing a previous boot like the Aussie one pictured whichis similar to what is calledthe civilian “duck” boot. Look at that we're back to ducks! Herringbone cotton clothhas also been called duck cloth fora purported ability to shed water. Riiiight.
.

In ‘Nam when I said “gear” I also meant helmets. The basic jungle fatigues, boots and giggle hat (boonie hat) the American and Aussie were virtually identical. Helmets are hot and heavy and when one doesn’t need it out came the “boonie” hat. It was the hatissued with the herringbone twill cotton uniform down in the hot, wet South out in the “boonies” and is still in issue in the various camouflages. The brimhas expanded since Desert Storm (?)to keep the sun off the neck.

All I know is that most pics of Aussies from over there feature a gigglehat and most pics of Yanks feature a big old 1940s style steel helmet. ^_^
I've got a pair of my granddad's old canvas giaters from WWII - definnitely the US style.
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Ahhhh, back at work this week, and it's exactly like it was before I left for the holidays. BRAIN SUCKING! Ugh!
I thought it just felt that way because I needed a holiday really badly and hadn't had a real break for over a year, but nope… If I wasn't committed to helping out a friend financially (on going), I'd probably quit.

It's not a bad environment, the people are ok, it's just boring, I don't like being in an office anymore, hate being in air conditioning and florescent lights ALL the time, hate repetitive tasks, hate office gossip and small talk… it's a bit like the start of Joe Vs the Volcano, except without the tropical novelty lamp and I get a bit more respect.

Oh man, you know how much I would love being in that office right now? Boring sounds amazing. I haven't had a steady income in almost two years now and for the most part I used to love being my own boss and the cash thing never bothered me, but that was back when I had the business built up and all the contacts in the world to send work to and get commissions from and I was still relatively young, dumb and ok with not having nice things. Nowadays, I'd happily work in an office just because it would mean I'd have consistent money for things I want. I'd probably have to learn small talk and chit chat again, seeing as how I'm no longer fluent, and most of my language these days is made up of various grunts and the throwing of dirty underwear that working for yourself reduces your social skills to.

Regular income is adictive, like some horribly unhealthy drug. It's evil!
Eeeeeeeeeeee-villlllll!

Oz, can we make a new 2013 thread? This one is freaking me out. It's all like 2012 and junk!
I miss the internet from like five years ago. Maybe ten years ago. Y'all remember - back when we all hung out on forums and talked about comics all day long. Now we have social media and we tweet about our lunches. It's so passe. And boring. It's just giant freaking bummer, man!

LOL Juno, you're Niel from the Young Ones!
“Oh no… Heavy”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhVyV6d7fT8

Goo point though, ok, new thread.!