Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

Kinda proud ....
 

wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

Our basic had "range week" in week 12. It was M-1 and if you qualified
fast enough, you got .45. I did both. It did not seem that hard
because it was huge targets at 200 yards for the rifle and the
standard GI bullseye at 25 (maybe less) yards for the .45.
I think if you got them all on the paper you qualified. I don't
remember a score. The whole thing seemed to be more about firearm
handling and range safety than marksmanship. I don't think we ever
fired a round until the 3d day. Most of the M-1 stuff was inside with
our non-functional drill rifles. They went through the loading
process, safety, basic marksmanship principles (sighting, positions
etc), safety, cleaning, safety, range rules and then a little more
safety ;-)
It wasn't until I got on my ship that my chief actually taught me how
to shoot a 1911 well. That was his favorite gun and I came out of
there knowing more than I needed to about the 1911. I can still field
strip and reassemble one blind folded in about a minute or two and to
a detail strip (looking) in 3 or 4.


We used M1 carbines. We marched and marched, but no weapons required.

Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:42:25 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

Our basic had "range week" in week 12. It was M-1 and if you qualified
fast enough, you got .45. I did both. It did not seem that hard
because it was huge targets at 200 yards for the rifle and the
standard GI bullseye at 25 (maybe less) yards for the .45.
I think if you got them all on the paper you qualified. I don't
remember a score. The whole thing seemed to be more about firearm
handling and range safety than marksmanship. I don't think we ever
fired a round until the 3d day. Most of the M-1 stuff was inside with
our non-functional drill rifles. They went through the loading
process, safety, basic marksmanship principles (sighting, positions
etc), safety, cleaning, safety, range rules and then a little more
safety ;-)
It wasn't until I got on my ship that my chief actually taught me how
to shoot a 1911 well. That was his favorite gun and I came out of
there knowing more than I needed to about the 1911. I can still field
strip and reassemble one blind folded in about a minute or two and to
a detail strip (looking) in 3 or 4.


We used M1 carbines. We marched and marched, but no weapons required.

We had regular M-1s and it seemed we were carrying them any time we
were not going to chow or to a class. All of the close order drill was
under arms along with a particularly odious form of PT.
Situps are particularly tough when you are holding a 9+ pound rifle at
arms length over your head.
Then there was also "double time at high port", Basically running with
the rifle held high over your head. You were ready to stop that pretty
quickly.

Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Well, we damn sure did a bunch of yelling during bayonet drill. We started with pugil sticks and
worked our way up to straw-filled dummies mounted on poles. They didn't have bayonets!

Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Let me guess ... "Stab him, Stab him NOW!"

We never had bayonets. Our plan was to start shooting at them about
12,000 yards out with the 5", then open up with the M2s if they got
inside 500-1000 yards and prepare to ram. ;-)

Kinda proud ....
 

wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly,
disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Let me guess ... "Stab him, Stab him NOW!"

We never had bayonets. Our plan was to start shooting at them about
12,000 yards out with the 5", then open up with the M2s if they got
inside 500-1000 yards and prepare to ram. ;-)


We were more inclined to bomb them from 50,000’ or be a taxi service for
army and marine foot soldiers.

Kinda proud ....
 

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:09:20 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Let me guess ... "Stab him, Stab him NOW!"

We never had bayonets. Our plan was to start shooting at them about
12,000 yards out with the 5", then open up with the M2s if they got
inside 500-1000 yards and prepare to ram. ;-)

Lucky you. I'll bet you didn't have to clean the mud off your boots and then spit shine them for the
next morning's inspection either.

I love these new Army boots - no shining. Brush the mud off and good to go.

Kinda proud ....
 

On Mon, 1 Oct 2018 02:32:26 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly,
disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Let me guess ... "Stab him, Stab him NOW!"

We never had bayonets. Our plan was to start shooting at them about
12,000 yards out with the 5", then open up with the M2s if they got
inside 500-1000 yards and prepare to ram. ;-)


We were more inclined to bomb them from 50,000’ or be a taxi service for
army and marine foot soldiers.

And we loved you for it. Vietnam was a long swim.

Kinda proud ....
 

On Mon, 01 Oct 2018 05:45:00 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:09:20 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 16:55:13 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:55:15 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 02:32:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:39:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:08:35 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

wrote:


We didn't really have guard duty, we had fire watch.
I remember my first night there I saw a guy wearing a cartridge belt
walking around and thinking he was a guard. My first thought was "I
could take that guy".
A couple nights later I was wearing the cartridge belt and walking
around ;-)


Same thick with air force. They explained making you wear the cartridge
belt made you under arms and more liable if you screw up.

There were not any live rounds on our side of the base and our drill
rifles did not have firing pins in them. I am not quite sure what arms
we were under. ;-)


We had the belt. That was all.

We wore the belt, canteen, ammo pouches and toted a real M-14...but no ammo.


Air Force basic we only handled firearms on two days of 6 weeks. One day
of inside, raining, safety and dry fire. Next day at range. In pouring
rain.

I'm thinking we spent about 3 weeks on weapons training - assembly, disassembly, and cleaning; the
manual of arms; actual firing and qualifying with the weapon, bayonet drill...

===

So what's the spirit of the bayonet?

Even Google knows the answer to that one. :-)

Let me guess ... "Stab him, Stab him NOW!"

We never had bayonets. Our plan was to start shooting at them about
12,000 yards out with the 5", then open up with the M2s if they got
inside 500-1000 yards and prepare to ram. ;-)

Lucky you. I'll bet you didn't have to clean the mud off your boots and then spit shine them for the
next morning's inspection either.

I love these new Army boots - no shining. Brush the mud off and good to go.

We had our own fun. The "boondockers" we had were not just hugh top
shoes like the Navy used. They gave us steel toed engineer boots that
came with some kind of oiled finish that we had to get off before we
started the spit shine process. They still wanted the spit shined tho.
Once I got to the Navy school I found out those guys were OK with a
shoe shine out of a bottle if you were careful laying it on. There was
a little bit of a trick getting it on without streaks but it was still
far faster than spit shining. I had 2 pairs of shoes. One was Kiwi,
stored stuffed into white cotton boot socks, one was bottle shine,
just in case someone changed their mind.