bodie

I think the bridge was called Bugani Bridge and it straddled the Kavango River .. sort of border between 'kvango and Caprivi, If I remember correctly .. :-)

BEEG crocs in that river ...

bodie

One clusterF*** of note was during a stint at Alpha tower with only rat-packs.
One morning (early) we see all these guinea fowl on top of the resevoir next to the tower ... we think BIG CHICKENS so we plan an ambush for first light .. 3 brens in L formation and some dog biscuits crumbled for bait.

Comes the dawn, cometh the "BIG CHICKENS" and we spring the ambush ... did I forget we used a claymore???

Each bren emptied a mag ... dust and smoke settles and all we find are kak en veere ... (shyte and feathers) ...

We *later* learned from a local that had observed this fiasco how to snare and cook these birds.... (in mud balls)

Compared to Ovambo piele it tasted heavenly ....

furkensturker

On exercise at Sholewater Bay, Queensland, we had to dig in, two trenches 4 foot deep x 2foot six wide, (sleeping bays) with another trench being a fighting bay, making a U shape. In the middle of the night, the whole area is woken by an SLR letting off almost a full mag in matter of thirty seconds.

Everyone was awake and looking for the enemy, all we could hear was some poor bloke having his own private war with a very angry red kangaroo, that stood almost six foot tall. The roo was minding its own business, hoping through the scrub when it fell into Simmo's fighting bay.

Well, the fight was on, Kangaroos are a dangerous animal when cornered, they lean back on their tail and strike out with both feet, that have three big toes on each foot that can disembowel an attacker. As far as the Roo was concerned, he was under attack and the only defense Simmo had was an SLR full of blanks, that only stirred the roo up more. A roo is a scary animal when it's pissed off. Someone dropped a cam net over the roo and when it tangled it's self up, Simmo flew out of the fighting bay. But then the problem, how do you get the roo out of the fighting bay? Now I know why they issued us with a baynot, Once the roo was killed and removed, that was a feet in its self, a big roo weighs 100kg, easy and are all legs and tail.

We had been on hard rations for a week so the roo was a welcome change, it fed the whole company for two days and simmo kept the skin for a floor rug.

We have had from time to time the odd snake appear in a gun pit looking for warmth, none of your ***** rattlers, there are serious snakes, King Brown, Death Adders, Tiger snakes, all good eating too. A thunderflash wrapped in plastic and thrown into a billabong with a cam net to pick up the dead fish works well, we called it "expanding bait"

Freddie

__________________
I'm the Happiness Fairy. I've sprinkled happy dust on you.
So Smile dammit. This sh1t's expensive.
Bulla Fiax concouria quantium vis

furkensturker

If by chance you're wondering what ***** means, It's a little baby cat, a ***** cat, whats a bet that's been moderated too.

******* (Freddie)

Shamus

Just write it as pu$$y Freddie,but use it with caution...the gods of moderation are always watching .

__________________
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but
it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

furkensturker

Thank you Shamus taken on board, is there a glossary of terms here?

We know what ****** means, but what does ###### or %%%%% or even @@@@@@ mean, is it some sort of bizzar computer language?

Oh, I get it, it's a code, a bit like "the sparrow flies backwards at midnight. Did you know that the CIA once talked to the writers of "Get Smart" because they thought someone in the CIA was leaking vital information? I sure hope George W is not the cheif, he should be Agent 25

Is my medication ready yet?

Freddie

Shamus

Me first,I be sickerer .

tuflehundon

I was a young Cpl in Wpns Co 2 Bn 9th Marines. At the time I was a squad leader. One of my new Marines Domingues came in one morning wit a sob story about how he was geeting divorced and his wife was taking him to the cleaners. He asked if he could take the day off to try to come up with the $3000.00 he needed to pay for an attorney. I went to my Platoon Seargent who gave the OK.

I continued to work through the day and had almost forgot about Dimingues until I went to my room @ about 1500. Sitting on my rack was an envolope with around $4,000.00 in it addressed to the guy in Wpns Co getting Divorced. It floored me.

Apparently one of the other office guys heard me talk to my Platton Seargent, and without even knowing who needed the help, he went to the barracks and took up a collection from everyone in the Battalion. Everyone gave what they had and it added up quick.

Domingues had only been in the unit for 2 weeks when this happened. The next day when Domingues cme in I gave him the money. He was very grateful because he would not have been able to come up with the money on his own.

Seeing how selfless Marines can be towards a fellow Marine they didn't even know amazed me.

I reinlisted the next day. Spent 8 1/2 years in and got out as a Sgt.

Last I heard Domingues was an E-7 GnSgt and was on his second tour in Iraq.

Anytime someone asks me why I was crazy enouph tp join the Marines I tell them that story.

Semper Fi

Officer of Engineers

Sergeant,

There is that upside to the Marines. The downside, however, is that they always empty my wallet during a card game.

__________________
Chimo

Canmoore

My friend told me a story.. its not a story that installs a sense of pride in the human species.. its the opposite actually. Kinda makes me down right mad to be honest..

My friend "joe" is a private, he joined the army two years ago. Last February he went down to Florida on a training exercise.

While in Florida the CO told my friend "Joe" to go around and ask all the companies what kind of pizza and how many they want, then come back with him with the list so he can order them.

"joe" went around asking all the companies what they want. When he got to one company, corporal "will-not-say-his-name" said "yeah in a second". So after getting all the orders, "Joe" went back to corporal "will-not-say-his-name"..but still he said "yeah in a second".

The CO was getting impatient and told "Joe" to give him the list. So he did.. when the pizzas arrived all the companies except corporal "will-not-say-his-name"s company got pizza.

corporal "will-not-say-his-name" was furious with my friend "Joe" and ripped into him in front of everyone.

My friend "Joe" just received his hooks. As he was soon to be promoted to corporal.

However, when they returned to Petawawa corporal "will-not-say-his-name" said not so nice things about "Joe" to an officer, I forget if it was "Joe"'s CO or not. However, as a result, "Joe" had his hooks taken back.. basically demoted.

all over pizza..

Needless to say "Joe" was very angry.

sappersgt

A whole company didn't get pizza because "Joe" didn't get an answer from Corporal "will-not-say-his name"? What "Joe" should have done was order pizza with anything on it just so long as the men got pizza. He could have ordered pizza with dog crap on it. If they didn't like it then they can take it up with Corporal "will-not-say-his-name". If I was in that company that didn't get pizza, "Joe" would have had an accident behind the latrine. An accident he would be a week recovering from and never forget.

__________________
Reddite igitur quae sunt Caesaris Caesari et quae sunt Dei Deo
(Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's)

Officer of Engineers

I agree with the Sgt-Maj. This was the assignment.Tell your friend to take this as a lesson learned and be thankful that it was pizza and not ammo. Because the Cpl "will-not-say-his-name" will not tell him the requirements does not excuse Cpl "Joe" of supplying his company. A company went without pizza that they wanted. Be thankful that it was not ammo that they needed.

Canmoore

I am a little foggy an the specific details, as I was told this story last spring. But the general details of the story are spot on.

I can understand how this was an assignment for "joe", to judge if he was fit for promotion or not.

If they boys needed food, and one company did not give a straight answer, some food whatever if may have been would have been better than nothing. Yes it would have been the better thing to do, to just oder plain pizza than nothing. I can understand how that would be grounds for an embarrassing tongue lashing by "joe"'s superiors, and by the boys from the starving company... but a demotion?

sappersgt

If there's one thing I'm sure of it's that there's more to the story. There always is. Garrison duty has it's own pitfalls and onerous duties, rules and regulations, some written, some not. Unfortunately "Joe" has gotten himself on the bad side of those who can influence his life.

I jumped at the chance to become a Sapper to get out a of similar situation. Out from under the command of a superior who didn't like Americans in general and me in particular. Even though it meant I had to extend for a year and whilst there was a war on.

Expat Canuck

Wow Sapper, he must have been one hell of a prick.