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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts 
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I was there, it is scary cuz peoplewant tonkill you for no good reason. Kept in control using Citalopram to keep me stable and since my wife died last month I take some xnanix or whatever it iis called and ambien to try to knock me out. I am still awake!
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts
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If I have to wait in line at a restaurant I will go to another restaurant, because in the navy I stood in lines every day, and I ain't going to do it again.
My wife always takes a Hollywood showers, and I often call her on it.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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Intrepid Inner circle Silver Spring, MD 1183 Posts
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On 2012-07-25 00:48, MagicSanta wrote: Leather Personnel Carrier (aka your boots). If your mode of transportation was designated as LPC it meant you were walking.
Bob
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Bill Hilly Elite user 449 Posts
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And here I thought checking my gig line was just one of my many OCDs. Ain't the Captian's gig his small "going ashore" craft?
My entire military experience is JROTC in high school in 1972 (They used actual field training films and I kept passing out seeing the carnage), and a failed inlistment in the Air Force and Navy in 1982. Back then they gave us three jobs to choose from based on the aptitude tests. After waiting 18 months in each case and no job opening, they released me. I went into engineering as a civilian, go married, and all that worked out o.k. But I still have a lot of those JROTC habits. My dad, step-dad (both WW2 Army), a couple of uncles, latest girlfriend (18 1/2 Navy), her dad (24 Navy) and her brother (20 Navy) are all vets. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SERVICE! - B.H. |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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Quote:
On 2012-07-25 03:47, MagicSanta wrote: That's what the VA has me taking Citalopram. It does a good job. Sorry to hear about your wife passing away. I had a melt down last night after talking with you. I guess just thinking about the war and those who died just got to me. I'm OK though. Well, thank you for your service and again, my condolences over the loss of your wife.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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rowdymagi5 Inner circle Virginia 3624 Posts
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Boot laces, left over right.
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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Thank you general. If I don't take my meds I start wondering why some people exist.
Dang, I still take navy showers. There is a lot I never thought of like the laces. Itt is just the way it works. |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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I never thought about the laces either. Fact is, it's OK to get torn up over the loss of fellow soldiers. It shows we're still human. That war **** isn't a joke and can mess anybody up. I can still sleep on hard floors or the ground without a sleeping bag. Learned to sleep just about anywhere without a problem.
I enjoy talking with my fello vets on IAVA (Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America). I always feel safe when I go visit there and my fellow vets are awesome and very supportive. We are very cool and understanding and we would do anything in the world for each other. Do you have any place that you go talk with your fellow vets? I am very thankful for my fellow vets on IAVA. In a world that is not understanding of combat vets, I know I can always go there for refuge and talk with them and find understanding and a home with my fellow brothers and sisters.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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Talking about the laces is very uncool. I am assuming that rowdymagic was talking about sucide. Sucide has been a problem in the military these days, so it's not a joking matter nor is it funny. That being said, there are many of us who never thought of the laces (assuming that rowdymagic is talking about sucide when he talks about the laces). Sucide is a by product of war and in some cases more combat veteran populations from specific wars die of sucide after the war than combat deaths during the war (this happenned in the aftermath of the Vietnam War). So, it's not funny to joke about stuff like that. I got a sense of humor, but some things are just simply in poor taste and just way uncool. Not everybody finds those kinds of jokes funny. In the end, I guess, my generation of vets can only rely on each other when it comes to emotional support and understanding and it has probably been that way for every generation of combat vets long before my generation. It's just the way it is. I count on my fellow vets, but not too many outside of my generation of fellow vets. A few of the World War II guys are pretty cool though.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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Jim Sparx Inner circle Far Out, Texas 1144 Posts
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The wife does the military corners on the sheets cause she is a nurse. I have retired Army Texas plates on my truck, also stickers for the 8th Army and 7th Infantry Division, and a Transportation Corp sticker. Frequent visitor to the local Vets hospital and supporter of the Wounded Warriors Project at Ft. Bliss. Other than that I am anti-military (slob) insofar as habits carried over from service.
Et tu, Spartacus?
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/chispadeelpaso.html |
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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I think he was talking about how laces are done. I have no idea how you got suicide out of that.
The captains gig is the captains personal small boat, which ever is assigned to him. COOL TRIVIA; A gig is Navy slang for being in violation and in trouble. Kind of like gigging a frog or fish, you got stuck by being in trouble. If your shirt buttons, belt buckle, and fly don't line up you have failed inspection and will be punished or gigged so it is called a gig line. One of the worse punishments was to clean the captains boat, that was your gig so the boai just became known as the captains gig. If you were busted foe anything you would say "I got gigged". I don't know if the expression is still used but it someone in civilian world was acting out of sorts you ask "what's his gig?" |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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On 2012-07-25 17:32, MagicSanta wrote: In basic training, I heard horror stories of people trying to use their boot laces to hang themselves or something to that effect. Never knew of it happening first hand, but I heard those kinds of horror stories of people trying to use boot laces to hang themselves. Maybe it was just an old timer BS war story. Maybe it's true. I don't know but I have never knew of it actually happenning first hand. But I have heard of some basic trainees being put on sucide watch and **** like that. I guess his timing was bad when he mentioned boot laces ha ha ha ha! Talking with you brought back some painful memories (not that you are a bad person or anything or that you meant to bring back bad memories) and then he comes in and starts talking about boot laces and left over right and it reminded of horror stories of basic trainees who I heard had boot laces taken away from them so they couldn't use them to commit sucide (I guess some of these folks were put on sucide watch, but these are just horror stories which may or may not be true that I heard long ago when I was a basic trainee). When I was in basic training, Drill Sergents never bothered to teach us how to tie our boots, we already knew how to tie our boots. We spent most of our time in the front leaning rest push up position, doing PT, getting yelled at, getting our bags smoked, going to the sand pit to low crawl in the sand or mud, going on road marches and out in the field or in the classroom learning how to assemble, disassemble our weapons, perform immediate action and misfire, head, space and timing and **** like that.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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Proof boot camp is easier
"Lace them as you which team members, remember, we are all individuals" We didn't wear boots by the way, we wore boondocker. There was a standard uniform and it included that the right lace goes over left. We didn't have to teach the actual tying of shoes. Try to remember general the Navy had a wee bit different mission than the army. It took me a while to calm down after West Africa and Beirut so I am being kind. I have never heard of anyone using laces to kill themselves since there were dozens of items available to do the job so who ever was saying laces was screwing with you. In boot we had a company commander (DI) give a lesson how to properly slit our wrist. No one flipped out about it. |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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Quote:
On 2012-07-25 20:06, MagicSanta wrote: Well, I am being kind too. Were you one of the Marines in Bieruit? Or were you in the Navy? I never flipped out about what was said in basic training. The timing on posting about the shoelaces wasn't well placed and your experiences and perceptions of boot or basic training are not the same as mine. Also, keep in mind that their has been wars being waged for the past 11 years. A lot of people have died or come back seriously wounded. While most of the country is at home worried about the economy and jobs, a few of us have been deployed, at war, trying to stay alive and get back home to our families in one piece(if we have a family left to come back home to by the end of the deployment AND if we are fortunate enough to survive the deployment).
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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I didn't bring up laces.
I was navy but worked alongside marines and other folks. There are a number of people deployed, we have retired army officers and so forth they just don't know about this thread and often don't come to this section. I realize you feel alone since in the last decade just over 2,000,000 Americans have been deployed, add that to the other twenty million vets alive and there are a pack of us. To be honest to me you are no more important or impressive than all the rest. Not that what you did wasn't important but infantry is whan infantry is and otthers where what they were. I don't discuss what I saw and you know they don't give those pills to people without something that caused it. Remember, you are here to talk about shoelace rumors. We have a member who's son was a marine killed in Iraq. Be thankful for what you have and guess what, in 30 years you will still by hyper aware of your surroundings like I am and like vets from ww2, Korea, Nam, and the middle east. Also remember the peace time guys because they stood on the walls and were just as deserving as any vet. |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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Quote:
On 2012-07-25 22:42, MagicSanta wrote: I know you didn't bring up the shoelaces and it's petty to get upset over now that I understand what was really being talked about. Honestly, I don't feel alone. I have great support at the IAVA. We lost several guys in my company while on deployment and it hurts fellow soldiers when we lose comrades. I am sorry to hear about the loss of the marine who was killed in Iraq. It hurts to lose fellow comrades in combat but it especially hurts more to lose a family member. However, I am not here to impress anybody. But I am very proud of my military service though I also paid a price (as I am sure you did as well). I don't have to explain myself to anybody nor do I feel a need to be better than anybody else or to impress anybody, but I am tremendously proud for serving and having the courage to deploy when many Americans didn't want to get on that plane. There is nothing wrong with being proud to have served during a time of war. It takes a lot of courage to get on that plane and go into a death trap like Afghanistan (it has a well deserved reputation through history). A lot of people don't have the courage to get on that plane during a time of war and just stay away from the recruiters office. But you are right, I am not special at all. I can think of one guy who went on at least 12 combat tours with his first starting in 2001 to Afghanistan and I think his actual number of combat tours might have been 14 (and I assume he deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan) before he was finally KIAed by an IED in Afghanistan about a year ago. His superiors described him as irreplaceable and he was. He was one of the finest Americans this country has known. It hurts the whole country to lose somebody like him. So, nope, I am not special at all. But I did have the courage to get on the plane during a time of war when many Americans stayed away from the recruiters office. It's much easier to join during peacetime than during a time of war when Americans are returning home in coffins. Not that I look down on those who served during peacetime because I don't. But let's face it and let's be honest: people think twice about joining the military when we are at war and people are getting killed.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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I agree completely. I admire the young people who go today. Too many cowards for no reason. When they took hostages in Iran the recruiters couldn't process fast enough. Now kids say "uh, I don't like being told what to do". The recruits today are the cream of a pretty ****ty crop.
Think about ww2. Those guys lost as many people in a couple days as were lost duering the last decade. The Marines would hit some island and have to fight and kill 20,000 Japanese ti finish the battle. There is an old guy here in town whon was part of the death march in the Philippines. Try to imagine his 4 years in a prison camp. My dad worked with an English guy who gut his bombers shot down three times and spent a year as a POW. General, you really need some help because as a guy who has PTSD myself and would get angry over some things and break down over stupid stuff I can see you need it. You see insults where none are and react badly. Get the VA to get couciling going . |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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Quote:
On 2012-07-26 12:20, MagicSanta wrote: Ohh yes, the old timers had it pretty rough. I had the opportunity to talk to some of the World War II guys at the VFW. Love and admire the World War II guys. There is always somebody who did more or had it rougher. I don't just think of the World War II guys but I often think of those who served in Vietnam who had to engage in counter-insurgency and I read a lot about the Vietnam War to try to learn some of the lessons from that war (they didn't know who the enemy was either in Vietnam in a lot of cases). I am a big reader so, I bought books written by Vietnam Veterans to learn as much as I could from them, that way I had a better chance of getting back home alive. I learned ALOT from the book written by the Nam folks and surprisingly, some of the books I read, they seemed very famaliar with today's enemies. One book written by a Nam vet also got me interested and reading the "Art of War" by Sun Tzu, which in my view is a great book and has valuable wisdom. I enjoyed being a soldier. It was very tough though. Infantry is a rough life (though I was not officially infantry on paper, I pretty much was infantry in reality given how I was used). To be infantry as a career takes a special person. I am not that special person. I like being a magician and entertaining folks (and I entertained some of my fellow soldiers on deployment to help keep our sanity and moral up). I wanted to do my time in the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11. 9/11 was a direct and personal attack on every American and that required that I volunteer to go and do my part. I generally don't sign up for just any war, but when the homeland comes under attack, I am going to fight and do my part. Don't think I don't admire the old timers because I do. A lot of their wisdom and lessons learned that I read from books the old timers have written is why I am alive today. So I owe a debt of gratitude to the old timers. Their wisdom helped to keep me alive on deployment. Besides a magic book, I am reading a book written by a World War II vet from the Band of Brothers and he talks about PTSD and how to tackle it. The VA has been a great help. I can't complain at all about the VA. I don't mean to come off as rude, but I also try to be genuine and honest and sometimes I might mispercieve things based on my own experiences (such as my experiences from basic training for example). I also want to help rebuild the economy, which is one out of many reasons why I started my own company. Counselling can only do so much as well. When you have served in a time of war, you bear the scars for the nation that will remain for the rest of your life. Counselling isn't going to always erase those scars. But I am sure it gets better with time, but they will always be there. But, I know I am not alone. My fellow vets are awesome and great and are very supportive. It was great meeting you MagicSanta. Do you perform anywhere as a magician? Or is magic a hobby for you? What is your favorite magic trick?
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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I use to perform but live way out in the wild now.
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts
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On 2012-07-26 13:52, MagicSanta wrote: Sounds cool actually. I enjoy camping and the wild. My wife and I are saving up to buy a new RV and good Chevy 3500 Duramax to tow it. We don't have any children of our own, so I think full time RVing will be a lot of fun. One of the things you do with an RV is find a good spot in the wild and boondock for a bit. Maybe even have a power generator with some feul in it to power it after the propane in the RV itself runs out. I definately would love to do some hiking as well in some beautiful mountaineous trails. The great thing about full time RVing is the freedom and flexibility you have and if you choose a good RV park, it's also cheap living and you can save a lot of money. My new dog that I got is also getting me back into shape. He is keeping me on a good walking schedule. So it's good to get back into a regular exercise regiment and have to stick with it. My dog is a very active breed and requires constant exercise and walking. Do you do much fishing or hiking?
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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Posted: Jul 25, 2012 07:47 am 
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