Military

jarhead · November 11, 2009, 04:36:38 PM

Larry, The day I was actually born was no longer my "b-day on the day I graduated boot camp. Gunny Hensley groweled at me and said," from now on you filthy maggot your birthday is Nov 10th." He said Chesty Puller was my daddy and I guess I aint got a mamma or Gunny never mentioned her !!! Off subject Larry, but you ever watch the movie"Full Metal Jacket" ? First time I saw the DI I about freaked out. Told my wife---"That's Gunny Hensley-, my senior DI----I know it is cause every thing the actor said I had heard. Well the actor is R. Lee Ermey (from Emporia ,Ks) and Ermey had been a Marine and a DI. Years later I located Gunny Hensley (Ret. Sgt Maj ) Turns out Ermey was a junior drill instructor under Gunny Hensley so Ermey learned from the best.Small world.

W. Gray · November 11, 2009, 05:39:10 PM

Thanks Jarhead,

I sure did not know Old Gunney was from Emporia.

jarhead · November 11, 2009, 06:33:44 PM

Waldo,
If I remember right the gunny lived in Emporia until he was 9 years old. I better look it up to make sure but i think that's right. Not very many years ago Ermey was a guest speaker at a Veterans Day gig in Emporia. we stood for 3 hours in cold wind and drizzle to see the Gunny and I told my wife I wouldn't do that to see Elvis and there I did it. Gunny missed his flight that day but told them as long as there were people there to see him he would stay---and he did. A real nice guy.

W. Gray · November 11, 2009, 07:06:56 PM

I recognized him in Apocalypse Now the other night and never realized he had been making movies that long. A check on the internet shows him being in sixty movies plus his History Channel ventures.

larryJ · November 11, 2009, 07:13:08 PM

Jarhead, I did see "Full Metal Jacket" and that was a tough one for me to stomach. Maybe it brought back some not-so-pleasant thoughts.

Another story for you. When I was drafted, I was sent to Ft. Campbell, KY, for basic. We got there about 2 AM. A Sergeant came on the plane and told us we were to exit the aircraft and stand at attention. Looking at the windows we could see a red carpet and a military band playing march music. I (we) thought this is pretty great-----band---red carpet, what a nice welcome. By 3 AM we were at the barracks and putting our gear away when we were called out to the quad and stood in formation. After 43 years, I can still remember the name of the Airborne Drill Sergeant. His name was Sgt. Cook. Why do I remember that name? When he was calling out names to be answered, "Here, Sgt!" there was a young man named Cook. Well, when the Sgt. called out Cook, the young man answered and the Sgt. looked at him and told him to drop and give him "twenty" for having the same name! That is when I knew we were in trouble.

Apocalype Now was one of my favorites. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Larryj

jarhead · November 12, 2009, 09:14:30 PM

Aint seen it in years but I did not like Apocalypse Now. The boot camp part of Full Metal Jacket was just like it really was but I hate the Nam part of it. I guess ,except for Americans killing each other and killing civilians, "Platoon" is the best Nam movie in my opinion. They had the lingo right, jungle looked very familiar and the" firefights "almost gave me a bad case of PTSD .

W. Gray · November 13, 2009, 09:00:24 AM

The Vietnamese firefight scenes in Full Metal Jacket were filmed in England in an abandoned old town or shopping center. They planted palm trees and such to try giving it a Vietnam flavor.

I doubt if the Viet Cong had as pretty female fighters as the one who was riddled with bullets in the movie.

jarhead · November 13, 2009, 10:14:27 AM

Waldo,
The VC had pretty female soldiers ?? That figures !! At the DMZ where my sorry arse was stuck there were no VC --only them NVA fellers. In my next life I'm joining the army.

Varmit · November 13, 2009, 10:31:30 AM

You know, Jarhead, I was going to join the Marines originally, but scored too high on my ASVAP.

larryJ · November 13, 2009, 10:36:46 AM

LOL-----my first day with the U.S. Army, the one where you give up your guns and knives and blackjacks and swear the oath, etc., they asked if anyone would care to join the Marines. After the initial laughter subsided, there were three out of a hundred that joined up. I, too, scored too high. Just kidding, jarhead.

Larryj