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[Yeagermeister]

My brother was in the Air Force also. He worked in the medical field; Aviation Technology - physiological training. He would teach pilots and navigators how to assimilate the altitude chamber (hypoxia in higher altitudes, etc). I watched students go in to the altitude chamber and couldn't even tell you what there name was when asked.

It was incredible. That was at Mather Air Force Base in Sacremento California.

I didn't mean they don't have medical jobs just none that interested me and now I work on computers......oh well lol

 

[CowboyPrincess]

It was incredible. That was at Mather Air Force Base in Sacremento California.

Would that be the same Mather AFB off of Mather Blvd and Folsom Blvd (old Hwy 50) in Rancho Cordova???

 

[Yeagermeister]

Would that be the same Mather AFB off of Mather Blvd and Folsom Blvd (old Hwy 50) in Rancho Cordova???

No that's Jerry Mathers AFB....golly gee willakers don't you know the difference?

 

[junk]

I do miss Montana and Great Falls, though. Some of the nicest people in the world live in Montana.

No doubt about that.

 

[CowboyPrincess]

Ahhh, I loved going out to the missile sites. One time, me, an LT, and two full birds got jacked up at one of the sites. Good times.

I do miss Montana and Great Falls, though. Some of the nicest people in the world live in Montana.

My late husband spent most of his childhood in Missoula Montana. He went to Hellgate High. He use to tell me how great the people were there and how much he missed it. He called it Gods country and The land of the blessed. I know that movie "A River Runs Through It" was filmed in that area and it sure was beautiful.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

Would that be the same Mather AFB off of Mather Blvd and Folsom Blvd (old Hwy 50) in Rancho Cordova???

Yes!!? I lived in Rancho Cordova. Traveling down Mather Boulevard, make a right turn on the corner was a 7-11 store. I Lived at the end of that road. That is a great town for parties.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

My late husband spent most of his childhood in Missoula Montana. He went to Hellgate High. He use to tell me how great the people were there and how much he missed it. He called it Gods country and The land of the blessed. I know that movie "A River Runs Through It" was filmed in that area and it sure was beautiful.

I had the Liberty of being able to travel through Montana to get to various work sites ...Livingston, Belt, Helena, Missoula, and Billings Montana. Great place, just don't wsonder around near the woods -- a lot of wild life; including bears.

 

[CowboyPrincess]

Yes!!? I lived in Rancho Cordova. Traveling down Mather Boulevard, make a right turn on the corner was a 7-11 store. I Lived at the end of that road. That is a great town for parties.

I lived in Rancho Cordova too. Graduated from Cordova High School in 1982 and went to Jr High at Mills. I lived on La Loma Dr. where the Der Weinershnitzel was. Close to Codova Meadows school.

I remember that 7-11. I use to stop there and get a slurpie when I was making a parts run on base. I worked for Cordova Auto Supply and spent a lot of time delivering on base.

Biggest party place was out at Folsom Blvd and Sunrise Blvd. There was a piece of land out there that belonged to AeroJet. I spent a lot of time at Keggers on that land. Or of course there was Granite bay at Folsom lake. I still have the scars on my knees from crashing on the beach while skiing... LOL

I've heard that Rancho isn't what it use to be. Heard the gangs have moved in and taken over some of the nicer areas, especially in the American River and Larchmont area.

Do you know if Rico's Pizza and Polo Classico Resturants are still in business there?

 

[junk]

I had the Liberty of being able to travel through Montana to get to various work sites ...Livingston, Belt, Helena, Missoula, and Billings Montana. Great place, just don't wsonder around near the woods -- a lot of wild life; including bears.

As long as you make a fair share of noise going through the woods, bears typically won't bother you. They are usually gone before you see them. And, of course, the obvious precautions with your food when camping.

And if you do go to Montana, I highly recommend wandering around in the woods, thats where all the best stuff is at.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

I lived in Rancho Cordova too. Biggest party place was out at Folsom Blvd and Sunrise Blvd. I've heard that Rancho isn't what it use to be. Heard the gangs have moved in and taken over some of the nicer areas, especially in the American River and Larchmont area.

Do you know if Rico's Pizza and Polo Classico Resturants are still in business there?

I drove a Dodge Superbee; 440-3/4 Cam, baby blue with a white racing strip accross the rear of the car. Thumper glass packs with shackle lifters. She wasn't the fastest thing out there, but I could count the ones that was faster.
I remembered pullig up to a red light next to a Chevy Nova. Quite ordinary looking car. We looked Over at One another with a look of acknowledgement, and when the light turned green, we were off. I felt pretty good for about a few minutes, until I saw the guy reach down. The whole sound of the car changed to soemthing I'll never forget. Each rotation of his wheels took him a car length away from me. Dayam, I was completely embarrased (wish I had my Vette back in Sacramento).

Never experienced gangs in Sacramento -- that's too bad about them taking over. Fun town -- enjoyed every minute of being there.

We've got something in common too.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

And if you do go to Montana, I highly recommend wandering around in the woods, thats where all the best stuff is at.

I had to work in Montana woods! There's Nothing like walking through some thicket when all of a sudden three or four huge pheasants pop up and start flutter through the air. It seems like they just sit sill until you almost step on them Before they react -- scares the living crap out of you. Clears up the sinus real good.

But it's wild-life extravaganza in Montana. I carried an M-1 carbine rilfe and a 38 caliber revolver on my job. I wandered around, but I wouldn't recommend it to a novice outdoorsman (outdoorsperson).

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

Er....I'm considering enlisting at the end of summer. When I get back, can I play too?

Are you serious? If so, what branch of the serivce are you enlisting into?

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

(131) W A R S T O R I E S - Fact or Fiction?

I had to start at a Green Belt, but it didn't take long to move through the belts to my brown belt. We had tournaments with each other and other bases. One day, my Sen-sei told me that I was ready to test for my 1st Dan Black Belt. There were some last minute preparations involved in my training --he showed me Katas that only a black belt performed, awkward, unorthodox kicks that you would never think of doing, and a few more things that I cannot discuss.

I applied for a few days leave; I didn't need too much time, Seoul Korea wasn't that far away. We traveled to Seoul Korea by train. I was the only American on the train, but I could understand bits and pieces of Korean, and I wasn't worried. My instructor's home was in Seoul -- an since I wasn't scheduled to test until the next day, he took me to his house for dinner. I met his family and stayed overnight.

The next day, we started off by going into an alcohol establishment. Since I don't drink, except for on holidays, or when I have a cold, I really didn't want anything, but my instructor insisted that I have one glass of something that that was strong.

Since I still had some time before the test, we walked around his neighborhood. I wasn't worried, because like I said, he was a 7th degree black back, and I knew a little something also. Now it was time, and I was starting to feel some angst. Mr Kim took me into a section of town that was across some railroad tracks and under a bridge into a cave. The cave opened up into a huge gymnasium.

The cave had one office to conduct the administrative work, and the rest of the cave came straight out of a prehistoric age -- no kidding! I was impressed nevertheless. Because black belts in Tang Soo Do came to fight at this cave for hundreds of years. I was honored, but I didn't want to disappoint my instructor by not passing the test. I was then asked by my instructor to give three Katas.

At first, I couldn't remember what to do, it was Only for a few seconds, but it seemed like several Minutes had passed. Once I began, I had to be careful of the floor. The floor was wood, but it was rotten from years of martial arts related activity. This fact made my movements even more cautious and precise. My katas were crisp, my punches were fast and mad a snap from the sleeve of my gee, and my Kea's were loud and aggressive. After my Katas, I was paired along side of someone from the Army. I knew that because I spoke to him after the test.

This guy was tall and had long legs, but I was faster and I wanted this more than he did! After we bowed, we began to free spar (fight). He kicked very hard, but I was able to get out of the way of most of his attacks. Then I saw the opening of a life-time. I did a fake jump side kick a landed a punch and kea right in the middle of his chest.

I could hear the experts groan with approval, or at least I thought they did (Lol). But I know that I scored a serious blow to his sternum. He didn't go down, nor did I. When it was over, we shook hands a laughed about the whole thing. My next fight was with a 4th degree black belt. When we bowed and took our positions, I could only remember seeing his face once, the rest was a blurr.

This opponent was Korean and he was fast. I'm sure he was only going 20% of what he was capable of doing, and I was so glad. He scored punches , kicks and could have probably embarrassed me. I was humbled by the experience and I think that was the lesson he wanted me to learn. Someone is always just a little faster.

At the close of the testing, I met Kwang Kee's son -- he was the opponent I fought. That made me proud. But I was even more proud when I was told that I could sign an old tinted paged thick book that hundreds of blackbelts have signed before me. I did it! Upon my return to base and training, I was given the rank of assistant instructor. What an experience!




*BP edit - Had to put some spaces in there to read it without straining my eyes

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

To understand some of my stories you will have to understand a couple of terms....ROK (Republic of (South)Korea )....KATUSA - Koreans attached to US Army. Now some who have served may or may not know Katusa but I am sure have heard of the ROK....but just in case for those that did not know I wanted to get that out before going on with some of my stories lol.

Now it would seem that many here have serious stories, most of mine are funny although I may write out some serious ones if the mood strikes.

This is one of those Funny stories.


====


A few of us in our company had a bar that we liked to go to in TDC (tong Du Chon village outside of Camp Casey not sure about the spelling) called the Firefly.

It was just a little hole in the wall bar but there were things that we liked about this little bar.
It was out of the way, small and there were no mamasans or prostitutes working there so you would not be hassled every few minutes about this and that.

Normally the only people that went in the bar were from our company so we all tried to stop in often and catch up on stuff and have a good time.

I can't remember the owners real name but everyone knew him as John.
Really nice guy and he would let people make the music selections and if you brought in tapes or records he would let you run the stereo. We had our names and stuff carved into the bar and we had company flags and pictures in there as well as others for what seemed like years back.

Every once in a great while John's daughter would visit him, she was in college but would come down and spend the weekend with her father and help out in the bar.
She was very nice as well and we all, out of respect for john and his place, did not say rude things to her or talk dirty.

But she was a pretty girl and during one week John said his daughter was coming in this weekend.

Well I went back to my company and asked some of the Katusa's how to say some Korean phrase to basically say You look Pretty tonight or something like that...nothing dirty.

So they tell me to say a phrase and told me it meant you look very pretty.


Well the weekend came and me and a few people from our platoon/company went out and after awhile headed to the Firefly.

Sure enough there was John's daughter and after awhile she was getting me a drink and I said the phrase the Katusa's told me meant You look pretty tonight.

She just looked at me like she saw a ghost and then started saying "No that very bad you not say that" at which I said what do you mean it is bad, what does it mean....she would not say but I could tell she was embarrased, not mad but just embarrassed.

So I went down to where John was and asked him what the phrase meant...I said the phrase and he looked at me like his daughter did and said "You not say that, verrry bad to say"
So I asked him what it meant and he kind of leaned over the bar and then whispered....."It means <pause> Mother have no hair down there (at which time he stood straight and pointed at his private area)"

Talk about someone being shocked...that was me at that point. So I apologized to John and his daughter and I let them know that I was told it meant you look pretty or something along those lines.

She understood and said she knew I must have said it without knowing what it meant and her Father actually got a good laugh about it afterwords.


Well I told the katusa's I found out what it meant the next day and they got a BIG laugh out of the whole thing, but me being a fun guy I laughed about it as well.

However I also figured I would get them back in some fashion.... I will tell that story when I get back from Lunch.

 

[Crown Royal]

Are you serious? If so, what branch of the serivce are you enlisting into?

Army. I am going to buck for WO (aviation). If I don't receive it, I will try to get an MOS in intelligence. I took my practice ASVAB. It hurt my feelings (it was too easy).

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Army. I am going to buck for WO (aviation). If I don't receive it, I will try to get an MOS in intelligence. I took my practice ASVAB. It hurt my feelings (it was too easy).

Yes the Asvab is pretty easy.
They offered me the chance to go to Warrant Officer or Officer school but I was only planning on going in for a short stint.

My friend only missed one question on the whole test...now I did good but not that good lol.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

So to get back at the Katusa's for telling me that phrase meant something nice, when it was not....

I waited about 2-3 weeks before getting even.

Now as crazy as this sounds, and it sounds crazy because you normally see this in viet nam movies....the Katusa's would sometimes call GIs....#1 GI or #10 GI.

If they liked you or you did something nice they would call you #1 GI, which is a good thing. However if you did something bad, or they were just goofing with you, they would call you #10 GI, which was bad.

So one day I was goofing with one of them and they said "You #10 GI" and I responded with "Well you are a Captain Crunch" I got a confused look and then shortly they asked me what that term meant.

I replied that it was much worse then #10 GI....it was like calling someone a SOB or something that meant they were very bad. I even went so far as to tell them to make sure and never call a NCO or Officer a Captain Crunch as they could get into some serious trouble.

Of course Captain Crunch was just the cereal we all know, but I guess they have never heard of the cereal so they had no clue.

A week later I heard one Katusa call another Katusa Captain Crunch....later I was talking to a Katusa and I called him #10 GI and he retored by calling me a Captain Crunch at which I acted like it was a bad thing.

This went on for about 2-3 months and I heard the term used more and more.
I told some of my friends to act shocked when they heard it and to play along.

Finally it was getting time for me to leave Korea as my tour was finishing up.
I went to some of the Katusa's and called them #10 GI and of course a couple of them retored with calling me Captain Crunch.
I explained to them that captain crunch really isn't a bad term but just a cereal and a character on a cereal box. I tell you they would not believe me, they really thought it was something bad.

So a day before I left I went to the PX and actually bought a box of Captain Crunch Cereal and went and showed the Katusas.
The look on their faces was priceless.

Now even with that it was not as good as how they got me, but sometimes I wonder if there are a few Katusas in Camp Casey calling people.....Captain Crunch.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

This is one of those Funny stories.

They got your real good on that one BrainPaiNt

Real pretty in Korean is "Talkson Ippida" (Talkson meang = a lot; Ippida means=
pretty).

And these were your buddies?:

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

They got your real good on that one BrainPaiNt

Real pretty in Korean is "Talkson Ippida" (Talkson meang = a lot; Ippida means=
pretty).

And these were your buddies?:

I probably deserved it....I was always pulling jokes on them.

BTW....the phrase they said sounded like this He Me She Me Peck Poe Ja Da at least that is what I remember it sounding like but it has been years ago. Now I remember the term PogyBait, So I should have known at least one of the words in the phrase but just didn't put 2 and 2 together. LOL.

They were getting the new barracks ready so at the time I had to spend a few months in a room with three Katusas.

Their names where Lee, Oh and Huh.

So Sometimes I would be in a fun mood and Yell....LEE and he would say something at which I would say.....OOOOHHHHH like I understood and then Oh would look at me and say something and I would say...HUH? at which Huh would say something.

It was like a abbot and costello who's on first routine but I don't think they ever understood it lol.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

Army. I am going to buck for WO (aviation). If I don't receive it, I will try to get an MOS in intelligence. I took my practice ASVAB. It hurt my feelings (it was too easy).

Good luck with everything. Sounds like you know what field you want. If you pursue the Intelligence field, get ready for some intensive clearance checks. The last time I had a clearance check, my parents told me that someone went through my neighborhood, spoke to friends, and went to my High School asking questions about me. And they still gave me the clearance!