Military Service Thread!

Michele said:
I’ve never assimilated myself either. I don’t think any lifer would or could. Two completely different worlds of responsibility, respect and dedication. I would return if it was like old school military. I couldn’t deal with the soft Navy of today nor the allowance of gender negation/ mixing.
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Agreed. Today's navy is way different from as little as 19 yrs ago when I got out. I'm proud to say I'm a sailor and will until the day I die, but with the way today's Navy is, going back in, I'd be at mast on a regular basis. 😁

I have a Navy Anchor on the back window of my truck, and under it, I have,
"My oath expires upon my date of death.
Not upon date of discharge"
 
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Okay-here is my military service
1970-1974 painted gray and underway-USS Hancock Storekeeper
Broken Service
1980-1997 Seabees
NAVVET
NAS Alameda CBU-416
NS Diego Garcia
NMCB 5
NSGA Skaggs Island
NMCB 4
Naval Weapons Station Concord, CA
Retired as a Builder Chief Seabee Combat Warfare certified
 

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Thought I'd already posted here but after looking for that previous post, I guess not. So here's mine:
SSgt (E-5) USAF, April 1980 - October 1984
Apr 1980-Jun 1980: 3707th BMTS, Lackland AFB, TX
Jun 1980-Nov 1980: 328X1 Technical Training, Keesler, AFB, MS
Nov 1980-Nov 1982: 463rd TAW, Dyess, AFB, TX( includes two deployments to RAF Mildenhall, UK and one to a Rescue Squadron at McClelland AFB, CA)
Nov 1982-Jul 1983: 91st TFS, 81st TFW, RAF Woodbridge, UK
Jul 1983 - Oct 1984: 81st CRS, 81st TFW, RAF Bentwaters, UK

From a very early age I planned to become a Naval Aviator and then a Test Pilot. Then life forced a change in those plans. Never intended to enlist in the USAF but ran out of money for college and didn't find an MOS in any service I really wanted. Went back to college (Georgia Tech) after the USAF and in deference to my then new wife (still together 40+ years later), took a federal civilian job for the U.S. Navy doing flight test work (NAVAIR), where I served for 30 years (1987 - 2017), oddly enough including aviator duties, then transfered to a different organization undersea warfare testing (NAVSEA), where I served another 5 years (2018 - 2022). I'm now retired.
 
USAF, Retired
July 1984 - October 2004
2W171 (46270) Armament Systems Specialists

Assignments:

3707th BMTS, Lackland AFB, Tx
462X0 Armament Systems Specialist Technical Training, Lowry AFB, Co
474th EMS, Nellis AFB, Nv
8th EMS, Kunsan AB, South Korea
325th EMS, Tyndal AFB, Fl
51st EMS, Osan AB, South Korea
3rd EMS, Clark AB, Philippines
8th MXS, Kunsan AB, South Korea
51st MXS, Osan AB, South Korea
63rd FS, Luke AFB, Az
18th MXS, Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan
522nd FS, Cannon AFB, Nm

Major Deployments:

Operation Northern Watch, NAS Keflavik, Iceland
Operation Southern Watch, Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia (twice)

TDYs:

CFB Cold Lake (Maple Flag)
Nellis AFB, Nv (Red Flag)
Tyndall AFB, Fl (Combat Archer)

Airframes: A-10, F-4, F-15, & F-16

I grew up in the military as a Military Brat. From birth to when my Dad finally retired we moved to 6 different base and I lived abroad twice (Anderson AFB, Guam and Ramstein AB, West Germany).

I've been an life-long aviation enthusiast and wanted to work fighter aircraft for as far back as I could remember. Before going in the F-15 Eagle was my favorite jet, that changed when I worked it (mainly because I had more experience on the F-16 and it's an easier jet to maintain). The F-4 was my least favorite to work on, though being single and stationed at Clark Air Base really made up for it, plus we didn't have much of a work-load so I had a lot of time off there. Clark obviously was my favorite assignment and it was a blast there.

My time in the Philippines was cut short by mother nature when she blew her top and Mount Pinatubo erupted. We got evacuated out by the US Navy and they gavemea ride on the USS Midway to our evacuation point in Cebu. Cannon was my least favorite (work wise...I like the area and locals though). I got to spend about three years of my career working in the gun shop on the M61A1 & GAU-8/A.
I spent half my career in Asia, it kept drawing me back.

I would have stayed in longer and went back to South Korea, but I ticked some people off and it was time to pul chocks and leave the military behind. One of my regrets was I never got assigned to Europe, something I tried by it seemed like Asia was where the AF wanted me.

When asked about my time in the military and what I did I usually tell people "I was in 20 years, enjoyed 19 of those years. I was an Bomb Loader and it was a blast."
 
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Mapanggulo said:
USAF, Retired
July 1984 - October 2004
2W171 (46270) Armament Systems Specialists

Assignments:

3707th BMTS, Lackland AFB, Tx
462X0 Armament Systems Specialist Technical Training, Lowry AFB, Co
474th EMS, Nellis AFB, Nv
8th EMS, Kunsan AB, South Korea
325th EMS, Tyndal AFB, Fl
51st EMS, Osan AB, South Korea
3rd EMS, Clark AB, Philippines
8th MXS, Kunsan AB, South Korea
51st MXS, Osan AB, South Korea
63rd FS, Luke AFB, Az
18th MXS, Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan
522nd FS, Cannon AFB, Nm

Major Deployments:

Operation Northern Watch, NAS Keflavik, Iceland
Operation Southern Watch, Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia (twice)

TDYs:

CFB Cold Lake (Maple Flag)
Nellis AFB, Nv (Red Flag)
Tyndall AFB, Fl (Combat Archer)

Airframes: A-10, F-4, F-15, & F-16

I grew up in the military as a Military Brat. From birth to when my Dad finally retired we moved to 6 different base and I lived abroad twice (Anderson AFB, Guam and Ramstein AB, West Germany).

I've been an life-long aviation enthusiast and wanted to work fighter aircraft for as far back as I could remember. Before going in the F-15 Eagle was my favorite jet, that changed when I worked it (mainly because I had more experience on the F-16 and it's an easier jet to maintain). The F-4 was my least favorite to work on, though being single and stationed at Clark Air Base really made up for it, plus we didn't have much of a work-load so I had a lot of time off there. Clark obviously was my favorite assignment and it was a blast there.

My time in the Philippines was cut short by mother nature when she blew her top and Mount Pinatubo erupted. We got evacuated out by the US Navy and they gavemea ride on the USS Midway to our evacuation point in Cebu. Cannon was my least favorite (work wise...I like the area and locals though). I got to spend about three years of my career working in the gun shop on the M61A1 & GAU-8/A.
I spent half my career in Asia, it kept drawing me back.

I would have stayed in longer and went back to South Korea, but I ticked some people off and it was time to pul chocks and leave the military behind. One of my regrets was I never got assigned to Europe, something I tried by it seemed like Asia was where the AF wanted me.

When asked about my time in the military and what I did I usually tell people "I was in 20 years, enjoyed 19 of those years. I was a Bomb Loader and it was a blast."
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Funny the Navy gave your wing a ride out. We sailed in just as mt. Pinatubo was erupting and stayed there a month providing water and health care to subic citizens, help rebuild damaged buildings, and clean up the water soaked ash. Not sure if you experienced the happenings on Magsaysay during power outages, no water, piles of ash etc…. I was astonished that business continued as normal: the whole street was lite up, girls, booze and bands went on as if nothing happened. Crazy !
 
U S Navy EM2 (Electrician's Mate 2nd Class) for those who don't know Navy rank.
1986-1997
RTC Great Lakes
USS Monongahela AO-178 (Auxiliary Oiler aka floating gas station)
USS Fortify MSO-446. (Minesweeper - Ocean going)
Navy Recruiter Frankfort, KY (short lived)
NSSF Groton, CT (rubber and plastic shop)
( I can hear the jokes coming already)
ACU-2, Little Creek, VA (LCU 1660)

Qualified on all the small arms the Navy was using at the time, 45 (but never actually fired it), M14, 12guage shotgun, 50 cal mounted ( fired the crap out of that, usually got called up for cleanup when no one else could sink the bright orange barrels that were floating away) and whatever the designation was for the shoulder fired 40mm grenade launcher with the 8" tall flip up rear ranging sight (can't remember the numbers) It was all fun except for the grenades all being ancient trainers that failed to even go pop hitting the water.

Yes I would do it all again except for the 'kinder-gentler' bullshit that was starting when I got out. Just can't find the same comraderie in the civilian world but there are a few veterans where I work including about 15 percent of my department (maintenance, go figure) that make it a little more tolerable..
 

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