Can someone explain what C-4 is?

[Gunny]

So, didn't the Marines include one of those nifty little folding shovels in your kit? What a trench tool, they may as well have just given us spoons. Lighter and just as effective.

We had e-tools. The steel pot displaced more earth at one time.

[CSM]

So, didn't the Marines include one of those nifty little folding shovels in your kit? What a trench tool, they may as well have just given us spoons. Lighter and just as effective.

Yeesh! you guys are giving me flashbacks! I remember when the "new" entrenching tool was issued too. Too many danged moving parts. I kept my old wooden handled one for a long time after that just because I like it better. Longer handle = more leverage.

Man we sound like a bunch of old geezers sitting around the cracker barrel at the general store! LOL

[Gunny]

Yeesh! you guys are giving me flashbacks! I remember when the "new" entrenching tool was issued too. Too many danged moving parts. I kept my old wooden handled one for a long time after that just because I like it better. Longer handle = more leverage.

That was another thing the military hosed up. That collapsible e-tool was worthless. In a pinch, those wooden handled e-tools made pretty good weapons. The collapsible one might get you over on a little kid or something.

Man we sound like a bunch of old geezers sitting around the cracker barrel at the general store! LOL

Hmmm .... I'm thinking you and I are the only ones sounding old.

[CSM]

That was another thing the military hosed up. That collapsible e-tool was worthless. In a pinch, those wooden handled e-tools made pretty good weapons. The collapsible one might get you over on a little kid or something.

Oh yeah. If you were really lucky you got one issued with the pick (spike) on the back. Good for skewering snakes of all kinds!

[Jess]

Hmmm .... I'm thinking you and I are the only ones sounding old.

You gentlemen want a warm-up on your coffee? *snaps chewing gum obnoxiously*

[Gunny]

Oh yeah. If you were really lucky you got one issued with the pick (spike) on the back. Good for skewering snakes of all kinds!

Some stuff like that I had because it was my father's. Guess it got lost from supply or something. I used to use the thing to dig with when I was a teenager. Mostly because my dad was too cheap to go buy a real shovel.

[darin]

Remember back in the mid 90s when we had pretty good MREs, LBE's, Ammo pouches, and the little metal clip things that held them to the pistol belt?

[CSM]

You gentlemen want a warm-up on your coffee? *snaps chewing gum obnoxiously*

and a big slice of apple pie!

Remember back in the mid 90s when we had pretty good MREs, LBE's, Ammo pouches, and the little metal clip things that held them to the pistol belt?

Heh heh ... plastic snap on the pistol belt! I did like that improvement.

[Gunny]

Remember back in the mid 90s when we had pretty good MREs, LBE's, Ammo pouches, and the little metal clip things that held them to the pistol belt?

We'd already gone back to poplin utilities by the mid-90s. Thank God. Those heavy woodland utilities sucked and didn't hold starch for nothing.

[Jess]

and a big slice of apple pie!

You want whipped cream or ice cream on that, sweetie?

[darin]

We'd already gone back to poplin utilities by the mid-90s. Thank God. Those heavy woodland utilities sucked and didn't hold starch for nothing.

Funny story - I have no idea what poplin means, nor 'utilities' in terms of uniforms.



:beers:

[Gunny]

Funny story - I have no idea what poplin means, nor 'utilities' in terms of uniforms.



:beers:

Camouflaged utilities = fatigues or cammies

Poplin is the material they used to make utilities during the Vietnam era. In the 80s, they went to the heavier woodland utilities; which no one liked that I knew. early-mid 90's the Corps went back to the rip-stop poplin material. It's lighter weight and you can starch the Hell out of it. In the Marines, when in the rear with gear, your utilities will be ironed, at a minimum. Most starched them.

I doubt they do that now. I saw my daughter's uniform and whatever material they make those digital utilities from doesn't look much conducive to starch.

[Abbey Marie]

Man we sound like a bunch of old geezers sitting around the cracker barrel at the general store! LOL

Then I need to go find a General Store- I am enjoying this!

Btw, I've mentioned this before in the book review section, but if you haven't, you all should read Matterhorn by Vietnam vet Karl Marlantes. It's a fabulous read. (The mention of the shovel reminded me of all the useless digging they had to do, lol).

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War is a novel by American author and decorated Marine Karl Marlantes. It was first published by El Leon Literary Arts in 2009 (in small quantity) and re-issued (and slightly edited) as a major publication of Atlantic Monthly Press^[1] on March 23, 2010.^[2]

Marlantes is a graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes scholar. He was also a highly decorated Marine who served in Vietnam. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals. He spent 35 years working on the novel, which was rejected for publication numerous times.

Plot

The book is set in Vietnam in 1969 and draws from the experiences of Marlantes, who commanded a Marine rifle platoon. The novel presents an unflinching look at the hardships endured by the Marines who waged the war on behalf of America.^[3] It concerns the exploits of second lieutenant Waino Mellas, a recent college graduate, and his compatriots in Bravo Company, most of whom are teenagers. "Matterhorn" is the code name for a fire-support base located between Laos and the DMZ. At the beginning of the novel, the Marines build the base, but later they are ordered to abandon it. The latter portions of the novel detail the struggles of Bravo Company to retake the base, which fell into enemy hands after it was abandoned...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn_(novel)

[darin]

Camouflaged utilities = fatigues or cammies

Poplin is the material they used to make utilities during the Vietnam era. In the 80s, they went to the heavier woodland utilities; which no one liked that I knew. early-mid 90's the Corps went back to the rip-stop poplin material. It's lighter weight and you can starch the Hell out of it. In the Marines, when in the rear with gear, your utilities will be ironed, at a minimum. Most starched them.

I doubt they do that now. I saw my daughter's uniform and whatever material they make those digital utilities from doesn't look much conducive to starch.

Since conversion to the ACU, the army forbids starching. My BDUs - showin in that pic - took starch VERY well. Hard-starching a uniform is a lost art. I used to starch my BDUs (one or two sets only - for inspections, etc) to the point I'd have to pry the arms apart inside, to put them on. They'd make a 'wokka' sound when I shook them! Hell, with the new boots Soldiers (etc) don't even know how to polish boots. I bet the Kiwi company lost 50% or more of its profits.

[ConHog]

Since conversion to the ACU, the army forbids starching. My BDUs - showin in that pic - took starch VERY well. Hard-starching a uniform is a lost art. I used to starch my BDUs (one or two sets only - for inspections, etc) to the point I'd have to pry the arms apart inside, to put them on. They'd make a 'wokka' sound when I shook them! Hell, with the new boots Soldiers (etc) don't even know how to polish boots. I bet the Kiwi company lost 50% or more of its profits.

I REFUSED to starch my BDUs.

Anyone else have that ONE guy in boot who couldn't coordinate the summer top with the summer bottom. And so the whole platoon had to do pushups? How hard was it? Just make sure the threads are going the same direction.