Navy knows a little bit about fun too. https://www.stripes.com/news/icelan...supplying-thirsty-us-sailors-marines-1.554176
Yeah that is sure to go completely smoothly without any issues whatsoever lol. I hate how the military gets forced into whatever flavor of the month bullshit society happens to be in to at the particular time. We had our routine "sit here all day and let briefers tell you how you should feel about things" rodeo today. The SHARP folks came up and threw up statistics (that were bad) and said we're briefing today in preparation for the Army to start admitting it's first female combat troops in the coming months. I'm sitting there in the back trying not to act in a manner "unbecoming my rank and position" while giggling like a schoolkid. According to these SHARP experts the amount of people getting sexually assaulted is absolutely out of control (their words), and they're briefing us in preparation because women are headed to line units and we needed an extra shot of SHARP reiteration prior to their arrival lol. Then the Equal Opportunity folks came up there and started going over then new stuff. Mainly how very soon (once they change the regulation) not discriminating against people due to their gender will also include their gender identity. Then the outreach people came up talking about celebrations and involvement and stuff. Black history month, Asian heritage month, Hispanic month, women month, etc. The Army throws celebrations and does runs for all that stuff. They said last year they set up an event for the newly coined LGBTQ appreciation month event but they had to cancel it because literally 2 people signed up for it. So please take an active role and sign up this year because they would love to see more participation. I ****ing cried. I had to get up and go to the bathroom. Even the NCO who was up there briefing that made an uncomfortable half laugh/smile thing when he was saying that. Get this PC bullshit away from us we have real things to do. I'm so glad I'm not one of the people who has to stand in front of troops and preach to them with a straight face a whole bunch of BS that we all know is retarded while simultaneously trying to keep my professional bearing lol.
I am one of my units UA NCOs. Did the complete course and everything. And when I took the class that actually came up. By the regulation, the monitor has to be the gender that the individual identifies as. One of the gals actually quit the class! Seems she does have a male to female transgender in her unit, and she said the last thing she would ever do is mandate a female NCO to observe a female with a penis giving a sample. In many ways, I am very "old school". I went to boot camp in 1983, and was a grunt for 10 years. And to be honest, I could not care less about homosexuals. Hell, I had a buddy in my first unit that was gay, and everybody knew it. He was almost a flamer, but nobody cared. Don't Ask Don't Tell was still a decade away, but the general rule of thumb was that so long as it was kept off base and never had to be acknowledged officially, nobody cared. My buddy got stupid his last year in, and it did get him kicked out however. We had a pistol turn up missing, so of course we went into full lock-down and started to tear apart rooms to see if they could find it. Inside of his wall locker in a sea bag they found women's clothing, falsies, wigs, makeup, and a large stash of gay porn magazines and video tapes. This was especially stupid because he had an unofficial room out in town where he spent most of his time. Turns out he had been hitting the local gay bars the night before duty, so he just threw it all in the locker until he got off the next day. In my first 10 years from 1983-1993, I knew at least a dozen who were gay, most only half-closeted. And nobody gave a damn. They were Marines like any other, and we did not care. I know one other that got kicked out, because he "came out" one day in front of a dozen others. But we all believe he was faking it, he was just tired of being in the Marines and did not want to go on the deployment we were scheduled to go on in 2 months. And this mindset is now pretty much what mine is even today. I still could not care less what gender somebody gets their rocks off with. I do not want to know about it, it is none of my business, keep it away from me. Some actor or actress "comes out", and I am like "that is your private business, I do not want or need to know about that". And it goes for heterosexual as well as homosexual relationships. More than once I have had some guy try to tell me about his conquest over the weekend, and I am like "I don't care, I don't want to know, keep that to yourself."
Your mentality is pretty much exactly like mine, and from I have gathered pretty much most other peoples. It's the forced pandering and spotlight of it that irritates everybody. I was around during the Dont ask Dont tell era and we had a couple guys who you didn't even have to ask but you could surely tell and nobody gave a damn that I was aware of. He was a normal Soldier just like everybody else and spent his weeknights and weekends hanging out with the rest of the guys completely accepted. We were ground pounders back then (you know how they are having been a grunt yourself), a whole lot of weird ass stuff goes on with grunts. There are basically no filters and everything is fair game and the gay guys didn't get offended they turned it around and used their own sexual preferences to to toss some hilarious vulgar bombs right back at the other Soldiers. All was well, they all gave each other royal hell without mercy the way grunts do all the time and it was fine. There was one particular time I remember vividly though were the the whole squad pretended like they didn't wanna give him a sip out of their water bottles because "we don't know where your mouth has been". I did my best as their NCO to not bust out laughing, but well....I did lol. It's the making everybody uncomfortable part that people hate. In the eyes of most Soldiers it seems to basically be yeah I don't care if somebody is gay they're still cool but I don't wanna go to a damn LGBTQ parade...Stop rubbing it in everyone's face and guilting Soldiers to participate in something that they may not personally feel comfortable supporting. But for me personally I really couldn't care less what people are or what people do as long as you don't bother me. Or as long as you don't start whining about being made fun of for it. Not because I advocate harassing people but because in my line of work we make fun of everybody for everything its part of the culture and you don't get special exemption just because you're gay. But then again I am part of a pretty specialized elite MOS that not many people get accepted into so a lot of the "new Army" BS doesn't reach up to us. Yet..and we like it that way, we too are "old school". Our females aren't gonna SHARP you for winking at them or none of that nonsense like the normal Army. But yeah, quit throwing all of this stuff in our faces and all will be well. No I'm not signing up for some Army sanctioned LGBTQ appreciation event unless you make me. And even then I have enough rank to where I just wouldn't go anyway lol. Not because I have a problem with gay people but because I don't care that gay people are gay and I'd rather go fishing on my off time than go to some parade. I don't go to any of those other "appreciation month" celebrations either, gay troops aren't any more special than Hispanic troops and I ain't going to their parade either lol. The Army needs to get rid of all these appreciate month things anyway in my opinion. We're Soldiers. Last time I checked if a Soldier dies the news doesn't say "African American Soldier killed in Iraq". It says "Soldier killed in Iraq". Because that's what we are. Quit adding tags on the beginning of everybody.
It's the Democrats in Congress who are forcing the Marine Corps to dumb down basic training in the name of political correctness.
Pretty much my belief. In fact, I find it hilarious when somebody goes "Well, you are 'White', what would you know?" Hell, "White"? My grandmother could not even drink legally in the state she was born in! I am Potawatomie, a proud American Indian. And not, not "Native-American". Indian was good for my grandmother and mother, it is sure as hell a good name for me! Sheesh, my wife (who was born and raised in South America) is more "white" than I am! I am a firm believer in what Teddy Roosevelt said, in that there is no place in America for "hyphenated Americans". To me a "Native American" is anybody born in the US. And I view Naturalized Americans as equal as "Native Americans" because they made the choice to follow our dreams. I drive a car, I do not ride a horse. I live in a house, not a teepee. Yet I almost laugh when I am called "white", while if you place my arm next to my South American Wife of over 30 years, she is MUCH "whiter" than I am. My view of "gays" is about the same. I had 2 good friends in high school that we all knew were gay. One today would be an open flamer, the other openly butch. But both were my friends, and I kept in touch with them until I left LA in a military transfer in 1987. And years later when I had found out they had died of AIDS, I was sad. I knew they were gay, I did not give a rat's ass. They were my friends, that was all that ever mattered. One of the things that bothers me in the last few years is that one guy I had been close to in the Army cut me off in Facebook. Ironically because I was "to right wing", even though most people I know say I am about as moderate as they come. I simply call things as I see them, and do not care if it is Republican or Democrat. I tend to go against radicals on either side, but because I dod not speak out in favor of the Left, I was evil once he got out. And he is not the only one like that. But most (even those on the far-right) recognize that I really do not care, to me you can have your own beliefs. Just do not try and force them on me. And all my life I will miss John and Paul. They were great people, who were lost to young. I did not care that they preferred "chicken over fish" (that is the words one of them told me a great many years ago), they were my friends. Hell, I even blew the minds of many who thought they new me when in 2003 I moved from LA to Alabama and moved I with a lesbian. But my real friends knew I did not give a damn.
I served in the Corps 69-71 before DADT and when buggery was illegal in the military. When you enlisted or were drafted there was no box to check or were you asked if you liked girls. (The word gay back in the day was before political correctness and only had one definition, being happy) The way it worked if you were on base or on duty or off base while in uniform and were caught in the act of buggery you likely faced a summary court martial. Maybe even brig or stockade time and a BCD. If someone was gay and his homosexuality was causing problems with unit cohesion he was processed for an administrative discharge and given an "Undesirable Discharge" (UD) DADT resulted from an Air Force officer who was hitting up on enlisted men on the tarmac while on duty and was causing problems with in the squadron with unit cohesion. HBO made a bias pro LGBT movie about that particular Air Force officer that led to DADT. Before DADT homosexualty problems were handled at company and battalion level. He received an administrative discharge and was given an UD discharge and whined and complained and the LGBT activist whined and complained to liberals in Congress who passed DADT. If DADT were have never been forced upon the military by Congress there never have been the number of problems that DADT caused. Don't want to fulfill your military contract ? Just proclaim you are gay. Thousands did it. The problems that DADT caused led to repealing DADT and legalizing buggery with in the military. Repealing DADT was passed in Congress on lies. DoD IG Report Exposes Improper Activities to Repeal Gays in Military Law https://www.cmrlink.org/issues/full...r-activities-to-repeal-gays-in-military-law-1 Gays in the Military/LGBT Law https://www.cmrlink.org/issues/gays-in-the-military/page:4 Source: https://www.cmrlink.org/
It was that way when I was in also. But nobody was going around trying to find out such things. There was no "Morality Police" going around trying to see who somebody was shagging (or being shagged by). Hence, the "keep it away from the flagpole" rule of thumb. Not unlike today. With a few exceptions, it is now illegal for somebody under 21 to drink. But there is no "booze police" going around trying to catch those in uniform who do drink under age. Just so long as it never has to come to the official attention of the military (like getting a DUI) they ignore it and pretend it never happens. We knew my buddy was gay, it was an open secret. And in 1984 for a single Lance Corporal to afford an apartment in a nice area of Long Beach? That was damned near unheard of, not even the married guys below Staff Sergeant could afford to live in the apartment he had (my wife and I had to live in Compton). Yes, he shared it with another guy (a civilian who worked as a bartender). And having met his roomie a few times, he was not just a swisher, he outright flamed. So did the command have a strong suspicion? Yea, of course they did. But until the incident with the wall locker they did what all others do and ignore it. At that point they had no choice because the evidence was literally in their hands.
Hey, it was 1985. My entire BAH was a whopping $250 a month, base pay was $793 a month, and the rent was only $450. We really were paid like crap back then. Was nice to see that when I came back in 2007 that had changed a lot. Now the BAH is actually reflective of the area in which you live.
When I was an E-1 private in 1964 base pay was $99.00 per month. Room and board were free. Cigs were a dollar a carton. Good German beer was 15 cents a flip top. Free laundry service. Free uniforms and combat boots. A nice M-14 rifle. Hog heaven.
In todays "New Army" phrases like that are actually being phased out in many instances due to being "inappropriate" verbiage by professional Soldiers. A couple years ago I remember standing around while troops were being piled into the back of an LMTV for a range or something. One of the NCO's yelled out "nut to butt pack it in there" and a Maj came up to him and said "Hey Sgt be mindful of the phrases you use there are female Soldiers among us here". I stood there sipping my coffee and just rolled my eyes. This is how things are getting in the "New Army". Walk around a line unit nowadays and there are more ****ing SHARP posters hanging on the walls than there are mission essential posters. It really is sad that this is what has become of the US Army. It seems like we care more about political correctness and sensitivity training than we do mission readiness. Most units are too busy to conduct training on basic Soldier skills such as weekly Sgt's time training like in the old days, but you can bet your ass that big Army will make sure you are at that mandatory SHARP brief on Friday. It's sad.
In most of my units the last 12 years, the SHARP representatives have often been among the worst offenders. They have almost no problem saying things like "If somebody says something that offends you, that is probably just to bad. Unless it was directed specifically at you, there is no reason to file a SHARP complaint." Now for the amount of mandatory training, that is the fault of the DoD, they seem to think all these mandatory training actually does something. ANd since I went to the Reserves, it is even worse. At least on Active Duty, you have an entire month to have those classes. Maybe 1 a week. But we have the same mandate, so over half of every drill weekend (sometimes the entire weekend) is spent doing those same classes, one after another after another. Being S-6, I rarely have time to really attend them. I have to many other things to do, so I normally just sign the roster and continue with my tasks.
And that's the problem, statistics show that the amount of SHARP violations since the DoD made SHARP training mandatory seemingly every other Friday has decreased by virtually zero. It's not doing anything.... The Army doesn't tend to hold on to things that don't work. If the Army decided to make basic marksmanship training mandatory every month in order to boost Soldiers' proficiency and after 6 years NOBODY can actually shoot any better then they wouldn't just continue on as is. They'd scrap that and try something else to achieve the end goal. Only with the current policy of political correctness are we forced to endure continuous mandatory training that takes up valuable time that is literally doing NOTHING. Stop wasting our damn time, we don't have white space to waste on this stupid ****. That's why we were all so thrilled when Mattis put out that memo last year saying we're scrapping a lot of this stupid PC "training" in favor of training that actually serves the purpose of increasing readiness and lethality. I hear you on the SHARP reps being the worst ones. My best friend is our SHARP rep and her ass has less of a filter than I do lol. And her mandatory SHARP briefings consist of here sign this clipboard because even I as the only female in this unit and SHARP rep don't give a damn about this stupid program.
These things are passed down primarily by the civilian side of the DoD. All of the branches have to do this nonsense, not just the Army.
I know which is sad, our military is overworked and stretched thin and you already know how little white space there ever is on a calendar. It upsets me that our military is forced to trade teaching basic Soldier tasks for SHARP and EO training seminars because we often literally don't have time to do both and we aren't allowed to NOT do the PC crap. Seriously, our enlisted Soldiers haven't conducted Sergeants Time Training in years due to the lack of time. But we sure as hell always magically find time to go get told not to smile at the females in the gym because the DoD makes sure we have time for that. Even if it means sacrificing things that actually matter.
Man, I was always so horny in the army and living in the barracks made it hard to find a place to wank. The saltpeter didn't even help.
