[video=youtube;iPbKm3uIpZ8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iPbKm3uIpZ8[/video] Corksphere is clearly an anti-war site but regularly provides striking videos from the front lines. This is one and shows the true grit of soldiers caring for one another.
There is no bond quite like the one formed between brothers in arms. I used to tell me Privates this all the time: The ONLY thing you have out here is each other. Your wife isn't here, your kids aren't here, your parents aren't here. On Christmas Eve when you are sitting in your bunk at night depressed because you miss your family then guess what? The guy laying next to you misses his family too. When you are standing guard on a building in the freezing rain for 8 hours miserable then take a look to your left and right, those guys are just as cold and a miserable as you are. When you are walking on patrol for 12 hours in 120 degree heat and you think your life sucks, turn around and look at the guy walking behind you, his life sucks too. When you haven't slept in 24 hours and the Commander says gear up we're going back out, he is just as tired and pissed off as you are. Your life is going to suck, but all of you will suck together, and I will be sucking right along with you. Misery loves company, but with the misery of war comes a bond forged like no other. You will never forget the names of the people you went to war with. And if you called them 20 years later and asked for a favor I bet they would do it without hesitation.
I have never in my life felt closer to other human beings than the closeness felt in the late 60s when I was in the military. It was the only time in my life, outside of my family, that I felt this, where the unit was almost like a single organism. And that is why I want the draft to come back, so that we once again get a cross section of America serving, where the common man and the elite finally have something in common, which builds bridges. Of course if we drafted again, we would not enter into so many useless wars that only enrich a particular group of elites. You are more careful in the wars you wage when congress declares them and then have to suffer potentially from the constituents who's sons and daughters are getting killed.
Indeed, those closeness of a military unit is a sight to see. From the outside looking in many would believe we all hate each others guts. The amount of trash talking and harassment that goes on in a unit is unparalleled. But at the end of the day, outside of our own families, nobody loves each other more than brothers in arms, even though it may not seem like it at all. I've said this in regards to a different topic on this forum months ago. Walk into a bar and see the military picking on one of their own and giving him a hard time. Then walk up and try to join in on the harassment and the "bullies" will likely punch you in the mouth. He might be a (*)(*)(*)(*)head but he's OUR (*)(*)(*)(*)head. We might give him a hard time day in and day out but we will be damned if anybody else does.
On the being buddies side - A very long time ago when I first enlisted, I was sent to a small maintenance platoon stationed in the south of France. There were only 27 junior enlisted - one private who was a mechanic and from a small town in Mississippi or Alabama. Anyhow, he firmly believed that bathing/showering was reserved for Saturday night. In the days in-between, he got a bit on the rank side. Living in a barracks ain't easy and having to put up with BO just gets too much. We finally got together and decided to give him a Soap and Brush Blanket Party. It took six of us but he ended up with a very thorough shower with a scouring brush. And a warning that, if he didn't shower on a daily basis, he would get more of it. We lived on the third floor of a building occupied by one of the Engineer companies we supported and some of their guys decided to do the same thing. 26 very pissed-off members of the platoon proceeded to beat the sheite out of those guys for messing with one of our own!!!!! He finally did learn to shower every day after work which was great as he was one of those mechanics would could listen to something and instantly know what was wrong with it.
While today, nearly all CASEVAC missions are conducted by rotary-wing aircraft like the UH-60 in the Youtube video; the first attempt at it was by the Germans in WW2 using the Fieseler Fi 156 "Storch." I saw a restored version at an airshow and the STOL capabilities were remarkable. It could quite easily land to a full stop within 20 yards given a sufficient headwind. On further inspection of the airplane, I noticed the full-length slats and fowler-type flaps...certainly a forerunner to the C-130 "Hercules" which utilizes the fowler-type flaps for a similar intent, lowering the stall speed by increasing lift to achieve short field take-offs and landings. Unrelated to the discussion so sorry about that. A dust-off is a casualty evacuation or CASEVAC...the conflict in Vietnam in the 1960s and the rotary-wing aircraft revolutionized the ability to remove wounded troops from a combat area to a field hospital away from the hostilities...with more advanced triage and treatment capabilities than a combat medic could provide. It changed the face of warfare, as wounded in action was no longer a death sentence as it was in so many conflicts before...particularly our American Civil War...wherein a bullet wound often led to gangrene and the eventual death of the wounded. It all starts with the brave helicopter crews who fly into a combat zone to evacuate the casualites. They often take fire in the process and become casualties themselves.
We had a guy like that while I was deployed. Don't get me wrong none of us could shower routinely we didn't have running water but this guy made it a game to stink as bad as humanly possible. He wouldn't wear deodorant and walked around the tent just stinking up the place on purpose. He got the same treatment.
Hazing, corporal punishment, etc. along those lines is not an approved corrective method...in fact it's illegal. Military leadership under no circumstances, finds that to be an acceptable method to instill discipline. A blanket party has no place in the modern military.
I don't necessarily agree. I'm not saying we should allow people Full Metal Jacket style soap beatings or anything but good ol fashioned hazing is fine with me. Back when I was a Tanker it was tradition to duck tape the new LT's to the gun tube and spin the turret around a bit. And steal their patrol caps and shoot them out of the tank gun. Birthday's meant you were getting tied to a litter and bombarded with shaving cream filled balloons or something along those lines. It also isn't uncommon to walk into work and find that your office has conveniently been relocated, in absolute perfect order, to the bathroom. Those sorts of things are ok, its all in fun. Well not for the person on the receiving end of course. Now deliberately hurting people I don't agree with.
