Greetings and Salutations!
Whew!
LOTS of great discussion and PMs from you jokers (and joker-ettes… THAT still AMAZEBALLZ’s me that I have WILLING female readershit… normally I’d figure you all would be held at gunpoint, forced to read my non-PC ‘stuff’… anywho…) Leastways SWMNBN never read this stuff, and r/n I only supressed/deleted (albeit temporarily) the rest of the blegg on advice from my various mouthpieces. Even tho I’m pretty damned sure she doesn’t even know the URL…
Better safe than sore and sorry of course.
And Yeah, I have like 4 lawyers on speed-dial…
Don’t you?
Anyway… one thing that keeps cropping up in the discussion is the M-47 Dragon Anti-Tank Medium Antitank Rocket….
Whoooooooooo boy…
This’ll take a second.
-I- was ‘raised’ as a little ole 11 Hotel.
An ‘offshoot’ back in the day when Infantry MOS’s had various ‘flavors’… The following being:
11B = Straight Legg Infantryman, Modifiers like ‘Airborne’ (or not really per se) to be added later… Essentially the bare-bones Grunt of Fame and Lore.
11C = A Mortarman-who-was-a-Mortar Maggot. Their AIT consisted of dropping bombs down a toob, and killing from High Angles… “Hi-Angle Hellfire” was a popular t-shirt for them at the Sand Hill PX back in the day…. primarily trained on 82mm Mortars. They used to use the BIG 4.2in Mortars until those got retired… not sue if 11C is still around or not…
11H = Dat me. A Heavy Anti-Armor Infantryman, AKA TOW Gunner. Tube Launched, Optically Tracked Wire Guided missile badassery. The MOST fun I’ve ever had with my clothes on. It also stood for “Tired Of Walking” as the missile system, the BGM-71 overall weighed in at 550 pounds with only ONE missile, so we needed vehicles to operate efficiently. They eventually shitcanned the MOS only to bring it back and shitcan it and repeat as necessary. A few fucking times no less…. I got reclassed involuntarily in 1996 when they FIRST shitcanned it.
Fuckers.
Then, lastly, there was
11M = M2* (depending on the Brad) Bradley Crewmember/Infantryman. Brad crewmen used to be Grunts. They’d train a squad worth of guys (‘8 for the Back, 3 for the Track’ as we used to say) and out of the 11 initially trained guys, the three best trained guys would ‘run’ the track, and the rest, being familiar with the whole running of said track, would be the in-the-back Grunt Crew that’d supposedly storm the trenches if needed off of said track. IF the crew got wasted, then any member of the ‘Back 8’ knew at least how to nominally run the track… It looked good on paper leastways….
Nowadays my understanding is that EVERYONE is 11 “X” when they join the Infantry, and they fill the needs for who goes where “according to the needs of the Army” which IMO is a fucking waste as in some cases, as guys with a higher end GT score might end up as 11B (Bodybag) when they could have gotten a better deal… A ‘Hotel’ needed a higher GT score (for whatever reason… why I personally have no idea) but it is what it is….
Now a Dragon Gunner?
They were just ‘regular grunts’ who got a ‘modifier’ for training added onto their MOS. Like I have a few modifiers on my MOS… Originally I had 11H… basic TOW gunner…. and then had the E09 Modifier added which meant I had been trained on the M901 TOW ITV or Improved Tow Vehicle/track:
I was initally an 11H10E9
Meaning an enlisted 11H with an ITV modifier.
If I had made E-5, I would have been an 11H20E9 and so one… rank modified the MOS as you went on as well… In the Rakkasans, I was a 11H10/E9/2B/W5. Add on my Airborne Wings and yeah… not bad… a breakdown follows.
As stated, Modifiers I have are 2B, Air Assault and W5, Special Operations Foreign and Non-Standard Armorer (that one I actually am proud of… that was a tough fucking course lemme tell you!), as well as G2, a Standard Army Retail Supply System-2AC/2B (SARSS-2AC/2B) Materiel Manager which I got under my 92 series MOS. My B4 is in there somewhere, but after a while, too many numbers/letters to GAF about…
Believe it or not, Airborne does NOT have it’s own modifier.
You either have wings or you don’t.
The modifier for the Dragon is/was C2. They should be all gone by now, (except for relics like me LOL). Thing is, I only interacted with the Dragon ONCE… and it was a shitshow.
Like an extreme shitshow
The day us 11H from Lee Field went out to do our live fire? The ‘regular Infantry’ 11B-C2s? Their Dragon Gunner ‘Top Gun’ Graduates got to do their live fire too. The range was shall we say innnntersting in that we fired from what was essentially the top of a VERY large cliff. (The reason for this to be revealed in a minute)
So as Echo 9’ers and 11H standard guys got to fire and yes, I -was- the Top Gun on BOTH weapons systems so AFTER I had fired, the 11B-C2 kids (Dragon) got up and went to fire…
Thank CHRIST in heaven they were firing off a cliff…
BOTH dudes triggered their live rounds (there were NO submunition rockets, outside of the the training 9mm submunitions,) which meant BOTH rounds were FULL ON H.E. (high explosive) Warshots. Let me tell you, NOW we know WHY the range was on a cliff, and WHY both Dragon Gunners fired their shit from the edge…
BOTH gunners, in a row, were told to fire from the edge of the cliff…
They made the first guy wear the full on (for the day) Body Armor, helmet and Googles (unusual) and gloves. This alone raised eyebrowz. Guy #1 walked up sling-carrying his missile and guidance set. His instructor walked out with him, gave him what I think was a pep-talk (as we had a LOT of VIPS in the audience as these events were for the early 90s expensive and rare) and then left him to fire.
He fired, the round ‘kicked out’ with a “Blooop!” and then fell off the cliff where it subsequently exploded with great force. The Kick-Motor fired, but apparently, the actual motor-motor that should have propelled the missile downrange?
Not so fucking mucho.
It went ‘over the edge’ so to speak off of and over the cliff edge, into –whatever- was down there, and blew the fuck up.
It MASSIVELY blew the fuck up as I recall… a big ole Mushroom Cloud a big old pile of debris rained down on everyrone. AT rounds are positively PACKED with Octal Explosive which makes C-4 and other shit look tame by comparison. Needless to say, Dood #2 you could just tell was not happy to now be the ‘up next’ Top Gunner so to speak…
He experienced the same exact issue and ALL of us in the audience experienced the same ‘dirt bath and sound issues’ i.e. a giant assed explosion… I’m pretty sure BOTH dudes were ready to quit the DotMil after that, leastways as memory serves…
So otherwise….
I have not heard from SWMNBN so far except for the usual “I’ve been thinking about you” and “Can we talk”… Uh nope. I’m good. Too betrayed and hurt to talk have been my responses. Which works. I did get her notification of her permanant change-of-addy letter today, which I notified her of and that works… There ain’t no coming back from hurting the pupper man…. just no. fucking. way.
I’m channeling my inner “John Wick”
Granted she didn’t kill the pupper…
HOWEVER
But even the banned-from-everywhere perma-troll Hedge commented “Wait a minute… I missed that… the bitch. hurt. the. fucking. dog!?!” which of course I allowed…
When Hedge is on your side, you know you’re on the side of righteousness.
Yeah… as to all the other stuff out there?
Well…
Stella’s stiches came out by her own volition dammit.
Chewed them out overnight apparently
The wound is healed but it irritates me that I spent $7 on an overnight suture removal kit as my last one I used on SWMNBN dammit.
Ah well…. she’s doing great.
I also am getting a bike writeup done.
Pics taken… writing in progress…
HOWEVER
I do have a car I found locally but even with the Amazon Windfall I’m about $1500 short. It’s a 2003 Volvo. V70 Wagon in Olive Drab w/ a tan interior. 200k miles, but for a Volvo, that’s just broken in. I dunno…. Raffle? Fundraiser? I hate to ask for anyone to help at this point. I’m going to cash in what gold I have (about $600 worth r/n) and see what happens comes payday.
Hence why I’m riding my bike.
Losing weight whilst I do it too.
SWMNBN is going to be bent when she sees me… My gut is melting away r/n which SHE always claimed was a turn off… Bitch… you’ve been talking to otherDoodz since Day Zero…. suffer is all I can say ya cunt.
Either way, the new PayPal is up and running.
The PayPal name is @CountryOfBigExpat and the Email is countryofbigness@yahoo.com if you want.
I also have a mailing addy for those of you interested
And I no longer care about “the doxx” as one such as myself have ALREADY had enough shit thrown at me. DM Me at bce187th@protonmail.com for it.
Otherwise
Tomorrow is my ‘Combat Escape Bike’ FWIW
Stay Tuned
More Later
BCE
Number 3 Applies INORDINATELY IMO
In the new Superman movie that just came out, Superman goes after Lex Luther after he hurt and stole his dog. You don’t mess with a man’s dog !
I guess the Paypal doggo fund is gone into SWMNBN’s pocket ? That sucks because you could really use that money right now.
I do find it funny that she’s like “can we talk” when the bitch hurt your dog, drained every account she could get her paws on, took your car that YOU paid for leaving you with just a bicycle AND tried to SWAT your ass it sounds like by telling the cops you had a bunch of illegal guns and mods ?
“But I want you back baby”, I bet she fucking does especially when the bills come due.
FUCK THAT…. This nightmare will soon be over and hopefully you will sell the house and be in a new AO with fine women in it and thanks to all of that bike riding be in good shape.
catch you by the end of the week dude. Volo wagon is a good choice with the “crew”
hope it works out for ya. really get a burner phone and put your on standby or something.
fuck the skull sweat. as I said before, my EX never even thought about hurting me or my dog.
she knew better. still have to find a box. I let you know when it sent.
later. keep the faith. it just keeps getting better. you see.
At least in a Volvo, sounds too much like vulva… it will be a safe car. I don’t know if you have thought of a truck and a used camper, at least you can scout out different AOs and find out where in the country you would like to settle. Cheaper than rent most times and space rent isn’t a big expense. Find a storage place to stash your belongings and move every once in a while and leave no forwarding address.
if his toys are anything like the ones I have. it not something you want to “stash’ somewhere and hope it stays safe. I like my toys near me. and there is no way of telling who is watching you stash your stuff when you do it as well. how many people do you trust ? a camper sounds like a good move, but with 2 dogs and cats ? might be able to rent/ borrow one though for scouting ?
might be a bit much to handle. have Snapper make his move- hope he gets a place with a yard. he can watch your pups while you scout a new AO if you don’t go near him. just a idea as they already know him. bad thing about Volo is the price of parts. check out “Rock auto” for parts you may need for it
after you get it that is. funny , the new Frontier is army green but shiny. wife picked it out, so don’t blame me ! I just the guy paying for it. sounds like your head is in the right place now anyway.
Have you considered getting a annual pass to the national parks?
I believe military service qualifies you for free or reduced fees.
When my brother was in the military we would find a national park to camp at near his base while the parents were on vacation.
Buddy, don’t assume she and her lawyers aren’t reading this. Assume that they are.
Yep, it’s nice not having a car payment…or a female payment. Not sure which is more costly. Bide your time and mind your money, all will be well. Pretty sure she brought the black cloud into your life. The demon has been exorcised.
Hm-m-m… back in the early 80s, I was one of the engineers building and testing TOWs at the factory. Tales you either already know or would prefer not knowing. In any event, we both survived.
Are you going to be able to keep the dogs, BC?
In ’85, I came out of Benning with a C2 identifier. Got Expert on qualification. In fact, so many of us qualified Expert, we had to draw straws for the live fire demonstration which was done in front of a bunch of School of the Americas Generals and Colonels who all showed up in their third-world dictator dress uniforms covered in medals. We weren’t shooting off a cliff, though. Just across a valley. The Dragons went off without a hitch. Both guys hit their targets at 1,000m, but I got to see just how god-awful slow 100m/second really is and figured that thing was nothing but a deathwish for the operator.
It was one of the TOW guys who got screwed. One was shooting off the tripod, and my buddy was shooting from an ITV. Tripod guy went first and hit his target at what looked like a mile away. My buddy in the ITV fired and the wire broke and it went into the ground a hundred meters in front of him. You should have seen that brass scramble!
When I got to my first duty station at Ft. Carson, I never mentioned the Dragon identifier and asked my new squad leader if I could have the M60, and thus began a 3 year love affair with a pig.
Anyone that hurts an animal, except to eat it, mannnnn….that’s way over the line evil. Nothing like a faithful dog…
Hey Big Crunchy: I’ve had my Tundra for 25 years, and it’s been very reliable. I can’t recommend Toyotas enough. Drives like it’s new, but I given it all the regular maintenance, too.
I’ve heard Vulvas used to be reliable, but not anymore. I dunno; just what I’ve heard.
Yeah, I think it’s really cool there are women here. They really aren’t any worse than men if ya think about it. Just wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy different.
The ones here seem Purdy fearless, and chill.
My wife actually was a Puddle Jumper same time as me (‘88-‘92), and when we first started dating, we didn’t tell anyone cuz we knew back then women sailors were considered “morale gear.“ Whenever she got to a new station, they all treated her like that, until they figured out they couldn’t get in her pants. Then they respected her, and she got along great with them.
OK, funny story time for the crayon eaters:
One time she loaned 20 bucks to a Squid, and he wouldn’t pay her back; he just didn’t care. So, a couple Jarheads overheard the conversation and gave her 20 bucks, then turned to the Squid and said now you owe us 20 bucks. He promptly paid, problem over.
I have a lot of respect for the Jarheads.
Toyoyas used to be great rides. I had a few of them over the years. 4 runners for the most part.
still have a 94 4ruuner I trying to get back on the road. last 4runner I had was a 2016. yup a MALL WAGON, nothing like the old 4runners. had 79,000 miles on it and it was a mess ! trans was acting up. steering was shit even after spending 700 on it. and then the dash lights came on and off at will ? last pickup was 2007 . great ride.
insurance company and shop fucked me on it- totaled it and made a killing on the parts.
anyway, anything below 2000 should be good to go if it runs. anything made in the 1980’s or so
GRAB IT. sold my 1989 4runner in 2 days on craigslist . guy came 3 states away with a trailer to take it home. the 22r engine is the best ever. buddy down the road just bought a tundra and traded it in 3 months later. so, they not what they used to be. I just grabbed a Nissan frontier as it was a better deal
and I can turn off all the crap ! Nissan is the ONLY new car/truck where you can do that.
I had a Volvo, built like a tank and ran forever. I was young and foolish and traded it in for something fast and sporty. What a fool! Hondas used to be extremely good cars, nowadays it is hit and miss. I saw a young thing in a cute Toyota the other day. Being a clever girl, I’m sure, she had a Yoda above the name tag and changed the tag to read “Toyoda”.Yes, lots of young men smiling and waving. Always have a sense of humor about your wheels. A KOA campground pass is good. They are clean, safe as anything these days, and I am sure you’d get the military discount. Between that and the parks, you could go anywhere. Pets are extremely good traveling companions. I see many young women who could also benefit from the rules list. Obese, tatted up, foul mouthed, and loud is not a way to live your life. Oh for the days of 1930 or 1940, when families were intact and their young women were thin and beautiful. Can’t wait to hear about the bike!!
Bike riding is how I started losing excess ballast.
I got in super shape after my divorce. Since there’s no drama, and no one else’s hands on my time I’m able to concentrate on my physical and spiritual health. I literally have a sixpack under that old man baggy skin. I was 275 when I started, Now I’m 190. So that stuff won’t be going away unless a surgeon trims it.
Fuggit. I’m not that vain.
Get fit, and you’ll be amazed the number of women around all of a sudden. In your (and my) target age group, they are plentiful. Frankly, I wasn’t ready for that. Your age, if fit, puts you in the top 10%. By the time I signed the papers, I was going on a date a week. Sometimes two.
The only mistake I made was trying to text, talk, and email the ex that first month or two. Big mistake. Months ago I was visiting my oldest. Every time the subject comes up, she’ll say Herself isn’t in a good place. Last time she said that, I told her that her mom deserves everything she has coming her way. We haven’t talked about her since. She doesn’t volunteer, I don’t ask. I don’t care.
Once that bond of trust is gone, there’s no going back. Every dude that I’ve seen do that has paid the simp toll.
BTW – it’s been my observation that many, if not most, women have zero understanding of the love and loyalty a dog has for it’s dude owner.
Good to hear you’re losing weight through exercise (said exercise wanted or not). Did you lose weight with your cancer? How is it comparing?
I dropped 20 lbs in under a month after the Swedish Girl bullshit. No appetite. Would prolly have been more if I hadn’t been drinking (but I’m a traditionalist). Anyway, by week three I was sick of the self pity, stopped the booze, and hit the gym. Also, it was taking a LOT more booze to get blotto — basically I was stress testing my liver and the old liver passed with flying colors, cranking out alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases like a champ. But I digress.
Years later I catch a nasty case of lymphoma and start chemotherapy. Dropped 20 lbs during/after the first round, which took three weeks. Lesson learned? Swedish Girl and cancer fucked me up equally. But SG also helped me out, unknowingly.
So round 4 of chemo they made me get a flu shot (unbelievably stupid). I got a pulmonary empyema (pus in the lung) as a result. They put in two chest tubes to drain it. It was loculated (multiple pockets) so they put in a THIRD chest tube. Which sucked. I was feeling sorry for myself until I remembered the last days with SG. “Mike,” I said to myself, “you’ve been through worse.” And I perked right up. Tack så mycket, Älskling. (Enough problems and they start solving each other.)