Lots of those guys count on the fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis in the early 70s to cover their trail. My friend outed some character who used that excuse, despite the fact he went in nearly a year after the fire.
Bizzare Military Encounters
- Thread starter Debi
- Start date
Stevedog
Truth Seeker
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2018
- Messages
- 1,455
- Reaction score
- 5,032
- Points
- 203
- Age
- 47
Just to add my 2 cents here.
I haven't read the entire article yet but I did find and read Vietnam Cave Creatures story as that's the one that seems to have people talking.. er..typing about it.
My own experiences are at least 25 years later and not during wartime. But the Army were sticklers about stuff like ammunition and ordinance when I was in. Every time we went to the range to shoot live ammo we would be stopped, inspected and searched at the end of the day to ensure we had "No Brass, No Ammo". On a training exercise our Captain had a smoke grenade but was disappointed that didn't need to use it. So as we packed up all the gear into the vehicles and were getting ready to head back he announced "popping smoke" because he really wanted to see the smoke. He seemed pleased with himself as we all drove away from a plume of red smoke. Then we got back and he was asked to turn the smoke grenade back into the arms room he said that he used it. So the sergeant asked for the "pin and spoon" to prove it had been used. The Captain ended up driving back out to the site with a couple of soldiers and flash lights to find them. On another occasion I had a Supply Sergeant who made me sign a form for 3 sheets of paper towel when someone spilled their coffee on the desk.
So it's a bit hard for me to imagine something like this story not being reported or recorded. But it was Vietnam so I can also see the rules being a bit different. What's more suspicious to me is that these creatures are described as upright lizards with black scaly skin, but also wearing robes with hoods. Kinda hard to get a good look at body shape and skin when someone is covered up like that.
I'm also having issue with the idea that everyone opened fire and all the vegetation was sheared away between the soldiers and the creatures. It's reminiscent of that scene in Predator where Bill Duke picks up a modified M134 "Ol' Painless" and starts firing along with the rest of the commandos. Of course that scene was done with a lot of Hollywood magic. In real life cutting down foliage like that, even with several thousand rounds of ammunition, isn't something that really happens. Leaves and small branches have a tendency to twist and move aside when shot. There are several videos online of people trying to cut down vegetation with gun fire and its nothing like in the movies.
I haven't read the entire article yet but I did find and read Vietnam Cave Creatures story as that's the one that seems to have people talking.. er..typing about it.
My own experiences are at least 25 years later and not during wartime. But the Army were sticklers about stuff like ammunition and ordinance when I was in. Every time we went to the range to shoot live ammo we would be stopped, inspected and searched at the end of the day to ensure we had "No Brass, No Ammo". On a training exercise our Captain had a smoke grenade but was disappointed that didn't need to use it. So as we packed up all the gear into the vehicles and were getting ready to head back he announced "popping smoke" because he really wanted to see the smoke. He seemed pleased with himself as we all drove away from a plume of red smoke. Then we got back and he was asked to turn the smoke grenade back into the arms room he said that he used it. So the sergeant asked for the "pin and spoon" to prove it had been used. The Captain ended up driving back out to the site with a couple of soldiers and flash lights to find them. On another occasion I had a Supply Sergeant who made me sign a form for 3 sheets of paper towel when someone spilled their coffee on the desk.
So it's a bit hard for me to imagine something like this story not being reported or recorded. But it was Vietnam so I can also see the rules being a bit different. What's more suspicious to me is that these creatures are described as upright lizards with black scaly skin, but also wearing robes with hoods. Kinda hard to get a good look at body shape and skin when someone is covered up like that.
I'm also having issue with the idea that everyone opened fire and all the vegetation was sheared away between the soldiers and the creatures. It's reminiscent of that scene in Predator where Bill Duke picks up a modified M134 "Ol' Painless" and starts firing along with the rest of the commandos. Of course that scene was done with a lot of Hollywood magic. In real life cutting down foliage like that, even with several thousand rounds of ammunition, isn't something that really happens. Leaves and small branches have a tendency to twist and move aside when shot. There are several videos online of people trying to cut down vegetation with gun fire and its nothing like in the movies.
WOW, that brings back some memories........... how bout "what makes the grass grow???"........lol
Stevedog
Truth Seeker
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2018
- Messages
- 1,455
- Reaction score
- 5,032
- Points
- 203
- Age
- 47
Regarding Stolen Valor and fake veterans. Sometimes a question as simple as "So what was your MOS?" Can trip them up.
An MOS is Military Occupational Specialty, it's the identification code for your Job in the military. So if someone was in the Army they wouldn't just say that they were Infantry, they would say 11B (eleven bravo), likewise they wouldn't simply call themselves a Cook, Tank Driver or MP, they would say something like "I was a 92 Golf, Cook." If they were in the Marines then their MOS would be a 4 digit number. My cousin was in the Marines and he said they used to haze the new guys when filling out paperwork by saying "This is the wrong form. Go to the supply room and ask for a stack of 3051s" at which point all the supply room staff would tackle and "dog pile" on the new guy because a 3051 is a supply clerk.
If someone gets the MOS question right you can ask about where they were stationed and where they did AIT, which is Advanced Individual Training. That's going to school to learn your specific job. There are lots of Military Bases in the US, but only a select few have Basic Training and AIT. If someone says they learned to be a "tank gunner" at Fort Rucker Alabama then that's a bit suspicious as armored vehicle schools are in Ft Benning Georgia.
This isn't secret information but also not really common knowledge. I have had friends and even my sister ask me questions about this because they just met a guy who claims to be Military/Ex-Military and they want to know if he's legit. I also used my knowledge at work when a guy submitted paperwork for a loan and provided his DD-214, which are discharge papers. To everyone else it was simply a matter of did we get the proper form. My boss however brought it to me and asked if it looked right. I said No as it was a photocopy with the bottom of the form cutoff. That's the part of the form that says if it was an Honorable Discharge or not. It turns out this guys discharge was not honorable.
An MOS is Military Occupational Specialty, it's the identification code for your Job in the military. So if someone was in the Army they wouldn't just say that they were Infantry, they would say 11B (eleven bravo), likewise they wouldn't simply call themselves a Cook, Tank Driver or MP, they would say something like "I was a 92 Golf, Cook." If they were in the Marines then their MOS would be a 4 digit number. My cousin was in the Marines and he said they used to haze the new guys when filling out paperwork by saying "This is the wrong form. Go to the supply room and ask for a stack of 3051s" at which point all the supply room staff would tackle and "dog pile" on the new guy because a 3051 is a supply clerk.
If someone gets the MOS question right you can ask about where they were stationed and where they did AIT, which is Advanced Individual Training. That's going to school to learn your specific job. There are lots of Military Bases in the US, but only a select few have Basic Training and AIT. If someone says they learned to be a "tank gunner" at Fort Rucker Alabama then that's a bit suspicious as armored vehicle schools are in Ft Benning Georgia.
This isn't secret information but also not really common knowledge. I have had friends and even my sister ask me questions about this because they just met a guy who claims to be Military/Ex-Military and they want to know if he's legit. I also used my knowledge at work when a guy submitted paperwork for a loan and provided his DD-214, which are discharge papers. To everyone else it was simply a matter of did we get the proper form. My boss however brought it to me and asked if it looked right. I said No as it was a photocopy with the bottom of the form cutoff. That's the part of the form that says if it was an Honorable Discharge or not. It turns out this guys discharge was not honorable.