trying to grok

Haha! You can really open a can of worms with this one.

In the late 70s, my brother and I were both home on leave. He was in the Air Force and I was (and still am) Army. Because of a shortage, he was never issued boots (he was in personnel). He was so impressed with mine that I went to Army clothing sales and bought him a pair just so he would have one. I have no idea if he ever wore it.

Fast forward to 1984, now assigned to the 15th Engineers at Ft Lewis, WA. We're doing field duty at Yakima Firing Center. It's a desert area in central Washington state. We lived in fighting positions and ate food out of small, green cans (C-rations). The Air Force team with us kept complaining about the substandard living conditions. They were soon told to "shut up or they can make their own camp". They promptly moved across the road from us. So as we sat in our foxholes, no baths, and eating C-rats; we watched them tanning in lawn chairs, sleeping in civilian tents, and the occasional Domino's Pizza delivery. At night, as we observed light discipline, we could see their lights, TVs, and hear their generators humming.

No one ever said life was fair.

My DH can sleep anywhere. Even standing up! most of my other army wife friends say that too... amazing. BUT he hates the dentist, doesn't fall asleep there!

LAW

When I was stationed in Kuwait I used to hate going to work on the AF computers, it was very depressing for a Army soldier to go from the Dirt and Tents of the dessert to the ballroom of the 4 star hotel where the AF was 'camped' at. But it was nice every now and then to get in to the ac and to eat of the free buffet line. So much better then the damn MRE's.

Reminds me of the last phase of Ranger School, which is located at Camp Rudder, on the back side of Eglin AFB. By the time we came in from the field portion of the phase, we were extraordinarily dirty and hungry. But, because Camp Rudder is on an Air Force Base, the mess hall was run to Air Force standards. For a bunch of guys to whom an extra MRE was heaven, being able to eat that great Air Force chow was too much. I seem to recall a number of us eating ourselves sick, then going back for seconds. Yes, at Air Force mess halls, you can go back for seconds!

I'm so glad you liked the post. The base I was living on at the time of this story was Peterson AFB in Colorado which is located on the east side of Colorado Springs. To the south is Fort Carson, a very large Army base that starts at the base of Cheyenne Mountain (home of NORAD where I worked) and stretches far to the south. Among other things they train in the tanks down range which consists of some very dry desert-like conditions.

On the north side of the city is the Air Force Academy. (Believe me, the Army-Air Force games were UNBELIEVABLE! hmmm, that would probably be a good post too...)

R1 - if you were eating C-Rats I feel REALLY bad for you. They haven't been making them since the MRE's came out (to my knowledge) so that had to be pretty old. Although they are supposed to have an incredibly long shelf life... I always seemed to get stuck with the pound cake that tasted like sand. Even when you put the peaches with it, it was barely edible.