day to day life

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » May 14th, 2003, 8:52 am

When the rest of the world is behaving, and your in any area outside school, how structured is day-to-day life, and how much free time do you have?

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » May 14th, 2003, 12:23 pm

I have a regular job right now and Id be happy to trade it for a boiling enema. Between being an office monkey and going to school full time for the next few months, Im trading sleep for exercise because I dont want to turn into a rotund bald guy with a bad combover complete with spaghetti arms and chicken legs to complement the coffee breath.

Theres nothing like degenerating into a social retard while Im still young that would poison my memories when Im really old.

So the last thing I want, is a normal job. And the idea of a little sweat at odd hours is not going to change my mind.

Thanks for the (albeit, vague) heads up too. I do appreciate it.

Creeping Death · Post by **Creeping Death** » May 14th, 2003, 1:17 pm

Let's put it this way, when I was a cherry me and a buddy couldn't believe how long our days were, so we sat down in the wee hours one morning and figured up how much we made per hour - based on our pay rate and the average hours per week we were"on the clock".

Do I have any takers on what our hourly wage was? Anybody want to guess? ..............

The average hourly wage of a cherry E-2 private in A Co 1/75 in 1994 was .......

$0.245 / hour!! That's right girls - twenty four and 1/2 cents per God Blessed hour! (Flashback: strip, wax, buff. strip, wax, buff. smoke, smoke, smoke. strip, wax, buff.)

So, you do the rest of the math to figure out how much free time that equates to. It ain't much, I'll tell you that.

Cherries can't afford free time. They have too much to learn.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » May 14th, 2003, 1:35 pm

That sucks out loud. This obviously is not a profession for people in it for the money. I hope youre going to tell me you stayed in it for some reason other than because the Army contractually had you by the balls.

And feel free to elaborate.

Creeping Death · Post by **Creeping Death** » May 14th, 2003, 2:19 pm

I stayed in for one reason, and one reason only:

THERE AIN'T NOTHING WORSE THAN A DAMN QUITTER.

I didn't become a Ranger for the money.
I didn't become a Ranger because they looked cool in all the literature the recruiters show you.

I became a Ranger because I wanted to deal some fucking death. I didn't want to be the limp dick walking around, picking up somebody elses battfield trash. I wanted to be the VERY FIRST MOTHER FUCKER THAT PUT HIS BOOTS ON THE GROUND. THE VERY FIRST. Let the eighty deuche, the one 'o worst, and the fucking jarheads come play peace keepers, and count all the dead bodies I leave behind. There was just something inside of me that told me that I didn't want to be anybody elses' "relief". Fuck that.

And if you could look into the minds of most men that have survived in Bat., they will feel about the same way. Rangers aren't just soldiers, they are warriors. In my mind, there is a difference. I didn't want to be JUST as soldier. Warriors don't piss and moan, whine and complain when life starts to suck. When you haven't slept for three days, it's 30 degrees, and mother nature cocks her leg and starts to piss on you in a very cold rain, soldiers moan, warriors look up at the sky and scream "THE RAIN GOD IS A PUSSY!"

wannabehooah · Post by **wannabehooah** » May 14th, 2003, 3:39 pm

The order of the day is training and you will do plenty of that and when your not doing that and there's some tabbed SPC's around, you will most likely find yourself......well I don't want to spoil the suprise.....

What's the deal with E-4's? I have heard this mentioned several times.

Earthpig · Post by **Earthpig** » May 14th, 2003, 3:43 pm

A hearty HOOAH to you, Creeping...that was a damned fine post ( even for a 1st Bat'er...hehehe). Very well put!
RLTW
EP

Master J · Post by **Master J** » May 14th, 2003, 5:33 pm

yes,creeping death i must agree with EP.your post was most........well the throbbing is just now starting to fade.HOOAAHHHH!

Earthpig · Post by **Earthpig** » May 14th, 2003, 8:37 pm

donitz wrote:when your not doing that and there's some tabbed SPC's around, you will most likely find yourself......well I don't want to spoil the suprise.....---

Those same SPC4's occasionally like to go get sauced at the NCO Club, too.....and eventually they stagger back to the barracks, full of piss and vinegar. That is when you need to make yourself invisible, if you are a non-tabber, because that's when the 'good times roll.'

RLTW
EP

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » May 15th, 2003, 6:45 am

Creeping Death,

You share the enthusiasm (actually, moreso) my recruiters have, and posess the experience that they dont for the Ranger life. Its encouraging to see that you didnt come out grizzled and bitter from the time you spent in.

Everyone in the forum seems to recall their experience as a Ranger fondly, and I cant imagine anything in civilian life (legally) rivaling it, so what made you (and everyone else) leave?

Creeping Death · Post by **Creeping Death** » May 15th, 2003, 7:52 am

I came home for a number of different reasons.

1. At the time, I was almost twenty-six years old, was still single, no kids, no college degree, etc. I wanted to move on and accomplish other goals that I had for my life.

2. A damn woman. I had met a woman from back home, and it was getting serious. Like all women, she worried a lot, and I knew the lifestyle would be hard on her. I was ready to settle down and start a family. That is hard to do in Bat. (not impossible - just very hard).

3. Medical reasons. After ranger School I was told that something was wrong with my lungs, but they didn't know what. The "lab ratted" me for the rest of my enlistment, and on my last day in the Army a doc told me I couldn't be a Ranger anymore anyway - due to my lung problem. I am, and always will be Ranger through and through, and didn't give a rat's ass about doing anything else in the Army.

So, I came home.

1. College didn't work out. I am what some would call a "right wing wacko" and hated every excrutiating second of that liberal, socialist, cess pool.

2. The woman didn't work out. All I have to say about that is "pink padded room". Crazy bitch.

3. My lungs are still screwed, and always will be, which prevents me from going back. (Believe me, I've thought about it more than once)

Every single day since I left 1/75, I wish I had stayed. Compared to Ranger life, civilian life sucks.

Earthpig · Post by **Earthpig** » May 15th, 2003, 3:01 pm

Although I went in at a ripe age, I had planned on making Rangers/SPECOPS a career. A parachute malfunction caused me to burn in on a jump and I blew out 3 vertabrae. I was told that if it healed, I would only be able to work behind a desk, or in the best scenerio, be support staff in a Leg Unit. I told them that I didn't enlist to sit behind a desk....I enlisted to be a warrior. So, I took a Medical Discharge. Like Creeping, I've missed it ever since.
RLTW
EP

PS: I've tried twice to re-enlist, but was unsuccessful both times.

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » May 16th, 2003, 5:58 am

Earth Pig,

How common are accidents like that?

That kind of story makes me wonder if the 18 and 19 year old kids I see talking to recruiters really comprehend what theyre about to get into.

Im all for living without fear of the uncontrollable, but you almost ate it and it was just an accident. I havent even gotten to wondering about landing by a japanese farmer armed with pcp and a pitchfork yet.

When you guys were all in, how often did you come across people that would have been interested in killing you (given the chance), and did anybody you know go out and not come back?

Asking these questions to a recruiter draws little more than a nervous chuckle and a tapdance.