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An OLD military story.

1K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  tarza 
#1 · (Edited)
When I was in the Army, I was on guard duty one night. Generally, the rotation came around about every 3 months for a 3 day weekend of guard duty. 4 hours on, 4 hours off, 4 on, 4 off, from friday evening until monday morning. YES, IT SUCKED. Anyway, We also rotated walking guard outside, or inside. There was one bunker that was the armory, and several more scattered around that were ammo dumps. This time, I was locked INSIDE the armory. Back then we used our assigned M16 and had two 30 round mags loaded. The mags had a piece of what can best be described as very thin pin stripe type tape over the top of the mag. That way, when you changed guard duty, the next guy didnt have to dump & count 60 rounds . You just handed him the mags. If the tape was intact, you knew you were good to go. The tape was so thin, it couldnt be removed without breaking it, and you would lock your bolt back, and insert the mag. If you needed to use the weapon, just hit the bolt release. ready to rock and roll.

Im walking around inside the armory, I come around the corner, and this guy is standing there out in the open about 8 feet away, looking at the weapons racks like he is shopping at walmart. And get this , he was wearing a canary yellow shirt, and purple pants. :confused: You coulda seen this clown on a moonless night. I stood there at the end of the isle, watching him for about a minute. He never noticed me and was talking to himself about " yeah, that ones nice. that will work,, I'll get 2 of those, one of those, etc.
When I unslung my rifle he seen me and charged. Just about the time I swing the rifle up he is coming full blast and the muzzle break smacks him right in the forehead. And wham, the bolt releases by itself. He goes arse over teet backwards and slams the floor. Knocked out cold.

The ole style M16 A1 muzzle break was the open prong type. And it split his scalp from forehead to the top of his head. And he bled like a stuck pig. You could easily see the skull bone amid the blood. I thought I killed the guy at first, but immedietely got on the phone and called the SGT of the guard, and the calvalry came a running. They unlock the door and come running in.

I thought I was probably in trouble somehow, as they woke the Captain up, and he wasnt known for being a very happy guy on a good day. So I just stood there keeping my mouth shut, waiting on the inevitable butt chewing. Since the guy was out cold, we just left him lay there until the MPs came. By then, there were probably 15 of the other armed guards in there. Plus the Captain and several sergeants. When they started gathering him up, he came to and started to bawl and complain about me "hitting" him.
The Captain, who looked like he was super pissed, and like he could chew a 16 penny nail in half, starts laughing like hell. He looks at the guy and says "HE HIT YOU? you stupid sum beech. Your lucky he didnt blow your damn head off. And he probably should have. And besides, where your going, that should be the least of your worries ."

After all was said and done, the Captain came over and ask me how he got in there? I just said I dont know, I was locked in here myself with no keys, soo,,,,?? He pats me on the back and says GOOD JOB. The following weekend, I got a three day pass, compliments of the Captain. About a month later, I also got a promotion. I never heard another word about the incident.

And he was lucky he even had a head at all. Because after I hit him and the bolt released, I was locked and loaded with the safety off and finger in the trigger guard. :eek:

So much for being in trouble. :D
 
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#2 ·
And you lived happily ever after. As for the other guy...
 
#9 ·
Really, all things considered, it is lucky it turned out like it did. Had he lowered his head and got under the muzzle, that whole thing could have gotten pretty ugly.
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys. :) Kinda long, :rolleyes: but I thought all the details were needed to fully understand the incident.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Definitely interesting, canary yellow, and purple, thats a crime all of its own.

I remember a story my father told me about his brother. My uncle was a tough ***. He originally joined the navy in 1944 they found out he was too young kicked him out, and he joined the army. He spent time in hiroshima in 1947 helping the japanese clean up the aftermath of the atomic bomb. Later in his career he became a green beret was part of the 7th group in operation white star, an advisor in Laos in maybe 1961 or after. I have one of his special forces patches from that time. Anyways once while he was state side at Bragg my father was visiting him. My uncle was a first sergeant. Well my uncle was making his rounds with my father tagging along and he came across one of his guys with his feet propped up asleep when he was on guard duty. His wallet and keys were laying on a window sill. My uncle went outside and swiped the wallet and keys from the window sill.. He then walked into the area and slammed the door. The soldier jumped up and acted as if he had never been asleep. My uncle asked him if he had been sleeping on the job, the reply was no, he said well its hard to steal an awake mans wallet and keys, and showed him both, the guy knew he was caught, never did find out what my uncle did to him but I am sure it wasn't purdy. Hold on I will see if I can find a picture of his old uniform that I have.

Here is his old 7th group patch sewn onto one of my coats when I was little.




This is his old uniform shirt he gave me, since when I was little I was crazy about anything military, and many, many, years later I still have it. From what I understand from friends that are current special operations guys, this was a very early SF uniform, before the special forces rocker. Maybe you guys can elaborate more on this than me.

 
#20 ·
Thats one use I didnt know about. We realized real quick that if the rifle was spotless clean, you could fire (3) 30 round mags and then, sure as sh#t, right on cue, it would fail to feed or extract. You wouldnt make it through a full mag after that without a problem.
 
#18 ·
just think, how many of those SMALL STORIES happen every day in the military? Not too belittle any of them, but these things happen all the time, no publicity, no acclaim, just a soldier doing what theyre supposed to do.

There were lots of things you could have done, but you stopped a nut-bar from messing something or somebody up!

Thanks, soldier, for your service.
 
#21 ·
(I know this is hand me down information). I was on Andrews Air base. And was told how some gang members out ran the cops. They went through the security fence at A AFB When the fence was breached the MPs came out of the wood work. I heard that there were a vast amount of man power. The gang members had weapons. But when the MPs showed up with ARs and M249-M240 -shotguns-50 cal . They knew they made a mistake. Don't know what happened to them. But I think it's safe to say they needed a good lawyer.
 
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