Remember.....

[Zulu 36]

FISTFU68- Belay that info on the 5th Marines! You are correct, sir. It is the 6th that rates the citation cord. (5th was at Chosin, not WWI France)
drumcorpssnare

So sorry, but the 5th Marines also rate the French Fourragere. They were brigaded with the 6th Marines in France during WWI.

The shoulder cords worn by others are actually called aguliettes. They are designators (bandsmen, aides, etc), not citations. Only the Fourragere is a citation.

[drumcorpssnare]

Zulu 36- I stand corrected. Too often I "shoot from the hip" with what I "think" I know. Appreciate the correction. And now...back to the show!
drumcorpssnare

[Camper51]

[quote=The1stSgt]drumcorpssnare,

15. cumshaw, (I'm not sure if that's spelled right, probably comshaw) is bartering or trading goods. A marine that was a good "conshaw artist" could usually get you anything you wanted.

quote]

cumshaw is how I learned to spell it.

A good cumshaw artist could get you anything you wanted and he did not necessarily barter or trade for it, he just got it and you darn well never asked how he got it, just accept the fact he did...

It was always good to have a good cumshaw man in your unit, unless you didn't mind doing without...

[drumcorpssnare]

camper 51- There was a loan-shark in the Drum Corps at K-Bay when I was there. He would loan any amount, for twice that amount, on payday. You could count on him for the loan. Sometimes it was rough payin' it back.
Hey...I thought loansharkin' was illegal in the Naval Services!!!

drumcorpssnare

[jinelson]

by drumcorpssnare - jinelson- I'm familiar with MOST of your list in post #5 of this thread. Please give me the "scuttlebut" on line items 4, 7, 9, 10, 15, & 18. Thanks.

by The1stSgt - 4. TL-29, is an all metal folding utility work knife.

7. Rocks and Shoals, was the military law before the UCMJ.

10. EMI and EPD, extra military instruction and extra punitive duty

15. cumshaw, (I'm not sure if that's spelled right, probably comshaw) is bartering or trading goods. A marine that was a good "conshaw artist" could usually get you anything you wanted.

18. TH3 (I don't have a clue)

The1stSgt is correct as they normally are with the small exception of EPD which was Extra Police Duties, but meant the same. Both were forms of correction were dealt out by NCO's and SNCO's without the formality of office hours or nosey officers to mess up Page 11's in SRB's.

As for item 18 TH3 is simply the chemical name for Thermite. We carried the grenades in trucks on convoy in Nam in case we were in indian terretory and had a break down. We would place one on the engine and melt the block and throw one or two on top of the load to render it useless to the enemy. In ITR and Staging we were taught that they were to be used to place down artillery barrels to permenantly take them out of action but the gooks didnt have arty.

Cumshaw or Comshaw was what I was best at and many Officers and SNCO's were sad when I received PCS orders. A Marine Sergeant commanding an ten truck convoy and holding a clip board could order the Army and Air Force loaders to load the trucks with anything without question. LMAO and they did it over and over without question at the Danang Supply Dump. I only tried it once on the Marines at FLC and got caught.

AN-M1

The grenade will burn at 2200 C and will destroy any equipment it is placed on and will ignite any flammable material within 2 m. The grenade will burn its way throw 15 mm of armor plate and will burn underwater. The thermite burns for 60 seconds.

Weight: 0.90 kg
Effective range: 25 m
Fuse Delay: 2 Seconds
Grenade type: D

[Camper51]

camper 51- There was a loan-shark in the Drum Corps at K-Bay when I was there. He would loan any amount, for twice that amount, on payday. You could count on him for the loan. Sometimes it was rough payin' it back.
Hey...I thought loansharkin' was illegal in the Naval Services!!!

drumcorpssnare

but a cumshaw man is not a loanshark, nor does he ever "loan" things. He "procures" them for the unit...

[jinelson]

I preffered the word liberated over procured. Procured could fall under misappropriation in a butter bars mind.

Jim

[Zulu 36]

7. Rocks and Shoals, was the military law before the UCMJ.

Technically, Naval Regulations.


I had the honor of knowing several superior cumshaw men or scroungers.

I was the getaway truck driver in the "procurement" of a pallet (88 cases) of beer from the Army in Vietnam. The SNCO in charge of our detail (PFC me and two corporals) was a Gunny. This was the classic "sergeant with clipboard and work detail" ploy. Nothing was safe from him if it was Army or Air Force property. A photo of us next to the Conex box we stashed the beer in shows the Gunny and the corporals with big sh*t eating grins. I looked like I was next in line for the gallows. Ah, young grasshopper had much yet to learn.

A friend from boot camp, ITR, and truck driver school was the cumshaw man for the group motor pool. He believed in trading first, and was very successful, but had no scruples about thievery if necessary. The motor pool shop was so well provided with spare parts they actually kept close to a full compliment of admin deadlines. That was something almost unheard of in a combat zone. He made meritorious corporal for his work.

My unit in Vietnam had two guys arrested by the AF cops for burglary and stealing TV sets. Turns out, they got caught on their fourth trip of the night. The missing TVs were found in our barracks in various rooms. At office hours, the CO asked them how much they sold the TVs for. "Nothing, Sir. We were giving them away. Didn't cost us anything and we won't make money on our friends." They got a small fine and three month suspended bust. Had they been selling the TVs to unit members, the CO would have referred them for court martial. The Air Force was not happy - they wanted a firing squad. Hey, they got their stupid TVs back.

[The1stSgt]

I was an "air winger" during the Viet Nam war.

My squadron (VMFA-122, F-4B Phantom II's) was at Cubi Point in the Phillipines getting our final act together to go in country (Chu Lai, 60 miles south of Da Nang).

The morning the maintenance personnel flew out (VMGR-152, KC-130 Hercules'), another mech and myself stole a Navy flatbed flightline tractor and drove it up the rear ramp of the 130 while it was turning up. We quickly chained it down, the ramp was close and off to Chu Lai we go.

That tractor was used by everybody in our squadron at some time or another. GO NAVY!

[Zulu 36]

I was an "air winger" during the Viet Nam war.

I was in VMA-211. We robbed the Army blind in Vietnam (there was a battalion of the 1st Air Cav next door to us). A lot of those "spare parts" for the motor pool came from them.

We had to be a little nicer to the Air Force as we sat in the middle of their base (Bien Hoa) and they had a better chance of spotting their stolen gear. We kept large items restricted to the Army.

The Air Force cops tried raiding our barracks one night without our command being aware of it. It was an ugly fight and the Marine Corps won of course. We did have to return about five .38 revolvers taken from SPs as they were being thrown down the ladderways. Funny thing, we were innocent of the theft of the crap they accused us of stealing. Geeze, B&E one warehouse for TVs and you're marked for life.

VMA-311 stole the stuff.

[DWG]

This all reminds me of MSgt. Clancey(Jay C. Frippen) in Flying Leathernecks-the "king of scroungers". "Pay no attention to the holes in the tents where the serial numbers should be, just coincidence". and "have you checked with those artillery guys, they're known to steal, ya know".

I was always told if anything was taken for the use of the unit it wasn't stealing, since it wasn't leaving the Corps. Just a matter of redistribution to the more deserving!

[Zulu 36]

Ah, but we NEVER stole from Marines when the Army and Air Force were around. One must have certain ethical standards, y'know.

[ggyoung]

Aww the army had all the good stuff. Lots of food, beer and hard drink. The air force had it better than the army. We did manage to get lots of beer from the army, still on pallits. two 20kw generaters 1 good water buffalo tons of sand bags (wich we put to good use on hill 55 Feb. 66 ) At that time nobody wanted to be around hill 55. When me son graduated from boot camp 2002 I ask his DIs if as punishment if they could use the old NCO and put them shining GI cans or diging a " 6x6x6" they said no way it would be herasment.

[FistFu68]

SO THE VERY FINE~DOUGHNUT DOLLY~AFTER A GREAT BOOM-BOOM:I FEEL A GREAT SENCE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT,I DID NOT STEAL HER RED MAGGIE'S DRAWER'S~OR RIP THEM OFF!THEY WERE (LIBERATED FROM A ROUND EYE~BEAUTY FROM 'BAC IN THE WORLD)S/SGT.WRITE ME UP FOR THE MEDAL OF LOVE!!!(LMFAO)FOR THE GALLANT LIBERATION~OOHRAH

[iamcloudlander]

1stsgt I to was in VMFA-122 at DaNang in 1967 and at the time we had to fly our F-4B's to Cubi Point to wash them.
The Gunny in charge of the flight line shop drove an Air Force crash crew water truck into another VMGR-152 C-130 and brought it back to Danang. We took it to the Mag-11 motor pool and they painted it red and put Marine Motor T stickers all over it. The AF came looking for it but didn't recognize it due to the great camoflauge work done by Motor T. Will post a picture of it when I dig it out of the archives
Oh yes I was always one step ahead of you in your assignments I left just as you were arriving funny huh.