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Old 26-February-2008, 09:02 PM
Larry Jacks Larry Jacks is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,644
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Having served in both the Army and Air Force, I've seen both sides. Yes, the Air Force gets poked at and yes, many times they deserve it. In the case of PJs (pararescue) and other special ops troops, not so much.

I remember one classic cartoon from years ago that told it well:

Army Infantryman getting soaked in the rain: "This sucks."
Army Ranger moving through the rainy muck: "I LIKE the way this sucks"*
Green Beret (eating a snake): "I wish it would suck even more."
Pilot looking down: "Sure sucks down there."
Air Force enlisted man in his room: "What, the cable's out! This sucks!"

*Rain helps cover movement and mask sound, making it easier to sneak up on someone. Special Ops types often like sucky weather.

Heck, when I was there, the Army barracks were buildings that the air force condemned as not fit to live in.

When my youngest son was a surgical tech instructor in San Diego, he frequently taught Air Force personnel. The Air Force considered the Navy barracks (I refuse to call them dorms) substandard and wouldn't let their personnel live there.

One day, Jim was hosting an Air Force general who was touring the classrooms and facilities. When she asked why the Navy housing was so bad, he asked her, "Ma'am, have you ever been on a Navy ship?" When she said no, Jim made a few quick calls and got permission for her to tour the enlisting spaces on a destroyer. Compared to that, those Navy barracks looked pretty good.

Jim didn't point out that years earlier when he was a single enlisted guy living in those barracks, they were pretty bad. The thing that convinced him to move out was when he opened his locker one day and found a mouse had given birth inside.
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