Interesting Seabee Story

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
02/20/2018 at 16:39 • Filed to: None

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DISCUSSION (26)

Mercedes Streeter > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 16:49

And we wonder why Japan doesn’t want us around anymore..

Wacko > Mercedes Streeter
02/20/2018 at 16:52

I think that still has more to do with the 2 Atomic bombs that the USA dropped on them.

Mercedes Streeter > Wacko
02/20/2018 at 16:57

Aaaaaand I’m going straight to Hell for laughing at that.

Remember, we originally (Edit: as in after we decided to bomb them) wanted to drop 9 on them too..

lone_liberal > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 16:59

“Our senior leaders are entrusted to uphold the highest standards of personal and professional conduct at all times,”

I once saw a command senior chief moon the entire command during a hail and farewell party. He did it from a second floor walkway so everybody could get a good view. Then again, that was Diego Garcia and most people were drunk most of the time.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Mercedes Streeter
02/20/2018 at 17:00

Well, originally we wanted to invade them and expected so many casualties that all purple hearts handed out since WW2 were minted in anticipation of the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Last I heard we still have some 200k purple hearts left from that order.

Mercedes Streeter > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
02/20/2018 at 17:03

Last I heard we still have some 200k purple hearts left from that order.

That whole paragraph is morbid...but holy crap, that sentence.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Mercedes Streeter
02/20/2018 at 17:54

I think you’re spot on. Precisely because this happened in Japan, the Navy sacked the leaders.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Mercedes Streeter
02/20/2018 at 17:56

Have you read “The English Patient?” The entire premise of that novel was to build up to the idea, in the closing paragraphs, that the US would never have dropped those bombs on white people. Beautiful book, though. A bit heavy sledding at times, but beautiful and lyrical throughout.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
02/20/2018 at 17:58

That’s quite a story. You should run that one past Ttyymmnn. He’s probably know.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > lone_liberal
02/20/2018 at 17:59

What’s not said here, and what Miss Mercy hit upon, was that the current misbehavior took place in Japan. When I posted the story, I was wondering if anyone would comment on that part.

Mercedes Streeter > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 18:00

I haven’t read it! I’ve heard of it though. Maybe it’s time I ought to get back into heavy reading. :)

But, I believe it. We may not have fully understood the consequences of using an atomic bomb in warfare, but it certainly didn’t seem like we really cared (at least, at first).

haveacarortwoorthree2 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 18:04

Seebees? More like Seeballs, amirite?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Mercedes Streeter
02/20/2018 at 18:07

I’m no historian. And I don’t necessarily appreciate it when a novelist uses a novel that I’ve spent 40 hours reading to give me such abject social commentary. But in this case, the book was SO good, and the commentary SO relevant, that I’m good with it.

Are you familiar with the film adaptation? In the novel, the protagonista is 18. The protagonist, the Indian named Kip, is 19 . The author refers to him as the boy throughout. In the film, the actor who plays Kip is like 35. That novel is a coming of age story and as usual, Hollywood did their dirty to it.

My daughter once said, and I quote: “Never judge a book by its movie.”

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > haveacarortwoorthree2
02/20/2018 at 18:07

More like not career-enhancing.

lone_liberal > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 18:16

Yeah, with all of the stuff that’s happened there fucking up in Japan is not a good look for anybody and especially not the senior leadership.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > lone_liberal
02/20/2018 at 18:42

And they’re not very senior: looks like an O-5 and an E-9.

lone_liberal > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 18:48

Well, E-9 is as senior as you get. It’s kind of strange that the CO is a just a commander but the senior enlisted is a master chief, but I guess that’s what happens in smaller commands. My duty station in Spain only had 40 people stationed there and it had a commander and a senior chief as the senior leadership.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > lone_liberal
02/20/2018 at 21:30

Senior is an E8, no? I saw one LTCDR on one of the three blokes, but didn’t look any closer. Career ending move for those guys.

My bird IS the word > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/20/2018 at 23:43

That is not how I expected that story to go at all. I was expecting the three “navy unit leaders” to have dragged their drunk XO’s ass out in the woods as a prank and left him there. This is less amusing.

My bird IS the word > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
02/20/2018 at 23:47

Wow, that is a batshit war fact I have never heard. 10 points.

I watched a video the other day that Japanese kamakazi plane tactics resulted in fewer Japanese casualties than regular attacks. A Japanese commander quoted as saying air defenses were so good that regular attacks were inherently suicidal to begin with.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > My bird IS the word
02/20/2018 at 23:54

All of them losing their jobs seems appropriate to me. The story comes from Navy.mil, so I’m not quick to label it liberal media fake news.

My bird IS the word > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/21/2018 at 00:20

Not like you can make up this kind of shit. It happens. Rarely does anyone get called out for it, which I think is the most surprising.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Mercedes Streeter
02/21/2018 at 08:40

I double checked it, it looks like the actual number is 120k left. The DoD commissioned 1.5 million in anticipation of invading the home islands, by the end of WW2 there were still 500k left. We have so many of them they are actually kept in stock in theater so they can be presented immediately to injured soldiers.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > My bird IS the word
02/21/2018 at 12:28

Truth is stranger than fiction. I think the leaders got sacked because the thing took place in Japan. There has always been sensitivity to American service members behaving badly in Japan.

What were you suggesting to me about a buffer the other day?

My bird IS the word > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/21/2018 at 12:31

Forget about it. I just prefer to not read political shit until I click into it. I always do so IDK what I am complaining about.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > My bird IS the word
02/21/2018 at 12:33

Fair enough.