View Full Version : Barracks life...
mojaveman
01-04-2010, 02:17
Are there any members reading this who were living in the 5th Group barracks on Gruber Rd. back in the mid 80s?
One hot July Saturday afternoon some young SF soldiers were on the roof of the barracks wearing swimming trunks, sunning themselves, and drinking a few six packs of beer. Well, it just so happened on that particular afternoon that the Post Commander came flying by in an OH-58 at relatively low altitude. I guess the passengers in the helicopter saw the sunbathers and decided to circle a few times to get a better look. In a mad scramble the violators left the roof and went down and hid in someone's room. It was merely a short time later that the Military Police and the 5th Group duty officer showed up to investigate. A new lock was installed on the roof access door and stern warnings were later issued by Company Sergeants Major about tresspassing on the barracks roof. I thought the entire affair was rather amusing.
Unlike conventional units it seemed that personnel in the elite units could always get away with more. I can remember a number of guys living in the barracks who kept privately owned weapons in their wall lockers. One of my close friends in Group bought a SPAS-12 tactical shotgun and was showing it to me in his room onetime. I guess he wasn't entirely familiar with it and accidently fired it. The blast blew a good sized hole in the ceiling panel so we immediately replaced it with an extra one from a utility closet. I sometimes miss those days...
Does anyone have any funny (and clean) barracks stories they would like to share? I have a few more actually.
Dozer523
01-04-2010, 06:38
There was a guy on my Team at Campbell who kept his Harley in his room. (That's sorta what I heard . . . maybe)
We had four men to a room in the 7th SFG barracks and music was sometimes a problem - CW v Rock and the volume of some stereo systems...especially when the various 'hooch bars' in a couple of our rooms were open for business. Being a medic and working shifts at the WAH ER during a support cycle could also be an issue when it came to music being played too loudly and trying to get some sleep at odd times of the day. My solution was to go out and get an 8 track tape of Native American chants - I'd put it in my stereo and turn up the volume, leave the room and lock the door, leave the barracks and return about a half hour later. The barracks would then be deserted, I'd turn off the tape and go to sleep.
If you've never heard such chants at full volume, you're in for a real auricular stimulating treat. ;)
Richard
Ret10Echo
01-04-2010, 07:56
Mentioning P.O.W.s in the barracks always brings back memories of the health and welfare inspection that was held one early Saturday. Everything opened, ceiling tiles removed...etc...etc... As one of the senior NCO inspectors yanked open a wall locker in our room (4-man brick city rooms) the pistol in the shoulder rig (that was hung inside the door of the locker) swung out and almost hit the SGM in the head. He didn't notice. We were all trying not to laugh out loud since it almost smacked him again when he slung the door shut.....:D
They did find the bottle of bourbon in the golf bag though. :mad:
greenberetTFS
01-04-2010, 09:44
Did any of you guys ever lived in the old wooden barracks at ft. bragg when they put about 30 guys on the first floor and about that same amount upstairs.........:rolleyes:
Very little privacy then............... ;)
Big Teddy :munchin
The Reaper
01-04-2010, 10:19
Did any of you guys ever lived in the old wooden barracks at ft. bragg when they put about 30 guys on the first floor and about that same amount upstairs.........:rolleyes:
Very little privacy then............... ;)
Big Teddy :munchin
Yes, I did.
Nothing like sitting on the shitter with no privacy beside four other guys doing the same thing, or standing in a 10'x10' shower with them.
Makes for interesting conversations.:D
TR
Peregrino
01-04-2010, 10:25
I lived in those barracks from May 78 until Mar 83. That included several years of pulling CQ/runner. No, I'm not contributing. :p Some things don't have a statute of limitations and a few of the perpetrators are still alive/friends.
Are the old barracks near COSCOM still around? There was a small PX, a good sized PT field and quick access to miles and miles of dirt roads.
The Reaper
01-04-2010, 10:59
Are the old barracks near COSCOM still around? There was a small XP, a good sized PT field and quick access to miles and miles of dirt roads.
Gone.
The last ones I know of are the ones off Butner Rd., near Pope.
Our 4th Battalion were working out of them just recently.
TR
Ret10Echo
01-04-2010, 11:29
Did any of you guys ever lived in the old wooden barracks at ft. bragg when they put about 30 guys on the first floor and about that same amount upstairs.........:rolleyes:
Very little privacy then............... ;)
Big Teddy :munchin
Lived in the one's behind Shakey Jake's barber shop by the NCO academy for a little bit.
You got used to the C-130's taking off...but the C-5's took some getting used to.
mojaveman
01-04-2010, 11:29
Gone.
The last ones I know of are the ones off Butner Rd., near Pope.
Our 4th Battalion were working out of them just recently.
TR
I'll have to come and see them before they're gone. That's the area where the old 5th Group compound was back in '84-'87.
Had the wooden WW2 barracks in BCT, AIT, BAC and 300F-1. I knew I had made the right decision to go SF when I got to Bragg and SFTG/6th SFG/7th SFG barracks were red brick. :D
Classrooms and A/B Team buildings were still the old wooden buildings.
Richard's $.02 :munchin
The Reaper
01-04-2010, 11:50
I'll have to come and see them before they're gone. That's the area where the old 5th Group compound was back in '84-'87.
Further West on Pratt St. than the 5th Group buildings, these are just up the street from Pike Field.
Come by anytime. Most of our buildings are inside chain link though.
TR
5th Gp Barracks Rats lived in three different 3 story brick barracks over by the JFK Chapel between 1974 and 1980. The one next to the old mess hall and fronting the Gruber Rd parking lot was the last one. Moved in there somewhere around the summer of 77.
But around 76ish we all lived over in the COSCOM area in the wood barracks while the brick ones were updated. Each Company had a floor, single stacked bunks and I'd guess maybe 12 or so barracks rats per company.
That was another CQ detail while it lasted.
As for the original question - I ain't talkin'.
We had four men to a room in the 7th SFG barracks and music was sometimes a problem - CW v Rock and the volume of some stereo systems...especially when the various 'hooch bars' in a couple of our rooms were open for business. Being a medic and working shifts at the WAH ER during a support cycle could also be an issue when it came to music being played too loudly and trying to get some sleep at odd times of the day. My solution was to go out and get an 8 track tape of Native American chants - I'd put it in my stereo and turn up the volume, leave the room and lock the door, leave the barracks and return about a half hour later. The barracks would then be deserted, I'd turn off the tape and go to sleep.
If you've never heard such chants at full volume, you're in for a real auricular stimulating treat. ;)
Richard
I had an issue with this at Ft Lewis... I found that my CD of Whale sounds quieted down the jungle boots on medium heat in a dryer when left on all weekend long......
Did any of you guys ever lived in the old wooden barracks at ft. bragg when they put about 30 guys on the first floor and about that same amount upstairs.........Very little privacy then..............Oh, hell, yeah...old Division area when the newer barracks were being renovated...July 73 until ETS in December 74...No A/C, some sort of weird concrete concoction on the floor that wouldn't shine with water based floor wax, so we tiled the floors with asphalt tile so we would have something to polish...broom and mop racks in the back of the building, no sheet rock on the walls, which made winter there very...not so cozy...my platoon shared the building with the 2nd Platoon (Company HQ and 1st Platoon had another building)...by the time you put 25-30 guys, off-post lockers and a platoon CP on each floor in the building, the cockroaches had to hot-cot in order to rest...
I was in WWII barracks for basic and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood, then was in one of the last classes in the WWII barracks for BAC at Lawson Field...and of course, Ranger School was still in the WWII barracks for City Week and between phase breaks...such as they were...
Our team rooms at Devens were in WWII barracks and my team room in the 4th POG was in one of the WWII orderly rooms on Smoke Bomb...
It was probably late '79 or early '80 and I was one of those barracks rats in the Fifth Group.
The late night visits of the "Maggot Wagon" or "Roach Coach" or "Gut Truck" with its chiming bell music was getting on everyone's nerves. Shouts, obscenities, and threats did nothing to faze the operator who was determined to sell his crappy pizzas and hoagies at midnight.
But one night a whole new and very effective tactic was used. Out of the darkness a crossbow bolt punctured the speaker housing on the roof of his truck, right over his head. One shot, one "kill".
This "messsage" was very effective and his late night patrols came to a stop.
Firearms were very common in the barracks back then. Especially on weekends when there was time to take them out and shoot. I was getting started in IPSC competition and would have my 1911A1 in my room till Monday and then an off post team mate would take it home for me.
This "messsage" was very effective and his late night patrols came to a stop.
Star clusters, in the direct fire mode, worked to that affect, as well...:D
The Reaper
01-15-2010, 09:23
My Junior Engineer Sergeant conducted precision marksmanship training from his barracks window and engaged a boom box at a spirited basketball game a bit too early one Saturday morning with a .270 Winchester. After taking out the boom box, he also took out the basketball to end the game, reasoning that the penalty for two shots would not be that much worse than the penalty for one wrongful discharge of a firearm.
Of course, he then realized what the response would be and took off to an undisclosed location off-post for the remainder of the weekend.
Never got caught for that one.:D
TR
mojaveman
01-15-2010, 09:28
My Junior Engineer Sergeant conducted precision marksmanship training from his barracks window and engaged a boom box at a spirited basketball game a bit too early one Saturday morning with a .270 Winchester. After taking out the boom box, he also took out the basketball to end the game, reasoning that the penalty for two shots would not be that much worse than the penalty for one wrongful discharge of a firearm.
Of course, he then realized what the response would be and took off to an undisclosed location off-post for the remainder of the weekend.
Never got caught for that one.:D
TR
Great story TR,
Once when a few barracks inhabitants had too much time on their hands they made an anonymous phone call to the Military Police. When the MPs showed up at the barracks and went into the CQ office the perpetrators ran outside with a bayonet and did a number on all four tires of the squad car.
They probably should have had better ways to amuse themselves...
Dozer523
01-15-2010, 12:28
If you really want "vintage" WWII barracks try North Fort Lewis.
I was an ROTC cadet during the Summer of 1977 and was across the way from the same one during pre-mob in 2006. I even found my name still etched in the 2x4 behind the wall locker. (The locker might have been changed but I bet the foot lockers had never left the building.)
They warned us that they were so old and had been painted so many times that they would be fully engulfed in minutes.
Nothing had changed on that part of NF but the size of the trees.
They are building lots of new stuff now. But I hope the old Barracks never go.
If you really want "vintage" WWII barracks try North Fort Lewis.
I was an ROTC cadet during the Summer of 1977 and was across the way from the same one during pre-mob in 2006. I even found my name still etched in the 2x4 behind the wall locker. (The locker might have been changed but I bet the foot lockers had never left the building.)
They warned us that they were so old and had been painted so many times that they would be fully engulfed in minutes.
Nothing had changed on that part of NF but the size of the trees.
They are building lots of new stuff now. But I hope the old Barracks never go.
New versions of those old style barracks will someday come back. The newer, not so new barracks of the 82nd style are in terrible conditions. I think building the WWII style is cheaper, allows for platoon/squad leadership and easier to maintain. All things being equal, they lasted longer.
Same can be said for the tar paper shacks of Camp KacKall.
Dozer523
01-15-2010, 13:17
New versions of those old style barracks will someday come back. The newer, not so new barracks of the 82nd style are in terrible conditions. I think building the WWII style is cheaper, allows for platoon/squad leadership and easier to maintain. All things being equal, they lasted longer.
Same can be said for the tar paper shacks of Camp KacKall. I agree. I liked my PSG in that little room on the first floor by the front door. I took a lower bunk in the middle of my squad. Except for how awful Ft Lewis weather was from Dec06-Mar07, that was a very contented part of my life. Well, except for the SNORING!
LongTabSigO
01-15-2010, 17:25
There was a guy on my Team at Campbell who kept his Harley in his room. (That's sorta what I heard . . . maybe)
"Buckethead"...i remember that guy.
His goal, if i recall correctly, was to have 7 Harleys - one to ride for each day of the week.
LongTabSigO
01-15-2010, 17:31
From my days in the 5th Group barracks across Gruber from the chapel...I thought it was completely normal to have some guy yelling "Pizza, Subs, and Sodas at the CQ Desk!" every night. After a while it was a full menu...
mojaveman
01-15-2010, 22:54
Star clusters, in the direct fire mode, worked to that affect, as well...:D
Speaking of star clusters, back in the Summer of '83 when I was in the 9th Division at Ft. Lewis, WA I went and saw AC/DC at the Tacoma Dome. About midway through the concert just as they began to sing "This house is on fire" some idiot GI fired off a star cluster straight towards the ceiling. The flaming projectiles ricocheted around in the rafters for a second and then fell down into the crowd. Everyone started screaming as I'm sure many of the civilians didn't know what it was. Security forces grabbed the GI and escorted him out. I read in the paper the next week that he got his 16 year old girlfriend to smuggle the device into the concert inside of her clothing. Turns out he got fined $8,000. by the State of Washington and also got into trouble on the military side for having ordnance in his possesion. His sweetheart ended up getting stuck with a few charges too.
Speaking of star clusters, back in the Summer of '83 when I was in the 9th Division at Ft. Lewis, WA I went and saw AC/DC at the Tacoma Dome. About midway through the concert just as they began to sing "This house is on fire" some idiot GI fired off a green star cluster straight towards the ceiling. The flaming projectiles ricocheted around in the rafters for a second and then fell down into the crowd. Everyone started screaming as I'm sure many of the civilians didn't know what it was. Security forces grabbed the GI and escorted him out. I read in the paper the next day that he got his 16 year old girlfriend to smuggle the device into the concert inside of her clothing. Turns out he got fined $8,000. by the State of Washington and also got into trouble on the military side for having ordnance in his possesion. His sweetheart ended up getting stuck with a few charges too.
I heard that story, it reminded me of the time when 1SG Horn came through the barracks getting us to "empty" the wall in the latrine. As students we stored extra training aids outside of the supply room. Items in supply were accounted for, ammo, star clusters, etc., in our "wall" were not. Health, Safety, Welfare Inspectors came through the barracks, we had just gotten everything out only hours before the walk-through. Good thing no one inspected the company van or our POV's.
Four, or (five, including the ISG) had to sign blood oaths.
I'll think of the CO CDR soon, short Latino guy from 7th Grp who married a white girl from GA. He himself was a Contra rebel, before his citizenship.
mojaveman
01-16-2010, 10:16
If you really want "vintage" WWII barracks try North Fort Lewis.
I was an ROTC cadet during the Summer of 1977 and was across the way from the same one during pre-mob in 2006. I even found my name still etched in the 2x4 behind the wall locker. (The locker might have been changed but I bet the foot lockers had never left the building.)
They warned us that they were so old and had been painted so many times that they would be fully engulfed in minutes.
Nothing had changed on that part of NF but the size of the trees.
They are building lots of new stuff now. But I hope the old Barracks never go.
Interesting Dozer,
I remember those old barracks on North Fort but didn't get to live in any WWII era barracks until I went through Infantry School at Benning in early '84. It was during the Winter and I froze my toochee off.
ZonieDiver
01-16-2010, 18:28
We used to climb out the screened window of our SFTG barracks on the second floor and move along the landing to cut the shoestrings that held six-packs of beer hanging from closed windows.
We had integrity, and only cut the strings holding the beer of the Engineer students at the other end of the Company H barracks. Never steal from a fellow "Billy Bang Bang"! :D
mojaveman
01-16-2010, 19:17
I remember that loud steros were a constant problem in USAREUR. When I was at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart in the early 80s the problem got so bad that the Post Comander authorized the Military Police to remove stero componets from the rooms of repeat offenders.
Me and some of the other country boys had our own solutions. The enormous four story barracks that were built during the Third Reich were about 50 meters apart from each other. One Summer night some homies were blasting rap at loud volume from their barracks room with their windows open. We had a wrist rocket and a package of 1 oz. lead sinkers that we had bought earlier at the Rod and Gun (bottle) Club. Anyway, we let go with a few sinkers and managed to get a couple through their window. A few seconds later it closed and took care of the loud music.
I had fun in the Army...
ZonieDiver
01-16-2010, 20:42
I, too, had fun in the Army (looking back, of course). While in the 3rd Bn/5th Inf of the 193rd Bde at Ft. Kobbe, CZ- my Bn CO came into my NCO room and commented on the "stuff"therein - stereo, scuba gear, u/w photo stuff, etc. He then mentioned to my roomie, also a 'cast-off' from 8th SFGA, that since Sgt Doran has spent ALL of his money, perhaps he could invest in curtains!
I helped build a "rathskellar" in our barracks there, helped sponsor movies every weekend in the Bn Hq mess, and ran night nav and patrolling classes for the leg troopies on weekends. One takes his "SF" with him - no matter where he goes. Although I hated having to leave SF, I enjoyed my "leg" infantry time. Most of them were "good troops" - just lacking in training and leadership, which was an ideal situation for an SF trooper!
One takes his "SF" with him - no matter where he goes. Although I hated having to leave SF, I enjoyed my "leg" infantry time. Most of them were "good troops" - just lacking in training and leadership, which was an ideal situation for an SF trooper!
I had a friend who left CAG in order to make E8. He finished his career in Hawaii, 25th INF, retiring as a Company 1SG.
He said it was a great duty station with great troops to lead. Funny thing, after his retirement a curtain number of well trained Rangers showed up for Selection.