Firewatch

[Utah Bob]

The cool weather takes me back........
November, 1966. Ft Benning GA. Basic Training.
I was on fire watch. "Make sure you keep coal in the furnace and patrol around the building so it don't burn down" I was told. Simple. No problem. I felt up to the task.
About 2am I went on shift and relieved the recruit in the furnace room. It was a cold cold Georgia night. Being from South Florida this was a unique and unpleasant experience for me. I was fascinated by this "coal" stuff of which they spoke. Black rocks that burned! I tossed some in the firebox and damned if it didn't begin to glow like dilitium crystals on the Enterprise. I tossed some more in. Same reaction. Who knew that you could set fire to rocks? Already the army had taught me something.
After several more large shovels full of the jet black lumps went into the flames, it got warm in the furnace room. I took a walk and cooled off. Returning to the toasty engine room I removed my shirt and shoveled some more like a stoker on a Dreadnaught from the past.
"More speed, me lads", yelled the Chief Engineer as the engine telegraph rang Full Speed Ahead. My imagination ran wild as I shoveled like a fiend, the coal dust caked on my sweaty brow. We plowed through the North Atlantic, stacks belching black smoke and sparks as we searched for targets worthy of our 16 inch guns!
Time of my life. Much more fun than KP or the Manual of Arms..

WHAM! The door burst open. "What the hell are you doing, you idiot?", yelled the acting corporal and his minions. "It must be 90 damn degrees in the barracks". They hesitated upon seeing my fearsome blackened visage and wild-eyed maniacal grin.
But they didn't hesitate for long and I was summarily snatched out of the furnace room and pummeled about the head and shoulders. All the windows in the barracks were opened to get the temperature down to sub volcanic level.
Eventually, you could touch the metal frames of the bunks without getting a second degree burn and everyone retired for what remained of the evening. I was locked out of the furnace room and finished my shift patrolling the perimeter of the building, dodging the occasional toilet brush, canteen, or sock full of soap bars that flew out the windows as muttered curses issued from the dark.
I pulled a lot of KP duty and road guard after that, but never fire watch again.

I'm still kind of amazed that you can burn a rock.

[mojaveman]

So who's the kid with the M-14? :p

I'd like to go back to Benning sometime and visit the Harmony Church area.

Pre-phase land navigation exercise Ft. Bragg, NC, April 1984. It was about 01:00 and there was a good sized fire burning in a stone ringed pit outside of the GP medium tent that several SF cadre members were sleeping in. A 20 year old SP/4 was sitting on a folding chair trying to keep warm and had his jungle boots right at the edge of the fire. Being dead tired after running land navigation all day he dozed off for just a few moments but was awoken when the rubber soles of his boots caught fire. He jumped to his feet and cursing he began stomping around on the sand and pine needles. Luckily he didn't wake anyone up and have to expain what happened. He didn't doze off anymore while on firewatch. ;)

[Dusty]

The cool weather takes me back........
November, 1966. Ft Benning GA. Basic Training.
I

:cool:

Brings back memories. Time went slow in those barracks.

I broke my ankle near the end of training, but convinced the Sr. Drill to let me take the final PT test, anyway, so I wouldn't have to go through the whole thing again. I was headed to Jump School, then Ft. Stewart!

Wound up in a holding company, then they sent me to Ft. Campbell...:rolleyes:

[Sonofagunny]

Now-a-days, fire watch entails cleaning the barracks. HVAC has eliminated the need to burn rocks for warmth or to open windows to ventilate. All of the modern barracks have modern fire detection and suppression systems installed. Thousands of privates are wondering, even as I type these words, "What effing fire?"

AND we have Nike boots. It's sometimes very difficult to feel as tough as the generations that came before...

[Dusty]

Now-a-days, fire watch entails cleaning the barracks. HVAC has eliminated the need to burn rocks for warmth or to open windows to ventilate. All of the modern barracks have modern fire detection and suppression systems installed. Thousands of privates are wondering, even as I type these words, "What effing fire?"

AND we have Nike boots. It's sometimes very difficult to feel as tough as the generations that came before...

Well, there's always Selection...;)

[Utah Bob]

So who's the kid in the picture with the M-14? :p

I'm going to go back to Benning sometime and visit the Harmony Church area.

Pre-phase land navigation exercise Ft. Bragg, NC, April 1984. It was about 01:00 HRS and there was a good sized fire burning in a stone ringed pit outside of the GP medium tent that several SF cadre members were sleeping in. A 20 year old SP/4 was sitting on a folding chair trying to keep warm and had his jungle boots right at the edge of the fire. Being dead tired after running land navigation all day he dozed off for just a few moments but was awoken when the rubber soles of his boots caught fire. He jumped to his feet and cursing he began stomping around on the sand and pine needles. Luckily he didn't wake anyone up and have to expain that his boots caught on fire because he fell asleep. He didn't doze off anymore while on firewatch. ;)
Never burned any boots but I ruint a poncho liner or two. ;)

[RichL025]

...I'd like to go back to Benning sometime and visit the Harmony Church area....


Don't bother. It's long gone. Nothing but pine woods and poorly paved roads being reclaimed by nature.

They have a couple of the old buildings at the Infantry Museum, though....