Any "Brats" here?

KevinP73 · 07-16-2008, 10:14 PM

I'm just wondering if there are any "Brats"here.
I don't have any Boot Camp stories to share but I could tell a couple about growing up "behind the wire". Dad was Army. More precisely he was a CWO3 Nike Hercules Missile Specialist. He was also pretty good with with the "Hawk" missile. He was a "Lifer" as they would say. Guess that makes me a Brat, but hey I'm good with that. You want to see a movie about my life (and about a million other Brats ) rent the movie "The Great Santini" with Robert Duvall. It's pretty accurate.
How 'bout you? Are you a Brat?

mossguy · 07-16-2008, 10:17 PM

I'm not, but my son is!

Tom

mikester · 07-16-2008, 10:21 PM

Air Force brat here - I loved it. Dad started out as a mechanic, moved up to crew chief for f-4s and then became a flight engineer for c-130s out of hurlbert field. He was in Iran for a certain episode during the carter administration. In the mid 80's he got a gig as flight engineer for the new KC-10 Extender and we moved out to California. He did his 20 and retired into the civilian aviation industry working to ATA for a while as well as working as an Airframe and Powerplant mech here and there in Florida. Now he works for Lockheed teaching people how to fabricate airplane parts for various aircraft like the f-22, f16 and C-130 (STILL!!).

I loved being on base, I wish we had traveled more but dad got some pretty sweet long term gigs.

KevinP73 · 07-16-2008, 10:24 PM

Long term gigs are rare. We moved every two to three years. I saw an awfull lot of this world on Uncle Sams dime.

mikester · 07-16-2008, 10:30 PM

Yeah, we moved around a bit during Dad's first 3-5 years but once he got on a flight crew we were stable from about 77-84 at Hurlbert and then from 84-94 when Dad retired at March. We also never went overseas.

KevinP73 · 07-16-2008, 10:37 PM

Dad/we did a tour in Tokyo one on Okinawa and then Bitburg/Spangdahlem, Germany just before he retired. We had a couple long transit layovers in Greenland and one time in Alaska and my favorite was Fort Derusey on the big island of Hawaii.

widgeon13 · 07-17-2008, 04:11 AM

I'm a brat. My father was a meteorologist at various SAC bases. He retired as a bird colonel and spent some pretty good years enjoying life before he died. Can't tell you how many times we moved in 30 years. No complaints from me.

mikester said he loved being on bases, to this very day, I still feel at home when I'm on a military base or what was a base. Great times sneakin into the stag bar at the "O" club , on the way to the post theater for a movie. Trip to the movies was $.50 and that included popcorn, snowcaps and admission. Rode my bike over to the flight line on Sat and watched the B47's take off w/ jato assist. You could feel it in your stomach. Used to love it when they scrambled the alert crews for practice, at least you hoped it was for practice. Very exciting place to grow up.

masraum · 07-17-2008, 05:03 AM

Navy brat. Pensacola, FL - Misawa, Japan - Pensacolo - Misawa - Wash DC - then when I was in college they did 3 years in Rota, Spain. I got to stay with them a couple of summers in Rota.

stomachmonkey · 07-17-2008, 05:11 AM

Army brat.

Joeaksa · 07-17-2008, 05:18 AM

My God you guys are bringing back memories. Like Widgeon for some reason I still feel "at home" when on base.

Remember your first time in the PX or when you got a bit older when you got to go in the Class Six?

Danimal16 · 07-17-2008, 05:47 AM

Had my first legal beer at the Staff NCO club at LTA Tustin. My Dad bought it for me.

widgeon13 · 07-17-2008, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

My God you guys are bringing back memories. Like Widgeon for some reason I still feel "at home" when on base.

Remember your first time in the PX or when you got a bit older when you got to go in the Class Six?

When I was stationed in Germany, I was junior officer on a small kasern and had responsibility for all non tac facilities, class VI, post exchange, commissary, housing, schools etc., etc. It was fun but a real PITA at times since everybody out ranked me. Boy did they get pissed when they didn't get into permanent housing as soon as they wanted. I had the power, they had the rank, very funny situation. I lived off post just to keep the harassment factor down.

My biggest PITA was a major's wife, Mrs. Kraut (great name for a major in Germany) she always complained about the date of time stamped food in the commissary. She was forever writing her congressman, you know what that led to. She also complained about getting beef from New Zealand, she wanted it from US. Those were the good old days.

id10t · 07-17-2008, 06:51 AM

Not me... Dad did his Army time at the end of WW2 as a quartermaster, somewhere in Italy. I didn't arrive on the scene until '71. (I'll let y'all do the math on that)

KevinP73 · 07-17-2008, 07:47 AM

Anyone experience/suffer from any "Brat Issues" such as a "Them/US" mentallity, or the "Lack of roots" issue? What about merging into mainstream society?

Jim Richards · 07-17-2008, 07:52 AM

Mmmmm, brats.

Rikao4 · 07-17-2008, 07:55 AM

Brat here,
I take it as a benefit,
you learn to go with the flow,adapt , your exposed to different places,cultures.
Would not trade the experience, I loved it.

Rika

crustychief · crustychief's Garage

I missed out on my dads Airforce time but my three boys are Navy brats ( at least for 62 more days!).

mikester · 07-17-2008, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinP73

Anyone experience/suffer from any "Brat Issues" such as a "Them/US" mentallity, or the "Lack of roots" issue? What about merging into mainstream society?

Nope; we lived on base for about the first 12 years but eventually we moved off base. To be honest - I did like it better on base (it was more fun).

It was a bit of a strange transition though moving into the civilian population. We lived next to a Marine from Camp Pendleton - not sure what in the world he was doing living in Riverside but he made the commute. In the schools on the bases that I attended the only 'them/us' relation ship was enlisted kids vs officer's kids. Man those officer's kids thought their sh%$ didn't stink.

I value my childhood and what I learned from living in the Military a great deal. Over time I have been formulating the opinion that there are probably three types of people in the world. Leaders in Uniform, Leaders out of uniform and sheep.

It is easy and appropriate to romanticize military service.

KevinP73 · 07-17-2008, 09:28 AM

Funny you talk of the Them/Us mentality. Even though dad was officially an officer we never lived in officers quarters. It was alway enlisted mens housing and all my friends were kids of enlisted men. That was always kinda strange. Before you got into a fight you'd have to find out the other kids dads rank before throwing the first punch.
Not all of my schooling was in DOD schools. Going to public school was definitely a case of them/us. I think more than a couple teachers and school staff were afraid to deal with dependent kids. Lord knows I pushed the limits of good behavior when in public schools.
I also remember trips to the dentist office. They would always ask your dads rank BEFORE administering any anesthetics. No need to wonder what that was about.

widgeon13 · 07-17-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinP73

Anyone experience/suffer from any "Brat Issues" such as a "Them/US" mentallity, or the "Lack of roots" issue? What about merging into mainstream society?

I don't suffer but i really miss not being able to contact kids i grew up with, have no idea where they are. I have had minimal contact with a couple of HS friends but was never around long enough to cement relationships. Always been sort of a loner but as one gets older it is a part of your youth that is missed.

I have no apparent emotional scars other than a bad twitch in one eye and I like to fart in public but think they both come from military institutions, schooling.