Hey, the 1/503rd are my guys! :)

Thanks for the picture, John.

Re: Marines/Army, DCU/BDU, etc. I actually noticed the same thing, so (John), I'm really not as clueless as I sound sometimes... ;)

As I understand it, the 1/503rd has been working very closely with the Marines in Al Anbar province, so maybe the trip to the school was a joint operation, and the caption got applied to a whole set of photographs.

Alternatively, has the Army implemented the planned switch to digital-pattern camo yet?

Alright, this pisses me off.

I am definately going to collect my thoughts in a more rational way and fire off a love letter.

Fuzzybear Lioness - The DCU underwent field testing in Iraq for quite a while before they got the nod for acceptance. The folks who were issued them for the test are still wearing them.

AFSis - Still torqued about the Latin?

John - Was the original pic larger? Those sure do look more like the USMC version, but it's almost a tossup without seeing more of the pattern.

Bill (and others) the original, unedited pic is reachable via the "Hi-res shot of the above, available here" link towards the bottom of the post.

The range control and gun line crew at the firbase are drooling... And a little torqued, as they can't see anything wrong with the picture...

Yup, but it doesn't show enough cloth to determine if
1. It's USMC pattern and the sporadic e-a-g logos are masked or
2. It's USA pattern and the pixel variation is such that it closely approximates USMC spacing and coloration.

All Army DCUs have the left shoulder pocket cover (partly visible just below the buttstock), but I've seen the USMC versions both with and without, so that's not much help.

Aha! Fuzzybear Lioness - your mission: ask your guys if he's one of--heh--your guys.

Bill, wish I could. We've been incommunicado for over two months now.

cw4billt,

That looks like that JarHead is doning a:

Blouse, Desert, MARPAT Camouflage, MCCUU
NSN: 8415-01-484-6013/6058

Oh, and sorry 'bout having everyone doin' cartwheels over Latin.

Boq - That's the way I'm leaning, but the absence of the embedded logos is still a head-skritcher.

Estne dies illae, sed soli feminae dixit, "Ubi, o ubi, est mei sub ubi?"

John,

I believe that the propper translation should be: "A furore ab magistrem incordentem microencephaloformis, libera nos, domine”

Don´t have my Wheelock (those in the know, know) around, so my declentions may be off, but anyways...

Back to 3North

cw4billt,

Ha, I always carry a clean pair. I know for that's my job around this house.

On whether its an ARMPAT or MARPAT, I agree that without seeing the chicken over the globe, tis hard to define. That NOD Mount over the Cover, makes it hard. What throws me over the MARPAT is my understanding that the ARMPAT has more Grey Pixels interspersed in the pattern. Could be wrong though.

The grey could be a spillover of Photoshop pixels from the GFWs' smoke-pole deletionfest...

Exeunt omnes.

[*scamper-scamper*]

Heh. Clarification time - the picture I used for the post is *NOT* the offending picture involved in the controversy... which is why I included the captioning... but that apparently is still misleading.

It would be hard to photoshop that M249 out of the picture. Lest you end up with half-an-eye squinting in a blank page.

Only for some people, John... ;)

Sgt B: Firbase?? Planning on starting a Christmas Tree farm?

cw4billt - Maybe this could help.

https://peosoldier.army.mil/images/ACU_Factsheet.pdf

Perhaps the good Sergeant has a *southron* heritage...

No, that would be a "Fahrbase." :) I once spent a number of uncomfortable minutes with a resident of Southern Indiana, trying to figure out whether he was telling me a story about a fahr in a tahr on his vehicle, or a fahr in the tahr on his roof. I thought it was his roof, but turns out it was his truck. Made made a lot more sense once I figured that out!

And, yes, I did learn to hear the difference between tire and tar pretty quick... :)

I would never wish the the experience of being shot at on anyone. But God help me, some people need it.

Southern Indiana?! Lioness, that hardly qualifies in terms of Southern Speak. In the SOUTH, that would be 'fahrbise'. But no snarkiness intended toward anyone- I had two years of high school German, taught by a native Berliner. He taught us hoch Deutsch... and then I spent two years in Bavaria. That's like a German learning Oxford English, then moving to Alabama. But I soon adapted, and now when I speak German to those in the know, they always say 'Oh! You were in Bavaria!' heh

Or, with all the critters scarpering about, Sarge B. might be establishing a furbase.

John - Neffi's back! Ringside seats!

"Southern Indiana?! Lioness, that hardly qualifies in terms of Southern Speak."

Who said it DID? Fortunately, it's the border between North/South, so I could still communicate with 'em. :) Half their words were Northern and half were Southern. Their "ire" words were definitely Southern, though! :)

And by the way, Southern Indiana is another world compared to even Central Indiana, and has about as much in common with Northern as it would CT. The southern part of the state has far more in common with Kentucky than with the rest of Indiana.

Why is "Gary, Indiana" now lilting through my head?

Now, Neffi...

Reading your overwrought reaction and your nit-picking of my perfectly lovely reminiscence, I thought I might have accidentally insulted a Southern Gentleman...

I was about to apologize with deepest humility until I realized who I was (erroneously) applying that label to... Ha!

(*Luxuriant tail disappears quickly around the corner...*)

[*heard in the distance*] Got any good chandeliers around here, John?

Thanks, Bill!! Now it's lilting through my head, too!

Actually, a nasty, nasty city. High poverty, low education, high unemployment, highest per-capita murder rate in Indiana. There, does that squelch the tune?

Bad Cat built and installed several chandeliers to her and Punctilious' specs. I assume you want the high ones? Higher than a bayonet weenie can jump?

Those two, over there.

Bungee cords, if you want to tease 'em...

Thanks, John. :) Yes, definitely higher than a bayonet weenie can jump! ;)

[wanders in from barbicon, relishing last bite of 'rat-on-a-stick'] Well dang, no wonder my ears were burning... sheesh, I've seen lion (and lioness) hides stretched out as floor-mats, and the skin sure seemed thicker than that- and even after I swore 'no snark intended'. OK- [takes deep breath]... no more Mister Nice Guy! Bayonet weenie indeed (harumph)

Hey Chief- i had an 'interesting' interaction with a helo today... approaching the pattern at Longmont. It's funny NOW hehe

Come one, Neffi, you know I'm just teasing... :)

Do tell about the helo. Please? *twitching tail within Neffi's reach*

And *who* is muttering about thin-skin, Parchment Boy?

And *who* is muttering about thin-skin, Parchment Boy?

Thanks, for pointing that out, John. I've decided to be nice to Neffi, but I won't begrudge you your excellent observations. ;)

Thanks, for pointing that out, John. I've decided to be nice to Neffi, but I won't begrudge you your excellent observations. ;)

hehe talk about a double-double briefing hehe

["GaryIndiana,GaryIndiana,GaryIndiana...."]

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE PUT A SOCK ON OPIE?

Can't hear my self think? Jees, thanks for lettin' CheetoHead in, cw4billt.

Boq, wouldn't the sock work better in him?

Oh - Great! No there's nuthin' but Trombones everywhere. I lost count after 57. Does anyone knows how many got past the gates?

19, of course! *grin*

Geez, "Gary, Indiana"'s still echoing around the walls. Whup--bad luck to walk under a lioness with a bungee--guide right, saunter to the door and

"Great caboose, cutie!"

run for it.

No-no-no... Now they are all stampeeding to the Billiard Room.

We all got trouble, my friends. Right 'ere in at the Castle. It rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool.

Now cw4billt, do you see what you started?

You're safe this time, Bill. I'm laughing too hard to do anything about it!

But OK- so today I'm flying back from Cole's farm in a Rans S-12 (belongs to a friend). I'm approaching Longmont from the north.. about 5 miles out I switch the radio from 'air-to-air' to unicom- the airport frequency, OK? Faint crackle in the earphones... then- (and this is how I recall it- and this very much TINS)
'Longmont traffic, helicopter 45 Tango inbound, 5 miles north, landing advisory please'
'45 Tango, winds calm, traffic is using 11'
'Longmont, 45 Tango, thank you'
Me- 'Helicopter 45 Tango,Rans 11 Bravo- what's yer alt?'
'uuuh... I'm 6,000 Rans'
'roger 45 Tango, me too- I don't see you, you got me in sight?'
'neg Rans, I'm looking'
note- 45 Tango and myself are now occupying the same airspace, but don't see each other...
Longmont airport comes in sight, and I'm aligned for a straight-in approach to landing, but 45 Tango is out there somewhere...
me- '45 Tango, Rans 11 Bravo, whats your positon now?'
'Rans, I'm short final for 11'
Jeez... me too....... but I dunno where he is...
me- '45 Tango, I'm going around ...'
'Rans,45 Tango I still don't see you, roger your go-around, I'm landing now...'
so I go around the pattern, and grease the Rans in... turn off the active, looking for the chopper but can't see it even now.
Then-
'um- Rans 11 Bravo, this is helicopter 45 Tango- I'm clear of the active at Weld County- sorry 'bout that...'
Weld County Airport is 15 miles to the south-east... I have since un-puckered from the seat.

hmmm... had to revise that post twice to get it in.. Chief will know why- that whirling rotor occupying the same airspace as mine own self brought out some descriptive language that the Castle filter didn't like... heh

Yikes! But hey, keeps life from being to boring, right? ;)

Doing my best to make PJ's comment threads resemble A.S.A, I mind a guy I used to know who went to the same high school as Iris and Margrit Von Braun. (Hunsville, Ala.) I think he said one of the girls sat just in front of him in German class. I would love to talk to that woman, I betcha if she spoke German in an Alabama accent, that the audience would suffer diaphragm spasms and stop breathing from laughing so hard.

Eberhard Rees did speak to me, once, at the condiment stand in the cafeteria of the 4200 bldg at Redstone Arsenal. He said, IIRC, "Who schtole the Vinegar?!"

So, yes, I have actually met some of the original Peenemuende Gang.

Neffi -

"Trenton Tower, Guard 16145 inbound along the river corridor for the Guard ramp."
"Roger, Guard 145, report the trestle. Traffic for you on the ILS; two C-23s [Shorts Bros. "Sherpa"] inbound for low approach to runway 6."
"Guard 145 tally traffic. (short pause) Guard 145 is over the trestle."
"Guard 145, your traffic is over the river. Fall in behind the C-23s, cleared to land Golf Pad."
"Roger, Tower, Guard 145 is number two behind a pair of Shorts."

Voice 1: "Philly Approach, Keystone 123 entering holding on the Yardley 270, 3,000 feet."
Voice 2: "My God--Philly Approach, we're holding on the Yardley 270 at 3,000 feet too!"
Voice 1: "You idiot--you're my copilot."

LOL! Gawd - sometimes I listen to the tower traffic on commercial flights, when it is available. (United used to do this) You hear some scary sh*t now and again!

Barb - Only now and again? Must be boring out west...

I thought school was to teach them all about life: You know, illicit sex, abortion on demand and drugs.
Someone has definately taken leave of their senses.

Bill - The radio discussions between cockpit and tower are pretty hard to listen to, for those of us not used to it.
On the rare occasion I get to listen in, it's a wonder I understand any of it ;-) I'm probably missing stuff that would scare the snot out of me !!!

Ewww! I sat next to someone like you once - messy!