In War: The More Things Change...

By Kat on April 16, 2008 | | Comments (17)

[Kat]

Reading this story from Bob Krumm, his last paragraph brought a little story to mind:


Actually, I have heard several people complain about one thing: the food in the mess hall. Even with new Soldiers some things never change.

In March, while attending the Vets For Freedom event at the World War I Museum, I met vets from several eras including Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. I spoke to several of these gentlemen about their service. One gentleman, Mr. Oelklaus, told me a story that sounded utterly familiar.

It was 1967 and his was stationed on a forward operating base, responsible for the repair and maintenance of vehicles. The base had many other units on it including Airborne, artillery and the like. Each unit had their own area with hooches, showers and latrines.

As is apparently customary in the military on such a base, people would seek out the closest, cleanest or most operational showers and latrines. In this case, members of the 101st would return from 3 to 14 day patrols and scatter to the various latrines and showers on the base, using up all the hot water. The BC (battalion commander) for the maintenance unit was the recipient of several cold showers and finally got a bug up his rear echelon. He ordered a guard be put on the showers 24/7 and no one that was not part of the mechanic's unit was to be allowed to use the showers.

Pvt Oelklaus was assigned to the exciting post of guard of the latrines and showers. On his first day, he observed a group of weary, dirty, insect bitten, stinking grunts approaching his station. It was a squad that had just returned from seven days in the bush. The designated spokesman for the group asked Oelklaus what was up with the guard post. After Oelklaus explained his duty, he noted some serious unrest among the group. Also, he said that his "esprit d'corps" was eating him up because he knew these men had been out for a long time and shouldn't be barred from getting a hot shower. Who could turn such men away? He repeated to me several times, "all they wanted was a hot shower. They deserved it."

So, he noted to the group that he did not see any unit patches (as they were in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops) and that there were so many people on the base, who could possibly know if they were actually members of his unit or not? He stepped to the side and opened the door, admonishing them to be as quick as possible and that, if "someone" was coming, he would bang on the wall and they would need to vacate immediately.

All went well and the troops were able to get their hot showers. But, that night, the BC had an unexpected visitor to his hooch. Namely, a CS canister that took up residence, with unknown assistance, just as he was nodding off to sleep.

Apparently, the message was received. After some jumping up and down and screaming for somebody's head, the guard was taken off the showers the next day.

I've read similar stories from today's war from both sides of the "conflict". Those that were mad because their showers never had hot water due to utilization from others not assigned to their areas and those that were ticked off that there was never enough hot water to take shower in their own areas after days on patrol so they were forced to tromp a mile or two over to another area to use the showers.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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17 Comments

By BillT on April 16, 2008 12:14 PM
Theoretically, we had hot showers back in the day. Because -- theoretically -- the sun beating down on the 55-gallon drum "water heaters" would warm the water. Theoretically. Also -- theoretically -- there were no US combat troops in the Mekong Delta after August of '69. Just us helicopter pilots, assorted SEALS and SeaWolves, Green Beanies, Mikes and Swifties, Air Force Black Hats, and Marine Tiger Teams. No *combat* troops, though. And he's right -- the food was *awful*...
 
By kat-missouri on April 16, 2008 12:33 PM
Yeah....Love that whole "theory" of war stuff.
 
By LT Nixon on April 16, 2008 1:43 PM
I'd probably side with the guys outside the wire who wanted to use up all the hot water. They're the ones keeping the showers from getting blown away with rockets. A small nuance.
 
By kat-missouri on April 16, 2008 2:02 PM
Heh. I was thinking the same thing and resisted writing anything about the rear echelon being often as far away from the grunts pounding dirt as any civilian far away from the battle field. I think I gained a new appreciation for that after reading Bellavia's book wherein after ten days in Fallujah, they came out, dirty, tired, sick and barely able to move while they watched all the clean, spiffy uniformed guys line up and eat all the hot chow that had ostensibly been laid out for the guys coming out of Fallujah. Gave a whole new perspective on REMFs v. ground pounders.
 
By Martin on April 16, 2008 6:18 PM
Thanks Kat! Today you made fat old man smile. Martin
 
By kat-missouri on April 16, 2008 6:26 PM
Hey, Martin! Glad to see you. I was hoping I had waited too long to put it up. We are fans around here of war stories so feel free to pop in once in a while to leave us a gem or two.
 
By Justthisguy on April 16, 2008 10:39 PM
I think it was Bill Mauldin who coined the word, "Garri-troopers." It was always thus, I reckon. I betcha the Legions had to put up with similar stuff.
 
By kat-missouri on April 16, 2008 11:16 PM
Yeah...some centurion probably ticked off at the dude who ate the last of the gruel and woebil(?) laden bread.
 
By big al on April 17, 2008 1:25 AM
My Old Man told me a couple of times about when meeting up with Yanks in WW2,the Canadians would gladly trade with your guys,the tinned mutton for the C-rats of yours......He hated the mutton as much as you guys hated the c-rats and swore the Aussie ranchers used to roll the carcasses in the fleeces to get that special flavour.....And he never ate mutton to the day he died ,either.
 
By redc1c4 on April 17, 2008 5:12 AM
TINS: there i was, in north Ft Hood, on AT with an Evac Hospital.... late 80's(11H10, serving as the 54B, pending final school, which never came.) after the better part of two weeks of fun in the garrison, the line troops we were supporting came back to the area and began washing vehicles. there was much whining amongst the troops in my AO: "i went to take a shower at lunch and there was no water pressure." a discerning eye could see the hose sprays over the building, and a blind man could see why water pressure was down. i offered to escort the various whiners over to the wash racks where the 11's, 13's and 19's were finally getting a bath, albeit informally, so that they could ask that them to stop so the REMF's in question could get their additional daily showers..... unfortunately, they were just smart enough to *not* take me up on the offer. %-) /Harmony Church rules
 
By BillT on April 17, 2008 6:08 AM
From "Murphy's Laws of Combat" -- If the REMFs have new uniforms and boots, the troops in the sticks *don't*."
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 17, 2008 6:56 AM
Kat - "weevil" Easy to tell the differences - weevils are insects that infest food and cotton... woebils on the other hand, well, they wobble, but they don't fall down!
 
By kat-missouri on April 17, 2008 10:28 AM
Heh...John. I thought that looked wrong. I even had "woebils" when I was a kid with a little woebil tree house. they could fall *out* of that tree, though.
 
By Blake Kirk on April 17, 2008 4:06 PM
Memories from a trip to Fort Irwin in 1985: 1. The light infantry battalion completes its participation in the light/heavy NTC rotation and pulls back to its bivouac area in a picturesque portion of the Ft. Irwin reservation which rejoices in the name of "Lizard Gulch." 2. The ground surface in the bivouac area consists of a random assortment of rocks and stones ranging in size from stones the size of your head to boulders the size of a Chrysler minivan. Flat surfaces large enough to accommodate an individual soldier in a sleeping bag, let alone tents and parking areas for vehicles are conspicuous by their absence, with the exception of a large, very flat sandy area which is fenced off and marked with signs indicating that it is a breeding area for a nasty species of biting fly, that the fly is on the Endangered Species List, and that the fine for killing one of these rare creatures is $5,000 per bug. 3. In order to insure that the portable toilets can be serviced efficiently by the civilian contractor, all portable toilets have been set up adjacent to the hard-surface road 700 meters to the east of the bivouac area. 4. After a 24-hour rest and recovery period, all of the battalion's vehicles, including the mobile kitchen trailers, are moved to the railhead and entrained for return to the unit's home station. Battalion draws 10 superannuated 5-ton 6x6 trucks from prepo stocks to provide troop and baggage transport for the five days remaining until the unit is scheduled to fly back to its home station. 5. The heavy brigade and combat support group whose rotation the battalion is supporting informs the battalion that due to personnel shortages in MOS 94B they cannot provide hot meal support to the battalion, and that the battalion should prepare to assume a C-C-C ration cycle until it redeploys to home station. 6. The brigade sergeant-major informs the battalion sergeant-major that a shower point has been established in the brigade support area. The light infantry battalion is assigned a block time for use of the shower point from 1400-1600 each day. Many soldiers in the battalion greet this announcement with enthusiasm, as many have not had an opportunity to bathe in nearly four weeks, there being more important uses for water than bathing while fighting a war in the desert. 7. The following day, several hundred soldiers from the battalion climb into the fleet of decrepit 5-tons and set forth for the shower point. After 15 minutes of bumping across the large and larger rocks that make up what is alleged to be the "road" leading into the bivouac area, two of the seven trucks assigned to the mission have broken down, and their passengers are distributed among the five remaining vehicles, which are now about as crowded as a Tokyo subway car at rush hour. Having now reached the more-or-less-level desert floor, the convoy spends the next 30 minutes driving across said desert floor to the brigade support area in a cloud of dust. 8. Upon arriving at the shower point, the troops dismount from their vehicles and are amazed to discover that not only is there water left at the shower point at 1400 hours, there is LOTS of water available. Everybody gets a LONG hot shower, after which, with damp skin and damp hair, they climb back into their ancient trucks and drive 30 minutes across the desert floor in a cloud of dust before bumping over the boulders back to their bivouac area, arriving there feeling for the most part rather dirtier than they had been before they left. 9. Repeat, with suitable variations, until the buses arrive to take them to the airport.
 
By Justthisguy on April 17, 2008 8:53 PM
Hey, Blade, at least it built character! [runs away, dodging and jinking]
 
By BillT on April 18, 2008 5:13 AM
Sign just up on the latrine door: Water Conservation Now In Effect -- Combat Showers (3-Minute Limit!) Mandatory! Bear in mind, I'm living with Air Force guys. Cap'n Chris asked me my thoughts on 3-minute combat showers. "Great idea! I get an extra two minutes!"
 
By Blake Kirk on April 18, 2008 10:30 AM
It could be worse, Bill. I can recall one expercise in northern Honduras when we were bathing with canvas shower buckets and water shortages limited us to 1 gallon per man for showers. It let us believe we were clean, anyway.