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View Full Version : You know you've been in the military when....



izzyscout21
01-29-2012, 04:29 AM
You know you've been Defense institutionalized (Made military) when...You

Use target indication to point out hot chicks...

You use the term 'chicks'

You insist on dancing like a dick, whilst your civvie mates insist on trying to dance 'properly'.

Your civvie mates don't understand any of the terminology you use such as 'no dramas', 'squared away', 'take a knee' etc....

You can't help saying "Roger", "Say again" and other snappy bits of RATEL

You use acronyms thinking your civvie mates will understand what you are talking about

You don't have any civvie mates....

You cringe, and mutter under your breath 'haircut', when you see men with long hair.

You walk at a ridiculous pace and are physically incapable of walking at the shopping pace of your girlfriend.

You refer to personal organisation as "admin"

Your girlfriend is stored in your mobile phone address book as 'Zero Alpha'

You use patrol hand signals in a night club if people can't hear you

You always use the 24 hour clock....

Nothing soldiers do shocks you any more....

You can't watch war movies without giving a running commentary.

People in prison have more contact with women than you do....

Whenever you spell something out you use the phonetic alphabet....

You don't trust your mum/wife/girlfriend/any woman to iron your kit because deep down you think that your ironing is better....

You point using your whole hand in a karate chop motion....

You find that the conversation somehow always comes back round to you, because you're more interesting than most topics of conversation....

You think not shaving is a treat....

You get really irritated when people you don't know call you 'mate'....

You can read a junk mail catalogue from cover to cover and refer to everything that is useful as a Gucci bit of kit.

You refer to smoke as 'a double edged sword'.

You spend hours wondering where in civvie street you can get an equal disposable income and at least 6 weeks holiday a year, by completing an inversely proportionally tiny amount of tangible work

Your blood boils when you see civvies wearing ACU/BDU/DCU/Assorted Cams.

Going out on Thursday "international Army night out" wherever it may be,or whichever course one is on, involves forming the ring-of-steel, talking about ourselves and the army and aggressively staring at girls; who if they don't immediately come over are obviously lesbians.

Should any man dare break this ritual, and despite talking to the prettiest of girls - as we would like to do, if it weren't for the fact we tend to chew our own tongues and dribble - he is clearly gay!

You come out in a cold sweat if you find yourself still working after lunch on a Friday...

You have to stop work at 10am for morno's or else you might not make it to lunch....

At least half of your DVD collection are war movies....

Even though your disposable income is twice that of a civvie you still manage to spend it all, every month, with nothing to show for it, about a week after you've told all your soldiers that you 'can't believe how much money they waste on the piss

You feel guilty about wearing jeans in front of senior officers in the mess

The sight of rolling countryside makes you scan for 'enemy depth'....

You think that eating every meal for a week with the same spoon that you licked clean and kept in the pocket of the same shirt you've worn all week is perfectly normal....

All of your food has to be prepared by a chef because you're incapable of cooking anything that can't either be boiled in a bag or eaten cold....

You lie when people ask you what you do for a living....

When leaving your phone number on a voice message you can't just give it once, has to be repeated.

When surveying open ground (when not looking for enemy in depth) you think, good tank country. If a forestry block - I could get a platoon in here

You survey open ground.

When you are pointing out some natural feature you begin with "Reference ***** topped tree etc etc"

Your girlfriend has started saying "admin" and gave you the "Chop" when telling you to put the bin out.

When meeting mates in a pub you always turn up 5 minutes early and are secretly angry that nobody else has.....Worse still, if it's a venue you haven't been to before, you turn up 15 minutes early to put in a CTR, in order that you are defiinatly there 5 minutes early.

Sniper-T
01-29-2012, 04:50 AM
lol. Nice list Izzy!!

I must be a step above a regular civie, cause more than 1/2 of those apply to me. But certainly several steps below you guys, because the most important ones... dont!

:(

LUNCHBOX
01-29-2012, 05:50 AM
Izzy, that's hilarious, I have been out for a while and 90% of that still works for me.

GunnerMax
01-29-2012, 12:54 PM
You walk at a ridiculous pace and are physically incapable of walking at the shopping pace of your wife.
You always use the 24 hour clock....
All of your food has to be prepared by a chef because you're incapable of cooking anything that can't either be boiled in a bag or eaten cold....
At least half of your DVD collection are war movies....
Even though your disposable income is twice that of a civvie you still manage to spend it all, every month, with nothing to show for it, about a week after you've told all your soldiers that you 'can't believe how much money they waste on the piss
When leaving your phone number on a voice message you can't just give it once, has to be repeated.
You think that eating every meal for a week with the same spoon that you licked clean and kept in the pocket of the same shirt you've worn all week is perfectly normal....


explains me perfectly.

Fatty
01-29-2012, 01:16 PM
you still call cadence in the back of your head from time to time when your walking.

Gunfixr
01-29-2012, 01:37 PM
Nice, very nice.
I've never served, but a fair bit of that applies to me anyway, some much to my wife's chagrin.

RedJohn
01-29-2012, 03:26 PM
So much of this applies to me. But again, I became a member of the Armed Forces when I was 16 and one way or another worked 25 years for or with the military or para-military.

rice paddy daddy
01-30-2012, 02:11 AM
I saw myself in a few of those. But it's been so long ago I've gotten to be almost civilian. I no longer scan terrain for things that don't "seem right" or for good cover/concealment, for example.
I still don't pick up strange objects on the ground though. My wife is used to my behavior by now.:)
Another thing has never changed - sudden loud noises or sudden bright flashes of light still send such a jolt of adreneline straight into my heart that it hurts.:p

Katrina
02-12-2012, 03:32 AM
Shoot you can tell military brats long time after parent mustered out We still stand at ease when posing for family pics, we stand at attentn when hollered at and some still say how high sir as we jump no matter how,old we get.

Stg1swret
02-14-2012, 05:57 PM
You forgot a couple;
you always start walking with your left foot
when walking in a group you are at patrol intervals
when in a strange city you go on "recon' patrols
you can pack 7 days woth of clothes in a gym bag
when you go out for dinner, convesation doesn't start until the meal is finished
when you do go out to eat the meal is done in under 15 minutes