Motivational Poster Thread (warning content)

I lived in the second barracks in this image, with Second Tank Battalion, at Fort Pickett in 1987. I had one of the two second deck Sergeant's rooms on the end facing the Company Street. Tony Martin and I were both senior to their Platoon Sergeant and were on a contact team, only loosely attached to their command. This created all sorts of comedy, and was where I picked up the nickname "Duke." The poor Platoon Sergeant was whining about how I lived like royalty in the field. He wasn't wrong. For Tony and I this little winter vacation in Virginia was a cakewalk. We'd come well prepared, and found fast friends with the girls at an Army bakers unit that provided us with fresh bread, raisins, and milk.

The barracks were heated (poorly) with propane, but I could see where the coal furnace had been, and I found it fascinating, since I'd grown up in a home that also originally had coal heat. There was still coal about. I sent pictures to my father and he said the barracks was stick for stick identical to one he had occupied in the 1950's. Duane, I'm sure the barracks at Lowry AFB were just the same. Same plans, same WWII build-up. Still around in many places. Two details that I remember clearly. Shaving in a cold head that had unbreakable polished metal mirrors above the sinks, and the sound of Marines slapping the wall three times at the bottom the stairs and requesting to speak to this or that NCO who resided upstairs. The usual response was, "DENIED!"

Some of the old barracks, at least will be preserved.

World War II Company Street - National Infantry Museum & Soldier Center

 

I'm like a twelve year old. This one makes me laugh every time.
It's as much of a sure laugh as the proposed name for a new
park in Raleigh if Pullen Park and Dix Park are combined.

 

Larger scale training aids or creative photoshopping?

 

Ah, a cordless hole punching device.

 

Looks like the BAR training aid. There's one around here somewhere. I think Saigon Sam's.

 

Is Siagon Sam's still open ??
That place was old as dirt 40+ yrs ago.
I've got to head to the beach in April for a 2+ week job ,, I might just take another couple weeks and visit some old stomping grounds on that end of the state from yrs ago .

 

We still had the coal furnaces. When they built the barracks they had signed a contract for the coal. It was a soft coal and it was pressed into small brickets. They worked fine, but if they got wet they would turn into powder. We used a coal shovel and would get the ashes out with a wheelbarrow and then refill the furnace with coal. If you kept it from forming a solid clinker, used a bar to keep air flowing thru it, and fired them every 2 hours, they were a piece of cake. Started them with kindling and it was a real pain. Best to bank them and not let them go out. Fireman did not control the burning rate. The draft was controlled by a thermostat and the fireman could over ride it to start, but if left on high, we were told it could get hot enough to catch fire to things. Were told it had happened in WW2 somewhere.

One thing that stuck in my mind was the first briefing we got shortly after we got off the transport plane to Lowry. Not to complain about being crowded in the bunk area. The rules at that time required 60 sq ft per person and they were well above that. The second was that at that time they had not replaced the old marriage rules from the 1860's and that if you and a woman used your right names and registered and stayed over night in a hotel, etc, it could be considered a common law marriage. During WW2 and Korea they hinted that more often than they liked to admit, some 19 year old was killed in combat and a local woman of less than high morals would show up to claim his death benefits. Guess it was like playing the lottery for the girls, get a copy of the registration and if you find out he died, file. Have no idea if it was true but as a 18 year old kid from rural Minnesota and just 3 months after graduating from high school. it made an impression.

While most people may find it boring, I really enjoyed reading the historical data and plans on how the WW2 buildings were planned and the drawing of those plans.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA266690.pdf