Things that make you go HUM on a rainy day.

A brief time in a soldier's career when a drilly's opinion becomes fact.... The psychological scars last for much longer.

 

You are right chelloveck, but the things you learn in a few weeks in basic training , sometimes reinforced by the things you learn in a few seconds at a later time in your service, did change most of us forever. It is weird when you weren't old enough to vote or buy a beer, but were responsible for aircraft, weapons, etc, that could kill people and where your mistakes could kill people. I have never in my life since I got out of the military had even a fraction of the responsibility I had as a 19 year old aircraft crew chief or been responsible for 1 % of the material I was responsible for. This as a E-2 or E-3, not as an officer. If I wrote up a plane as grounded, it had to be checked and signed off before it flew and if I didn't have the safety pins placed or removed, a plane could not take off or taxi back to the ramp.

 

I get the Gunny! It's the spirit, not the letter of the bayonet!

 

You just want to show off your rifolver! Keep it up!

 

Until they got the bugs out of cartridges many years later, the revolving rifle with several loaded spare cylinders was the most powerful, fastest shooting, most effective weapon available. Was too complicated and cost to much to make for it to be used by masses of troops though.

 

So in order for something to be a carbine, first there needs to be a rifle that has a longer barrel and weighs more?
Don't mess with the Gunny on his own terms.
If it has a pig sticker attached it's a military firearm.
If it's expensive we can't afford to give it to all the troops!

Not bad for a rainy day. Thanks Everyone.

 

I agree...having the killing power (of myself, as much as of others) of an M26 grenade in my hands....puts a slightly different perspective on life than as a civilian. Certainly boot camp can be a transformative experience, that most survive with a sense of self mastery, and enlightenment.

I joined the Army Reserve at the age of 17, and whilst still in High School. The legal State drinking age then was 21, but the Australian Defence Force being a Commonwealth Government entity, wasn't subject to (NSW) State licensing laws, I could drink in the unit 'wet canteen' whilst attending unit activities, while my high school buddies in civilian life couldn't legally drink in hotel bars. Having said that...being drunk on duty was a punishable offence; so the drinking of alcohol when stood down, was tempered by the obligation of being sober when on duty....(shades of Jerry Pournelle's Janissaries )

 

Boy howdy, But when Colt simplified the system to change out cylinders so a solder could quick change on the line, it really became a game changer, and held on long after the more modern self contained cartridge designs started to take hold. Many savvy hunters still carried these rifles as they preferred the lightning fast follow up shots and the higher velocities these .44 cal rifles were capable of! Mine are surprisingly accurate and don't take a lot of maintenance, and barrel leading isn't as big an issue as some of the later arms. Here is the brand new replica I was tellin ya about Sarg, I had it modified a little bit from the original patent, the cylinder is 7mm longer and unfluted and has a half round half octagonal barrel of 29 inches and a replica Leatherwood 8 power scope in replica mounts. All circa 1870's Cost me a fortune, but was so worth it!

 

I'll bet it did! SWEET!!! Envy!

 

Lets put it this way, It's the only one I will ever have at this level of custom, I just can't afford play at that level! LOL I have three more "Kits" I still need to build. My builder is getting up there in years and he told me if I wanted any more, I better get off my thumb and pay him some money! LOL My barrel maker pretty much told me the same thing, and he is one of the very few that can do these old school barrels, so I ordered another half round, half octagonal in a "Fast Twist" of 1/30 inches and 29 inches length with no forcing cone reamed. I really need to hit the lottery!!! LOL

 

Lovely weapons and good old guns, like a fine wine, improve with age. Thank you for sharing it with us and the old 44 black powder load is still impressive and unlike modern powders and cartridges, it is reproducible under primitive conditions, with a little planning, even the caps. I seem to remember that a lot of the early Colts etc did not have reloading levers built on the gun to load the cylinders and were designed for them to be removed and loaded separately. I seem to remember that the Walker Colts came with 2 cylinders and no reloading lever to tamp the bullets into place, it was used to hold the cylinder in place.

 

Yea, the later rifles and especially the Carbines had the loading levers added by the factory to make field expedient reloading much easier, they also offered improved bullet molds along with extra cylinders to add flexibility to these fine rifles. The .44 bullets for these rifles were unusually long and heavy, even for the times and this accounted for a lot of the accuracy as well as the change over to the fast twist barrels. I can damn near match .444 loading performance with these and the Longer cylinder replica is getting close to standard .45/70, despite a max powder charge of 58 grains FFFg or 52 grains of FFFFg and using ether an "Original" 220 gr bullet, or an improved "Custom" 235 gr hollow base with gas checks! Depending on my pot melt, I can get about 24 rounds off before I need to swab out the barrel.

 

IMO as soon as a young man or woman exits boot camp and has those potential responsibilities they have earned their majority and full rights as an adult. I also feel that service should be a path towards US citizenship for a legal immigrant. If you are willing to shed your blood for the Republic then you have proved yourself in my book.

 

I'd see it as another form of legal immigration that could be initiated in your home country or here if you have entered legally as a tourist, work visa, or refugee, etc..

I'd also like to see massive reform for work visas especially for agriculture. We have created a situation where many are allowed to come here illegally which also puts them at the mercy of employers who can threaten deportation at any time. Living conditions, at least the ones I have been in, at the migrant labor camps is very poor.

Also as illegals they don't get other protections and medical insurance so are forced to go to the ER for any issue. I'd prefer to see them here legally, paid appropriately, paying taxes for the services they get like schools, and not living in fear.

 

Opps, as half the family didn't make it here until WWII.
Without naming names, the first Uncle on Busia's side of the family that earned entrance to this country was a paratrooper in WWII. You can enlist, but you need to earn your right to be here. If you are here illegally, perhaps you have come here and left folks that died and earned the right to be here on the waiting list. Swimming a southern river ain't exemplary, suffering to becoming part of the fabric of America, that's what immigration is all about. JMHO.

WOW did this thread drift!

 

No, it may be suitable for a rainy day. Perhaps I might not have been here long enough to share family/personal experience of this nature. I may be able to share my experience, but perhaps I hold my families experiences in reserve. Time shall tell.

 

Some of the greatest learning experiences in my life occurred as a child listening to several family elders talk about life on a rainy day. We have lost so much today with our mass media and games. As a 6 year old I listened to my grandfather talk about stories his father had told about the civil war and his mother had told about life Minn a Lakota before the reservations and the stories one of his mothers cousins had told of being at Greasy Grass and the time leading up to it and what happened afterwards. I work with a man, he is now 90 and still working, who was a 17 year old marine driving a duck from a LST to a beach under fire. He laughed as he explained that he always envied the riflemen, they got off the duck, got into a nice safe foxhole, could shoot back, and only had to make one landing, he had to sit in a nice big high value target and land again and again until either we captured the island or they sunk the duck. Don't see that in the present books or on TV. Guess the point is life is a thread drift on a rainy day, never know where it is headed or when it will change from a quit musing to a life changing event. Kind of like marriage used to be, met a lady, seemed nice, had a few coffees with her at work, went to a movie and had a quit talk over supper at a diner, now we have been married 37 years. Guess that would be the ultimate thread drift.

 

I served in Korea with a Philipino who had enlisted in the Philippines. Of course there was a strong U.S. military presence in the islands back then! He was proud to be on the path to citizenship, and spoke of it often.