Military Urban Legends

[Franko]

Most of us here on this ‘grate‘ site have or still are serving in the forces. We have all shared in a few myths and urban legends about the military at troop smokers and Regimental functions.

Care to share some of the military urban legends you have heard?

BTW...to the troops in the Commonwealth, please pipe up!

That means you Wes

This should be good

 

[Franko]

I‘ll get things started.....this is a doozie

Thinking he was about to be ambushed an American M1 commander fired APFSDS down a street in Iraq caused such a suction that it pulled an ambush party from houses. They were mowed down with co-ax by the M1 who fired it.



NEXT!

Regards

 

[winchable]

bump*

This one circulates around quite a bit, it‘s a pile of BS as far as I know with the US. DOD offering a response to it.

The power of the US Navy:

This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversation
of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast
of Newfoundland.

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees the
South to avoid a collision.
Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees
the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your
course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship.
I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN,
THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED
STATES‘ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOM-
PANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS
AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT
YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I
SAY AGAIN, THAT‘S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH,
OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO
ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.


-_____________________________________

Of course you can‘t help but laugh at it, even if its not true.

 

[D-n-A]

I‘ve seen that US Navy one before, pretty funny


I heard an urban legend about Mr Rogers before, saying that he was an ex-US Marine Sniper who did a few tours in Vietnam, and the reason why he always wore those sweaters on the show was because his arms were covered in tattoos.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Different bases used to have tales circulating about "the sunken tank", varying models and eras, and different details, but never anything definitive enough to let someone actually look for it. An interesting tale for the young ones te hear, but never vindicated.

Then, in 1998 or so, we found a buried M113 in Meaford that had been buried after an on-board ammunition and white phosphorus fire. Over the decades since, with the drawdown and almsot closure of the base, the details had been lost before it was brought back on line at its current activity level. We were able to confirm it‘s story with the vehicle fleet manager who could still account for the "missing" vehicle.

 

[alan_li_13]

I heard somewhere that the old OD green canadian combats had bottons that were edible by boiling into a soup or melting or something like that, ne one heard that before?

 

[Slim]

Slim goes to the recruiting centre to sign up for the military.

Slim-I wanna go to Germany and drink beer.
Recruiter-How about the Armoured Corps.
Slim-What do they do?
Well they drive tanks.
Slim-What else, do they fix them?
Recruiter-Naw, the army has technicians to do that. All you do is TELL THEM WHAT"S WRONG AND THEY FIX IT.
Recruiter-Yup, all you do is say "this or that is wrong and they fix it for you."
Slim-Does the Armoured Corps peel potatos?
Recruiter-Naw the cooks all do that.
Slim-Do you get yelled at in basic training?
Recruiter-Naw, not any more. That was the old days.
Slim-Really, they do that? Hows the food?
Recruiter-Oh, its great. I loved eating that stuff. Better than a restaurant!
Slim-Do you have to get up early?
Recruiter-Not really. They might make you get up around 6 or 7 when you first get in but after that they days are fairly short.
Slim-Whats basic like.
Recruiter-Summer camp.
Do you have to clean your own gun?
Recruiter-Naw, they do that for you when you turn it in. If not just spunge the thing off and it‘l be o.k.
Slim-Do you...?
Recruiter- Naw just...

My military myth!

Slim

 

[Zoomie]

Mr O‘Leary, the M113 story is pretty much the real thing. When I was staff there in the summer of 1997 we would routinely march the troopies out to five fingers and then continue the extra 500m to the burnt out hull - was great for AFV recognition classes.

The story about its "melt-down" can be verified by the apparent melting of its aluminum armour. I heard that a JLC course dug it up a couple of years before and that range control dragged the carcass to its current resting place. It makes a great flower pot.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Yes, I know it‘s the real thing, I was the Range Control Officer at the time.

 

[George Wallace]

Originally posted by Zoomie:
[qb] Mr O‘Leary, the M113 story is pretty much the real thing. When I was staff there in the summer of 1997 we would routinely march the troopies out to five fingers and then continue the extra 500m to the burnt out hull - was great for AFV recognition classes.

The story about its "melt-down" can be verified by the apparent melting of its aluminum armour. I heard that a JLC course dug it up a couple of years before and that range control dragged the carcass to its current resting place. It makes a great flower pot. [/qb]

There are a lot of those stories around Pet. There are supposed to be a trench full of German tanks, brought back from WW II, buried somewhere. A guy in Chaulk River says he saw them being buried when he was serving, but doesn‘t know where it was.

There were the remains of a Valentine tank down by the 2 Cbt Engineer Reg‘t compound, that was finally carted away last year.

The M113 that you guys are talking about may be the one that Tpr Kevin Graham had burn on him. It was in the winter/spring of 1981 when the 8CH (PL) were hosting a bunch of Americans on an ‘Exchange‘. The Americans put the gallon can of Naptha inside the carrier, next to the heater. Of course, this was an APC whose heater worked, the can exploded, blowing the Driver (Kevin) and the American Crewcommander out of their hatches. They sat in a snowbank and watched it burn down to the tracks. Kevin was posted to Germany that summer.

Then there is the Keg of Beer that the RCHA ceremoniously buried during the Depression when the Camp went "Dry".

GW

 

[Michael OLeary]

George, the story we received from the fleet manager‘s files was that that particular vehicle was being employed as a 1 RCR mortar platoon carrier. A faulty personnel heater and poorly stacked ammo packaging or othe materials led to it cooking off while parked behind the mortar line.

 

[Thompson_JM]

s‘funny... someone told me that thing was a lynx not an M113... but hey... you guys were there.. not me.. well ok.. ive seen it. and to me it looked like a M113.. but you know what its like..

 

[Franko]

How about the buried Centurion in the Ennisgillan portion of the training area of Gagetown.

Supposedly a myth until we stumbled across it during a patrol in 89....

Buried up to the end of the barrel. Couldn‘t believe my own eyes.

Regards

 

[George Wallace]

Originally posted by Cpl Thompson:
[qb] s‘funny... someone told me that thing was a lynx not an M113... but hey... you guys were there.. not me.. well ok.. ive seen it. and to me it looked like a M113.. but you know what its like.. [/qb]

Next time you see it, count the roadwheels. The Lynx has four per side, a M113 five.

And....are talking Pet or Meaford?


GW

 

[Thompson_JM]

oops im sorry, i should have specified..

i was refering to the half buried armoured veh in meaford, I cant remember if theyve moved it yet. but last time i was there it was just off the road near the FIBUA site

 

[D-n-A]

any of you heard about the M113 thats half-burried somewhere in the Vernon/Kelowna,BC area

 

[Slim]

Heres one...There is supposed to be a complete tank(type unknown but I believe it is a Centurion) buried someplace in Centurion field in Wainwright. I have never seen anything to even remotely support it mind you.

Slim

 

[Danjanou]

I‘m starting to see a trend here. Just how many buried and/or burned AFVs do we have lying around the country?

No wonder we‘ve got no tanks left. You Blackhats never bring them back after you‘re finished playing with them.

Hey I used to get in trouble with the CQMS if I failed to turn in a pull through after an Ex. How do you explain a missing tank?

 

[George Wallace]

Originally posted by Danjanou:
[qb] How do you explain a missing tank? [/qb]

An extremely good Cam Job.

Gw

 

[Slim]

Originally posted by Danjanou:
[qb] I‘m starting to see a trend here. Just how many buried and/or burned AFVs do we have lying around the country?

No wonder we‘ve got no tanks left. You Blackhats never bring them back after you‘re finished playing with them.

Hey I used to get in trouble with the CQMS if I failed to turn in a pull through after an Ex. How do you explain a missing tank? [/qb]

Can you imagine, getting out to go to a Sqn O group...You come back and the friggin tank is missing...or sunk into the ground or something! Wow.