General Orders
When I was in Boot Camp all those years ago, I was required to memorize the following:
1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything within sight or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guardhouse than my own.
5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.
6. To receive, obey, and pass on to the sentry who relieves me all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck and officers and petty officers of the watch.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the petty officer of the watch in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night, and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.
Do you see the three I highlighted? Those three were my biggest enemy one day in October of 1988. On that particular day in sunny San Diego I was slated for CBR Training. To the uninitiated.......that means Gas Chamber. If you have ever been to San Diego, and driven past the old RTC and saw that landlocked ship (USS RECRUIT) by the highway...you have seen the location of the Gas Chamber. I have no idea if the ship is there any longer or not. I also haven't any idea if any of the old base is still intact. I guess your trip to San Diego should have happened while they were pumping Recruits out of there. Where was I?
Oh yes, getting gassed is where I was. You see the ship was there for deck training, and other topside stuff. Below in the ship's 'hull' was the MCC phone center. That is where we were allowed to call home from, when our CC's were feeling nice. Across the way was a piss yellow building with a ramp coming out of the door. That building is were may of us had our opportunity to see if that Mark V Gas Mask worked correctly. The Company's Recruit Leadership went first. They exited from the other side of where we went in, so we had no idea of what to expect. Well, we had heard the stories from friends and family...but you know what I mean. Sooner than expected it was my turn, one of our Squad Leaders came out and showed us a little pill, the size of a standard aspirin. The pill, he explained, was to be placed on a hot plate, and then the CS (Tear Gas) would fill the room. We all put on our masks, and entered the room. As we entered the room we filed in and stood in ranks of 15-20 men. Standing at a attention facing forward, we looked into a control booth. Both of my Company Commanders (Drill Instructors) were in there along with a photographer, and the instructors. The room was clear, looked as though you could pull off your mask, and breathe like you would at any other time in your life. Except this time, it wasn't the case. We were ordered to not puke on their deck, if anyone puked on the deck, it would be bad for them, because the culprit would have to clean the deck himself with no mask. The order of the day was to puke into our white hats (Gilligan Hats) or down inside our shirts.
At this point it started to make you wonder what exactly was going on. How bad is this shit? It doesn't look that bad in here.
"First Rank, Masks....OFF!" Off goes the mask, to make sure that you just don't stand there and hold your breath. The sadistic insructors inside their comfortable booth would order us to repeat a few General Orders. Guess which three my group had? Yep, the three highlighted ones. The three longest damn orders there were. Taking in a deep breath I started to recite my second General Order. It wasn't too bad, mouth felt funny, produced a lot of tears and snot.
"OK you Dildos recite the Sixth General Order" Starting to get harder to take in a breath, feeling a little woozy, snot strings from my nostrils to the floor. Getting harder to speak, my throat is starting to constrict, getting panicky. Watching the assholes in the booth point and laugh at us...Fuck You Guys!
"Eleventh Order ladies, make it loud this time, or we'll run you all through this again!" Words barely being formed now, getting really hard to breath, getting pissed at the other guys in the rank. I feel like I'm the only one croaking out the words loudly. Little do I know that none of us can 'belt' out anywords. I wasn't any louder than the rest of them. Now it was just a matter of forming the words with my mouth, because no wind was going either way. "Right...Face....Dismissed!" Now we run for the door waiting to feel real air rush into our lungs. That isn't exactly what happened it was more like a lot of spitting, puking, and nose blowing. Finally after about five minutes, everything was ok, and we could sit on the bleachers. We watched as the rest of our Company came out of the doors, one small group at a time. We had a chance to laugh at some of them, but mostly we helped them walk around and clear themselves of the CS.
Do I believe a Gas Mask is essential to saving ones life during a Chemical/Biological attack? You bet your ass I do...they work...I have the pictures of the experiece to prove it!
Time yourself reciting those three Orders outloud. It seemed like forever in the chamber....but it wasn't that long at all.
1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything within sight or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guardhouse than my own.
5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.
6. To receive, obey, and pass on to the sentry who relieves me all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck and officers and petty officers of the watch.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the petty officer of the watch in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night, and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.
Do you see the three I highlighted? Those three were my biggest enemy one day in October of 1988. On that particular day in sunny San Diego I was slated for CBR Training. To the uninitiated.......that means Gas Chamber. If you have ever been to San Diego, and driven past the old RTC and saw that landlocked ship (USS RECRUIT) by the highway...you have seen the location of the Gas Chamber. I have no idea if the ship is there any longer or not. I also haven't any idea if any of the old base is still intact. I guess your trip to San Diego should have happened while they were pumping Recruits out of there. Where was I?
Oh yes, getting gassed is where I was. You see the ship was there for deck training, and other topside stuff. Below in the ship's 'hull' was the MCC phone center. That is where we were allowed to call home from, when our CC's were feeling nice. Across the way was a piss yellow building with a ramp coming out of the door. That building is were may of us had our opportunity to see if that Mark V Gas Mask worked correctly. The Company's Recruit Leadership went first. They exited from the other side of where we went in, so we had no idea of what to expect. Well, we had heard the stories from friends and family...but you know what I mean. Sooner than expected it was my turn, one of our Squad Leaders came out and showed us a little pill, the size of a standard aspirin. The pill, he explained, was to be placed on a hot plate, and then the CS (Tear Gas) would fill the room. We all put on our masks, and entered the room. As we entered the room we filed in and stood in ranks of 15-20 men. Standing at a attention facing forward, we looked into a control booth. Both of my Company Commanders (Drill Instructors) were in there along with a photographer, and the instructors. The room was clear, looked as though you could pull off your mask, and breathe like you would at any other time in your life. Except this time, it wasn't the case. We were ordered to not puke on their deck, if anyone puked on the deck, it would be bad for them, because the culprit would have to clean the deck himself with no mask. The order of the day was to puke into our white hats (Gilligan Hats) or down inside our shirts.
At this point it started to make you wonder what exactly was going on. How bad is this shit? It doesn't look that bad in here.
"First Rank, Masks....OFF!" Off goes the mask, to make sure that you just don't stand there and hold your breath. The sadistic insructors inside their comfortable booth would order us to repeat a few General Orders. Guess which three my group had? Yep, the three highlighted ones. The three longest damn orders there were. Taking in a deep breath I started to recite my second General Order. It wasn't too bad, mouth felt funny, produced a lot of tears and snot.
"OK you Dildos recite the Sixth General Order" Starting to get harder to take in a breath, feeling a little woozy, snot strings from my nostrils to the floor. Getting harder to speak, my throat is starting to constrict, getting panicky. Watching the assholes in the booth point and laugh at us...Fuck You Guys!
"Eleventh Order ladies, make it loud this time, or we'll run you all through this again!" Words barely being formed now, getting really hard to breath, getting pissed at the other guys in the rank. I feel like I'm the only one croaking out the words loudly. Little do I know that none of us can 'belt' out anywords. I wasn't any louder than the rest of them. Now it was just a matter of forming the words with my mouth, because no wind was going either way. "Right...Face....Dismissed!" Now we run for the door waiting to feel real air rush into our lungs. That isn't exactly what happened it was more like a lot of spitting, puking, and nose blowing. Finally after about five minutes, everything was ok, and we could sit on the bleachers. We watched as the rest of our Company came out of the doors, one small group at a time. We had a chance to laugh at some of them, but mostly we helped them walk around and clear themselves of the CS.
Do I believe a Gas Mask is essential to saving ones life during a Chemical/Biological attack? You bet your ass I do...they work...I have the pictures of the experiece to prove it!
Time yourself reciting those three Orders outloud. It seemed like forever in the chamber....but it wasn't that long at all.
posted by Tall Molly Man at 6:42 PM
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