You might be military brat if...

[David]

David

Registered to :Aug 21, 2001
Messages :604
From :San Diego, CA.
Posted 28-12-2001 at 18:25
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You might be military brat if...

.... when you see vapor trails in the sky, you ASSUME they're from military aircraft.

... when you hear sonic booms, you snap to attention.

...you notice increased military air-traffic prior to or during the escalation of international crisis.

...you feel irritated at civilians who can smile and laugh at everyday events on the day we declare war. (When I first heard of the scud attacks at the start of the Gulf War, I grabbed two 5-gal. gas cans and went to get them filled. The folks at the gas station seemed oblivious to what was happening in the *real* world. I got so ticked that I LOUDLY asked, "How can you possibly be so happy... don't you realize that we are now at war?!!? They looked at me like I was crazy.)

...everyone asks where you're from because they just can't quite peg your accent...

and you stand there with your mouth half-open because you're not sure where to begin!

...you obsessively return to the dozen places you lived when you were a kid to "see what's changed".

...your wish you could discuss politics in greater detail with your father (or mother), but he/she refuses to tell you what he/she *really* thinks about his/her boss-- the Commander in Chief.

If you don't have a hometown. I don't really know what's mine......

...you are taught being naked is bad but its perfectly alright that the women in naples walked around topless and their children played naked in the gutters

...you hate living in the same place for more than two years, hate packing and cleaning, have your personal effects reduced each year instead of added to because of the moves

...tabula rasa means scrubbing white walls clean

...when you go on vacation you dont have to pay for lodging because you have friends everywhere in the world

...its perfectly acceptable not to write to your friends and still be considered a good friend

...you can adopt any accent, cause you lived everywhere

...kids that were in your 2nd grade class in Ft. Monroe, VA were in your 9th grade class in Heidelberg, Germany

...your significant other is a brat, and you compare posts

...you move or change jobs every two years (I've lived in seven different places within a 12 mile radius in the last 15 years)

...you left your mother in Germany (she teaches for DoDDes)

...your father is still working on the same artillery project for 12 years

...you used to bag groceries at the commissary

...you miss not having an ID card

re: things Dad brought home: Our scratch papers for drawing were cut up sheets of USGS maps, the ones with contour lines, and streets, roads, green for forests, etc. Is it any wonder I ended up in Geography! While others colored on the blank side, I played games on the maps.

...if the smell of Brasso makes you homesick.

...when asked how short are you know the correct answer is "short enough to sit on the edge of a dime an dangle your feet," and not that that you're 6ft tall.

also, you know if...when a movie starts you get ready to stand up waiting for the national anthem to play as well as that little musical ditti that leads into the upcoming features...

.... if "duck and cover" reminds you of those worthless 1960's era bomb drills held in base elementary schools, instead of tornado alerts like the civies remember!

... if you still refer to your underwear as "skivies"....

....you used left over k-rations when you played pioneer/cowgirl (especially the "biscuits" and "fruit cake")

... you know how to fold a flag, even though you were never in Scouts

... your friends expect you to know the songs for all the branches of the military - and you do

You keep a stockpile of canned foods, using them up and replacing them every year. You keep a small blanket and crackers in your car. You own more than 1 weather radio.

...... your family was stationed at a heavy-snow base at one time (like Minot).

Or Iceland. Years later, my friends in Virginia Beach thought me having a parka, hat, scarf, boots, gloves, etc, etc was weird until that big winter storm a couple years back...I was one of the few people prepared for negative 25 wind chill!

You cringe everytime someone goes near one of your (white) walls with a hammer and a nail.

I almost laughed out loud when I saw this one... my wife (not a brat) seems to go nuts with a hammer and nails and loves to relocate pictures all the time.. it makes me cringe.. and I still keep thinking that we won't pass inspection, even though I own my house!

If your father was always telling you to "police the yard"!

If you had a puptent in your yard...until your parents found out what was going on in there!

If your parents move or sell their house, its not a real big deal....but if GRANDMA (whose home has been the only static thing in your childhood) thinks about calling the realtor, you have hysterics.

If you remember button fly Levis in the PX for $4.50

And, girl brats weren't allowed to wear them, either.

If your civilian friends got grounded, while you were on restriction... I thought everyone got on restriction. There was actually another word for it?

Maybe army brats got on restriction, but air force brats get grounded, at least the Canadian variety. Makes sense, doesn't it? "Grounded" has got to be a brat term that got loose on civvy street.

We got restricted to quarters, however, really BAD infractions got some of us "under house arrest." ***** ***** It wasn't until you were about 16 that you discovered that everyone in the world did'nt sleep under green or blue wool blankets that had "US' on them, aspirin didn't come in 5,000 count bottles, and not every pen in the world didn't say "US Government" on it.

I just remembered the guy that they bounced out because he was caught taking home government property from work. It was one of those "US Government" black pens.

Leave it to the military...

Veggies don't taste right unless they're washed in clorox

...you knew the rank, first and last name of the kid next door's father before meeting the kid next door.

You know you're a military brat if you don't save things so's you don't go over the weight allowance of the next move...

[rikkisix]

More "You Might Be a Military Brat" for Boomer Brats

.....you have to "translate" into the local accent anything that isn't Standard American/Brat Speak. For instance, I have to "speak" a combo of Brooklyn-ese and Jersey-ese(btw, NO ONE calls it "JOISEY")ala Tony Soaprano for some people to understand me. Horror Movies comes out as " 'Whore' Movies" when I say it normally and people think I'm into a lot of Porn. I have to switch 'whore' into 'hawhr-er' for anyone here to understand me. So much work!

....you go back to Europe for your Junior year of college and find a whole bunch of American kids everywhere that talk just like you! YAY!


...your foreign born mother taught you English and you spoke American with a foreign accent until you got into school. Bugs Bunny cartoons helped straighten your accent out.
....Sometimes you get called Yoda because you mix up the order of words in a sentence every once in a while-this never goes away. See above.

.....you get caught by the MP's doing ANYTHING, get taken home and dropped on the concrete front steps and left for your father to deal with you and he is PISSED OFF because you embarrassed him in front of the enlisted men and others(MP's or not), not necessarily for what you did.


....you were born or have siblings that were born in several different countries and have either dual citizenship(mom was foreigner), full American citizenship(even though born on base abroad) and a full American citizenship with an open-ended (insert Foreign Country here) Work Visa(because you were born State-side and have a foreign parent that never became American citizen).

.....you say things like "State-side".

....your Mom is a foreigner with a valid Green Card that's older than you or your kids.

....your Bag or Backpack has in it, at any given time, a change of clothes, a makeshift first aid kit in a huge baggie, a compass, a flashlight, extra undies and socks, a really OLD Swiss Army knife, a keychain with either a lot of keys to nowhere or a couple of keys with a ton of sentimental charms on it(including a ratty neon colored rabbits foot) and.............a rusty bottle opener.


....you're upset because YOU wanted Dad's Field Jacket/Dress Blues and no one knows where they are.


....you say things like "Dress Blues".

....you literally get Court Marshaled from Brownies and banned from Girl Scouts for life for cutting a hole in the Base fence to get non-Brat friends to the Base Scout House quicker. True!

[eriksale]

...If you remember your dad coming home from Korea, and you don't know who he is!

…you remember your Dad teaching ROTC, and you get to watch a "Sea" of "Chrome Domes" on the parade field

…you remember taking swimming lessons at the Officers pool with no heat, and your swimming instructor was an the only x Marine woman DI

…you remember your mom pulling out boxes every 2 and half years saying "We should get orders soon"

…you remember making new friend's every three years!

…you remember your mom teaching you how to throw a baseball, dad was flying somewhere

…you remember going to second grade, crying and the teacher says "leave him alone his dad just went to Vietnam"

…you remember the kid's in the second grade saying "What's a Vietnam"

…you remember your dad getting ready to go on a trip in "Dress Blues" when one of your ewe's is having a breach birth and dad takes off his coat soaps up, delivers the lamb and says "I gotta go" 45 minutes latter his T29 flies over wings wagging, all is OK

…you remember going to the base theater's on a Saturday with .50, enough to see two double features!

…you remember going to the base bowling alley and rolling 3 lines for a dollar

…you remember your dad coming back from Vietnam at Travis, to be greeted only by his wife and his kid's. No band no flag waving, just the four of you.

…you remember getting your first "kiss" in the garden area behind the officers pool

…you remember calling the Air Police "Apes"

…you remember getting out of your first ticket by simply saying "My dad the MAJOR isn't going to like this!"

…you remember driving through the gate at 16 and getting saluted!

…you remember being 6 month's away from being a "second generation" in Vietnam

Yes I remember also when "duck and cover" was much more serious than a earthquake or tornado

More recently:

...When the only time you broke down at your father's funeral was when they handed you the flag

… How the blowing of "TAPS" gives you so much closure