Is TiT back?

[dutch508]

The thread is about tattoos and why you got them, then this post:

trof (44,079 posts) http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018453634
9. Yeah, I kinda get that.

AIRBORNE!
MARINES!
SEMPER FI!

I can understand how you felt back then.
The esprit de corps, etc.
Especially if you were in a shooting war.

My military experience was entirely different.
Long story, but I became a second balloon with no boot camp or OCS.
Learned to fly the man's airplane (WTF?) with a class that had just graduated from the Air Force Academy.
Class of '63.
There wasn't much esprit de corps.
Just get this ****ing thing over with and let me get my wings

.

WTF? This turd became a 2LT with no training and then a pilot? I am throwing the bullshit card.
Not to be outdone, however-

pinboy3niner (29,433 posts)
46. Mine are on my upper arms, so no one can see them unless I strip off my t-shirt

Some of the guys got a tat with a C.I.B. or a Purple Heart, but I got a Screaming Eagle insignia with my battalion designation (2/501 Infantry) on one shoulder, and the red dragon/green bamboo design of the VN Service Medal (with "Vietnam" above, and my tour dates) on the other.

Actually I was a "leg" in the 101st, having joined them in-country when they were off jump status and fully airmobile (or air assault, as they call it these days). I'd gotten my 2nd Lt's bar at 19, after 6 months of Infantry OCS at Benning (OC 502-68, 54th Co.). I'd gone in as a draftee in '67, and they gave me a Good Conduct Medal because I had more than a year of enlisted service by the time I graduated OCS. Little did they know... 

Your experience of getting flight training the way you did is unique, and more power to you for earning your wings. My OCS roommate went straight to Ft. Rucker for chopper flight training after OCS, and he was KIA flying a Huey in VN in '69.

A lot of guys think of being in the Infantry as too hairy, but I felt I knew what I was doing on the ground, in the jungle, and at least I had some control. I did a lot of combat assaults/extractions by Huey, and it was in the air, especially when we were under fire, that I had that awful feeling of having no control. One of my men volunteered for door gunner to get out of the field--but he was soon shot down, and he spent 3-1/2 years as a POW.

Aviation is a pretty foreign subject to me (even though I once worked for NTSB), so I always appreciate it when you bring your knowledge and experience to bear in a thread on that subject. As long as you're flying the plane, and I'm just along for the ride. 

I trust you less on the subject of window calibraters. But you do a good fake-out there , lol.

This guys story rings true. He knows the OCS info and the units he claims line up.

The OP:

trof (44,079 posts)

Could you please tell me why you got tattooed?
Disclaimer:
Yes I'm a geezer. I'm 72.
I'm also a devout life-long liberal.
I believe in everyone doing whatever they please as long as it doesn't frighten the horses.
OK, that's an old joke.

So, the guy was born in 1941. He was a 2LT in 1960. That doesn't match his story about the AFA class of '63 date...BEFORE the Vietnam war. Why did he become a 2LT then?

 

[dutch508]

TiT2.0 has a journal...

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/?az=archives&j=5122&page=0

Tales from the cockpit: Pearl HarborPosted by trof in The DU Lounge
Mon Mar 09th 2009, 04:25 PM
Although I already had several hundred hours in the 747 at TWA, when I hired on at Nippon Cargo I had to go through their training program.
There's the American Way, and the Japanese Way, and they're very different.

After ground school and simulator we started line training. That entailed going on actual working flights with a Japanese instructor/check pilot.
Captain Ito was an older pilot, several years my senior.
He was a strict taskmaster in the cockpit, but when we hit the ground for a layover he was a party guy.

One night we were in Anchorage at a little bar and grill next to the hotel. It was December 7 and the usual stuff about Pearl harbor was on TV news in the bar.
Ito was drinking Long Island Tea.
Yeah, I know.
He was buying rounds and insisted that the crew join him.
So I sipped on my 'tea', slowly. Musn't offend.
Ito drank his down and ordered another.
And then another.
He was getting extremely 'loose'.

Now the Japanese usually don't like close physical contact.
But Ito looked at me for several seconds, then got up and walked around the table. Put his arm around me.
And VERY seriously said "Trof-san? Pearl Harbor? BIG mistake!"
I could only agree.
"Yes, Ito-san. Big mistake."
well, I guess we didn't have to talk about that any more.


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/trof

[dutch508]

trof  (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore  Mon Mar-09-09 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Pearl Harbor Day was a bit of a touchy subject.
 I kind of admired Ito for approaching it head on.

When I decided to accept the offer of employment with the Japanese, I was a little worried about how a close friend would feel about it.

She's Dutch. Her father was a professional soldier. Officer in the Dutch army. They were stationed in Burma when war broke out. She and her entire family spent a few years in a Japanese internment camp. It was damned grim. Her grandparents died in the camp due to disease and starvation.

When I was considering the job at Nippon, I asked her how she would feel about that.
She was very gracious and said I should do whatever would further my career.
Then she said "I have something I want to give you. I've wanted to get rid of it for years."

Next evening she stopped in for a drink and gave me a Japanese battle flag.

She got it when her camp was liberated.
The Japanese abhor that flag now. Like the Germans and the swastika.
I still have it.

trof  (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore  Mon Mar-09-09 07:51 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. 1989. I flew for Nippon for 10 years. Until I retired.
 I started with TWA in 1968.
In late '88 TWA got a contract to supply crews for Nippon.
They were just starting up and we were their first air crews.
36 of us. 12 cockpit crews.
Captain, copilot, and flight engineer.

I was kinda bored with what I was doing at TWA, so I raised my hand.
"Yeah, I'd like to try that."

And thus began one of the weirdest, funniest, most surreal jobs I've ever had in aviation.

I'll tell more about that later.

trof  (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore  Mon Mar-09-09 08:06 PM
Response to Original message
11. How many would be offended if I posted in Japlish the way it really was?
 Having worked for them for 10 years, I have a great respect for them and their culture. I don't consider it to be racist, but it does add a certain flavor to some of my tales.

Japlish was the term originated by a Japanese friend and co-worker.
It combines their difficulty with English pronunciations of 'Vs', and 'Ls' and the co-opting of English words into their vocabulary.

Example: Japanese always tack on 'san' to your name. Especially in more formal situations. It means roughly 'honored one'.

My last name is Lambard.
So I was 'Rambard-san' to my Japanese friends.
The closest I can come to their pronunciation of 'V' is 'Bree'.
So...how many are gonna be pissed if I render these reminiscences in their original form?
Just askin'

[JohnnyReb]

OK....how many post until we get to his posting of his latest secret mission that has kept him away from the DUmp for so long.

[Bad Dog]

It is quite likely, if you searched long enough, you would find an obscure self published memoir this guy is using to flesh out his imaginary life of adventure.  I once met a guy who used a VN helicopter pilots memoir to create his VFW persona spouting sections of the book almost verbatim.  He was easy to catch with technical questions on the UH-1 and the unit he supposedly served in.

[Mr Mannn]

How the heck does he get 44K posts?!!
Is posting at DU a full time job for Trof?

TiT has had several incarnations since he was caught voicing the underlying hate for Jews that all DUers share.

I just can't figure...how do you rack up tens of thousands of posts in no time?

[Freeper]

How the heck does he get 44K posts?!!
Is posting at DU a full time job for Trof?

TiT has had several incarnations since he was caught voicing the underlying hate for Jews that all DUers share.

I just can't figure...how do you rack up tens of thousands of posts in no time?

When you don't have a job to interfere with your posting, you can get a shit ton of posts in a few days.

[franksolich]

When you don't have a job to interfere with your posting, you can get a shit ton of posts in a few days.

Hey, congratulations on hitting 16,000 posts.

And in case you haven't noticed it, you recently passed thundley4 for the #02 spot in "topics posted," breathing down my neck for top spot.

[thundley4]

Hey, congratulations on hitting 16,000 posts.

And in case you haven't noticed it, you recently passed thundley4 for the #02 spot in "topics posted," breathing down my neck for top spot.

I've been slacking off and spending more time on Twitter and less at Skin's Island of damned souls.

[franksolich]

I've been slacking off and spending more time on Twitter and less at Skin's Island of damned souls.

But that wasn't implied as criticism of you, sir.

It was merely pointing out a statistical fact, nothing more.

As you know, you're one of the sterlingest members here.

[Zathras]

trof 

The Japanese abhor that flag now. Like the Germans and the swastika.

Do they now DUmbass? Someone might want to tell that to the JMSDF....they fly the Rising Sun battle flag from the stern and mast of every one of their ships.

Also, from Wikipedia:

Present-day perception

The flag is considered offensive in countries with a strong anti-Japanese sentiment, specifically in China and the South Koreas, where it is considered to be associated with Japanese militarism and imperialism. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Japanese fans were warned not to fly the flag as it would cause offense and trouble with the Chinese. In Japan itself the flag is sometimes seen at sporting events and protests by extreme right-wing groups. The Rising Sun flag also appears on commercial product labels, such as on the cans of one variety of Asahi Breweries lager beer. The design is also incorporated into the flag of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun as well as banners called Tairyō-ki (大漁旗 Good Catch Flag?) flown by fishermen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_sun_flag

[GOBUCKS]

DUmmy trof has been around the DUmp forever.

He's another loudmouth phony soldier liar like TiT, but he's not TiT.

TiT's style is far more arrogant and distinctive.

For example, TiT would never use a contraction.

Like 0bama Steve, pinboynumberniner, DUmoTex, and numbersBoo, his military past is fiction. 

[franksolich]

DUmmy trof has been around the DUmp forever.

He's another loudmouth phony soldier liar like TiT, but he's not TiT.

I think you're right.

While he may bear a remarkable resemblence to the lying tits primitive, his style's a little different, and yes, he has been on Skins's island since forever.

[USA4ME]

trof

Example: Japanese always tack on 'san' to your name. Especially in more formal situations. It means roughly 'honored one'.

Somebody has all the 'Karate Kid' movies on DVD.

.