Last week, Harry mentioned that he would rather talk about burning shitters than politics, and you really have to agree that it is a better subject for discussion. It reminded me of a very funny story from my first tour in Vietnam. To avoid the problem of having to contend with the daily destruction of the contents of our necessary habitat, the engineers built the shitter slightly out over the side of hill. Not far, but just enough so that things would gently roll to the bottom of the valley and be of no further concern.
That was all great until the Air Farce decided to run some operations in the adjoining valley called “arc light” raids. For the uninitiated, arc lights were the B-52 bombing missions which would shake the earth for miles around, and you would swear that it was either armegeddon or damn close to it. The communications folks were responsible for making sure that the word was disseminated about the time of the raids so that everyone could take the appropriate precautions and be for warned.
Well, as you all know, there is always the ten percent that never seems to get the word. The only problem in this situation was that the ten-percenter just happened to be the battalion Sergeant Major. For him, nature called at about the same time that the raid was supposed to start and I guess he must have not got the word or felt the urge was so great that he had to take the risk. I’m sure that you can see where this story is headed, and it was inevitable that the shitter’s structure was not sufficient to withstand the violent vibrations. The Sergeant Major, along with the beautiful structure of which we were so proud, collapsed and gravity took care of the rest.
After washing him down as best they could and burning his utility uniform, the corpsmen gave him a precautionary antibiotic injection and everyone stayed as far away from him as possible. For the next couple of weeks the the CommO & Comm Chief were the most scarce people in the battalion.
Semper Fi!!! Top Pro
Out Fn Standing ! Love it! When I was first assigned to “Liberty Bridge” we had a small structure built above an opening in the bridge above the river. Our crap ended up near Hoi-An on the South China Sea! Harry
Great minds think alike! Semper Fi!! Top Pro
That picture kind of looks like the view from OP-6 on the hill behind Camp Love, minus the guy on the shitter! Harry 1371
It might well be, to be truthful, I really don’t know. I got the picture from the book “AMBASSADORS IN GREEN – A Pictorial Account of U. S. Marines in Vietnam,” page 93 and was taken by F. Beardsley with the caption: “…a Marine could look down from his ‘throne’ and appreciate the beauty during a lull in the battle.” It’s a great book published in 1971 by Leatherneck Association, Inc. LCC# 76-152771 and was edited by MSgt Tom Bartlett. Do you realize that that was 49 (four-nine) years ago. The picture, along with your comment, simply reminded me of the incident and was not meant to deceive. The incident really occurred in ’66, far west of DaNang near Elephant Valley when I was with 2/26. Actually, our shitter was a little more elaborate with a partial tin roof to keep you dry during monsoon.
Sadly though burning shitters is politics now. Burnpit360. Checkout making great changes.
Thanks for the web site referral. I’ll be sure to read it. Semper Fi!!! Top Pro
They were still burning it in Saudi too. Plus the women’s had camo over it. Really! This was at an AT&T Call Home site fifteen miles south of Kafji.
Speaking of burning shitters, one month when I had garbage truck detail, there were two guys who had shitter burning detail. I never would have imagined that there would be a pecking order among shitter burners.
One guy burned enlisted shitters and the other burned officer’s shitters. The guy who burned officer’s shitters was always putting down the guy who burned enlisted shitters. For one thing, he said that there weren’t as many officer shitters as enlisted shitters. Another thing (that I can only take his word on) is that officer shitters were nicer than enlisted shitters. But the ultimate was that he said, as everyone knows, officer shit don’t stink!
That’s no bullshit, ladies.
Since this supposed shitter is in Nam, how many were sniped at?? Seems kinda stupid to have a shitter in the open like that.
Hey Robert, have you ever read any Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain? One of his best bits of sage advice, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story!” But the picture is true (see the above citation.) Semper Fi!!! Top Pro
Now that f-ing funny, I don’t care who you are, except the SgtMaj
I remember in DaNang back in 67 we were in the enlisted mess hall and the officers mess hall was not far away. Some shit burners parked a 6-by sandbagged to allow 2 feet of burned shit float in back near the O mess and went into the enlisted mess to chow down. You should have heard the flak when several officers came out and demanded that the 6-by be moved. We all thought is was pretty funny.
Top Pro
Thanks for the chuckles. That was truly one great story.
Jerry
Nam 1968-1970