The hotel at which I am staying had a get-together for local Marines tonight. I thought it was fun seeing all of them, young and old, in their dress uniforms.
Now it's 130 AM, and I hear the young ones with their young spouses carousing in the hallways. Screaming, and screaming drunk. Slamming doors, running, cursing, and keeping everyone up (paper thin walls and all).
It's unfortunate. I hate how people look down on the armed forces, and this isn't making it any better. The real issue is that they're young and stupid, not that they're Marines.
On top of that, my knees are killing me from standing/walking on concrete for hours, so I'm Ornery (tm) anyways. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Heh. Fortunately for me, the hotel I'm staying in tonight is nice and quiet.
Hope you get some sleep, and hope your knees feel better.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Thanks, Icarus. Hey, I saw your namesake at the AF museum today! Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
It's part of the culture. Maybe they're having the Corps Birthday Party a couple of days late?
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
If part of the culture involves being rude to everyone else, then maybe I was wrong in saying it was due to immaturity.
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
quote:Originally posted by Swampjedi: If part of the culture involves being rude to everyone else, then maybe I was wrong in saying it was due to immaturity.
I think age has more to do with it than the mentality. + alcohol makes everyone do dumb things???
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, have you reported all the noise to management? Most hotels, at least the better ones, will deal with it, even if it leads to kicking people out of the hotel. Plus if you complain now, you might get either a discount on the room or, if the noise is really really really bad, they might comp it altogether.
Ah yes, those were the days... I used to do that - kick people out for making too much noise. It was fun. Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Maybe it hasta do with having been in Iraq, and/or thinking that they will be sooner or later. Knowing your life has been, is gonna be on the line makes celebrations a bit more desperate, boistrous.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
I'm a big one to gripe and moan, quid, but not to do anything about it. If they were in the next room going nuts instead of in the hall only occasionally, I'd say something.
Since I'm on the government's dime, it'll do me no good to get a free night.
aspectre, that's a pretty interesting connection. I wonder if there is anything to that. airmanfour, can you shed any light on that? Stan?
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Everything I've ever read about the armed forces describes rowdy parties.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
True I have been to a few parties with people I served with. True we may have been loud. However, where we were loud it was generally where everyone else was loud too. Such as in a club. Only once have we had the cops called on us for being too loud, and really we weren't being loud. It was just that the neighbor didn't like my friend that owned the house. Even the cops were confused.
Young servicemen are really not that much different from your young, average joe, american. The Corps did just celebrate their birthday not too long ago (as airmanfour pointed out), so it might have something to with that. I know we just had the Navy Ball not too long ago. But the Ball is generally a quiet celebratory time. Too many higher ranking officers there to want to get too bad off. That, and the dress uniform at the time for us was Whites. Those are a (word) to clean. Might as well stay sober just so you don't have to go through that hassle.
Young and stupid, yes. I am friends with a few marines that are young and don't fit into that. Oh you could call them stupid, they were young. But their mistakes were something of everyday life in america. So stupid never entered my mind for them.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Marines are expected to be hard drinkers. So they drink hard to meet expectations.
The fact that pretty much every single Marine that's been in the Corps for more than two years has seen action in Iraq may be an additional source of steam that's needed to be blown off. Combined with the Marine Corps Birthday having been only a couple of days ago makes for quite the rowdy celebration.
Posted by General Sax (Member # 9694) on :
Like you never did the same thing? Earplugs.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Wow sax, I really appreciate your stunning contribution.
Stan, airman, thanks for the input. That makes sense.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
My friends and I used to love hanging out with the Marines. They went to a lot of the college bars, presumably to meet college girls, and we liked them because we could always count on them to be nice and walk us home. The end.
-pH
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
quote:Originally posted by airmanfour: Marines are expected to be hard drinkers. So they drink hard to meet expectations.
I thought that was the Navy? You mean to tell me I've been following the wrong stereotype all these years? The drinking , womanizing , and cussing ? Dang it. Now I got to find a new one. Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
C'mon man, the Navy may curse more than the Marines, but they own alcoholism and womanizing.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
I don't like dealing with military people. You'd be amazed how many times I have to hear crap and take complaints about my company not offering a military discount. You know, it's a nice thing when a place *does* offer a military discount, but you are not entitled to it. You are not owed it.
Most of my encounters with military people involve quite a bit of unpleasantness.
I would think that they would be grateful when they *are* offered discounts, rather than being angry when they are not.
(I realize this is an unrelated issue.)
Posted by gums (Member # 9874) on :
I have seen this behavior too, but from non military people. Young people are young people, which is why we limit the rights of folks under the age of 21.
Funny isn't it? You can conquer a country, but you can't conquer yourself.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
I don't like dealing with customer service people. You'd be amazed how many times I don't give crap or complain about them being slow, lazy and not doing their jobs right. It's nice when people are courteous and patient when dealing with incompetence, but you are not entitled to it. You are not owed it.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
The alcoholism bit is about to change though. Department of the Navy is cracking down hard on it. An' since the Marines are part of the Navy they get stuck with it too.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by airmanfour: C'mon man, the Navy may curse more than the Marines, but they own alcoholism and womanizing.
I often wonder what the female equivalent of womanizing is. Manizing? That doesn't sound as cool.
-pH
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Uh, Pearce...all I can find for it is...skank. I'm having difficulties finding anything else.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
quote:I don't like dealing with customer service people. You'd be amazed how many times I don't give crap or complain about them being slow, lazy and not doing their jobs right. It's nice when people are courteous and patient when dealing with incompetence, but you are not entitled to it. You are not owed it.
You know, I get that you're attempting to imply that I'm lazy and incompetent, but since I'm not, it's really easy to ignore.
I don't understand why someone speaking about a negative experience with military people would offend you, personally.
You don't imagine that everyone in the military is a saint? You ought to be offended at the possibility of bad behavior by your comrades giving all of you a bad name, rather than taking it out on one of the victims of your comrades' bad behavior.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by Stan the man: Uh, Pearce...all I can find for it is...skank. I'm having difficulties finding anything else.
See, not as cool. Another product of our double-standards concerning sex. Womanizer = a scoundrel, but a dashing, charming scoundrel. Skank = dirty and skeazy and desperate.
-pH
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I don't think that anyone in the service should complain about anyone else being incompetent. There is a big difference between incompetence and ignorance.
The difference is that if someone in retail messes up no one dies.
Not everyone in the service is arrogant about this type of stuff, but a lot are, IMO.
Military people (and I am ex-military myself) do not have a right to demand extra discounts, and become assholes if the company they are dealing with doesn't offer one. I have had this happen many times myself.
The only people who whine about a lack of discounts more than service people are seniors. Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH:
quote:Originally posted by Stan the man: Uh, Pearce...all I can find for it is...skank. I'm having difficulties finding anything else.
See, not as cool. Another product of our double-standards concerning sex. Womanizer = a scoundrel, but a dashing, charming scoundrel. Skank = dirty and skeazy and desperate.
-pH
Before you get your knickers in a twist, realize that you're basing this on your definitions. If anything, *I* see more negativity in the use of womanizer. I hear so much garbage about women being empowered sexually.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Well, I will say this much. I think Pearce knows pretty well how much of a womanizer I am not.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
*wishes there was a shifty-eye smiley*
-pH
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
When I think of womanizer, I think of a machine that would turn things into women. Men, I suppose. Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Oh, my support group, where art thou. Wait, it's in the fridge.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
lol...just don't be too loud getting it! Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
all those cans. Lined up so neatly, all 30 of them.
Edit to add: Loud, in this case I could almost never be too loud. My civilian neighbors downstairs are louder than me. But I never mind because I am usually awake more than they are, so it never keeps me up.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Hey, just be lucky I didn't open the liquor cabinet. Most of my hard alcohol came from a bunch of the guys who have gotten out recently. I'm set. The cabinet does complement the beer pong room quite well though. It's just too bad that the new gf isn't old enough to help me break it in.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Yeah, too bad. You dirty old man you.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Dirty Old Man << Womanizer
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
It wasn't so bad. She used to just call me older (she's 20). Then after I had to tell her who Prince is...I became old.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
quote:Originally posted by Stan the man: It wasn't so bad. She used to just call me older (she's 20). Then after I had to tell her who Prince is...I became old.
Prince? Prince of where?
Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
Wait, she didn't know who Prince was? I'm 21 and I know who Prince is.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I didn't really know what Pee Wee Herman was until it came on Adult Swim and traumatized me for life.
-pH
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Her 14 yo brother knows who he is. Heck, my grandmother knows who he is (she really does. grandma had a good chuckle on that).
quote: Dirty Old Man << Womanizer
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Ever tried to imagine if Morpheus had delivered the blue pill to Pee Wee and not Neo? I have. There's a part of me that will never stop crying.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
OMG! airmanfour, please, not while drinking da beer. That was just too funny.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
But it's ok. It's not considered beer wastage unless you don't clean it up afterwards. LINKY. Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Geez airman, that's disturbing.
What's worse is that I watched Pee Wee as a kid and enjoyed it. I never could figure out why Mom didn't like me watching it, though... Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
Yeah, my brother and I watched Pee Wee as kids as well. I had a Pee Wee figure and a Chairy figure. Watching it now though, the show's just creepy.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Liked it as a kid. Not as much as GiJoe and Transformers (the original), but I liked it.
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
quote:Originally posted by General Sax: Like you never did the same thing? Earplugs.
What the hell is your problem? Seriously. Just shut up and go away.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
I've got a short anecdote giving the military a bad image:
I was talking a walk through the forest out behind my campus enjoying the sound of the wind and birds, observing the first signs of autumn, far enough away from any roads to not hear any cars or trucks. Then, I hear stomping and grunting and a troop of ROTC cadets came jogging up the path from the opposite direction. When they got to me, their leader hollered for them all to drop and do 20 pushups. They all fell to the ground and screamed and hollered and grunted, with poor speechless me right in the middle! After about a minute, they all hopped up and continued jogging. The entire experience took no more than three minutes, and I was back in the forest with the birds and trees and wind and sun in a dazed shock.
Now to be fair, I cannot complain that they use the forest trails for training, but I just thought that it was a perfect example of nature vs. human.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, I don't see how that gives the military a bad image.
Now, if you want a nasty image story, I could tell you the time I had a police line-up in my hotel lobby with copious city police, RCMP, military police, and mall security keeping everything in line while the rape victim stood in the back office behind the two-way mirror identifying her rapists.
US Air Force. On training maneuvers at the Cold Lake AFB in Alberta. On weekend leave.
Fun.
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Random info - I had a very good friend stationed at Cold Lake.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Cool. I've been there. Many many many times. But not because of the AFB - just because it was in the neighborhood of where I lived and was the nearest large centre. Nearer than Edmonton, at any rate. Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
"I often wonder what the female equivalent of womanizing is."
Vamp is one of the alternatives.
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH:
quote:Originally posted by airmanfour: C'mon man, the Navy may curse more than the Marines, but they own alcoholism and womanizing.
I often wonder what the female equivalent of womanizing is. Manizing? That doesn't sound as cool.
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You mean to tell me I've been following the wrong stereotype all these years? The drinking ![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)
, womanizing ![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)
, and cussing ![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
? Dang it. Now I got to find a new one. ![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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Cool. I've been there. Many many many times. But not because of the AFB - just because it was in the neighborhood of where I lived and was the nearest large centre. Nearer than Edmonton, at any rate.