I miss going out and cruising in my M88A1 getting tankers out of where they should'nt have been :-)

Every damned day!

I think about it everday when it gets cold and wet here when the arthritis kicks in :-) . All the joints I knackered over the years carrying stupid amounts of weight etc is really kicking in but 20 yrs younger I'd do it all again....I'd just be careful not to buggar up my joints this time.I'd join the RAF so I could stay warm and cosy and drink tea all day and not go outside..LOL

I am still in, still on Active Duty, but being as I am broken I am away from my Marines and back on the Blue Side Navy...I miss my ambulance and I miss my Marines!!! They say that once you become an FMF corpsman the blue side corpsmen never really accept you back, they tend to think of you as damaged goods...got to get better and get back to the dark ( I mean green) side...Darth Vader was right once you feel the power of the Dark Side...LOL.

There are some days I miss it then there are days when I don't miss getting up in crappy weather, eating questionable food, PT, barfing up breakfast, being out in the field in crappy weather.

Well I still have to deal with the crappy weather, the food is what I want to cook and maybe eat, PT (what's that?) and if I want to go out in the field, at least I can come home to a warm house, and a warm bed.

Well, I retired at 30 years of active duty as an Armor Officer. I loved doing the job because it was my life. My Son followed in the military and enjoys it. I have been retired for about 6 years and would love for someone to ask me to return and command a brigade in Iraq. They will not, but it is nice to think of everday on the drive home at four in the afternoon.

Been back from Iraq for just over a year now and I miss the everyday life of being on active duty status. I was fortunate that when I got out of basic and ait I went straight to the desert on active duty and did not have to deal with the National Guard stuff. Now that I do have to deal with it it drives me insane. In fact I just turned in a condition for release to active duty form last week. Hopefully I'll be stationed at Ft. Hood by next spring.

I spent two years in the Navy back in the early 70's. I couldn't wait to get out. And then once I was out I missed it. And there's hardly a day that's went by in the past 30 years that I didn't wish I had stayed in.

I miss it every day.

I came off active duty 3 months after returning from OIF III. I was a tank platoon leader in B Trp, 3-7 Cavalry, with the same platoon for 29 months, 12 mo. in Iraq. The hardest part for me was leaving all the fellas I had worked with and fought side by side with.

It has been quite an eye opener to see how little some civilians actually know about what is going on over there, or how little they really care. I work in construction right now and am miserable. If it wasn't for being in the National Guard, and having a weekend each month with soldiers, I think I would go bonkers. I've struggled for this past year to find meaning and purpose in my civilian job, and have now decided to pursue a career in Law Enforcement. Fingers crossed, I should find out if I'm hired in the next couple of weeks! If it wasn't for my wife and daughter, I would undoubtably go back in the Army.

I miss my friends. Left far too many in Iraq and at such a young age. I miss the tank and Bradley ranges. I don't miss the BS that was all too common before I retired. And I don't miss getting shot/mortared/RPG'd/ and or IED'd at all. "Q"

I miss my buddies more than anything. Man, we had a blast! I sometimes miss the times when we were sleeping in holes in the rain, snow, cold, desert heat, when we were hungry, miserable, very tired, and angry. But that's what being a U.S. Marine is all about!

I just joined the forums after Just Visiting for the last 6 months or so and even though noone has done anything here in awhile I had add my 2cents! I miss taking my old '60rise for a ride BUT I don't miss repairing thrown track in the mud!!!!!! It would never come off in the middle of a German town.... only in the mud in the middle of nowhere.....
Gary W.

I don’t miss it…. I enlisted in the USN at 17 to escape. Things would have been a lot different if I had a different body shape. I never failed a PT test (except the reenlistment that I didn’t take) but every week and evaluation period I’d be humiliated for “not looking good in uniform.” Assigned to daily “Fat Boy” PT as NJP (non judicial punishment) by a 300 pound senior chief... I had no idea it was going to be a beauty contest. However, I went to great lengths to pull my weight and then some. Being an aviation ordnanceman I had plenty of opportunities as our hoisting equipment was nearly always simulated damaged. Also volunteering to help load in other squadrons so I could get certified on weapons that my squadron did not carry. My back reminds me of it daily. Then there was the TAD (TDY to others) to the galley. I didn’t mind the other military BS as there was very little. Had I been treated on my ability rather than appearance it might have been a career, and I might miss it.

Oh God yes!!! I miss every aspect of it. My Friends, the training, Pt, Chow time, everthing. Getting shot at not so much. The wankers I work with piss me off everyday! They are grown men, and act like children and complete asses. They will back stab you in a minute. Never did that happen in the Corps. I miss it so much, it brings me to tears sometimes. I am too old of a man to do anything about it now, and at times, I feel worthless. In there, I had a purpose, I was somebody. Now I am just another face in the crowd.

I served 4 years in the Marine Corp (90-94). Got out for what I thought were all the right reasons. After 3 months not only did I realize I had made a serious mistake and missed the service so bad It hurt, I re-enlisted into the Army. Got to admit the transition from Marine to Soldier was a hard one. Now I have 3 years left until I retire and I think I am dreading the day I hang up my uniform more than I am looking forward to it. My wife swears I will go friggin nuts. She's probably right.

I miss it very badly. I hate working in the civilian world. I miss the people the job and the tanks.

I do miss it. I miss the kind of friends and people you find in the army / military. I miss the mischeif you can get into.

Yes, 20 years later I still miss it.

Been retired 9 years. Miss the people & sense of mission. The civilian job world is Number 10 compared to the GI world.
And I miss those early morning launches, going on some low level flying route, skimming over the fall colored trees, terrain following the ridge lines in my Phabulous Phantom. The Rhino definitely rocked!

i was in for 2 years in the fleet on LST-1186 and FFG-19 .then four years as an EO in the seabees as a reservist NMCB 1527. the other day i was thinking about reenlisting. apparently my life is missing something , like the sound of a ciws going off as im changing out an OBA . or 30 foot swells (i actually love the "high" seas) . or the ever so loved midwatch . .... hmmm still sounds more exciting than what in doing now .

There's parts of it I miss, I only served 4 years active. But I sit and look back and realize today that those were the best 4 years of my life. I raised hell, i made some of the best friends in the world. I traveled the world. I got lucky and landed a job doing the same thing I did while I was in just getting paid a whole lot more. I don't miss the micro-managing that was in full swing when I got out in 2000, but I do miss the deployments some times. If I hadn't gotten married last year I'd probably be a an aerial gunner on helo's right now that's what I was looking into when I met my wife 3 years ago. I say it with pride though that I served my country, I made my mom and uncle sam proud, and in the long run I came out a better man from it all.

Well.....old habits die hard....
I m back into the reservist pool, I m now a Section Commander in an infantry platoon again. Quit firefighting, got a new civilian job and decided to volunteer for the Army for my reservist obligation. Man i cant wait to camou up and draw my M-16 again.

I can’t believe I never posted to this thread.


Do I miss the long hours, no sleep, cruddy food, rough seas, bad pay, living in Norfolk? Yes.

This should have been year 18 for me, but a car crash ended things just as I was starting to get my head of steam. Some people I know just do not understand why I entered the Navy. But, I wanted to do it and I am glad I did.