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...