War and Boredom

[ArtKramr]

The Rain at Pontoise

It had been raining for a week and our airfield at Pontoise was drenched. The
squadron streets were a morass of mud. When you walked your boots sank into the
mud and there was a sucking sound as you lifted each foot to walk. We were
mostly hunched in out tents with a small fire in the pot bellied stove to fight
off the wet. We whiled away the boredom by reading, writing letters or playing
poker. In the mess tent we all sat with cups of hot coffee and felt better as
the cook's stoves gave off heat that drove off the dampness and the lights in
the tent cut away the gray gloom of the world outside. The boredom was endless,
Later as evening came on we all wandered over to the officers club where we
spent a few more hours drinking and talking to relieve that ever present
boredom.. Would this rain ever stop? As we walked back to our tents to turn in,
the rain seemed to lessen and we could see breaks in the clouds overhead. Even
a few stars appeared. The next morning we attacked the Rhine bridges at
Cologne.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[Howard Berkowitz]

In article >,
(ArtKramr) wrote:

> The Rain at Pontoise
>
> It had been raining for a week and our airfield at Pontoise was drenched.
> The
> squadron streets were a morass of mud. When you walked your boots sank
> into the
> mud and there was a sucking sound as you lifted each foot to walk. We
> were
> mostly hunched in out tents with a small fire in the pot bellied stove to
> fight
> off the wet. We whiled away the boredom by reading, writing letters or
> playing
> poker. In the mess tent we all sat with cups of hot coffee and felt
> better as
> the cook's stoves gave off heat that drove off the dampness and the
> lights in
> the tent cut away the gray gloom of the world outside. The boredom was
> endless,
> Later as evening came on we all wandered over to the officers club where
> we
> spent a few more hours drinking and talking to relieve that ever present
> boredom.. Would this rain ever stop? As we walked back to our tents to
> turn in,
> the rain seemed to lessen and we could see breaks in the clouds overhead.
> Even
> a few stars appeared. The next morning we attacked the Rhine bridges at
> Cologne.

Art, you give additional evidence that coffee is the most critical fluid
in the US military! I wonder if there could be a supply planning factor
for units -- every time you order xxx gallons of fuel, send yyy pounds
of coffee. :-)

AFAIK, the Air Force (Corps) has never taken coffeemaking to quite the
religious ritual used by the Navy. When I worked at a Navy software
development center, there were a group of petty officers that had taken
an option (this being during Viet Nam) to become an instant third class
if they had a BS degree in computer science (or equivalent), and a first
class with a master's degree. In general, they were the elite class,
and excused from most routine details. Coffee watch, however, was the
one thing they NEVER got out of.

The chain of command, after one memorable incident causing significant
damage to the CO's offfice, was delighted to take them off the interior
guard rotation. A nearsighted programmer with a loaded M-16 is not
anything you want to be near.

[Yeff]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 11:04:26 -0500, Howard Berkowitz wrote:

> AFAIK, the Air Force (Corps) has never taken coffeemaking to quite the
> religious ritual used by the Navy.

My last unit in the Air Force was a mobile intelligence unit (the 48th
Intelligence Squadron at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, TX). No matter where we
deployed in the field (be it Saudi, some field in Germany, or Camp Bullis
for some who-shot-who games), the first thing we did after certifying the
SCIF (Secure Compartmented Information Facility) was set up the coffee
maker in the ECP tent (Entry Control Point).

We would deploy without fresh food (only MREs until a kitchen was
established at a cantonment point), without showers, without bathrooms.
Come hell or high water though, we *would* have fresh-brewed coffee.

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com

[Howard Berkowitz]

In article >, Yeff
> wrote:

> On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 11:04:26 -0500, Howard Berkowitz wrote:
>
> > AFAIK, the Air Force (Corps) has never taken coffeemaking to quite the
> > religious ritual used by the Navy.
>
> My last unit in the Air Force was a mobile intelligence unit (the 48th
> Intelligence Squadron at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, TX). No matter where we
> deployed in the field (be it Saudi, some field in Germany, or Camp Bullis
> for some who-shot-who games), the first thing we did after certifying the
> SCIF (Secure Compartmented Information Facility) was set up the coffee
> maker in the ECP tent (Entry Control Point).
>
> We would deploy without fresh food (only MREs until a kitchen was
> established at a cantonment point), without showers, without bathrooms.
> Come hell or high water though, we *would* have fresh-brewed coffee.

Sounds like you needed a TEMPEST certified coffeemaker for the SCIF.

[ArtKramr]

>Subject: Re: War and Boredom
>From: Yeff
>Date: 3/12/04 9:35 AM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 11:04:26 -0500, Howard Berkowitz wrote:
>
>> AFAIK, the Air Force (Corps) has never taken coffeemaking to quite the
>> religious ritual used by the Navy.
>
>My last unit in the Air Force was a mobile intelligence unit (the 48th
>Intelligence Squadron at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, TX). No matter where we
>deployed in the field (be it Saudi, some field in Germany, or Camp Bullis
>for some who-shot-who games), the first thing we did after certifying the
>SCIF (Secure Compartmented Information Facility) was set up the coffee
>maker in the ECP tent (Entry Control Point).
>
>We would deploy without fresh food (only MREs until a kitchen was
>established at a cantonment point), without showers, without bathrooms.
>Come hell or high water though, we *would* have fresh-brewed coffee.
>
>-Jeff B.
>yeff at erols dot com


And who said war was hell? (:->)


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer