How long has MOS been around?

[HoughMade]

..As an aside, I've never once heard my dad say his "MoS" was random numbers/ letter. When asked he would just go "Army Aviation."...

Same with my Dad, but I don't know what codes they used in the '50s and pre-Vietnam '60s. Ae was Antiaircraft Artillery, before there was a separate ADA branch.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I mean for the former soldiers, do you know all the MoS designations outside of your own?

I know combat arms and direct combat support ones, and a lot of the larger support ones, yes. I don't know dental hygenist, finance, or other smaller/obscure jobs.

If I'm talking to former Army, I'll use 12B. Civilians or other branches, Combat Engineer.

 

[Tactically Fat]

98G- Russian linguist.

Wanted to go Warrant Officer flying helos but enough color blind that i couldn't pass the physical.

My dad was also a Russian linguist. USAF. He spent his Vietnam enlistment in Bedford, England at RAF Chicksands. One of his best humble-brags is that while he was there, not a single VC made it to England. His working days were spent listening to Russian radio broadcasts and writing down, in Cyrillic, whatever he heard. Usually weather forecasts as he said.

 

[Wolfhound]

I was 11B10 then 27F2H. The H means qualified as an instructor. The 11B duty and deployments made a much bigger impression on me than the 27F part. A support job was easy-peasy compared to the other. I will admit that 27F helped me get a good job after the military. 11B not so much.

 

[HoughMade]

...I will admit that 27F helped me get a good job after the military. 11B not so much.

11B means that the long hours I put in during trial aren't even close to the least amount of sleep I've had to operate with....but I was in my 20s then...and in the National Guard.....

 

[mellowwetto]

USMC 0311/ 8541

 

[ces6508]

11E50 Armor

 

[Vigilant]

I know combat arms and direct combat support ones, and a lot of the larger support ones, yes. I don't know dental hygenist, finance, or other smaller/obscure jobs.

If I'm talking to former Army, I'll use 12B. Civilians or other branches, Combat Engineer.

Infantryman with a shovel!

 

[actaeon277]

I primarily buffed floors and emptied trash!

Thats when I wasn’t a door gunner on the space shuttle!

Did I ever tell you guy’s about the time I had Saddam /Bin Landen/ Hitler in my sights and was told by the president not to fire?

I firmly believe that 1 out of 5 “Veterans” you encounter are fake.

I had no idea how many people lie about their service until I retired and reentered the civilian world.

BTW
Military records are public knowledge DD-214, NCOER/OER, 2-1 ect. Are all available under the FOIA.
No records are “classified” regardless of what a “vet” tells you.

I primarily buffed floors and emptied trash!
Doesn't everyone?

 

[Woobie]

I primarily buffed floors and emptied trash!
Doesn't everyone?

Please tell me they didn't take up space on the sub with a buffer.

 

[actaeon277]

Please tell me they didn't take up space on the sub with a buffer.

No mops, brooms, or buffers.
Instead foxtails and sponges.


But all the schools I went to had buffers.
Nuke in training still has to learn the buffer.

 

[actaeon277]

No mops, brooms, or buffers.
Instead foxtails and sponges.


But all the schools I went to had buffers.
Nuke in training still has to learn the buffer.

And when I was a fully trained nuke, and TDY, I had to run a lawn mower.

Isn't every enlisted man a janitor/lawn care tech?

 

[Woobie]

And when I was a fully trained nuke, and TDY, I had to run a lawn mower.

Isn't every enlisted man a janitor/lawn care tech?

I remember picking grass out of the cracks in the sidewalk by hand during AIT. That was one of the few places on Sand Hill grass grew with any regularity.

 

[Wolfhound]

And when I was a fully trained nuke, and TDY, I had to run a lawn mower.

Isn't every enlisted man a janitor/lawn care tech?

I think I spent half of my enlistment picking up cigarette butts. (I don't smoke)

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Isn't every enlisted man a janitor/lawn care tech?

...sometimes we get to paint stuff. And for a little while, I was a grave digger.

 

[patience0830]

My dad was also a Russian linguist. USAF. He spent his Vietnam enlistment in Bedford, England at RAF Chicksands. One of his best humble-brags is that while he was there, not a single VC made it to England. His working days were spent listening to Russian radio broadcasts and writing down, in Cyrillic, whatever he heard. Usually weather forecasts as he said.

Did your dad get his Russian training at the Presidio of Monterey? I think they've been training linguists there that long.
I did basic at Ft. Jackson, Columbia, SC. Tank Hill, old barracks in '86. Presidio of Monterey for 47 weeks of Russian Language training. San Angelo, TX at Goodfellow AFB for AIT. Then 2 1/2 yrs in West Germany, back when there was an east and west variety. Came home in January of '90 just before the wall came down.

 

[actaeon277]

...sometimes we get to paint stuff. And for a little while, I was a grave digger.

I got the painting (and scraping) part too.
No grave digging though.

Maybe a bit of using a boat hook for snagging floaters, but no digging.

 

[patience0830]

I think I spent half of my enlistment picking up cigarette butts. (I don't smoke)

Yeah. Instructions to visitor smokers at my place include, "please field strip your butts and deal with your own. I picked up all I'm gonna in the army." I quit smoking when i joined the Army smoking 2 packs of unfiltered camels a day and couldn't run 2 miles. 32 yrs ago in January.

 

[amboy49]

I would be hard pressed to believe that someone who served in the military would not be able to provide their MOS.

Mine from 1970-1971. 11Charlie

11 C = mortar gunner in a mortar platoon (crew served weapon) in an infantry company.

Speaking of buffing, when I was in basic at Ft Lewis I was sent on a detail to the post HQ with a group of guys. They picked me out to run the floor buffer to buff the hallways. I’d never run one before in my life and didn’t know putting pressure on one handle or the other would make the buffer move in the direction you wanted. I was bouncing the damn thing off one wall and then the other in a hallway when a four star came out of an office, grabbed the handles of the buffer, and then explained the trick to running it. Once done showing me he just turned around and walked back into the office. Once over the shock of seeing the four stars on his collar I can remember glancing at his name badge - it said Westmoreland ! . I have no idea why he was at Ft Lewis in 1970 other than the fact that everyone heading to Southeast Asia flew out of SeaTac back then. Much later I guessed he might have been discussing training and troop readiness but who knows.

 

[Doug]

Classified......I could tell you, but, well, you know...