In honor of Memorial Day, I wonder how many veterans there are among the bus conversion fans, and whether that military service had any connection to the attraction of buses? I served in the U.S. Army for six years, having served in Korea and Vietnam. The trip I made from Albany, New York to Fort Dix, New Jersey after I was inducted in 1965, was in a Trailways Model 01 Silvereagle, and a Short Line GMC 4104. Prior to that, I was enthralled by rides on GMC Scenicruiser's, that I thought were very cool and exciting. In Vietnam, I was amazed at how tough the Japanese Isuzu buses were that were used to shuttle troops around near the big bases. After I got back to the U.S., I crossed the country several times in buses, and I was always happy to hear the wonderful sound of the Detroit Diesels. Bus travel was a more viable option then with both Trailways and Greyhound operating, and you got to see more of the country close up. I used to sit where I could see the driver shifting, and I saw the differences in double-clutching skills. A real good driver could go up and down through the pattern without any grinding, it was a skillful art. Some of the drivers wore leather gloves and took obvious pride in their performance. I was hooked, the rest is history.
Army infantry '68 -73.. One nephew in Marines on last year til retirement, one in the Army both currently in the states. One grandson currently in Kabul, Afghanistan, Army infantry.. If you would not give your life for this country......rdw
The 82nd airborne division 1970-72; 20 jumps.
I road on a Scenicruiser from basic to ait. Got on about midnight and walked up steps to upper level.Might have been only pass. That's about all I remember. Didn't have interest in busses then. When I was a kid, I remember liking the smell of diesel fumes and when you saw a Greyhound back behind you, it wasn't long till he passed the car you were riding in. Most roads were 2 lane then.
In 1984, I was in the US Navy for a grand total of 5 weeks so it hardly qualifies. I wasn't really motivated, out of shape, and had developed a very huge blister on my foot that made walking let alone marching next to impossible. I fell so far behind, I was falling apart and they gave me a separation. I was happy as can be to be out and had nothing but contempt for the military afterward for several years. But as time went by, I gained much respect and appreciation for our troops. They certainly would not have benefited from a 20 year old turd that couldn't do anything right so it all worked for the best.
God Bless our troops and never forget our vets and their families of those who are no longer with us.
As a postscript, I was at Great Lakes IL. for basic training. I saw one GM 4905 once and the rest were mostly skoolies on NAVISTAR chassis. When they transferred a few of us to the out processing unit, it was quite a ways from the main base. So we had to wait for a ride. I thought for sure they were going to send a skoolie for us. But no, we rode in the back of a "bread truck". DRAT!!!!
4 years in Cdn artillery reserve.
ha...they picked us up at Newark airport in a cattle car pulled by tractor, looked like a prison bus wooden benches and all :)
destination Fort Dix 1971.
I think I was the first trainee to bust the stock off an M-16 in bayonet training... everyone pointed and said i was going to jail...or KP for eternity
Sgt. Aronson called up a jeep and had me a ride to the arms room to issue a new weapon...everyone else marched home :)
We rode to the range in open cattle trailers standing up.
I remember the cattle cars, they were 35-40' long with wooden slats and lots of vertical pipes to hold onto, pulled by a snub-nosed International tractor. No seat belts ;D, I don't recall being allowed to sit as we were packed in like sardines. Seems like a whole platoon was jammed in.
When I went through basic we had M14's, they did not break in bayonet practice. The first M16's came in Vietnam and had problems with jamming and had to be cleaned a lot. The AK47's the Cong had did just fine.
I enjoyed the smell of Detroit burnt/dripped diesel fuel as well, early on. It's an acquired taste.
Quote from: chessie4905 on May 27, 2016, 01:24:08 PM
We rode to the range in open cattle trailers standing up.
lol... we ran.
US Army 1970 1972 Vietnam vet -rode a Eagle to basic at Ft Knox -4905 to Ft Riley Ks -then flew from there on
USCG, 1961-63. Rode the cable cars around San Francisco.
Sadly, I didn't serve due to a cervical issue between C-1, C-2 and C-3 vertebrae. Same issue that kept me out of playing football and basketball as a kid.
However, my dad was Army Air Corps in WWII, and my son and daughter-in-love are both USAF, and I remind them both often that I'm very proud of them for their service.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Army 67-73 with basic at Ft. Dix. I remember we arrived there about 3 am on a Fri night by bus after flying in from the west coast to Philly. I had made friends on the bus and when we got there they had us pick up blankets at supply and marched us to the barracks. No paperwork. Everyone was gone a weekend pass. I looked at my friend and said they don't even know we exist, lets get out of here and go to NY City so we did. AWOL the whole weekend on our first night. We got back late Sun night and no one was the wiser. Oh to be young and stupid again. Was a Cat operator and Spc 5 when discharged.
USN 1967-1971
USN 1951 - 1953 called to active from reserve.
Jack
Quote from: Boomer on May 27, 2016, 09:54:35 PM
Army 67-73 with basic at Ft. Dix. I remember we arrived there about 3 am on a Fri night by bus after flying in from the west coast to Philly. I had made friends on the bus and when we got there they had us pick up blankets at supply and marched us to the barracks. No paperwork. Everyone was gone a weekend pass. I looked at my friend and said they don't even know we exist, lets get out of here and go to NY City so we did. AWOL the whole weekend on our first night. We got back late Sun night and no one was the wiser. Oh to be young and stupid again. Was a Cat operator and Spc 5 when discharged.
I guess the key thing was arriving on a Friday night. When I got there at 0200 on some other weekday, they processed us by taking blood samples to establish blood type, gave us a OD overcoat (nothing else), assigned barracks at 0400, let us sleep until 0600, marched in line for breakfast, and then gave us aptitude testing that would determine what our training opportunities would be for the rest of our military life. Yes, we were young and stupid, and to think I actually I volunteered.
USAF 59-63 Was the 23rd man to arrive at Grand Forks,ND.>>>Dan
US Army 1965 - 1989
Quote from: akroyaleagle on May 28, 2016, 11:33:51 AM
US Army 1965 - 1989
A "lifer" as they used to say. You are the longest serving busnut so far!
US Navy May 1962 to Oct 1974. Crew on five submarines. One Diesel boat and four nuke boats. Made Chief and then Warrant. Spent last three years on an AOE which is a 70,000 ton 800 ft floating combination ammo and fuel tank. Designed to provide at sea replenishment. Left as a CWO2.
An AOE sounds like an explosive combination that would be a prime target in wartime.
US Army infantry, 70-71, spent 13 months and 13 days in the jungles and rice paddies in Vietnam. By extending my tour there i got out as soon as i hit the US, (after 18 hours of processing). Did a total time of 18 months and either 6 or 9 days.....E5 when i got out.
US Navy 1969 - 1975 P3 Orion Sub hunters VP 10 Avionics Technician
USMC 1960-1964 Motor Transport Officer - 8th Motor Transport, Force Troops, Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina
USS De Soto County LST-1141 - Cuban Missile Crisis
Thank You and all veterans for what you have done for this great country with not enough thanks.
Wayne
76th division Army Reserves 1968 to 1974, 4 months Fort Dix New Jersey, Connecticut Air National Guard 1992 to 1995 4 months Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois. Tried to get 20 years out of it but the better half hated it. Too old to go back but I do miss it.
Quote from: DoubleEagle on May 28, 2016, 02:55:40 PM
An AOE sounds like an explosive combination that would be a prime target in wartime.
And the really thoughtful part of the design was the two 125K gals AVGAS, think 110 Octane, tanks in the pointy end. Just aft of that were the pump rooms for gas and JP5. Followed by a 1 million gal JP5 tank. Then it was ammo holds down the middle with bottom and side tanks for JP5 and fuel oil. Target, oh yeah target.
Bill
Hey Ed, are you and Stevie living on Island Time yet?
81-84 USN ..uss los alamos . Holyloch Scotland .. Ports naval shipyard . philly and norfolk !!!
No Mark, turns out that Island Time would have taken more money than we had. :( But we went with option #2 which was to go back up to Strawberry Az., where we lived before we bought the bus, and buy a place here. Moved in on May 12th and still getting settled in. ;D
USAF '70-'74, 2 yrs stateside as an ER Tech and 2 tours in SEA as a Medic and an ER Tech. I salute all those we saved and pray for the families of all those we couldn't. Freedom is NOT Free.
USAR 2007 - present
Good choice Ed, maybe we will see you down south this winter. Will be at McDowell Park and in the Santa Cruz valley.
@ Beesme, USS los alamos . Holyloch Scotland was cut into 4 sections and shipped back to Mare Island in Vallejo, California in 1944 where my Dad was an engineer for the war effort working on drafting Sub parts and systems for them. He told me that it was put back together and sent back to Holyloch Scotland . 4 times it was decommissioned and then reconstructed and system brought up to date over the years and brought back into service. I believe it was 1929 to 1989.
Side note while working there they were short truck drivers to build piers and dump gravel into the water for dikes to hold water back. also at Mare Island. They would back up the semi trailers over the water on long narrow runways and then hit the bottom dump and pull it forward and out then fill up and do it again. Well some of the guys weren't really truck drivers and he said they would miss their marks or the air brakes would fail and into the drink they would go truck and all. 2 of them actually landed on one of the subs that were sitting under the truck temporary bridges. ;D
Dave5Cs
USAF Active 1985-1992, USAF Inactive Reserve 1993-2004, PA Air National Guard 2004-Present
201st RED HORSE SQ
Lead, Follow, Or Get The Hell Out Of The Way!!!
Of the 24 Veterans that responded, 12 were Army Veterans, 7 Navy, 3 Air Force, and 1 each for the Marine Corps and Coast Guard. This seems to reflect the size of the different services in troop numbers. I was thinking for a while that there might be more Navy and Air Force Veterans with buses because they miss being in a metal tube. On the other hand, you could make the case that Army Veterans long for solid metal buses because they did not feel secure in tents and wooden shacks. In any event, the number of Veterans within this bulletin board is a relatively small (and special) percentage.
Marine Corps 2006-2014. Did two Tours Iraq one Afghan. survived 3 IED's, and been shot at multiple times. I'm still here. somedays are good and somedays are bad. I would go back and do it all over again.
Quote from: usbusin on May 29, 2016, 06:37:43 PM
USMC 1960-1964 Motor Transport Officer - 8th Motor Transport, Force Troops, Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina
USS De Soto County LST-1141 - Cuban Missile Crisis
Little do these guys know we travel in pairs. I was a recovery chief in 29 palms, Camp Le Jeune, and New river. the trucks have changed a little bit. but it's the same ole Motor pool. I also became a PMI. let me know how the conversion goes.
USMC 1958 to 1964 have a grandson in Air Force currently deployed.
Quote from: carneybus on June 11, 2016, 07:48:23 AM
Marine Corps 2006-2014. Did two Tours Iraq one Afghan. survived 3 IED's, and been shot at multiple times. I'm still here. somedays are good and somedays are bad. I would go back and do it all over again.
I was in the Army, but I have always admired the Marines. In Vietnam, they seemed to have the oldest equipment and served in the hot spots. I hope it was better in Iraq and Afghanistan. Things get better over time; the sharp memories of bad situations get softer.
USAF/OHANG - Retired - 24 years 1JUN1988 - 18AUG2012 - 4 years as Cryptographic Maintenance Technician, Depot Level & 20 years as F16 Crew Chief.
I was a Corpsman for 8.9 years. Loved Guam and serving with 8&I in DC.
God Bless all that served, God Bless everyone.
HM2 (DOC) Hargis
Quote from: carneybus on June 11, 2016, 07:55:49 AMLittle do these guys know we travel in pairs. I was a recovery chief in 29 palms, Camp Le Jeune, and New river. the trucks have changed a little bit. but it's the same ole Motor pool. I also became a PMI. let me know how the conversion goes.
Hey, James, hope you enjoyed my part of the country. My dad was born just a couple of hundred meters away from the north-eastern corner of Camp Lejeune (little village of Hubert, NC). My greatgrandfather was disabled (an infection locked his knee) and so he and my greatgrandmother picked part of her parents' farm that had a running creek so that he could build a mill since he wasn't physically up to farming any more. Many of my father's cousins and aunts and uncles lost their farm land on the western side of Hwy 172 when C. Lejeune was established.
BTW, I was USMCR 1967-1971.