Had a wow flashback tody.

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
So trivia question....do you make your bed each day.

I was making our bed this am and had a flashback when i pulled the blanket square. When Linda makes it she is not as particular as me about it.

Guess they got to me for life when i was 17 and did my basic training in SA army

So i wondered with many ex vets here did and does US military have guys do the crazy things we had to do during basics. Specifically related to bed making we had to get the edge of our bed square. Yup go figure.
So how do you do it?
Well we were shown to take a shaving brush (that is after you have made the most perfect bed possible) then as if you were shaving wipe soap on the curved edge.
Then take your "dixies" two aluminium rectangular shaped dishes with wire fold round handles, and beat the two sides towards each other. Totally absurd it worked. The ridiculous part was as a result we never slept in the bed which had to be ready for inspection each morning. Yet if you got caught sleeping on floor you could get charged with damaging government property. Go figure.
Just imagine how it freaks me out to see my sons room when he is home and does not make his bed.

Some crazy stuff never leaves you. lol.

now go make your bed lol.
 
I was taught to make my bed, but there was never any training for where and how to place the decorative pillows that my wife insists being on the bed when it's made. Therefore I stopped making it. :D
 
In our home the last one out of bed makes it, so 99 times out of 100 Jan makes the bed. I'm an early riser, usually up between 5:30 and 6:30. Jan usually sleeps in, I don't even turn her coffee on before 7:30. This is my quiet time. I sit in a dark living room with the iPad and catch up on all the news and family stuff.
 
When I retired in 1995 after 26 years in the Marine Corps, I vowed never to do some habitual things. Like making your rack, or as you say, your bed. I only fool with it somewhat when the sheets get washed. And, then I only put on the fitted sheet and then the pillow cases. Everything else can stay chaotic as far as I am concerned. I also refuse to wear a watch now. Forget it. There are plenty of clocks around, even on my stupid smart phone. But, I do find myself doing crazy things once in a while, you know; salute the Flag even though I am not in uniform, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, standing for the National Anthem, standing for the Marine Hymn, etc. You know, those crazy, out of date and politically incorrect acts?
 
I'm pretty much with Rennie regarding the bed, and definitely with Dave on the crazy things. I do wear a watch, though - just a plain old Timex - nothing fancy.
 
Not sure what the troops have to put up with these days. The bounce a quarter on it, hospital corner, sleep on the floor bed making days are well behind me. We do make our bed every day, just to keep the darn cat off the sheets. I respect the flag as a matter of pride, but feel the 27 years I spent in uniform were dedicated to giving people the freedom to express their opinions through whatever non-violent method they chose....including disrespecting the flag. I spent some years in a country where disrespecting the flag meant jail time or worse and didn't like what I saw.
 
OK Rob, don't get me started

We used to have to iron our sheets in the 60's :rofl: Not to mention the hospital bed makings

Now days, we don't like tucked in sheets and let them be wrinkled...gotta let the feet flow free (especially with dog and cat weights on the bed).
 
I prefer life in the motor home sleeping on the couch and folding the bedding every day. I served my time but haven't starched a pair of pants or shirt since discharge. Or even tried to bounce a quarter. I saw those thing when I was in as way for the brass to maintain control over me and could deal with it. But not to control my whole life.... Wore a pocket t shirt and blue jeans for 33 years at my last job only to find out we had a casual Friday but couldn't really isee how to get any more casual..

Only wore a coat and tie when I was trying to get through to people who thought that was the only way to dress. 3-4 times a year. In the 70's and early 80's found I got better service at the airlines and car rental if I started with the coat and tie. That changed before the 80's were over...



Back to the bed if I am the last one up (rare any more) I pull the covers up and somewhat line up the pillows.. I only actually make it if we are visiting it seems the thing to do.
 
We don't "make" the bed, except when changing the linen. I make it then as I am quite fussy about it.

Normal daily, we just pull the covers onto the bed. Sorta made.

We have a heated waterbed and the covers hold the heat in.
 
Living in Arizona we sleep mostly with just a Top sheet no covers except in the winter. I get up first so the wife pulls the sheets up and smooths them when she gets up. As for the military after boot camp I was in nuke power school and had a private room or on the Submarine our births had curtains. On the Sub the lights were never on in Birthing so just pulling the sheets up and closing the curtain was good enough.
 
Can one of you enlighten me as to the "bounce a quarter" drill with the bed. Never heard that one before.

Well i guess i am still a product of my Dads ways. I too wear a watch like Jim only a cheapo Timex. But only when i leave the house, it goes on with my wedding ring. Lol. Oh and i still carry a hanky (handkerchief) has to be white and they get ironed and folded. Its just who i am. Feel naked if i dont have it in my pocket. Lol
No pocket knife though, Dad did have one but it never rubbed off on me. My idea of a knife is something i would not be allowed in the street with.
 
Can one of you enlighten me as to the "bounce a quarter" drill with the bed. Never heard that one before.

USMC - the sheets and blanket should be tucked in and stretched tight enough that a quarter dropped onto the bed will bounce.


Well i guess i am still a product of my Dads ways. I too wear a watch like Jim only a cheapo Timex. But only when i leave the house, it goes on with my wedding ring. Lol. Oh and i still carry a hanky (handkerchief) has to be white and they get ironed and folded. Its just who i am. Feel naked if i dont have it in my pocket. Lol
No pocket knife though, Dad did have one but it never rubbed off on me. My idea of a knife is something i would not be allowed in the street with.

My hankies are usually red or blue. Only carry a white one when 'dressed up.' (And I don't 'dress up' very often.)

Pocket knife? I'm never without one. I frequently have two, or even three on my person. Usually a Kershaw spring-assisted, a small Swiss Army, and a Leatherman. I consider them tools, not weapons - but if the need arises...
 
Can one of you enlighten me as to the "bounce a quarter" drill with the bed. Never heard that one before.

Well i guess i am still a product of my Dads ways. I too wear a watch like Jim only a cheapo Timex. But only when i leave the house, it goes on with my wedding ring. Lol. Oh and i still carry a hanky (handkerchief) has to be white and they get ironed and folded. Its just who i am. Feel naked if i dont have it in my pocket. Lol
No pocket knife though, Dad did have one but it never rubbed off on me. My idea of a knife is something i would not be allowed in the street with.

In the Navy and I suppose the Marines for Dave, when the DI (Drill instructor) came through the barracks for inspection, he would pick a rack (Bunk) and to check for a tight made rack, he would bounce a quarter.... if it bounced and turned over the bunk passed inspection... if it didn't he would tear it down and the owner got to re-make it and whatever other punishment the DI was in the mood to do that day.

On the watch, wore one for years, I always seem to work in a time sensitive industry - first the airlines, then air freight forwarding that had airline deadlines.... a couple of years before I retired, the watch began to irritate my arm, so I left it off and haven't worn one in over 12 years... I always have a clean (not ironed -- wifey doesn't do ironing any more -- she's retired too) hankerchief in my pocket ... like you I also feel out of sorts without one -- I tell people that the only thing I inherited from my dad was post nasal drip, so a hanky is a must -- and I do carry a pocket knife and have since I was 7 years old.... even carried one to school in my day.
 
No military experience here, but I learned to fold hospital corners on bedding when I was a kid and have done it that way on conventional beds ever since. On our waterbed, the corners aren't folded, but still tucked in tight...at least on my side of the bed. LOML prefers to have the sheets loose over her feet, so her side doesn't get tucked in nearly as thoroughly as mine.

Never got into the handkerchief habit, but like Chuck, I've carried a knife of some type pretty much daily since I was mid-elementary school age. I've carried various pocket and sheathed knives over the years. My current daily carry is a little Leatherman Micra. There have been periods in my life (due to the job) where I always had a Leatherman or similar multi-tool one me all the time. I wore a Buck 4" folding hunting knife on my belt for most of high school. (Those were different times, for sure.)

And I stopped wearing a watch when I started carrying a cell phone decades ago.
 
Ah! The mood of the Drill Instructor! What a phenomenon you didn't want to explore! For a rack that the quarter didn't bounce on it was usually like 50 bends and thrusts or 100 push ups. Knives are tools. I usually only have one pocket knife on my at any given time. But I do carry others if the need arises. I have a variety of Gerber Knives, Bucks, and even a Smith & Wesson. For serious things I break out my K=Bar Marine Fighting Knife. I carry a handkerchief in my back pocket when dressed up (clean shoes, blue jeans, t-shirt, blue Stihl cap) to use as a sweat rag when needed. I have red, white, and blue ones. Guess I better quit reminiscing as the sun is coming up and it will be time to get in the shop. Busted 100 yesterday and will be near that again today. AWK!!!
 
Dave,
You're a Texan, what's a 100 degrees... just starting to get warm.....
I grew up in East Texas about 100 miles south of you in an era when we didn't even have electricity in the house, so no way to run a fan at night, no A/c, if it was cold, a fire in the fire place. In summer we often moved our beds out on the porch or even out in the yard. The summer I went into the Navy the average temperature in Freestone county was about 110... I wanted to be stationed somewhere in the tropics to cool off. My last year in the navy I was stationed in San Francisco and nearly froze to death all summer long in the mid-70's and high 60's.
 
You are right, Chuck. But actually I wasn't in reference to me getting overly hot, but these two silly dogs. One has enough sense to get in some shade and the other doesn't. She kinda dumb in that regard. So, when it hits around 86 or so I put them in or she will have seizures. I keep going until the knees give me problems. Some days they do and some they don't. I started my career in Nam and there were times it was beautiful country and others it was miserable. But with the heat to a point I also have to consider the equipment as my shop is a 3 car garage open in the front and it's a metal structure. I have all kinds of fans blowing but sometimes it just gets so hot I go out to cool off. Just the way it is, and of course I am not in great shape heart wise so I do have to watch the heat a bit. Oh, well. 10 years ago I didn't care about the heat. Wonder what happened???
 
When I retired in 1995 after 26 years in the Marine Corps, I vowed never to do some habitual things. Like making your rack, or as you say, your bed. I only fool with it somewhat when the sheets get washed. And, then I only put on the fitted sheet and then the pillow cases. Everything else can stay chaotic as far as I am concerned. I also refuse to wear a watch now. Forget it. There are plenty of clocks around, even on my stupid smart phone. But, I do find myself doing crazy things once in a while, you know; salute the Flag even though I am not in uniform, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, standing for the National Anthem, standing for the Marine Hymn, etc. You know, those crazy, out of date and politically incorrect acts?

Yeah, you bet, and perhaps shed a mental tear for those who lost so much.

JimB
 
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