Can you still get your blood wings?  
Or did the PC crowd rule that its a no no?

Quoted: Can you still get your blood wings? Or did the PC people rule that its a no no?

It was a big joke when I went through basic in 98, right after that video came out.
We talked about 'blood rifle badges, etc.


[hit the edit button instead of the quote button - think I fixed it - Paul]

Quoted: Quoted: Can you still get your blood wings?   Or did the PC people rule that its a no no? It was a big joke when I went through basic in 98, right after that video came out. We talked about 'blood rifle badges, etc.

I knew almost all of those guys' in that video.
2nd Landing Support Bn. French Creek, Camp Lejeune
I was across the "field".

But do soldies still get blood wings?  Or is it against the rules?

Quoted: But do soldies still get blood wings?  Or is it against the rules?

It's a secret, sorry!

Not being military, I thought you messed up your question and were asking about earning your "Red Wings"..

I have no comment about it either way  

Quoted: I earned my shellback in 1983 - we had close to 40 people blinded with chemical burns, 38 of them regained their sight overnight, the other two had it return within 48 hours. Glad to have been inititated as a Shellback and a CPO the old fashioned way hr

Shellback during WestPac '84.  I still have a fear of firehoses.

Quoted: Can you still get your blood wings?   Or did the PC people rule that its a no no?

We still did it when I went through airborne school in '95.  

Quoted: Not being military, I thought you messed up your question and were asking about earning your "Red Wings".. I have no comment about it either way

'glad I'm not the only one who read it that way.  

It is a big no no, unless you dont get caught.  I have noticed far more people getting blood "rank, EIBs, etc" at their units.

When I graduated Airborne School in JAn '81, my uncle that was retired 101st Abn blood winged me on the DZ at Ft. Benning. The black hats looked the other way while he did it.
It's been frowned on for some time.

It is the against the rules, but it still happens where I am at (INFANTRY).  Promotions, though, are the big one.  Nothing like pulling your rank out of your collar bone.

My Bn CO gave me my Air Assault wings that way in 1989. he gave them to the whole class.

Can I get a Blood "Special devices for Infantry Personel"?

I've never been in the Millitary, but if you want to smash something I've earned into me, I'm OK with that,  but i'M NEVER FUCKING/EATING A GIRL  on her period.

sorry about the cap lock

I got them in Air Assault at Schofield, officially against the rules but we met up with the instructors in another area to get pinned.  Had them further pounded into my chest back at the unit.  When I earned my EOD "Crab" badge, I got the badge fucking pounded into my chest.  One of my Army instructors who liked to powerlift, hit me so hard that my ribbon bar was completely trashed and the pins were firmly imbedded and I do mean IMBEDDED.  After 10 months of School, it was well worth the pain.

I personally think they are a right of passage and a military tradition, too many traditions have been trampled by shitbirds like Sen Schroeder (the bitch).  Those who complain are a bunch of fucking pansies who really don't need to be in the Armed Forces, shit if "Blood Wings" are too much for them to handle I wonder how they will handle having real bullets flying by.

Blood wings = eating a girl out on her period.

Quoted: but i'M NEVER FUCKING/EATING A GIRL  on her period. sorry about the cap lock

Thats RED WINGS Not Blood wings.
You got to be one sick mofo to get your red wings!!

Yea its still against the rules.

But then again I had my Master Parachutist wings pinned/pounded in my chest when I received them this year.

Just as long as the blood wing recipient isnt a whinny bitch, he or she can still get them.

FREE

Quoted: It is a big no no, unless you dont get caught.  I have noticed far more people getting blood "rank, EIBs, etc" at their units.

and why the hell are you asking arfkom instead of your team/stick leader?

Explain to me exactly how you attach blood wings.  I thought you just pin it through your skin, but now im thinking its stabbed deep into your chest.

Thats RED WINGS Not Blood wings. You got to be one sick mofo to get your red wings!!

either/or, I'm just sayin' I've never earned 'em

Quoted: Yea its still against the rules. But then again I had my Master Parachutist wings pinned/pounded in my chest when I received them this year. Just as long as the blood wing recipient isnt a whinny bitch, he or she can still get them. FREE Quoted: It is a big no no, unless you dont get caught.  I have noticed far more people getting blood "rank, EIBs, etc" at their units.

Did you get your SFC pins pounded in too.  

When I got pinned on for SGT,  I recieved simultaneous punches to each collar, those suckers smart on the ole collar bones.  We also had to walk the gauntlet at my old Company and got a nice pounding by everyone.  Shitbirds pinned on for PFC and SPC looked like pinballs down the gauntlet.

Quoted: Quoted: Not being military, I thought you messed up your question and were asking about earning your "Red Wings".. I have no comment about it either way   'glad I'm not the only one who read it that way.

+1

Quoted: But do soldies still get blood wings?  Or is it against the rules?

Its against the rules... but everyone in the formation when I graduated airborne school that had a black hat pin on their wings got them in a stealthy sort of way.

Quoted: Can I get a Blood "Special devices for Infantry Personel"?

[lmfao]

Had an old Sergeant in the marine Reserves a dozen years ago that had 'Blood Wings'. As he told it, he immediately went to a tattoo parlor and had the wings tattoed right over the holes in his chest. here's a liberty pic when we tore a hole in Lawton, OK. The tat is on his pec, the real wings are on his toga -



The togas seemed like a good idea at the time - last thing our Unit CO had seaid before turning us loose on 36hrs liberty was 'I don't care WHAT condition you are in, as long as your asses are in formation when Liberty is over. So about a third of us (~40 of 100+) fell in wearing Togas and combat boots. He was NOT Amused.


Use to do Blood Stripes (kneeing the promotee in the leg as they pass down a gauntlet) in my old Arty unit. When I made Platoon Sergeant, I put a stop to that shit - we'd just previously had an excellent Corporal get his knee ligaments severaly torn by that nonsense. It was the reason the Plt Sgt billet was open.

Quoted: Explain to me exactly how you attach blood wings.  I thought you just pin it through your skin, but now im thinking its stabbed deep into your chest.

Well, it depends on who smacks them in and how hard.  All of mine including rank on the ole collars was smacked in so damn hard that the badge/rank pin was practically flush with the surface of your skin.  

You don't complain about the "Pinning" especially if its your First Sergeant,  unless you wish your life to turn into a living hell.

I always thought it was one of the DUMBEST rites of passage there ever was.

If you earned your wings (or anything else), you've already shown you're good enough to wear them. Having yourself mutilated (I saw one particularly nasty example) is stupid and counterproductive, and I, for one, am glad it's illegal.

I'm not a big PC fan, but this goes beyond that, IMO....

Earned my wings in late 74. Reported for duty at Fort Bragg immeadeatly after. Never heard of or known about anyone going through  the "blood wings" right of passage until years later as reported in some news scandel.

BTW... while we're on the subject, any of you Airborne guys remember a Sgt. Bye at FT Benning?

I also think it is stupid and immature.  I don't think it should be against the rules, however.

At Airborne they asked which way you wanted them. I think most did request blood wings. Mine went on my Greens and will always stay there.

Quoted: I always thought it was one of the DUMBEST rites of passage there ever was. If you earned your wings (or anything else), you've already shown you're good enough to wear them. Having yourself mutilated (I saw one particularly nasty example) is stupid and counterproductive, and I, for one, am glad it's illegal. I'm not a big PC fan, but this goes beyond that, IMO....

Never heard it was illegal as of 1985 (!), and I thought it was a pretty stupid custom too.  I took my fish off within 5 minutes of the captain pinning them on.  You are supposed to take them off after someone draws blood by punching them into your ribs.

My close friends were pretty upset at not being able to really "tack them on."  Wish I did not take them off, but I already did.  

My Aircrew Wings were pounded into my chest in 1980 , and well worth the  "Right of Passage"  except it ruined my shirt

I had my blood stripes and rank stripes "pinned." In the Marine Corps, when a Marine is promoted to corporal, they are entitled to wear a blood stipe along the seam of the dress blue trousers. To have them "pinned", a Marine walks along a gauntlet of Corporals and Seargeants and each slams a fist into the new Corporals arm while simultaneously slamming a knee into the Corporals thigh. ( One Marine on each side of the new Corporal).By the time you get to the end of the Gauntlet, walking upright is extremely difficult.  Walking the next day is near impossible, but I did it.  I am proud that I did it. I earned it.

Over the years, many good soliders, sailors, and Marines have been seriously injusred by the various pinning rites, and that video that was aired a few years ago is the reason the the practice was OFFICIALLY done away with.

THere is a BIG difference between being pinned and being assaulted, as the video showed.

WHat those Marines went through wasn't pinning, it was assault

I have been pinned, the proper way.

When I got promoted to Sgt, my CO pinned my. Rank on collar, and one good shot to the chevrons. My wife pinned my other side, with my daughter present (she was 1 or so). SgtMaj got a punch in on my arm.

No one outside of my shop laid a hand on me, because I wasn't part of their shop, and vice versa.

THat being said, ther were many other forms of team building and rites of passage the we had. When I got to my first unit, I was on night crew, and used rank and last name for all the guys in my shop.
One night Cpl Tyrell had me go out to do daily inspections on the birds. WHile I was gone, he put out an all call for a stack on the FNG (me). After the  stack, he told me to call him Lenny, and Cpl Buzby, Buzz. All was GTG after that.

Then came the first deployment. Got a pink belly, and became good friends with a bunch of guys.

Have been stacked, and have stacked people, all in good fun.

Had a Sgt, Sgt Rodriguez (he was a former DI, fresh off the Drill Field), who got selected fot SSgt, and we taped him to  a chair, and drew SSgt chevrons on his head and took him on a tour of the squadron, and I gave him a GI shower in the chair on the hanger deck (was a LCpl at the time!!), and dropped him off at Maintenance Control and went home. THe next day, we all had a good laugh, and he knew we only did it out of respect for him. He watched out for us, and he had our loyality.

I've helped wash down pilots after their final flights, and have participated in various other things, but we NEVER did anything that the person said NO to, and if it looked like it was getting out of hand, it was STOPPED COLD.

Getting pinned isn't abut getting beaten, it's about respect, and you don't have respect for someone if you are willing to injure them.

Quoted: Not being military, I thought you messed up your question and were asking about earning your "Red Wings".. I have no comment about it either way

That's what I thought too...

S.O.

When I made Third Class I went through the "gauntlet" (along with the rest of us frockees) at work.
Every one who had a crow on plus a couple of the Warrents/Mustangs were in line to beat the shit out of our left arms, called tacking on the crow.
The guys in the powerplant shop tacked our crow on with a dead blow hammer.
I could not use my left arm for a couple of days after than. One of the guys ended up going to the clinic because of broken blood vessels in his arm.

When I got my Aircrew wings I had them tacked on (in) my chest without the retaining clips.
I was lucky since it was a command function so only 20 or so people were able to beat the shit out of me. Drinking a size 9 1/2's worth of beer and ciggerate butts out of my boot to get my wings at the bottom was fun.

When I made Second Class I didn't participate in the fun and games. I made it clear that I would not be assaulted.
One asshole came up from the side and did an elbow punch to my arm.
I dropped that fuck with one punch to his face.
The little bitch went crying to the Chief, the Chief told him to quit crying.

By the time I made First Class there was no hazing.

When I was an airman on the line we used to take the newly qualified Plane Captains, wrap them up in ordie tape, then tape them to "the chair" and either hoist them up in the hanger with the overhead chain lift or put them on the P-3 (aircraft) automatic wash rack and let it run in the manual mode for 10 minutes.

Thats nothing, look up how the old Vikings gave Blood Wings to their enemies.

Quoted: When I made Third Class I went through the "gauntlet" (along with the rest of us frockees) at work. Every one who had a crow on plus a couple of the Warrents/Mustangs were in line to beat the shit out of our left arms, called tacking on the crow. The guys in the powerplant shop tacked our crow on with a dead blow hammer. I could not use my left arm for a couple of days after than. One of the guys ended up going to the clinic because of broken blood vessels in his arm. When I got my Aircrew wings I had them tacked on (in) my chest without the retaining clips. I was lucky since it was a command function so only 20 or so people were able to beat the shit out of me. Drinking a size 9 1/2's worth of beer and ciggerate butts out of my boot to get my wings at the bottom was fun. When I made Second Class I didn't participate in the fun and games. I made it clear that I would not be assaulted. One asshole came up from the side and did an elbow punch to my arm. I dropped that fuck with one punch to his face. The little bitch went crying to the Chief, the Chief told him to quit crying. By the time I made First Class there was no hazing. When I was an airman on the line we used to take the newly qualified Plane Captains, wrap them up in ordie tape, then tape them to "the chair" and either hoist them up in the hanger with the overhead chain lift or put them on the P-3 (aircraft) automatic wash rack and let it run in the manual mode for 10 minutes.

Damn  I miss the good old days

I remember what our Sr Chief told me after I was properly tagged, "Remember what happened today and give a little of what you got", and gave me a wink
I was a nasty bastard when the shoe was on the other foot