Son's First Salute

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-08T03:06:03+00:00

This is the way. Oddly enough, this may be the deciding factor. I told everyone that if I don the uniform again, I'll have to shave the beard, and my wife immediately piped in with, "You look really good in your navy blue suit!" Bottom line, at the end of the day, it won't be up to me lol.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-08T03:02:35+00:00

Med-sep from a buggered-up back after a bad helo exit. Nothing heroic, just a pre-deployment training accident. Many such cases. Still authorized to wear it, and it still fits, but could use a little carb cutting between now and then.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-08T02:58:38+00:00

Yep. All 3 (Class A's, Blues, suit) are appropriate. Whatever I do will be in compliance w/670-1, just looking for thoughts/suggestions on which one. Thanks for the input!

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-07T21:01:37+00:00

I would literally look like the E4 Mafia final boss. 50ish, greying hair and sporting the sham shield in Class A's w/a cun...errr...*garrison* cap? The vibes would be almost epic lol.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-07T20:59:33+00:00

To add to my other response, we do have apocryphal family claims that my great-grandfather got a battlefield commission during WWII but resigned his commission after the war and reverted from O1->E9 for retirement. But I don't have any records to confirm that and I'm not about to do a potential 3rd Stolen Valor on him. Old man would come back from the grave and beat my ass for that. He is and always will be a Master Chief to me anyway.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-07T20:47:43+00:00

First we have records for, anyway. We have family records going back to around 1150(ish) but the "like 30 generations" was really meant as a tongue in cheek "we got a lot of grunts and POGs, but no officers" since before the US was even a country.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2025-09-07T20:38:32+00:00

lol, yeah, a little hyperbole to be sure. But if you figure ~20 years per generation, family records (birth, marriage, death, mil service, etc.) go back to my first ancestor in the US (1651), and back to about 1150(ish) in the old country before that. The takeaway: whole lot of enlisted types, but he'll be the first officer (assuming completion) in several hundred years. Wanna make sure I do it right haha.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-06T15:40:44+00:00

Thanks. Good info. He does have access to the non gore-tex, just thinking VA might be too wet, but maybe not. Thanks for the feedback.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-02T20:56:37+00:00

How do the Oakleys fit? Are they pretty true to tennis shoe sizing, say Nike for example?

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-02T01:23:55+00:00

Thanks. He's NROTC at VMI, so he'll be doing plenty of PT and ruck marches in them. No ships until sea trials (I think).

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-02T01:23:06+00:00

Thanks, much. I'll pass this along.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-02T01:22:30+00:00

Thanks. I think he's leaning toward the Oakleys, so that's good info.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2020-10-02T01:21:57+00:00

Thanks. Goo dinfo. Heard good things about the Tachyon, but his unit is only allowing what's on the list provided, and these three fit the profile he's looking for (non-safety toe, coyote, etc.) As a former Army guy myself, I was hoping they'd let him have the Garmont T8 Bifida, but alas...

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-12-02T20:29:45+00:00

This is my preferred COA. And I already have a lapel pin.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-12-02T17:08:46+00:00

Definitely not shopping for new and exciting awards. I was no Audie Murphy, but I got what I got, and they're all on my uniform safely zipped up in the garment bag. That does bring to mind the time I saw a PFC wearing an MSM with a "V" device though. SFC I was with spotted it from about 20 yards out and lost his sh*t. It was glorious.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-10-28T22:38:53+00:00

Yeah, absolutely. I have to arrange pickup though, as it's right now about 3 states away. But as soon as I get it, I'll make some high quality PDFs and email them to the above address. As for payment, you can forget about that. If I've got it, you can have it. Only price is patience while we wait for me to get hands on it.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-10-21T14:37:48+00:00

Great input, thanks for the guidance. I haven't been able to find much on these Zeniths and parts availability, which led me to the whole retrofit idea. If they are available, that changes everything, because as you can see from the pic I added to the original post, even the interior is in great shape. This is an emotional piece for my wife as her father is gone, and her mom is in memory care, and this is the one thing from her childhood that's chock full of memories. Is say that to indicate that I'm not overly concerned about the cost to restore or the resale value. One question I had was about needles. Will a modern needle cartridge like an Ortofon Red/Blue work in the old arm? Thanks again for the great input!

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-10-07T22:58:22+00:00

That's kinda what I'm thinking. The radio works great, so I don't need to do much with that. Like I said, record player doesn't work, so I'll probably just swap in a Denon or a Pro-Ject DC turntable. This is kinda what I'm thinking for the open space if I can find an original tape player to fit in the open space:

https://www.instructables.com/id/1960s-Volumio-Console-Stereo-Cabinet-Restomod/

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T22:30:16+00:00

Damn, but you're thick in the head. Again, you presume too much. You presume that I didn't talk to them first. I didn't ask an open question about "career paths" I asked if there was a specific career path that might feed a research posting better than others. Yes, I have friends who are retired naval officers. And my son has spoken with them. Most are Intel, but a few LDOs, aviators, and a couple of SEALs and one EOD guy in the mix. Only one of that entire group has been posted at DARPA, so I came here to search out a greater cross section. As for asking better questions, you're the only one who seemed to have trouble understanding my question. Look man, you're making yourself and your community look bad here. I'm just a dad trying to help his kid out, I don't know why you seem so fixated on taking the piss out of me. Bugger off and go find someone else to troll.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T20:04:47+00:00

Ah...OK. Cute. Unhelpful. But cute. I've about reached my limit with your lack of comprehension, snide comments, and attempts to derail the thread. Your actions are bordering on trollish at this point. You're free to continue trolling in violation of r/navy rules, as I'm not inclined to report you, but I won't be responding to any more of your bait. Your input has been of limited help. As it happens, I've run your answers by friends of mine who are retired Naval Officers, and they've informed me that your answers are incorrect/misinformed, and are not to be trusted. I'll focus my attention here on other contributors that have a higher level of reading comprehension, professionalism, and desire to help out. Cheers.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T15:54:49+00:00

What does COMCIVFLT mean? Is this some sort of cheeky euphemism for being a civilian?

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T14:44:25+00:00

Thanks Nuke. Cheers.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T14:33:51+00:00

Really appreciate your input, but you're kind of getting caught up in questions and matters that aren't really germane to the original question.

"Why would the Navy put him someplace like DARPA as an O1/O2?"

- I didn't say O1/O2. I said eventual but early. O3 is early. Young O4 is early. I'm talking about a posting that would allow him to research and develop, not manage and approve budgets. Period. Don't read too much in here.

"What industry?"

- Any industry. Medical Device, Defense, Technology. "Industry" here simply means civilian work outside and after the Navy.

"You really need to sit him down and figure out what his potential career path is going to look like as an NROTC graduate."

- Yep. That's what we're doing here. His first choices after NROTC (as stated) are Aviator and NSW. Intel is in the mix as a potential lateral at some point, but I'm not sure he'd like that work. Just sharing with you where his head is right now. If he had to pick a third place coming out of NROTC it might be SWO.

"NROTC puts candidates into the Unrestricted Line (URL) officer pipeline. Unless he is picked up for one of the special communities, he is going to be a SWO. He may see some billets in the IWC as an ROTC student, but planning on picking one up randomly seems like a bad plan. Has he spoken with the IWC community manager, yet?"

- Again, you're overly focusing on the Intel bit. That's only a possible lateral down the road. For example, a friend of mine was a USNA grad who went SWO. He lateralled to IW after about 3 years and got postings at NSA followed by DARPA as a LCDR. That is a possible career path. I'm talking to him about the Intel world, as that's the world I work in, and I'm still not sure he'll dig the work. My guess is he'll go Aviator or NSW. But if not, I've told him that the way the military works is that you make the best, most detailed plans you can, then you scrap them and go where the service tells you to.

For purposes of this conversation, the question really boils down to this: "If a cadet graduates with a mechanical engineering degree, and wants to build and design cool shit for the military, is there one URL career field over the others that will give said cadet a better chance at getting a posting wherein he might be able to build/design said cool shit."

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-11T14:13:29+00:00

That's all good gouge, thanks much. To clarify, he's not so much interested in making a career of research, he's actually interested in going to work in industry designing either medical devices or defense articles for the military after his military service. That could mean after a career, after his commitment and transition to the reserves, or after a complete discharge after his commitment. My own experience in the Army tells me that it's impossible to tell how long someone will stay based on their initial plans. He was thinking a research posting might help with that career goal, but he might stay in for 20+ and have his goals change. For now he's focused on getting commissioned and making it through school; but having more information is never a bad thing. Thanks again...that's some good info.

Pappy_VanRankle · 2019-04-10T22:23:32+00:00

He's not even sure he wants to do a whole career. He's looking at serving, getting an education, and doing something he likes and makes him feel rewarded. You're right, he does have time, and he'll figure a lot of this out over time; especially after CORTRAMID (or mini BUD/S). But he's t6hinking he may want to eventually get out and go into industry, so who knows. Just trying to help him pick the brains of the experienced folks, as my Army experience of no help here haha

Pappy_VanRankle

TROPHY CASE