Dumb fighter pilot games: Dead Bug

[trof]

Of course they were dumb.
We were in our early 20s, macho testosterone-loaded supersonic fighter jocks, invincible and maybe even bulletproof.


Dead Bug:
A quiet evening (yeah, right) at the Stag Bar in the Officers' Club.
It might have been 'Nickel Beer' night.
Yeah, 12 ounce mug of draft for a nickel.

The Stag Bar was guys only, grubby sweat-stained flight suits the uniform allowed.
This was way back in the day.
You can imagine.

One of the guys in the squadron would walk in and yell "DEAD BUG!"
Every man would hit the floor, on their backs, arms and legs in the air.
Last man down had to buy a round for everyone at the bar.
We thought this was just funny as hell.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Yeah, and if you spill your beer...

or any beer, you lose. I've heard of people who could dead bug with a pitcher in hand and still pour after he got up.

[trof]

2. I don't remember that rule.

But it makes sense.
Sort of?
You a fighter pilot?

[Wounded Bear]

4. Oh no...

I just worked on the planes. You had to be an officer to fly them. I worked for a living.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. .....

[marzipanni]

3. Sounds like fun, as long as you guys could walk or crawl (not roll) home

and be bed bugs not dead bugs.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. What's the last thing that goes through a bug's brain when he hits your canopy ?

His butt.

[Skittles]

6. the stories I could tell you about guys in grubby sweat-stained flight suits

I bet they would rival yours

[sarge43]

9. They're not called grubby sweat-stained flight suits, Airman Skittles.

It's goat skins

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. Shit fighter pilots DON'T say;

[Brigid]

10. When I was at Camp Lejeune . . .

Sometimes pilots from Cherry Point would buzz the beach.

[pinboy3niner]

11. In the Army Infantry we called that the "dying cockroach" position

Usually used as a punishment or trial, especially in OCS, as holding the position was exhausting and painful.

[Aristus]

12. Tankers stationed in Germany had the pfennig check.

This was back before the euro...

We'd all be out at a bierkeller, drinking. If someone called out "Pfennig check!", we'd have to search our pockets for a 1-pfennig German coin. It was pretty rare that anyone had one. A lot of the more xenophobic guys spent as little time out on the economy as possible, and consequently, rarely had German currency. Others often spent time on the economy and acquired some German marks for walking around money. But German merchants often made change to Americans in US dollars (doing the conversion in their heads, which always amazed me...), so getting hold of a 1-pfennig coin was relatively rare.

Anyway, if one couldn't produce a 1-pfennig coin, he had to buy the next round. Since this applied to a lot of the guys, we usually just took turns buying the rounds, like any normal drinking bout.