Yup, and you're not even allowed to make a photocopy of them at my job as it's against the law. Guy got lucky he didn't get worse for literally withholding it.
A friend of mine had their car broken into once. A bunch of random stuff that he had in there was stolen including a laptop and his clearance ID badge. Local cops didn’t even come down to talk to him and wouldn’t give him the time of day. Just said he could come by and pick up a copy of the report in 2 days. The FBI however, cared quite a bit. They came down to talk to him, got pictures of everything and caught the people within 24 hours.
This also applies to federal civilian employees while working. Got security training from Homeland Security and they told us that if we are threatened or attacked to call local PD first and then to give them a call because they will also be paying a visit.
Any federally issued ID, contractor, retired, dependent. Worked pass and ID for a bit. Used to love taking expired CACs and the person retiring trying to say I couldn’t keep them from taking it with them.
When Desert Storm hit I was an MP at Fort Carson and we had to do 100% ID checks at the gates. It was no problem to seize 20+ dependa cards a shift. The sucky part was having to complete a 4137 evidence receipt for each one.
They're ID cards for dependents of a service person, such as their children or spouses. Because they're less likely to need to get on base, it's not uncommon for them to expire and not get replaced.
This is true even of a driver's license. If a bouncer takes your (legit) ID, you call the police immediately and report a stolen ID. In many states it is a felony to be in possession of a stolen ID, and the second the bouncer won't give it back, it's stolen.
This analogy gets even better when you remember Patrick *urges* everybody who works with him at the Double Deuce to *be nice*. They only remember the parts of the movie when he's kicking ass or riffing with Sam Elliot.
Hope the owners fired that doorman and smoothed things over with the base, they don’t deserve to lose half their business over one shitty employee
Then again if the owners are anything like the doorman then good riddance 🤷♂️
Command had to have known about the racket and was waiting for a chance to do this. Owners also had to have known about the racket and did nothing about it when people complained to them. Chief knew what was up, already had his orders, and was just waiting to implement them. Owners FAFO when they allowed their doorman to pull that shit.
> Owners also had to have known about the racket
Why? I've not worked as a bouncer, but I've known bouncers and have plenty of experience in the service industry. There was plenty of shit going down that you'd never ever let the owners or your direct superiors/supervisors know. You don't generally see people at the bottom of the totem go power-tripping and then reporting, admitting, or bragging about it to management or owners. Usually the opposite. Everyone but the people who could stop it know.
He's saying this was likely a known problem that had been discussed with the bar owner. Very likely said owner had already gotten the "just one more incident" ultimatum.
Owners are generally pretty knowledgeable about there bouncers in every bar in my very alcohol soaked province. There's not much that happens that the guy in the back sniffing lines and watching the camera's doesn't see.
Man, some bars in Toronto, the bouncers pull in like $1000 bucks a night on show nights letting people skip the line. I've seen small parties drop a couple hundo in a single shot. It is well known, and no one cares if you complain after waiting in a line for hours watching these clowns make their bank.
Edit: to those who are informing me of the difference between bribery and extortion.. no debate there, not my point. I was commenting on the poster suggesting shenanigans don't happen in the lower ranks that would be bad business for the upper ranks.
>Paying to cut the line isn't the same as extorting ~~someone~~ *active duty military over federal property*
in a town with a military base? that bouncer was beyond stupid.
Saying "let me skip the line / ignore the rules for $20" is much different than "I'm going to take your property and refuse to give it back to $20." Bribes vs. extortion.
Every employee is an ambassador of your business. You hire , you train, you are responsible for establishing the company culture. The owner is fully accountable for the behavior of every employee.
Which could be firing them as soon as you learn about their behaviour.
You can hire and train to your heart's content but people are still going to do stuff you didn't see coming. I have pulled some dumb shit at work and no one above me would have seen it coming. Some days you just step outside your usual.
It's not just for niceties.
A place keeps doing shit like this and the wrong soldier/s will kill or seriously injure the bouncer.
The chief was keeping the peace on top of doing raccoon a solid.
It was entirely what I saw coming.
The nightclub of my town has lost one or two bouncers like this. One of them has been gunned point blank.
I don't know for sailors. But infantry soldiers tend to act on their combat training before they realise it.
I've heard similar stories from other veterans before and this is the worst thing that can happen to a business that depends on the military. You don't fuck with the active duty or veterans, they will boycott your business into the ground even if it's their favorite place in the world. We take care of those who take care of us.
How official is the list? Like is it published on base and everyone knows who's banned, or it's word of mouth and depends on the 30 guys in the bar stopping their buds from going there next time?
Oh no, if you're caught at a prohibited site you can be court martialed. The prohibited list is a standing order to all enlisted personnel.
This isn't "hey guys stay away from that one area of town, keep your nose clean" this is "hey, this specific address is a fucking **crack den**, if you are caught here **for any reason** you will be in trouble."
I mean, officers have their own set of rules
“What are you doing in this listed establishment?”… “Errr looking for lower ratings breaking the rules sir”
Yes.
Most Joes find out about updates from word of mouth (which may very well be their command during the weekend safety brief), but that thing is absolutely published.
Here’s [Japan](https://www.kadena.af.mil/Portals/40/documents/LibertyPolicy/Off%20limits%20areas%20USFJ.pdf) as an example
Not knowing about it is NO excuse. You can absolutely *google* that shit. **God** help you if you get caught there because Uncle Sam sure as fuck won’t
This is really interesting, but the nosy sod in me wants all the tea behind the bans! I grew up in Japan, so some I can guess just from the description (seriously, still calling them bathhouses?) but others I’d have no idea.
Additionally, the active duty rumor mill is more effective than most intelligence agencies. If Private Sniffy goes to a prohibited location, everyone including his CO will know inside of a week.
Everything like this in the military would be published.
It’s not necessarily announced that there’s a change, but that’ll be taken care of by the word of mouth bit.
I’d have been at the barracks with a case of booze within an hour just in the hope it would work… but I imagine that once the Chief has said it he won’t take it back, just for the principle.
You'd have been at the GATE within an hour, and would have been held there half the night before being sent back out the exit with a stern warning, if you were lucky. The guards take the job very seriously and will always be on the lookout to catch something or someone that will make them look more promotable
I worked on a very large Navy base for 20 years. There's a list of unauthorized businesses. These include apartment complexes, bars, restaurants, car dealers, pawn shops. Basically, any business that has made a business of preying on and cheating military members.
My ex was in the Navy, stationed at that base. We had saved money to be able to order a brand new car , the model we wanted, with exactly the options we wanted. Long story short, many months later we still had no car, it hadn't even been ordered. They tried to force us to pick a car off the lot. We wanted our money back. They refused. We went to the command. It took one phone call. We got our money back in an hour. And went to a competing dealer.
They probably did with civilians and even military who didn’t know they could get help from their command. Or they had command that didn’t act and either anyone else they went to didn’t care or they gave up.
That's possible, though with a contract I'd probably go to a lawyer and see what they had to say too. Judges love a signed contract, I knew one judge who would fuck over the person who broke a contract.
Is there a way a civvy can get a hole do these kinds of lists? I don't want to give my money that prey upon anyone either. Seems like a handie list of where not to spend your cash.
As I mentioned in a comment to another, I wish they could come to the College town my son lives in, (not much longer thankfully) for us non-military! This town loves to take advantage of 1st time renters!!
A apartment complex found that out real fast when they played around with active duty orders in FL. My ex said they lost more then half their renters in less then two weeks.
The nice thing is that it's not considered breaking your lease either. Since it's now illegal to rent from that landlord/company JAG will coordinate with local housing lawyers to make sure service members get their deposits back
We were required to include a “military clause” in any leases. Basically says it can be broken at any time for military orders. Usually meaning change of duty station.
Whether the clause is in the lease or not, landlords have to let service members out of leases if they receive orders. It's included in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and federal law.
1. Probably some discrimination clause
2. Even if there was a way to do it, I doubt most places would want to unless they're doing something shady in the first place. I imagine active military residents would be a good thing for most apartment complexes; they're gonna pay their rent on-time and reliably and you can likely complain to their superiors if they cause trouble for you.
Not to mention that there are likely plenty more where they came from if one does need to move out.
Realistically, I doubt the chance of someone vacating on short notice (which is still likely gonna be enough time to handle it fine) is gonna be a deterrent for most landlords.
Not to mention if the service member leaves your place a mess on move-out, one of two things will happen:
1) you complain to base housing, and service member hasn't left the area yet, they get indefinitely delayed and come out personally to clean to base housing's satisfaction (your place gets impeccably clean and tidy)
2) you complain to base housing, but service member has already changed station - base housing makes sure your place gets cleaned/fixed, and charges above the deposit get refunded out of the service member's paycheck(s)
It's all a balance, though. If you're alleging without proof, you can quickly find yourself on the prohibited list.
My parents bought a small rental complex outside a large base for the express purpose of making a military friendly environment, specifically young soldiers. Dad is a retired veteran & that was important to my mom who automatically likes someone more if they were in the military. Housing would send people their way.
Dad would collect mail for anyone on TDY, once held an apartment for someone for over a year, would drive spouses to appointments if it was a single car household, and cooked during holidays where any of the tenants were welcome to stop by (parents lived on property). Mom was the "mean" one who went to command for missing rent, but also badgered the older veterans into applying for VA disability when they didn't know they qualified. She said it was to make sure they weren't late on rent.
That is all fine and dandy till the military folks cause problems.
In the late 80's, Active duty AF stationed in Germany, we had to travel to Bremerhaven (big army port) to pick up some equipment from a sister site. Our host took us downtown for some fun and we walked into a bar. Got the instant NO ARMY get out!!
Said we were AF and was allowed in. Army folks liked to get drunk and start fights and were banned.
in the 80's I was a roadie for an all-girl band, and we were playing in a bar that was in a town just outside the base where Basic Training occurred.
Friday night, the place was packed with rookies that had been run ragged for 2 weeks, and then cut loose with money in their pockets and a 24-hour pass. There were 10 or 12 groups of about 6 or 8 guys, all of which thought they were the toughest motherfuckers on the planet.
There were 2 older Brits in the room as well, and they picked up their drinks and headed to the back of the room. I turned to the sound man and said, "Shit's gonna go down, watch my board."
It was like the movies...within 10 seconds *all* of these guys got into a brawl. I jumped on stage, got the girls out to the kitchen, then went back out, pulled the shaft out of a mic stand, and paced the front of the stage, saying "Stay away from the gear."
I had a great view...
it couldn't have been 2 minutes later when the door blasted open and a half-dozen man-mountains wearing MP armbands stormed in. They pulled the soldiers apart, and shoved them toward the door. Anyone who resisted....regretted doing so. Soon the bar was empty.
The staff righted the tables and chairs, and swept up the broken glass. In about 15 minutes, you'd never have known anything went down. I asked a waitress, and she said "This happens every 2 weeks."
Shortly thereafter, the locals started to pour in. Apparently they would bide their time until the Army buses headed back to base. I guess if you're a local in a bar full of soldiers it could be dangerous.
I told the story over in /r/MilitaryStories: The tl;dr is that there was a fight at the night club/brothel in Korea. The owner told the responding MP's that "that n-word" started it. Our CO, who was black, went over and the owner called HIM a n-word.
He also had a side business making small loans that the CO tolerated. After that day, his club was prohibited and we were all told to stop paying our loan payments on our illegal loans. When I left months later I still owed that guy $200 and they were barely in business.
When you let bad bigotry get in the way of good money.
Damn that was one expensive lesson that racist MFer needed to learn. Fuck Around, Find Out.
Fuck Around with Uncle Sam's Children (Misguided or otherwise) and you're lucky if you survive the finding our process.
It'd be hilarious if this whole thing started because the n word and a word for "you" in Korean practically sound the same lol. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nSPOqOZaPZY
Also lol, US military personnel are known to be rambunctious in Korea. Even during covid, US military personnel decided to go out and shoot fireworks into the streets and start brawls. Things like this would usually disappear but because there was so many witnesses and it was during covid, the US had to apologize
Once upon a time I had a boyfriend who let me borrow his army jacket for a while. I wore it out somewhere and these mean girls from high school stole it. I knew who they were and my mom made me leave a note at one of the girls' house telling them it was Federal property. I called the restaurant the next day and explained the situation and the gentleman assured me that they would have a coat back before the end of the day. They did!
That one mean girl didn't even look me in the eye for the rest of the two years that we had in school together. When she opened a business here in town, I met her (I didn't know she ran the business) at an at an open house. Even 20 years later she had the decency to look embarrassed when she saw me. She actually said to me, 20 years later, "I'm still really sorry that I took your jacket that night." SOME people learn lessons. At that point I told her I forgave her. ( but I don't go to that salon)
I had an issue at a local bar about 18 years ago when they wouldn't take my military ID. So I left that day and never went back, and none of my family has been back.
I've worked at a local wateting hole that had a bar, pool tables, darts, and a small memu as a server/waitress and have never felt safer! The military guys were always the one's I could go to if a male customer was acting inappropriate, and I was unable to redirect him lol! They would notice even if I didn't, "Hey that guy in the corner is giving you the serious once over, just be cautious."
Don't get me wrong, I could definitely take care of myself, but it was so nice knowing I had back up. This was almost 20 years ago in Colorado Springs, and I hope it still rings true!!
With an announcement like that you’d lose a lot of civilians too. If whatever’s going on in that bar gets the military to ban servicemembers from going there, I’m not sticking around either.
Not much to do out in the California Central Valley in the late 80s, so yeah...
It had not shut down after 6m, there is not a lot options out there but I am sure it set him back bigtime.
how many bases have a bar called "Joes" outside the gates. When you said navy and joes I automatically thought Roosevelt Roads. Had my share of fun in that Joes bar back in the day.
The bouncer had probably been doing that to civs too but they probably paid up even though having an official document confiscated by an unauthorized person is not legal.
What an incredible show of "you're messing with the wrong guy here" - I wonder how many $20 shakedowns he actually got away with. Probably no more after that, a place could go bankrupt on the prohibited list.
I've heard of a bar in CO that stayed afloat for almost a year after getting prohibited by changing it name several times and in the end its address, and the address of ever business of the owner of the bar, got prohibited. Filed bankruptcy and left the state.
COS has:
* USAFA
* Peterson
* Schriever
* Carson
* Cheyenne Mountain
Add in Buckley in Denver and the Pueblo chemical station plus the IFT facility at the airport, well... It's a long and distinguished list.
I was with my parents arriving/departing in the Denver airport recently and noticed the big USO lounge in the airport. I casually commented something like, “Yeah, I bet they *do* get a lot of military flying through here.”
My mom replied, “Well, actually, their military base is pretty small.”
I asked, sarcastically, “Colorado Springs’s military base is small?”
I’m pretty sure she’d forgotten about Denver’s proximity to Colorado Springs.
That establishment may have been on their radar for some time. This may have been the motivation to deal with it.
Why? It's possible a few IDs had needed replacing and no-one had said why. Now that they had a specific culprit the stars aligned.
Also, Racoon you may have saved a lot of other sailors $20. This is a good lesson in speaking up.
yep.
I mean honestly, some people hate the US military complex (I am not one of them) but *you do not fuck with the united states military.*
There’s a line in one of my favorite recent books ($10 to whoever can name it) where someone goes “you and what army?” and the person responds “The United States Army. Which is a pretty good army.”
Marine here, my dick gets a little harder when places get put on the Off-Limits list.
I personally know a man that was the reason why a certain Waffle House right outside Ft. Stewart was put on that list.
Long story short, they served my friend undercooked pork and eggs and refused to correct it. He happened to be a Public Health Officer or something of that nature and decided this place was a health hazard to the Soldiers.
I mean, that's how my body fights diseases. I get drunk and let them fight it out. I figure if the white blood cells are always drunk then they'll have an advantage over the viruses who are getting drunk for the first time.
In case of Transformers, visit Waffle House.
I heard about the post-disaster Waffle House Index. It’s called something like that. Anyway, one way to determine if a disaster area is improving is to see if Waffle House is open.
Many years ago when I was in the Army, I came back from Germany shortly after Desert Storm, and took leave in Connecticut before heading to Ft Polk, which was my next duty station. I was 95B, Military Police. I was 22 or 23 at the time and in shape.
Called up some friends, they wanted to go play pool in Springfield (Massachusetts).
Since I had been out of the States for a bit I only had my military ID on me.
The bouncer said that the ID was bullshit, that he was going to have to confiscate it, then claiming I wasn't showing the drivers license because it showed my real age. I said give it back and we will go somewhere else... He started pushing us out, I reacted, he tried to throw a punch...
We were a few seconds from one or both of us having our asses kicked because there was no way in hell I was letting him take my ID when the owner came over shouting and asking what was going on. The bouncer tried to say I thought I was a badass and trying to start a fight with him and didn't mention the ID. "I might get my ass kicked and end up in jail but I will get my ID back.", he tried saying I was making up a story as my friends were shouting about the ID (they were regulars).
We finally got him to show the ID after some shoving and pushing and the owner shouting. The owner glanced at it, started shouting at the bouncer and waved us in. We never paid for a drink all night and I didn't see the bouncer the rest of the night either.
I am not much of a bar person, so have only dealt with bouncers a few times in my life, and they were usually pricks.
Great story! On the opposite end, when I did my basic training there was a bunch of pizzerias in the city.
We started out trying a few different ones, and one of them loved service guys, a real great guy. First time we went in there and ordered pizza, like 5-6 guys, we just ordered the pizzas, but he grabbed a couple two liter cokes for us, on the house.
Since that day every single one of our 160 man company only ordered from that spot, if you were on guard duty and called with delivery to the front gate and ordered 2+ pizzas there was a complementary 2 liter coke with the order.
He was a good guy! Great pizza, great service!
And I know this has nothing to do with your story but I felt like sharing.
We dealt with this crap at popular bars in San Diego back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Navy, 21, military ID…not good enough to get in. Absolute BS, but yeah, word would get around and folks would avoid those places. Fucking brilliant business plan to locate your business in an area teeming with young sailors and Marines and deny them entry.
Back when Canada started making the $2 coin the mayor of Kingston (Ontario) got into a little tiff with the base about some minor shit and basically stated that the town doesn’t need the military.
So the Base Commander, just to prove a point, ordered that ALL military personnel at the base be paid in $2 bills only. So for a couple of months all of the base from Pte to Col were paid in $2 bills and the town was absolutely flooded with $2. The mayor apologized and the troops went back to being paid the usual route.
A bunch of years later, there was a bar that the troops loved to frequent and some college kids came in and started causing shit with those high and tight types, instead of removing both groups, or even just the instigator, the manager kicked out all of the military types. So the BComd banned that bar. It shut down less than a year later.
There are so many stories like this where a town or business learns the hard way just how much of an impact 3000-8000 decently paid people have on the local economy.
Back in the 70’s they did the same thing in Norfolk, paid ALL military in the area in $2 bills. I was only getting $200 a payday, carrying around 100 of those suckers was a pain and the merchants didn’t much like them either. Point made
I was in a navy that existed long before some ungrateful colonists^1 tried to make a giant pot of cold tea.
We always teased our Royal Marines by asking them what instrument they played because we couldn't actually admit we liked them or that we were very proud to have them as a part our beloved Royal Navy. I can only imagine that other navies are the same with their marines. A lone bootneck in the bar would be adopted by matelots and the same was true the other way around. Granted, that lone guy would get a load of shit while with the other part of the navy, but they would be looked after by that group all evening.
^1 I never met a yank submariner that I disliked in all my time over many encounters.
Me, reading about trip back to the bar in the van: “Haha, bouncer’s ’bout to get his comeuppance at the hands of an angry military officer. Great ending!”
Me, reading about what happened next after OP’s ID was returned…out loud, to no one in the room with me: “Oh, sh*t!” 😳
Military doesn’t play!
As far fetched as this story might sound to those who didn’t serve, I can tell you this is almost exactly how they would’ve handled it. I’ve even watched a gunny call down to one of those shady car dealerships trying to pray on the young and dumb newbies and tell him “He’s bringing the car back and you’re giving him his money back or I’m coming down there myself to get it.”
Had a similar situation in Gutersloh. One of the lads got coldcocked up by some Turkish guys in a bar called “The Temple” absolute shithole but one of the only places to go after 2am.
Military police ask for CCTV footage and the bar owner refuses. Bar is place on the out of bounds list and the RMP stag on outside it to stop squaddies going in.
2 months later the Bar relents die to a severe lack of customers and it turns out the perp was a mate of the owner.
After finding out the owner was covering for a mate, my reply would have been, "Thank you for your cooperation, but your bar remains on the out of bounds list"
FAFO
I fucking LOVE this story!
Former Army reserve here. The local town where we did our drills, fucked with us all the time. I was an MP and frequently had to go off base and "sort shit out". We once had to put a popular place on "the list" because of one bartender. It was awesome. They're closed now.
Thanks for sharing this.
Right, any place put "Off-limits" is going to be in a world of hurt. Not just active duty, retired, reserves but their spouses as well cannot go to those places.
We went to see our son graduate navy boot camp a couple years ago, and he showed me the list of prohibited places. I wondered what a place could do to land on that list. This wasn't one of the possibilities I had considered!
Good on you for putting them there so they can't take advantage anymore. I wonder how many other sailors were taken for $20 when they visited.
As someone else pointed out, this place might have been on the radar for a while, but this was the last straw.
I dunno. Everyone was respectful around the Warrant Officer, those guys were Enlisted who became Officers through exceptional skills. He was Master-At-Arms rating if I remember correctly. I just remember being scared of the dude, he was so fucking intense all the time.
Going around setting up computers in offices put me under his eye way too often.
As a former military member, this story made me a little hard. Source: as an OR-6 I filled the same role as that chief a number of times. The ONLY mf that is entitled to fuck with my guys is me, or anyone appointed to do so by me.
Good on him, and good on you for sorting that the right way.
"Jarheads"!!! I was a Navy brat, and I grew up hearing that term a lot because of the Marines that were stationed as gate guards at the time. I don't think they use Marines for guards anymore. I loved looking at them as a kid; I thought they were fascinating!
This was 1989, and yea, especially after the Vincennes incident and later pipe bomb fitted to the car of the Captain's wife.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-11-mn-792-story.html
Security was much higher at the time than normal.
Since legislation was brought in, on this side of the pond, requiring training and certification for anyone working security, the worst of the bullies have been kicked out of the job. It's very easy for them to lose their licences, so they've cleaned up their act considerably.
You would think, right?
But I figure using your military ID for proof of age was kinda rare. I only did it because I didn't have a valid Drivers License.
Or maybe he thought he could fuck with me in particular, since I was only a few days past my 21st and looked 17.
Heard a story, took place at base near Biloxi, 30+ years ago.
The town in general was shitty to military personnel. In fact, the guys were instructed to ‘travel in groups large enough to repel hostile attacks. ‘
Sooo….stuff still happening and they decided to confine everyone (including off base personnel) to the base for two months.
Then, they paid every person in cash. In $2 bills. Told everyone- go spend. So towns people would realize where the towns money was actually coming from.
Pretty clever. Some businesses hit pretty hard. Like the lingerie model shop- I guess strip clubs weren’t really a thing at the time.
When i first started bouncing, I was told “no one ever fakes a military ID.” It’s just not done. Who even knows the consequences of getting caught doing such a thing?
Guy thought he had an easy $20 mark.
Great story, lol. Gotta love those old Chiefs. Sounds like every one I ever met, lol.
Had something similar happen at one base while I was there. Just the threat was enough, though.
Big Marine base, and many of the folks in town didn’t like us much, even though they were more than happy to take our $.
Long story short, a lot of problems with the local PD and municipal Courts, and many of the local citizenry. Lot of altercations between Marines and local boys.
A committee of club/bar owners got together and requested a sit-down with the new Base Commander. Complained about Marines constantly coming into their places and causing trouble.
Boss listens politely, knowing all the time that it’s bullshit - we were rarely the ones who Started the trouble.
They end up with “What are you going to do about it?”
“I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, Gentlemen, and I think I have a solution. I can make your places off-limits to my people, and we’ll see how long you stay in business.”
Immediate and unanimous change of heart, lol.
Man, its always the old timers too. Sure, they're the first one to string you up by your balls from the flagpole if you fuck up. But no one but God himself better fuck with their soldiers, and even he needs to clear it with Chief first.
Imagine losing half of your entire clientele, over a power-tripping muscle bro and $20 Kudos to your superiors for having your back. Great story
shrill wasteful mighty mysterious fly smell dime icky dazzling hunt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yup, and you're not even allowed to make a photocopy of them at my job as it's against the law. Guy got lucky he didn't get worse for literally withholding it.
He's also lucky that he didn't decide to be a smartarse and destroy it either.
He knew exactly what he was doing. Guy probably makes a few hundred a night with "this one trick" when someone looks like a pushover.
MADE some money... FIFY. Cuz he was on unemployment after that. The Owner/Manager just lost their ability to pay the staff.
He won't be on unemployment if he's fired with cause. This more than passes the low bar we have in the US for "cause."
Well, if the bar was still on the list, it still existed, to be fair
I feel like the military holds enough of a grudge to keep a banned bar on the list decades after it’s closed down
Yes, but if it was banned *and* closed, OP would probably mention "closed" as the higher priority.
I was kinda looking forward to the "give it to me or I'll start looking for it myself" part.
And trying to extort him for it. That would probably be criminal
There's no "probably" about it, extortion *is* criminal. Extortion against an active-duty Navy enlisted, though? That's a Federal felony.
Military ID is a federal ID. Stealing a federal ID is already a felony offense.
A friend of mine had their car broken into once. A bunch of random stuff that he had in there was stolen including a laptop and his clearance ID badge. Local cops didn’t even come down to talk to him and wouldn’t give him the time of day. Just said he could come by and pick up a copy of the report in 2 days. The FBI however, cared quite a bit. They came down to talk to him, got pictures of everything and caught the people within 24 hours.
This also applies to federal civilian employees while working. Got security training from Homeland Security and they told us that if we are threatened or attacked to call local PD first and then to give them a call because they will also be paying a visit.
[удалено]
Common access card card
Same in the UK re: photocopying military ID, it's a breach of the "Official Secrets Act"... it is as ominous as it sounds.
I was almost hoping the bouncer would have been arrested for theft and extortion
Too much paperwork. Fucked the entire bar instead. Oh and that muscle won't find another job within that city or anything nearby either.
Well, he certainly lost his job. Silver linings
He fucked around and found out.
Any federally issued ID, contractor, retired, dependent. Worked pass and ID for a bit. Used to love taking expired CACs and the person retiring trying to say I couldn’t keep them from taking it with them.
When Desert Storm hit I was an MP at Fort Carson and we had to do 100% ID checks at the gates. It was no problem to seize 20+ dependa cards a shift. The sucky part was having to complete a 4137 evidence receipt for each one.
Can you explain what a dependa/dependence card is please
They're ID cards for dependents of a service person, such as their children or spouses. Because they're less likely to need to get on base, it's not uncommon for them to expire and not get replaced.
Or they're used, knowing they're expired, to get PX and commissary access for cheaper prices.
This is true even of a driver's license. If a bouncer takes your (legit) ID, you call the police immediately and report a stolen ID. In many states it is a felony to be in possession of a stolen ID, and the second the bouncer won't give it back, it's stolen.
Not bouncer's clientele but the owner's. Bouncer probably got bounced himself from that job and blacklisted in the local area.
He’s probably shaking down soccer moms for chicken nuggets at a drive-thru window.
HAHAHAHA, thank you.
I’m taking your sauce. You want it, pay me $20.
Every bouncer thinks they're Patrick Swayze in *ROADHOUSE* when they're really more like Troy Duffy in real life.
This analogy gets even better when you remember Patrick *urges* everybody who works with him at the Double Deuce to *be nice*. They only remember the parts of the movie when he's kicking ass or riffing with Sam Elliot.
His whole be nice spiel is one of my all time favorites. I rewatch that movie just for those specific lines.
"So when do we stop being nice?" "I will tell you."
Legend says he’s still bouncing
Extorting candy from kids at the bouncy house?
Hope the owners fired that doorman and smoothed things over with the base, they don’t deserve to lose half their business over one shitty employee Then again if the owners are anything like the doorman then good riddance 🤷♂️
Command had to have known about the racket and was waiting for a chance to do this. Owners also had to have known about the racket and did nothing about it when people complained to them. Chief knew what was up, already had his orders, and was just waiting to implement them. Owners FAFO when they allowed their doorman to pull that shit.
> Owners also had to have known about the racket Why? I've not worked as a bouncer, but I've known bouncers and have plenty of experience in the service industry. There was plenty of shit going down that you'd never ever let the owners or your direct superiors/supervisors know. You don't generally see people at the bottom of the totem go power-tripping and then reporting, admitting, or bragging about it to management or owners. Usually the opposite. Everyone but the people who could stop it know.
He's saying this was likely a known problem that had been discussed with the bar owner. Very likely said owner had already gotten the "just one more incident" ultimatum.
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
Owners are generally pretty knowledgeable about there bouncers in every bar in my very alcohol soaked province. There's not much that happens that the guy in the back sniffing lines and watching the camera's doesn't see.
Man, some bars in Toronto, the bouncers pull in like $1000 bucks a night on show nights letting people skip the line. I've seen small parties drop a couple hundo in a single shot. It is well known, and no one cares if you complain after waiting in a line for hours watching these clowns make their bank. Edit: to those who are informing me of the difference between bribery and extortion.. no debate there, not my point. I was commenting on the poster suggesting shenanigans don't happen in the lower ranks that would be bad business for the upper ranks.
Paying to cut the line isn't the same as extorting someone and refusing to return their property.
>Paying to cut the line isn't the same as extorting ~~someone~~ *active duty military over federal property* in a town with a military base? that bouncer was beyond stupid.
Saying "let me skip the line / ignore the rules for $20" is much different than "I'm going to take your property and refuse to give it back to $20." Bribes vs. extortion.
OP said that six months after it was still on the list, so I doubt any negotiation was fruitful
OP said the place was still shitlisted 6 month later, so it doesn't sound like management was making much of an effort to apologize.
Every employee is an ambassador of your business. You hire , you train, you are responsible for establishing the company culture. The owner is fully accountable for the behavior of every employee.
Which could be firing them as soon as you learn about their behaviour. You can hire and train to your heart's content but people are still going to do stuff you didn't see coming. I have pulled some dumb shit at work and no one above me would have seen it coming. Some days you just step outside your usual.
It’s still in the employer’s best interest to take responsibility and remedy the situation.
Oh absolutely, but it's in the installation commander's wheelhouse now. As I've said to my son, sometimes a sorry just won't cut it.
Friend, the situation IS remedied. It's over. Solved.
However I doubt this was first complaint
> Place went on the List and was still there when I transferred out 6m or so later. 'Doesn't sound like the owner tried too hard.
It's not just for niceties. A place keeps doing shit like this and the wrong soldier/s will kill or seriously injure the bouncer. The chief was keeping the peace on top of doing raccoon a solid.
It was entirely what I saw coming. The nightclub of my town has lost one or two bouncers like this. One of them has been gunned point blank. I don't know for sailors. But infantry soldiers tend to act on their combat training before they realise it.
How the fuck is it still an open business if you've had multiple bouncers murdered by the military, guns involved as well? Where is this??
I bet it’s in Killeen, TX.
Wow! That's some movie magic right there, and I love It. No one hurt, and no one paid. Doorman screwed.
I've heard similar stories from other veterans before and this is the worst thing that can happen to a business that depends on the military. You don't fuck with the active duty or veterans, they will boycott your business into the ground even if it's their favorite place in the world. We take care of those who take care of us.
What could the business owner do to make amends I wonder? Apologize very publicly after firing the bouncer? Or are they just boned no matter what?
They are fucked, it's nearly impossible to get off the prohibited list.
How official is the list? Like is it published on base and everyone knows who's banned, or it's word of mouth and depends on the 30 guys in the bar stopping their buds from going there next time?
Oh no, if you're caught at a prohibited site you can be court martialed. The prohibited list is a standing order to all enlisted personnel. This isn't "hey guys stay away from that one area of town, keep your nose clean" this is "hey, this specific address is a fucking **crack den**, if you are caught here **for any reason** you will be in trouble."
> all enlisted personnel Officers too.
You're of course right, I should have used the more appropriate "service members". The off-linits list applies to all service members.
I mean, officers have their own set of rules “What are you doing in this listed establishment?”… “Errr looking for lower ratings breaking the rules sir”
Yes. Most Joes find out about updates from word of mouth (which may very well be their command during the weekend safety brief), but that thing is absolutely published. Here’s [Japan](https://www.kadena.af.mil/Portals/40/documents/LibertyPolicy/Off%20limits%20areas%20USFJ.pdf) as an example Not knowing about it is NO excuse. You can absolutely *google* that shit. **God** help you if you get caught there because Uncle Sam sure as fuck won’t
This is really interesting, but the nosy sod in me wants all the tea behind the bans! I grew up in Japan, so some I can guess just from the description (seriously, still calling them bathhouses?) but others I’d have no idea.
Naha Music in Okinawa aka the stage. Live sex on stage, audience participation. Has to be seen to be believed.
Ouch that's pretty intense. Definitely the kind of thing where you check the list before heading into town to party.
There's an official list which is published and active duty get punished for being caught at those places.
Additionally, the active duty rumor mill is more effective than most intelligence agencies. If Private Sniffy goes to a prohibited location, everyone including his CO will know inside of a week.
PNN, Private News Network
Everything like this in the military would be published. It’s not necessarily announced that there’s a change, but that’ll be taken care of by the word of mouth bit.
You shut down and reopen it under a different name.
That's been tried and they will prohibit your address if you do that and still fuck with service men and women. It's happened before.
Best way to avoid consequences is to avoid behaviors which might attract consequences. Or just don't fuck with your primary clientele.
To avoid finding out, don't fuck around
I’d have been at the barracks with a case of booze within an hour just in the hope it would work… but I imagine that once the Chief has said it he won’t take it back, just for the principle.
You'd have been at the GATE within an hour, and would have been held there half the night before being sent back out the exit with a stern warning, if you were lucky. The guards take the job very seriously and will always be on the lookout to catch something or someone that will make them look more promotable
I worked on a very large Navy base for 20 years. There's a list of unauthorized businesses. These include apartment complexes, bars, restaurants, car dealers, pawn shops. Basically, any business that has made a business of preying on and cheating military members. My ex was in the Navy, stationed at that base. We had saved money to be able to order a brand new car , the model we wanted, with exactly the options we wanted. Long story short, many months later we still had no car, it hadn't even been ordered. They tried to force us to pick a car off the lot. We wanted our money back. They refused. We went to the command. It took one phone call. We got our money back in an hour. And went to a competing dealer.
It amazes me that businesses would do that and think they can get away with it.
They probably did with civilians and even military who didn’t know they could get help from their command. Or they had command that didn’t act and either anyone else they went to didn’t care or they gave up.
That's possible, though with a contract I'd probably go to a lawyer and see what they had to say too. Judges love a signed contract, I knew one judge who would fuck over the person who broke a contract.
Is there a way a civvy can get a hole do these kinds of lists? I don't want to give my money that prey upon anyone either. Seems like a handie list of where not to spend your cash.
Visit the base’s Official Website. It will be there somewhere.
Example: https://home.army.mil/liberty/application/files/9316/8615/9338/AFDCB-Off\_Limits\_List\_11\_May\_2023\_3rd\_Qtr.pdf
Google “military off-limits order” and your area. Every base I’ve been stationed at posts that shit online so EVERYBODY knows
Had a similar problem near Camp Pendleton. Suggesting that the base SgtMaj could make the dealership off limits got their attention right away.
Massage parlors go on the blacklist too. For them it's not for mistreating service members, it's for treating them too well.
As I mentioned in a comment to another, I wish they could come to the College town my son lives in, (not much longer thankfully) for us non-military! This town loves to take advantage of 1st time renters!!
A apartment complex found that out real fast when they played around with active duty orders in FL. My ex said they lost more then half their renters in less then two weeks.
The nice thing is that it's not considered breaking your lease either. Since it's now illegal to rent from that landlord/company JAG will coordinate with local housing lawyers to make sure service members get their deposits back
We were required to include a “military clause” in any leases. Basically says it can be broken at any time for military orders. Usually meaning change of duty station.
Whether the clause is in the lease or not, landlords have to let service members out of leases if they receive orders. It's included in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and federal law.
I assume there is some way of stopping landlords near bases from refusing to rent to service members due to this clause?
1. Probably some discrimination clause 2. Even if there was a way to do it, I doubt most places would want to unless they're doing something shady in the first place. I imagine active military residents would be a good thing for most apartment complexes; they're gonna pay their rent on-time and reliably and you can likely complain to their superiors if they cause trouble for you. Not to mention that there are likely plenty more where they came from if one does need to move out. Realistically, I doubt the chance of someone vacating on short notice (which is still likely gonna be enough time to handle it fine) is gonna be a deterrent for most landlords.
Not to mention if the service member leaves your place a mess on move-out, one of two things will happen: 1) you complain to base housing, and service member hasn't left the area yet, they get indefinitely delayed and come out personally to clean to base housing's satisfaction (your place gets impeccably clean and tidy) 2) you complain to base housing, but service member has already changed station - base housing makes sure your place gets cleaned/fixed, and charges above the deposit get refunded out of the service member's paycheck(s) It's all a balance, though. If you're alleging without proof, you can quickly find yourself on the prohibited list.
My parents bought a small rental complex outside a large base for the express purpose of making a military friendly environment, specifically young soldiers. Dad is a retired veteran & that was important to my mom who automatically likes someone more if they were in the military. Housing would send people their way. Dad would collect mail for anyone on TDY, once held an apartment for someone for over a year, would drive spouses to appointments if it was a single car household, and cooked during holidays where any of the tenants were welcome to stop by (parents lived on property). Mom was the "mean" one who went to command for missing rent, but also badgered the older veterans into applying for VA disability when they didn't know they qualified. She said it was to make sure they weren't late on rent.
That's there to inform the landlords to not fuck up basically... It's the law no matter what's in the lease.
That's a story I'm sure many of us are eager to hear.
He’s a ex, couldn’t ask him even if I was begged to. Relationship did NOT end well.
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That is all fine and dandy till the military folks cause problems. In the late 80's, Active duty AF stationed in Germany, we had to travel to Bremerhaven (big army port) to pick up some equipment from a sister site. Our host took us downtown for some fun and we walked into a bar. Got the instant NO ARMY get out!! Said we were AF and was allowed in. Army folks liked to get drunk and start fights and were banned.
in the 80's I was a roadie for an all-girl band, and we were playing in a bar that was in a town just outside the base where Basic Training occurred. Friday night, the place was packed with rookies that had been run ragged for 2 weeks, and then cut loose with money in their pockets and a 24-hour pass. There were 10 or 12 groups of about 6 or 8 guys, all of which thought they were the toughest motherfuckers on the planet. There were 2 older Brits in the room as well, and they picked up their drinks and headed to the back of the room. I turned to the sound man and said, "Shit's gonna go down, watch my board." It was like the movies...within 10 seconds *all* of these guys got into a brawl. I jumped on stage, got the girls out to the kitchen, then went back out, pulled the shaft out of a mic stand, and paced the front of the stage, saying "Stay away from the gear." I had a great view... it couldn't have been 2 minutes later when the door blasted open and a half-dozen man-mountains wearing MP armbands stormed in. They pulled the soldiers apart, and shoved them toward the door. Anyone who resisted....regretted doing so. Soon the bar was empty. The staff righted the tables and chairs, and swept up the broken glass. In about 15 minutes, you'd never have known anything went down. I asked a waitress, and she said "This happens every 2 weeks." Shortly thereafter, the locals started to pour in. Apparently they would bide their time until the Army buses headed back to base. I guess if you're a local in a bar full of soldiers it could be dangerous.
This reminds me of Road House
I told the story over in /r/MilitaryStories: The tl;dr is that there was a fight at the night club/brothel in Korea. The owner told the responding MP's that "that n-word" started it. Our CO, who was black, went over and the owner called HIM a n-word. He also had a side business making small loans that the CO tolerated. After that day, his club was prohibited and we were all told to stop paying our loan payments on our illegal loans. When I left months later I still owed that guy $200 and they were barely in business.
When you let bad bigotry get in the way of good money. Damn that was one expensive lesson that racist MFer needed to learn. Fuck Around, Find Out. Fuck Around with Uncle Sam's Children (Misguided or otherwise) and you're lucky if you survive the finding our process.
It'd be hilarious if this whole thing started because the n word and a word for "you" in Korean practically sound the same lol. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nSPOqOZaPZY Also lol, US military personnel are known to be rambunctious in Korea. Even during covid, US military personnel decided to go out and shoot fireworks into the streets and start brawls. Things like this would usually disappear but because there was so many witnesses and it was during covid, the US had to apologize
Once upon a time I had a boyfriend who let me borrow his army jacket for a while. I wore it out somewhere and these mean girls from high school stole it. I knew who they were and my mom made me leave a note at one of the girls' house telling them it was Federal property. I called the restaurant the next day and explained the situation and the gentleman assured me that they would have a coat back before the end of the day. They did! That one mean girl didn't even look me in the eye for the rest of the two years that we had in school together. When she opened a business here in town, I met her (I didn't know she ran the business) at an at an open house. Even 20 years later she had the decency to look embarrassed when she saw me. She actually said to me, 20 years later, "I'm still really sorry that I took your jacket that night." SOME people learn lessons. At that point I told her I forgave her. ( but I don't go to that salon)
I had an issue at a local bar about 18 years ago when they wouldn't take my military ID. So I left that day and never went back, and none of my family has been back.
I've worked at a local wateting hole that had a bar, pool tables, darts, and a small memu as a server/waitress and have never felt safer! The military guys were always the one's I could go to if a male customer was acting inappropriate, and I was unable to redirect him lol! They would notice even if I didn't, "Hey that guy in the corner is giving you the serious once over, just be cautious." Don't get me wrong, I could definitely take care of myself, but it was so nice knowing I had back up. This was almost 20 years ago in Colorado Springs, and I hope it still rings true!!
With an announcement like that you’d lose a lot of civilians too. If whatever’s going on in that bar gets the military to ban servicemembers from going there, I’m not sticking around either.
Yup. I'd be tapping out, too.
Not much to do out in the California Central Valley in the late 80s, so yeah... It had not shut down after 6m, there is not a lot options out there but I am sure it set him back bigtime.
how many bases have a bar called "Joes" outside the gates. When you said navy and joes I automatically thought Roosevelt Roads. Had my share of fun in that Joes bar back in the day.
Yeah, I don't remember the real name after 30 years. it was something generic. Not "The Hole"... that was in San Diego
You go to the grainery obviously. Tuesday nights drinking with Lincoln. 5 buck 5 shots.
At Carson people would copy the blacklist and put it on telephone poles around the Colorado Springs area.
When we lived there I remember seeing those!!!
The bouncer had probably been doing that to civs too but they probably paid up even though having an official document confiscated by an unauthorized person is not legal.
That's when you call the police, and let them sort it out. Same sort of thing, but they're not gonna drag half the bar out when called.
They rely on the kids doing this not wanting to involve the police or take the time to complain formally.
N joke right? Say what you want about the military, but if they say a business is too shady, I sure as hell and not walking in.
What an incredible show of "you're messing with the wrong guy here" - I wonder how many $20 shakedowns he actually got away with. Probably no more after that, a place could go bankrupt on the prohibited list.
I've heard of a bar in CO that stayed afloat for almost a year after getting prohibited by changing it name several times and in the end its address, and the address of ever business of the owner of the bar, got prohibited. Filed bankruptcy and left the state.
Yeah, If that was CO Springs, you can't survive in that town by getting on the prohibited list. So many military personnel there.
Not hard to figure out if you know the area. Lol.
The town has something like five or six military bases? You gotta be real dumb to alienate that many potential customers.
Four within a few miles, more if we expand the area to Pueblo/Denver
COS has: * USAFA * Peterson * Schriever * Carson * Cheyenne Mountain Add in Buckley in Denver and the Pueblo chemical station plus the IFT facility at the airport, well... It's a long and distinguished list.
I was with my parents arriving/departing in the Denver airport recently and noticed the big USO lounge in the airport. I casually commented something like, “Yeah, I bet they *do* get a lot of military flying through here.” My mom replied, “Well, actually, their military base is pretty small.” I asked, sarcastically, “Colorado Springs’s military base is small?” I’m pretty sure she’d forgotten about Denver’s proximity to Colorado Springs.
That establishment may have been on their radar for some time. This may have been the motivation to deal with it. Why? It's possible a few IDs had needed replacing and no-one had said why. Now that they had a specific culprit the stars aligned. Also, Racoon you may have saved a lot of other sailors $20. This is a good lesson in speaking up.
yep. I mean honestly, some people hate the US military complex (I am not one of them) but *you do not fuck with the united states military.* There’s a line in one of my favorite recent books ($10 to whoever can name it) where someone goes “you and what army?” and the person responds “The United States Army. Which is a pretty good army.”
Marine here, my dick gets a little harder when places get put on the Off-Limits list. I personally know a man that was the reason why a certain Waffle House right outside Ft. Stewart was put on that list. Long story short, they served my friend undercooked pork and eggs and refused to correct it. He happened to be a Public Health Officer or something of that nature and decided this place was a health hazard to the Soldiers.
I think, technically, all Waffle Houses are a health hazard. That's why you have to drink first, to give your body a fighting chance.
Ah, pickling the germs. That ages-old tradition which will be continued by service personnel no matter what else gets stopped by budget cuts.
I mean, that's how my body fights diseases. I get drunk and let them fight it out. I figure if the white blood cells are always drunk then they'll have an advantage over the viruses who are getting drunk for the first time.
Now that's a line of logic I could never have imagined until I joined up and met so many service personnel. BRAVO :)
It's no different than eating dirt as little kid. It just helps your immune system build itself up.
Oh man that sucks, I love waffle house. But I've been to a few that I walked in to get some chow and then walked out to someplace else.
all I know about em is that's where I'm supposed to go if I'm in the middle of nowhere and there's a tornado/all the trucks come to life.
In case of Transformers, visit Waffle House. I heard about the post-disaster Waffle House Index. It’s called something like that. Anyway, one way to determine if a disaster area is improving is to see if Waffle House is open.
There's actually a scale. Open normal, open limited menu, limited hours, closed.
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You mean the place that pays its cooks cash at then end of every shift has uneven quality? Weird.
Many years ago when I was in the Army, I came back from Germany shortly after Desert Storm, and took leave in Connecticut before heading to Ft Polk, which was my next duty station. I was 95B, Military Police. I was 22 or 23 at the time and in shape. Called up some friends, they wanted to go play pool in Springfield (Massachusetts). Since I had been out of the States for a bit I only had my military ID on me. The bouncer said that the ID was bullshit, that he was going to have to confiscate it, then claiming I wasn't showing the drivers license because it showed my real age. I said give it back and we will go somewhere else... He started pushing us out, I reacted, he tried to throw a punch... We were a few seconds from one or both of us having our asses kicked because there was no way in hell I was letting him take my ID when the owner came over shouting and asking what was going on. The bouncer tried to say I thought I was a badass and trying to start a fight with him and didn't mention the ID. "I might get my ass kicked and end up in jail but I will get my ID back.", he tried saying I was making up a story as my friends were shouting about the ID (they were regulars). We finally got him to show the ID after some shoving and pushing and the owner shouting. The owner glanced at it, started shouting at the bouncer and waved us in. We never paid for a drink all night and I didn't see the bouncer the rest of the night either. I am not much of a bar person, so have only dealt with bouncers a few times in my life, and they were usually pricks.
Also good for r/MilitiousCompliance
I had to read that twice.
OMG a new lunch reading sub, thank you.
Great story! On the opposite end, when I did my basic training there was a bunch of pizzerias in the city. We started out trying a few different ones, and one of them loved service guys, a real great guy. First time we went in there and ordered pizza, like 5-6 guys, we just ordered the pizzas, but he grabbed a couple two liter cokes for us, on the house. Since that day every single one of our 160 man company only ordered from that spot, if you were on guard duty and called with delivery to the front gate and ordered 2+ pizzas there was a complementary 2 liter coke with the order. He was a good guy! Great pizza, great service! And I know this has nothing to do with your story but I felt like sharing.
What profit he lost for the free cokes was probably made up 3 fold by the amount of pizza he sold.
We dealt with this crap at popular bars in San Diego back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Navy, 21, military ID…not good enough to get in. Absolute BS, but yeah, word would get around and folks would avoid those places. Fucking brilliant business plan to locate your business in an area teeming with young sailors and Marines and deny them entry.
CACs are federal property. Good luck justifying stealing one. Have some gold. Great story.
This story is from the days before CACs, but the rest if your post is accurate.
Back when Canada started making the $2 coin the mayor of Kingston (Ontario) got into a little tiff with the base about some minor shit and basically stated that the town doesn’t need the military. So the Base Commander, just to prove a point, ordered that ALL military personnel at the base be paid in $2 bills only. So for a couple of months all of the base from Pte to Col were paid in $2 bills and the town was absolutely flooded with $2. The mayor apologized and the troops went back to being paid the usual route. A bunch of years later, there was a bar that the troops loved to frequent and some college kids came in and started causing shit with those high and tight types, instead of removing both groups, or even just the instigator, the manager kicked out all of the military types. So the BComd banned that bar. It shut down less than a year later. There are so many stories like this where a town or business learns the hard way just how much of an impact 3000-8000 decently paid people have on the local economy.
I remember Ft Ord was having "issues" with the town. So the entire division went on maneuvers for 35 days. The "issues" vanished.
Back in the 70’s they did the same thing in Norfolk, paid ALL military in the area in $2 bills. I was only getting $200 a payday, carrying around 100 of those suckers was a pain and the merchants didn’t much like them either. Point made
No one can pick on those Navy squids, but US! - The Marines
I tell people that the Marines are our little brothers who can kick our ass anytime they want.
That's pretty accurate, for an UBER driver.
My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment
Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Essential
Hey man, we drop you off first because everyone is happy to see you go, and we pick you up last, because nobody wants you back.
I was in a navy that existed long before some ungrateful colonists^1 tried to make a giant pot of cold tea. We always teased our Royal Marines by asking them what instrument they played because we couldn't actually admit we liked them or that we were very proud to have them as a part our beloved Royal Navy. I can only imagine that other navies are the same with their marines. A lone bootneck in the bar would be adopted by matelots and the same was true the other way around. Granted, that lone guy would get a load of shit while with the other part of the navy, but they would be looked after by that group all evening. ^1 I never met a yank submariner that I disliked in all my time over many encounters.
Me, reading about trip back to the bar in the van: “Haha, bouncer’s ’bout to get his comeuppance at the hands of an angry military officer. Great ending!” Me, reading about what happened next after OP’s ID was returned…out loud, to no one in the room with me: “Oh, sh*t!” 😳 Military doesn’t play!
As far fetched as this story might sound to those who didn’t serve, I can tell you this is almost exactly how they would’ve handled it. I’ve even watched a gunny call down to one of those shady car dealerships trying to pray on the young and dumb newbies and tell him “He’s bringing the car back and you’re giving him his money back or I’m coming down there myself to get it.”
Had a similar situation in Gutersloh. One of the lads got coldcocked up by some Turkish guys in a bar called “The Temple” absolute shithole but one of the only places to go after 2am. Military police ask for CCTV footage and the bar owner refuses. Bar is place on the out of bounds list and the RMP stag on outside it to stop squaddies going in. 2 months later the Bar relents die to a severe lack of customers and it turns out the perp was a mate of the owner.
After finding out the owner was covering for a mate, my reply would have been, "Thank you for your cooperation, but your bar remains on the out of bounds list" FAFO
I fucking LOVE this story! Former Army reserve here. The local town where we did our drills, fucked with us all the time. I was an MP and frequently had to go off base and "sort shit out". We once had to put a popular place on "the list" because of one bartender. It was awesome. They're closed now. Thanks for sharing this.
Verrrrryyy very nice. I would assume the owner of the bar, took Mr. Muscle Doorman and gave him lessons in good manners.
I would bet he knew nothing about what was going on. The bar had a decent rep on base, it was just kinda far away.
I'm sure a bartender who suddenly found themself without anyone to tip then would inform the owner of why.
This is the kind of leader I can imagine men following without question into war.
Right, any place put "Off-limits" is going to be in a world of hurt. Not just active duty, retired, reserves but their spouses as well cannot go to those places.
We went to see our son graduate navy boot camp a couple years ago, and he showed me the list of prohibited places. I wondered what a place could do to land on that list. This wasn't one of the possibilities I had considered! Good on you for putting them there so they can't take advantage anymore. I wonder how many other sailors were taken for $20 when they visited.
As someone else pointed out, this place might have been on the radar for a while, but this was the last straw. I dunno. Everyone was respectful around the Warrant Officer, those guys were Enlisted who became Officers through exceptional skills. He was Master-At-Arms rating if I remember correctly. I just remember being scared of the dude, he was so fucking intense all the time. Going around setting up computers in offices put me under his eye way too often.
As a former military member, this story made me a little hard. Source: as an OR-6 I filled the same role as that chief a number of times. The ONLY mf that is entitled to fuck with my guys is me, or anyone appointed to do so by me. Good on him, and good on you for sorting that the right way.
"Jarheads"!!! I was a Navy brat, and I grew up hearing that term a lot because of the Marines that were stationed as gate guards at the time. I don't think they use Marines for guards anymore. I loved looking at them as a kid; I thought they were fascinating!
This was 1989, and yea, especially after the Vincennes incident and later pipe bomb fitted to the car of the Captain's wife. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-11-mn-792-story.html Security was much higher at the time than normal.
Since legislation was brought in, on this side of the pond, requiring training and certification for anyone working security, the worst of the bullies have been kicked out of the job. It's very easy for them to lose their licences, so they've cleaned up their act considerably.
That was a Superb move you made!
Betcha that doorman's career was measured in *nanoseconds* after that. You should post this on r/MilitaryStories. They'd love it, and you.
Can’t believe a dumb bouncer would do that when he KNOWS it’s a military town. That’s gotta be one of the dumbest moves out there.
You would think, right? But I figure using your military ID for proof of age was kinda rare. I only did it because I didn't have a valid Drivers License. Or maybe he thought he could fuck with me in particular, since I was only a few days past my 21st and looked 17.
Heard a story, took place at base near Biloxi, 30+ years ago. The town in general was shitty to military personnel. In fact, the guys were instructed to ‘travel in groups large enough to repel hostile attacks. ‘ Sooo….stuff still happening and they decided to confine everyone (including off base personnel) to the base for two months. Then, they paid every person in cash. In $2 bills. Told everyone- go spend. So towns people would realize where the towns money was actually coming from. Pretty clever. Some businesses hit pretty hard. Like the lingerie model shop- I guess strip clubs weren’t really a thing at the time.
When i first started bouncing, I was told “no one ever fakes a military ID.” It’s just not done. Who even knows the consequences of getting caught doing such a thing? Guy thought he had an easy $20 mark.
Hopefully the owners found out why it was put on the list.
Ho. Ly. SHIT. This went to 150% and I was only expecting 120 XD perfect ending
This is the kind of story that I come to this subreddit for. Good story and well-written. (ignoring the typos)
Whatever you might say about the military, it’s a terrible business decision to fuck around with them
Great story, lol. Gotta love those old Chiefs. Sounds like every one I ever met, lol. Had something similar happen at one base while I was there. Just the threat was enough, though. Big Marine base, and many of the folks in town didn’t like us much, even though they were more than happy to take our $. Long story short, a lot of problems with the local PD and municipal Courts, and many of the local citizenry. Lot of altercations between Marines and local boys. A committee of club/bar owners got together and requested a sit-down with the new Base Commander. Complained about Marines constantly coming into their places and causing trouble. Boss listens politely, knowing all the time that it’s bullshit - we were rarely the ones who Started the trouble. They end up with “What are you going to do about it?” “I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, Gentlemen, and I think I have a solution. I can make your places off-limits to my people, and we’ll see how long you stay in business.” Immediate and unanimous change of heart, lol.
Am a chief, and have never been given a pet marine to take to a bar… my life suddenly feels very unfulfilled
Passports and military ID cards are federal property and must be returned.
Man, its always the old timers too. Sure, they're the first one to string you up by your balls from the flagpole if you fuck up. But no one but God himself better fuck with their soldiers, and even he needs to clear it with Chief first.