Monthly Archives: May 2015

Don’t Bring Apricots on a Tank

Nationality: United States
Age: 32
Occupation: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 23APR15
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant Background:

This Informant is a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps with numerous tours under his belt. He’s currently a MECEP in the USC Naval battalion. He’s married with a kid on the way.

 

Informant’s Story:

“I never really rode on any AMTRAACS [armored transport] or tanks or anything, but I’ve heard from around the corps that you should never bring any apricots in the vehicle with you. Apparently if you do the tank or whatever will inevitably break down. I don’t know where the hell you’d be getting apricots from in the middle of Afghanistan or why you would bring them in a tanks, but it’s definitely a thing.”

Analyses:

This superstition started WWII. This is because every time a tank broke down, apricot rations were always on board.  This would make sense as rations were generally distributed evenly among armor crews, and statistically if a tank were to break down, you would most likely find the orange fruit. Ever since then, tankers and APC crews have been deathly afraid of apricot. A modern take on this has transformed apricots in to “Charms” candy. Like apricots in WWII, charms today would be fairly evenly distributed between all rations and would likely be present in the event of a mechanical malfunction.

Tapping a mag on your helmet

Nationality: United States
Age: 32
Occupation: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 23APR15
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant Background:

This Informant is a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps with numerous tours under his belt. He’s currently a MECEP in the USC Naval battalion. He’s married with a kid on the way.

Informant’s Story:

“You know that scene in “Apocalypse Now” where the dudes are going in the helicopters to attack that one village and the pilots play “Ride of the Valkyries”? well in that scene one of the dudes taps a mag against his helmet. That’s supposed to mean good luck. I don’t really know why. I’ve seen a couple guys do it down range [on deployment] but I never really did it.”

Analyses:

This is a common practice among riflemen in the military. This practice has been used in many different military movies such as “Apocalypses Now” or “Jarhead”. This action is said to be lucky primarily because the action “settles the rounds” evening them out so they don’t jam easily. In the military things can get very bad very quick, therefore anytime something goes right (such as a rifle firing without jamming) it is considered lucky. Most soldiers know that this action is just settling the rounds, but many like to think of it as being lucky, especially in an environment where survival is largely contingent on luck.

Dont Ring the bell in Bars

Nationality: United States
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 17APR2015
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant Background:

The informant is a Junior at USC in the Naval ROTC program. he considers himself the typical college boy and often enjoys attending the numerous parties around campus.

 

Informants story:

“Something you’ll see in bars is this bell. Like, one of those bells with the thing attached to the string that you swing back and forth to make it sound. They can be big or small, doesn’t matter. What matters about these bells is that you don’t ring them. The reason for this is because that means you’re buying the whole bar a round. I almost did that at a pub when I was little before my dad caught me before I did. He would have had to pay for like, 50 people.”

 

Analyses:

Bars are always to do whatever they can to acquire as much money as possible. This is often accomplished through gimmicks and tricks. As people drink more and more they are likely to make less informed decisions, especially when it comes to throwing money around. An easy way for the generous drunk to spread his wealth is to have an easy to use instrument to announce his generosity. Though the bell can be used to help drunks out of their hard earned cash, they are also there for people who actually have reason to be generous. In case of events that cause for celebration, such as a marriage or promotion, the bell is readily available to add a little excitement to the scene and to let people feel the same joy as the generous donor.

Challenge Coins

Nationality: United States
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 17APR215
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant Background:

This informant is a Junior at USC in the Naval ROTC program. he considers himself the typical college boy and often enjoys attending the numerous parties around campus.

 

Informant’s Story:

“Something I know that a lot of people do in the navy, but I’ve seen frat guys do too is the whole “challenge coin” thing. Challenge coins are, like, these large coins that represent a group or person. There’s normally, like, some design with the group or persons name on there. Anyways, the way challenge coins work is that you always keep a challenge coin on you for when you go to the bar. If someone starts tapping their challenge coin on the counter, everyone else has to too. The last person who takes their coin out, or if they just straight don’t have it, they have to buy the next round.”

 

Analyses:

The Challenge coin is a tradition held very near and dear to the U.S military, though no one loves the game more than navy chief petty officers. Challenge coins are created for every unit, and high ranking military officials. This can range from a small platoon, to an entire command. As it turns out, from the informant’s story, this practice is beginning to take hold in non-military organizations as well, namely frats. Many theories exist as to the origin of the challenge coin, the oldest one being WWI, where it is said an American pilot was shot down over france and was subsequently stripped of all valuable items,by Germans as they thought he was dead. All except a coin with his squadrons insignia. Eventually he met a group of french who thought him to be German. Having no ID, he held up his coin to which they recognized his squadrons insignia. Instead of giving him an execution, they gave him wine.