SureFire

Listen Up

It’s “Clothing Sales Store”; there’s no “and” in the title. Doing so is the military equivalent of putting an “x” in the word “asked.”

If you call it clothing and sales on SSD prepare to be belittled.

That is all…

53 Responses to “Listen Up”

  1. Aaron says:

    Whoa…hold the phone, if you start a campaign to rid the Army of the non-existent word: Orientate, then I’ll go with you on this. However…I’ve never heard someone say: Clothing Sales, but good to know.

    • SSD says:

      I’m all for that too. I hate the word, “orientate.”

      As for never hearing “Clothing Sales”, you never worked for me. If I had heard you say you needed to go to “Clothing and Sales” I would have called you “expletive deleted retard” and told you that since there was no such place you couldn’t go.

      If you don’t believe me, go take a gander at your local AMCSS and see what it says on the sign.

      • Bill says:

        Start the campaign, I’m with you! I hate that shit

      • Joe says:

        This is perfect. Everyone around me put an ‘and’ in it. What the hell does that even mean?? Clothing AND Sales? It’s right up there with someone talking about the “Cadillac converter” on their car.

      • MED says:

        That’s only if you speak British

    • Chuck says:

      Actually, “orientate” is a legit word; it’s just not the one those who misuse it think it is. The dictionary definition of “orientate” is “to face east.”

      • MED says:

        Like I said, it’s a common British term meaning the same as ours. We are still great allies separated by a common language.

  2. MK EOD says:

    I’m in a HQ billet right now, writing different supplements to AFIs. I’m going to push to get grammar and spelling into the CFETP.

    Whenever I hear some young, eager Millennial-generation Airman misuse the word “literally”, the Knife Hand wants to come out.

    They’re language criminals and they belong in WORD JAIL.

    • CJK1DOC says:

      It will just be receded in a MAJCOM Supplement, and we all will be required to complete an additional CBT, I mean literally we all will.

  3. Patrick Bateman says:

    Like saying “try and do _____.” It’s “try to do” or equivalent. Or “go and do” and so on. It’s as bad as being low on blinker fluid.

  4. J c says:

    I see you dislike both the New York accent and the British practice of English… 🙂

  5. Timmay says:

    That shit took hold in the early eighties, when you got three hots and a cot literate or not. I had an E-5 in my company with sixteen years in service, never been busted, just could not read.

    • MK EOD says:

      Honestly, I don’t mind the military giving people who may not have had an education, or may not have been angels in their past, a chance to contribute and better themselves.

      I do think that (if there aren’t already) there should be programs in place to help people like that SGT so they don’t get left behind. (Same goes for enlistees for whom English is not their first language.)

      In my own case, I’m going to have to take a high-school level remedial math class to get my CCAF degree. I haven’t done it in so long I just don’t remember how. >_<

      • Timmay says:

        I got nothing against helping someone up but he was only being dragged along, plus a team or squad leader in the infantry really ought to be able to read a FM. I’m quite sure he retired after his twenty.

      • straps says:

        There are other jobs in society for people not smart enough to operate the most lethal weapons known to man, or not smart enough to support those who do.

        The ASVAB, for its failings, is respected as one of the best tests of raw intelligence there is–high school graduate or high school dropout.

        The military as dumping ground for society’s failures (moral and intellectual) is and antiquated notion. Rogues have disgraced their armies and nations since time immemorial. Google Stephen Dale Green. We saw that guy coming and STILL swore him in.

        Soldiers are expensive. And substandard Soldiers are costly. Since this is a posting about semantics, I’ll leave you to figure out the differing connotations.

        And yes, there are all kinds of educational opportunities for all levels of Soldier. Sadly, some commands are more supportive of them than others, and they are the first cuts made in budgetary environments like the current one.

        Best of luck in your studies. Not trying’ to preach, but the military doesn’t exist to “clean up” society’s marginals.

  6. L2 says:

    Yes! Thank You!

    I’m so tired of hearing “Clothing and Sales.” It’s “Front Leaning Rest” not “Front Lean and Rest” too. That’s another one that drives me crazy.

  7. Jon OPT says:

    I will this day forth orientate people to Soldier’s and System’s Daily… Punctuation is intentional, nanny nanny, boo boo. Hows about that for alls your troubles?

  8. JES says:

    My pet peeve is passive voice. But everyone tells me that nothing can be done about it.

  9. Geoff says:

    Irregardless…

  10. Daniel says:

    Hell we even called it clothing “and” sells when I served in the 10th mountain

  11. MK262 Mod1 says:

    Wow it’s nice to read about someone else taking up arms against dumb-assery!
    The one that always made my right eye twitch was when some young Harvard educated Captain would get up to brief the CJSOTF JOC about the latest local Muj “hidden armory / ASP / explosives locker” that had been found and refer to it as a “cachet” (pronounced kash-ay) when he was in fact referring to a “cache” (correctly pronounced kash).
    Look it up. Dictionary dot com will even say it for you to hear.
    I used to print out the two words and their respective definitions and paste them inside the doors of the crappers just to see if the TOC jockeys would figure it out. No such luck.

    Also, somewhere vicinity late 2008, someone in staff land decided the latest swoopy word was going to be PAX. They had absolutely zero idea that it is an aviation abbreviation for passenger. It would also seem they were equally unaware that like the word “deer”, it’s singular and plural forms are the same. Thus the acronym droppers who formerly used “PUC’s” in reference to the locals wearing black hoods on helicopters, began saying “PAXes” instead. It’s enough to make you wanna slap somebody with a trout.

  12. Matthew says:

    Their, there and they’re. Your and you’re.

    That is all.

  13. HOLLYWOOD319 says:

    Sorry I must have been under the impression that “reading is fundamental” so I just read the sign in front of the store. Sorry everyone! I’m an illiterate fucktard!!!

  14. Agent K says:

    I like when there is an acronym and people still say the last word of the acronym. Example: CAC card. Discuss….

  15. MK EOD says:

    Alcohol-related incidences. They’ll get you kicked out of the military, but also should land you in WORD JAIL.

    http://grooveshark.com/s/The+Longest+Most+Boring+Safety+Brief+In+The+History+Of+The+Fucking+Army/43fJdv?src=5

    I think one of my biggest peeves is abuse of the poor apostrophe. What did the apostrophe ever do to you? It isn’t his job to jump between a word and the “s” at the end to make it plural. His role is taking possession, or effectuating a contraction. That’s a big enough job by itself.

    “Sergeant, let’s sit down and go over the Op-plan.” -CORRECT! Contraction of “let us”.

    “We need more soldier’s in our Army. Its not big enough right now.” -OH, MAN. Move that apostrophe away from “soldier” and drop him in “Its”, making “It’s”. Now he’s happy.

    “Watch out for it’s tentacles!” -CLOSE, but still WRONG. You don’t use an apostrophe when making the word “it” possessive. Also, watch out for tentacle monsters if stationed in Japan. They’re responsible for 40% of reported sexual assaults in the Asia-Pacific theater.

    • Scubasteve says:

      Ugh, you went there. You said “incidences”!

      Now Sarn’t, y’all Soldier’s were axed to orientate me to the incidences at the clothing and sales store, a’ight you Hooahs?

      The worst word of them all; the one word which makes an otherwise sane sounding individual sound like an idiot: Hooah.

  16. Case says:

    May sound a bit off subject, but this topic and sub topics is the reason it takes my BN 3 months to staff and approve a concept for training. “Clothing and sales”, you know where the dudes going, who gives a rip. this conversation is a dude that likes to make sex to another dude…I can’t spell good either you uppity high toppers.

  17. Mark says:

    I always thought it was “Clothing or Sales”.

  18. Jimbo says:

    http://www.stewart.army.mil/aafes/concessions-hours.asp

    They even have it listed on the website for Hunter Army Airfield. Let’s burn it down!!!! How dare they do that to us. I’m so confused. The words are so confusing.

  19. Kirk says:

    Y’all are a bunch of ‘tards. You think that because things are this way now, they’ve always been this way. ‘Taint so, McGee. Clothing and Sales Store was what they were once called, about thirty-forty years ago.

    It is currently called the Military Clothing Sales Store within the AAFES system. It wasn’t always under the AAFES banner, however.

    Prior to the 1980s, it was a part of the Army logistics system, and was where you went to have your basic issue items given to you when you weren’t on a basic training base, and you were getting your initial issue. At one time, the Clothing and Sales Store wasn’t part of AAFES, and you couldn’t buy commercial items like non-issue rank insignia. Everything was at cost, and it was also where the unit went to buy rank and other crap like that with the money in the SSSC account. It was called the Clothing and Sales Store because a.) you got issued your basic issue uniform items there, or received supplemental issue items there, and you could b.) buy crap out of pocket. Thus, Clothing and Sales Store. They were usually co-located with the CIF, so that you could walk from CIF over to buy the crap you needed to replace missing field gear.

    AAFES only took it over in the early 1980s, and we all complained about it, because before that, everything was sold at cost. AAFES got ahold of it in one of their typical little empire-building enterprises, and promptly started jacking the prices up. Of course, they also cleaned the places up and started stocking all kinds of commercial crap, but that’s another issue entirely.

    Good luck finding proof on the internet, one way or another: I clearly remember the signs before AAFES took over at both Fort Lewis and Fort Sill, and the nomenclature of the time was “Clothing and Sales Store”. It was originally run the same way the CL VI stores were, non-profit, and kinda akin to the commissary. Of course, none of y’all were around back then…

    • Mark says:

      Oddly enough, in the 70s, I remember it being “Clothing Sales” and marked as such on US Army and USAF installations.

      In the USMC, it is and was referred to as “Cash Sales”.

      • Kirk says:

        It may have depended on the installation. I remember asking an old-timer back then why it was called such, and he explained to me that it was because they’d combined the Clothing Issue Point and the Quartermaster Sales Store, which was why it was termed the Clothing and Sales Store. At one time, uniforms and field gear/OCIE consumables were not handled the same way–The OCIE stuff was available for purchase by the individual unit supply sergeants and individuals seeking to make good on missing gear, and that was through the Quartermaster Sales Store. Uniform issue was handled separately, and someone decided to combine the two.

        I presume that we could probably trace this back down to where it came from, if we were to find the correct ARs from that period. The terminology does still exist in many installation phone books and directories, and that didn’t happen because some idiot made the shit up. Military Clothing Sales Store only came in as terminology circa 1983, or so.

  20. Kirk says:

    Oh, and here’s another history lesson for y’all: CIF is called the Central Issue Facility because at one time, each company-size element controlled it’s own Organizational Clothing Issue and Equipment, or OCIE. Your supply room used to have all the stuff you got from CIF, and the supply sergeant was responsible for tracking and inventorying it. That concept went out in the 1950s, or thereabouts, for the active Army. Most NG and Reserve units still have the OCIE stuff on the company hand receipts, but the Central Issue Facility took that function over on most Army bases, which is why it’s called what it is.

    Additionally, the Clothing and Sales Stores were sometimes referred to as the Quartermaster Sales Stores, and you’ll occasionally find references to that terminology in the older books about the Army.

    Again, Clothing and Sales Stores was the correct term, for a period from about the late 1950s through the 1980s. It was only after AAFES took it over that they started to call them the Military Clothing Sales Stores.

    • Terry says:

      Great points Kirk. The Army was a hell of a lot different when I joined in 75. In Germany, at least until the late 70s, Company Supply issued field gear (ponchos, shelter halves, mess kits, field jackets – basically everything except uniforms and boots). There was no “CIF”. The Supply Sergeant kept track of the gear on behalf of the Company Commander who usually had one of the Lieutenants inventory it once a month.

      On a side note, Companies (Infantry anyway) also ran their own Mess Halls and had a food budget managed by the Mess Sergeant. Company Clerks did all of the Admin work under the supervision of the 1SG and XO.

      Running all of that was very time consuming for junior leaders and resulted in a push for consolidation Army wide. In Germany we got the Battalion PAC – in 76 I think. Everyone hated it. Consolidated Battalion Mess halls came next in 77. The Company Supply rooms were in the process of turning everything in to the new CIF when I left in 78.

      When I got to Ft Lewis they had apparently done all that consolidation business even earlier. I honestly don’t remember if it was “Clothing and Sales” in those days…but I have heard people use that phrase for years.

  21. Chuck says:

    Most mangled word in the military lexicon: lackadaisical.

    There’s nothing like proofreading NCOERs to truly highlight the sorry state of the junior NCO and company grade officer as products of the public education system.

  22. Dev says:

    ET Tool gets me. Every time.

  23. TomL says:

    Clothing sales? I thought it was called Quartermaster Sales. Oops, wrong era!