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Looking for some snipe hunts
03-11-2017, 07:17 PM
When somebody joins a close-knit group, a reasonably-harmless form of hazing he can get is the "snipe hunt" - the old-timers send the new guy to get something that isn't a thing that can be picked up. For example: - At an airfield, point out that an aircraft is dirty and send him for a bucket-full of propeller wash.
- Aboard ship, tell him to go to the hold and bring back a coil of waterline.
What are the equivalents in other settings?
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Rob Kelk
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- In a radio communications context, send him/her to get some "liquid squelch."
- Pretty much anywhere in the US Army (and probably also the Marines, though they may use differing jargon for it), ask for a "box of grid squares" or a "tent jack."
- Army Aviation, and probably also the Air Force, sometimes ask someone to get a "length of flight line."
- Tankers and those operating armored personnel carriers will tell the newbie that he/she needs to "put air in the road wheels."
I know there are some others I can't recall the details of, and likely plenty I never heard.
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Another shipboard thing; being told to find a jar of main bearing grease.
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'Headlight Fluid' is one I've heard of. and of course the trope namer...
___________________________
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Don't forget AC batteries and the infamous left-handed monkey wrench.
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One in science is to hold something high up, then ask them to go to stores and ask for a long stand to hold it with.
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I've heard of one Navy thing of sending someone to get "15 yards of chow line".
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Another Navy one: find some Sound-Powered Phone Batteries.
(FYI: sound powered phones do exist in the Navy. Think of tin can phones, only with wires and magnets... and they don't need batteries!)
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Duane Peters Wrote:... and the infamous left-handed monkey wrench. That one's easy - first, find a left-handed monkey...
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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And the perennial favorite... fetching a can of elbow grease.
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Mechanic shop: Blinker Fluid
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them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
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Quote:Duane Peters wrote:
Don't forget AC batteries and the infamous left-handed monkey wrench.
David Gerrold took the latter into the far future in his Star Wolf series, with a new crewman of the Star Wolf being sent in search of the left-handed Mobius wrench. At the end of the snipe hunt (which had the purpose of sending the crewman throughout the whole ship, familiarizing him with its layout, the various crew chiefs, and jobs that he might be called to assist with in emergencies), he was awarded with a pipe wrench that had been bent into a Mobius strip.
A friend of mine, stationed on the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, came up with a rather elaborate prank (all of Eric's pranks have been elaborate, some might say overly so) involving sending a new swabbie out to watch for the "mail buoy." This involved getting the cooperation of everyone from the XO down to the lowest computer tech (Eric was in Crypto, which also handled ship's email). The XO informed the Captain, so the Captain was in on it as well. A procedural manual was written up according to Navy SOP and kept in an official binder, along with the other Crypto department SOPs. Everything was set up, just so they could park the poor bastard out on the observation deck with a 7 lbs. pair of field glasses, a spare flight deck crew helmet, and safety orange vest, scanning the horizon for the "mail buoy" and getting a sunburn.
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It may well have been a fanfic, but I remember reading about someone being asked to get a replacement spirit level bubble. The victim realises its a hoax and talks to the stores manager who gives him a 1/2 filled jar which he takes back with a reply about it being the only bubble in stock.
Mark
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The novelization of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan included a scene in which Kirk invoked the left-handed wrench bit with Midshipman Peter Preston. Only Preston was able to quickly dig up a piece of equipment that apparently could, by invoking a technicality, be termed a left-handed wrench, and he handed it to Kirk, who was caught flat-footed. I forget the rationalization for the terminology....
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