Ultradog MN

Well-known Member
Location
Twin Cities

Any of you former Navy men remember that word?
It's a Navy term for candy, sweets, junk food and the like.
We never called them vending machines. They were geedunk machines - Pronounced with a hard G.
So in 1971 after boot camp I was sent to machinist school in San Diego. Wasn't getting paid much then.
We had a bunch of geedunk machines in the barracks where we stayed.
I was often broke so one day when I had learned to run a lathe sufficiently I turned down a piece of copper and parted off a bunch of slugs the size of a quarter. They worked perfectly.
I showed my buddy Earl Bonner and he told others and soon the geedunk machines had nothing but slugs in them.
The word got out and our class caught heck for it but they never did catch any of us and they hid the copper bar stock so we couldn't get at it.
I ate enough Moon Pies and Banana Flips then that I still don't like them today.
PS, Earl Bonner has passed away and the statute of limitations has probably passed so I think I can admit to this petty crime now.
I got a call from an old Navy buddy yesterday. We spent well over an hour reminiscing about those times.
Maybe others here have some things they ought to fess up about from those times?
Have a good day.
 
And the Geedunk truck came out on the pier where the tin can was tied up. Right near the brow. Got out 6/63.
 
I haven't heard those terms in a long time. We had a new Chaplain on the ship. Came over the 1MC to tell us we should not call it a roach coach. He had some other ideas that got him removed from the ship.
 
Gedunk....remember that term well,when in port they would set several up in the hangar bay. Talk about roach coach, they would be set up on the pier in PI on the way to quarters in the morning we would grab a hot dog and a coke for under a buck. Then spend the rest of the day sweating out the san magoo.
 
My brother and I were both stationed at Pearl Harbor, 1959-1962. We, along with a couple other idiots decided to make some pineapple brandy. We could stash the "mixins" in an empty locker at the Fleet Post Office where I worked. Our problems began and the fun ended when we added yeast to the mix. Two one gallon glass jugs kinda of overflowed and made some mail that was nearby in canvas bags unreadable. The fact that my brother was stationed in the Shipyard Commanders office is the only thing that kept us out of the brig. And yes I remember the Geedunk wagon from boot camp and the Geedunk machines from the transient barracks at Treasure Island. I do enjoy the links you sometimes add about the Navy"s contribution to South Pacific war. Tom/Idaho
 
Our now retired pastor was a Navy man for a while.

He called it "Pogey bait", any kind of junk food, sweets, vending machine food, the temptations at the check out counter...
 
AH--The ol Roach Coach--remember it well!---Tee
cvphoto13405.jpg
 
The worst I can remember guys doing when I was in Air Force mechanic school in rantoul was guys ordering pizza to be delivered to the rec room and then when it got there no one by that name was there. The pizza guy would then sell them the pizza for penny?s on the dollar to get rid of it. It got so bad you could only order a pizza with a room number and if no one was there the pizza was taken back to the store and thrown away. Once they could no longer get reduced price pizza they stopped.
 
In the Marine Corps, geedunk was ice cream, candy and sweets were "pogey bait".

I still remember the old marching song:

"Take me to the Coke machine, Honey, Honey,
Take me to the Coke machine, Babe, Babe.
Take me to the Coke machine,
I'm a pogey bait Marine.
Honey, Oh Baby, Mine.
 
Before the truck bombings, they would deliver the pizza right to the ship and we also could pick up another one if the owner didn't show for less than half price, if I remember right.
 
Today's vending machines on the ships no longer accept cash. Each sailor is issued a cash card which is used in the place of money.
 
Remember the pop coolers where you opened a lid to see all the bottles suspended in chilled water. Drop a coin in the slot, slide the bottle down the canals to the mechanism that let it out?

My dad was an MP in Korea in the 50's. Told me once he remembers seeing a bunch of guys huddled around one of these machines on base. Someone figured out that if you popped the top off, it could be drunk, still in the machine, with a straw. Several guys had several straws in action!
 
I was stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA for an NCO Demolitions course after my initial Green Beret training. One weekend, someone called home from the pay phone just outside of our barracks. When he hung up, the phone spewed out all the money that he had inserted. So the next guy called home, the next guy, etc. Ma Atlantic Bell lost out on a few bucks!
 
Pogey bait! Was still calling it that when I retired.

We had a commander, bout 86 or 87. I don't even think his dog liked him. We went out on a training exercise, got ordered "no Pogey Bait"! The Cpt had a whole foot locker of pogey bait strapped down to the top of his tank. Somehow the battalion commander found out, pretty sure his gunner turned him in. We got a new commander later that day!

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 13:15:45 02/18/19) I was stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA for an NCO Demolitions course after my initial Green Beret training. One weekend, someone called home from the pay phone just outside of our barracks. When he hung up, the phone spewed out all the money that he had inserted. So the next guy called home, the next guy, etc. Ma Atlantic Bell lost out on a few bucks!

JMS, while I was at Ft Bliss in the early 80's I put in for a 6 week demo course. Bored young NCO. We were not getting much money for training. I put in the 4187 and forgot about it. 3 months later I got sent to Ft Leonard Wood TDY for 6 weeks. I though it was funny at the time. Then being an armor crewman every place I went after that? Any time there was demo training to do guess who had to conduct the training? I learned a lesson about being a smart guy.

Rick
 
Parting off a copper bar must be one of the hardest metals to cut. I have a hard time with aluminum. Then I never attended machinist school. There area lot of words I used in the Navy I never use anymore except, something above the room is still the overhead. I never cared to be in the service, but I had no choice back in 64. Looking back it was a good time in my young life. Stan
 
(quoted from post at 16:05:54 02/18/19) There's a lot that happened in both places that needs to stay unsaid, kinda like crossing the s**t bridge.
BT3 USS Coral Sea
Hey shipmate..nice to see an old Coral Sea alum...was an EM2 on her from 87 till she was decommissioned. Course she was on the east coast then...no PI for me
 
Back in the day, the knock-outs in electrical panels worked perfectly. I'm not telling how that was figured out, even more shocking was that they actually worked. I think MFR's caught on or were told to change the sizes, as they no longer worked. That or you had to get size and weight correct. Later on, I recall seeing blank copper slugs for this purpose.
 
That's not the way we said it-not even close-See that girl all dressed in green-she puts out like a Coke machine-Honey oh babe be mine---Tee
 
My pop was served on the Aircraft Carrier USS HANCOCK in 63-64 I believe. I was born on Guam in 1965. He passed last year at the age of 73. He told me many stories about Olongapo and Subic Bay as he called it. In his last two years battling cancer we had a lot of time to just talk about everything. Man I miss him, what I'd give to have more time with him.
 
The Navy Cash card is the size of a credit card and has a computer chip embedded. The individual will have money transferred to the card and it is used for the ships store, vending machines, etc in lieu of cash. The amount used is subtracted from the card.
 

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