Ready Room Movies?? Still Do 'Em??

[Renegade One]

Just wondering if the current generation still makes a big deal of the evening "Roll 'em" in the Ready Room, or if that's sort of died off due to the myriad choices running on ship's TV around the clock, DVD players in staterooms, etc.

"Why, back in MY day" (sound of coughing and bones creaking) the Roll 'em was the social highlight of the deployment day. I was designated "Movie Officer" for my first whole cruise on CORAL SEA (1973). This was in the day of 16mm film and projectors and all that could go wrong with them (wrong reel, out of focus, burned out bulb, too much leader, SPAGHETTI!, not ready to roll when the Skipper's butt hit his chair, lights not going out simultaneous with projector going ON, etc., etc.). And rules abounded:
1. No one could make shadow puppets on, or say anything rude about "the CO's girl" (whoever he designated).
2. "XO's girl" was fair game for the worst kind of puerile behavior and comments...
3. Movies graded on a weighted system regarding how many of the following showed up and to what extent: body counts (AKA the mort count), T&A, trains, horses, bow ties, explosions, visible microphones in the scene, gladiators, yadda yadda yadda.

"Those were the days, my friend...we thought they'd never end..."

V/R, Spike (shadow puppeteer extraordinaire...)

 

[Uncle Fester]

No, the Roll'em is still a living tradition, though most squadrons (least, that I've seen personally) choose not to do them during flight ops. And since last recovery on OEF/OIF fly days is in the wee small hours of the morning, they tend to be limited to no-fly days. I'm sure other squadrons still do it more frequently...depends a great deal on the CAG and skippers in question.

The selection of a great Roll'em is a skill much lacking in the youth of today, I find. A great movie is not necessarily a good Roll'em, and a great Roll'em is not necessarily a good movie. Lots of tits and explosions help, of course.

When in doubt, you can always play "Animal House" again.

 

[ea6bflyr]

We had our roll-em's at 2100 every night. The Squadron Duty Officer was responsible for selecting the movie and sometimes there was a guessing game to try to figure out what the movie was for the evening. There were favorites from the JOPA and then there were favorites for Rocket 1. He still had a known grading systm that involved midgets, nudity, etc....but that another story for a different crowd.

-ea6bflyr

 

[MasterBates]

From the Small-Boy side of the house, and not having a ready room on the CG/DDG/FFG, we would play movies in the wardroom, much to the dismay of DH's trying to get "actual work one" (great thing about dets, you only have 1 DH, and he is usually on your side)

Any "racy" films (anything cruder than Animal House) would normally be watched in the JOPA JUNGLE (the lone 6-man, often inhabited by pilots on a CG)..

The SHOES called ours the "Pilot Playpen" due to non-stop movies, 3 video game systems and 4 TVs set up, in addition to surround sound.

Not to mention, we had porn on pretty much 24/7 on a TV playing from a CPU called the "Porn Death Star".

 

[Schnugg]

We had them extraordinare in VF-114. In fact we had our own VF114INST 6969.4BJ that detailed the movie officer, the real officer and the duty officer duties. Tits in the first reel, no credits and a high mort count with monkeys and midgets always got rave reviews.

We used to run Monty Python (the CO hated it) to get him to leave the RR. Then we'd break out the real roll 'Em. He never caught on.

Every night we had TODS (Turds of the Day) where the SDO wrote up funny (sometimes embellished...okay always embellished) stories on the board that happened that day on the boat or in the air. The winner got the nametag with pilot or NFO wings that said LTOD (Lion Turd of the Day). VF-213, the slack loins was our sister squadron...and I use that term sister accurately.

At the end of cruise a mega AOM was held with the LTOC award being presented following a write up run-off. (Lion Turd of Cruise).

Some of the write ups were so funny we were in tears holding our sides.

Same rules regarding the CO and XO's girl. What was funny was our XO had a really fat wife and he'd always get the fat chick as the XO's girl. Fiction mimiced life.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Talking about porn...

When my squadron went to CAX 3/4 in 2002, all the company grade were in a K-span, the Majors in a tent, and the CO/XO had their own tent. We borrowed a projector from Ops, taped together a bunch of 29 Stumps maps to make a screen, and ran movies/porn on the back wall 24/7. The CO/XO would come by on occasion and partake in our debauchery (whoever was on off-going CASEVAC duty would bring back cases for the coolers), but when we wanted them to leave - the twice life-size midget porn would start playing...

On my first boat ride, movies in the Ready Room 3 times per week. NCAA Football (on PS2) bowl games/drafts were conducted in there as well...

 

[A4sForever]

Everyone got grumpy when the new movies didn't arrive during VERTREP/UNREP.

"The Flick" used to be a part of life nearly every night when at sea -- sometimes ran in the early AM if flight ops were goin' 24 hours a day. When that happened, it was more of a "tradition" than a necessity, as the seats were wide open @ 0300.

The junior officer present would usually be responsible for the KIA and T&A count. The SDO and his E-man lackey would be responsible for procuring "the flick", setting the curtain time, obtaining a functioning projector, making certain we had not just recently seen the nightly offering -- and calling the CO/XO/Dept Heads to notify them of all such information.

FITREP standing could rise and fall on the proper execution of "The Flick" and the whim of the masses ...

One of our XO's made one "emergency" trip home to CONUS -- wife trouble -- came back a Born-Again ... so much for Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist and other assorted satanic films when he returned and later took the helm as CO. He was somewhat "understanding" of our "needs", however, and merely left the Ready Room during the T&A presentations ...

 

[scoober78]

and merely left the Ready Room during the T&A presentations ...

Right on...the way it ought to be. Seems like many of the "new crop" foist their line as the company line and call it a day.

Great stories guys...keep em coming.

 

[brownshoe]

E-man lackey [/B]

This would have been me when I was aboard. (I had a rep for being a bit of a scrounger anyway.) Being in a RAG, VA-44, we weren't aboard ship more than two or three weeks at a crack. Sooo the ready room became "on limits" for us enlisted men too after ops. We'd all get some sort of snacks and everybody sat 'round smoking, joking and watching the movie.

Most of the time, earlier in the day, the enlisted guys would get sandwiches and fruit off of the cart the mess cooks pushed around the hanger deck and give it out in the ready room that night. And of course popcorn and sodas could be had, but unlike the food cart we had to pay for this stuff.

Steve

 

[A4sForever]

(E-man lackey) ... This would have been me when I was aboard. ....

Our E-man lackeys were 'da best ... the Ready Room would not have survived long without 'em ...

 

[HooverPilot]

Had a roll 'em last night and planning another tomorrow. Can't wait to hear what the SDO picks out...

By the way, woke up this morning and it was spring, now it's fall as I go to bed. Crazy world we live in - toilets supposed to flush backwards now too, but salt water flush just takes it down in a whoosh of splashes and gurgles...Can you tell I'm bored? King Neptune hasn't visited yet, but he's gonna get us eventually... Maybe on the way back up.

 

[Old R.O.]

When I think of the evening roll-em’s in the ready room, a couple of stories come to mind.
In WestPac in the early/mid ‘70s, movies were rotated around the various ready rooms and messes and the ship’s TV on a schedule. There were enough films aboard to make the circuit for each line period (plus or minus, of course...). Each day the movie officer, or the duty ready room enlisted “gopher” would check out the film that was scheduled for the ready room from the ship’s movie office. These were the days of 16mm projectors, “skinny-scope” lenses for the odd movies that required it (had to be checked out from the movie office when you picked up the film). The movie officer never could win. If everything went right, nobody noticed. If the wrong lens was installed, if the sound wasn’t right or the loop wasn’t set right and the movie stuttered... he caught hell from the ready room throng (most of them had been movie officers at one time or another... so it was kind of a pent-up payback thing).

The first story concerns the procedures for a “proper” roll’em that went on before I joined the squadron (as related to me by my first cruise roommate). Ready Six on board Ranger was down on the second deck, next to the enlisted mess facility. It was probably made into one big room by tearing out a wall, as evidenced by the fact that the lights were in two sections and controlled by two different explosion-proof rotary switches at opposite ends of the room, one each next to two of the three doors that lead into Ready 6.
The squadron CO would go through a complicated “dance” before each movie. The projector had to be set up so that the title frame was the first thing viewed when the movie started (none of that countdown stuff...). Two JOs were positioned to turn out the lights. At exactly 8:00 (or whatever time the movie was supposed to start) the skipper would make a grand entrance at the outboard front door. He would proceed to his chair (about a 15-foot walk), stand there for a second and look back at the projector... give the “two-finger” turn signal and turn around and then sit down. At the exact instant that his butt hit the chair the lights had to go off, the projector start -- with volume adjusted and the title frame on the screen. If even one of these events was not right... he’d stop the proceedings, storm back out the ready room door, and begin again from the top. (I don’t think he was well liked by the JOs).

Second story. You’re the SDO. You’ve got a Disney movie... and a really, really BAD Disney movie scheduled for tonight. Ready 3 on the 0-3 level has “Attack of the Bee Girls” with skin the second AND third reels. A quick call to your buddy in Ready 3 confirms this, and you set up a deal... the dreaded “hot reel.” Ready 3 starts their movie on time. You delay the start of your movie by 20 minutes. The duty gopher is launched to pick up the first reel from Ready 3 at about the 15-minute mark. He brings the reel down, and you rewind it, and start the show. Some nights, you could see three or four guys running around the passageways with reels of film taking them to places other than where they were scheduled. It was officially frowned upon by the ship’s movie officer, but everyone just blew him off and did it anyway.

 

[phrogdriver]

Reels...wtf are those?

Best movie nights I had were with a "1-gun" in Kandahar, Asscrakistan. Half the squadron would come in for those. One night, we heard an enormous, "BOOOOM!!!" There was an explosion so big the windows cracked and everyone freaked. The chairs went flying and everyone ran out the door to get their helmets and flaks. We all thought Beirut II was underway. After 5 minutes of failing, the word came down.

EOD had blown up a bunch of ordnance found in a cache without telling anyone.

Oops. Good times.

 

[Semper Jump Jet]

...A great movie is not necessarily a good Roll'em, and a great Roll'em is not necessarily a good movie. Lots of tits and explosions help, of course.

When in doubt, you can always play "Animal House" again.

Agreed, it can in no way be a 'film'; too much dialogue will lose the knuckleheads with a short attention span and be drowned out during all of the witty commentary.

I wish we used the same procedures for starting a movie. They sound a little harsh, but without them it's like trying to do anything else with a group of pilots: herding cats.

 

[Single Seat]

Roll 'ems on the boat: nights with no flights ops, a collateral duty of the ODO, it better be good. Also responsible for popcorn, soda, other associated geedunk.