This was actually part of the overseas briefings a lot of us got during the cold war. At the time we were encouraged to travel in civilian clothes, let our hair grow longer and eat like a European. The fork stays in the left hand and you don’t put down the knife after cutting your food. Of course we still all stood out like sore thumbs, but this actually happened.
Things like this always amuse me. Back in the mid-2000s, when the US was fully involved in Afghanistan and Iraq, they had a similar rule for military members travelling on commercial airlines. But one time, when I was boarding the plane, the airline kind of screwed them. The airline had a special boarding group for military personnel, and when they called it, they added the “And we thank you for your service!” line in the announcement, cleverly identifying all the “civilians” who were boarding as military.
In the late 80s the memory of Robby Stethem and TWA flight 847 was still fresh.
(WWII soldier) Where’s the terlet at, sigh voose playt?
It was probably NAVEDTRA 14067, the same training course the USNSCC (Sea cadets) used to advance to O3. You can view it online here:
There’s nothing about how to get on behind enemy lines, though - it’s all Marlinspike seamanship, how to maintain a watch, naval gunnery stuff - all things you would expect a young sailor to know to function on a ship, as would be expected for an E-3 seaman. A situation where one would find themselves behind enemy lines would be implausibly remote to be worth spending time on in that manual. I think Smapti is conflating it with something else.
I don’t doubt the accuracy of your memory, but there are so many holes in the story that I can only surmise that it was developed as a cautionary tale for young seamen to remind them to blend in. (The 12-year old in me still snickers a bit: he said SEAMEN!)
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think you mean E-3.
(And it’s cool to see someone has heard of USNSCC. I was in Compton Division in Perth Amboy, NJ from 1982 until I graduated high school in 1986.)
Yes, E-3, typo! Also I just remembered that NAVEDTRA 14014A was considered an acceptable substitute, and that one was specific to Airmen. There MIGHT be something in there about survival behind enemy lines. Available here if anyone wants to dig through it:
My best friend was a cadet in the Greats Lakes Division here in Cleveland in the 90s. I was interested, but being hearing impaired, going through the Navy Bootcamp (“Orientation”) would have been problematic so I never pursued it. But being a military buff I read through all of his manuals thoroughly.
I always understood the caption on that photo was … “I lost my cigar.”
This thread reminds me of the scene in “The Great Escape” where two of the escapees are boarding a bus. Two Nazis are questioning people. Our heros produce their well-forged documents and do very well conversing with the Nazis in German and French. As they board the bus, one of the Nazis says “Good Luck” and the American says “Thank you,” sealing their fate as two of the 50 or so escapees who were later executed.
That would be the posed photo by Karsh, who got him to look particularly belligerent by snatching his cigar from his mouth:
Fun fact - that photo - one of the originals - was hanging in the Otttawa Chateau Laurier. It was stolen and replaced with a reproduction and nobody noticed for a while…
Simila story for Australian POW in south east asia. The formed the belief that the surrounding population was unfriendly, because they’d seen covert “FU” signs from people – even women.
British. Gordon Jackson and Patrick McGoohan, two great British actors.
Peter, thanks for the correction and for the link. What a great movie!