Think we had this one awhile back but was along time ago. Me personally … no I was never in the military. I was in Naval JROTC in High School. Which I did manage to obtain the rank of Ensign. Besides that no!
Family
Dad was in Korea during Vietnam
Grandpa was in the Pacific during WW2
Great Uncle was in France on the front lines during WW1.
Times have changed, so I feel safe to admit that I was a Crab some thirty years ago:-)
Not military, but almost 20 years in a heavy rescue and engineering unit of the German civil defense. The unit was non-combatant (though I got trained in explosives and demolitions), but in many aspects equipped like a military engineering platoon in the British Territorial Army. Rank structure was based on the military one, but with different names due to the non-combatant status.
Smallest unit was a “Gruppe” (section), 12 guys riding on one truck (divided into two teams (“Trupps”) of four plus team leader (“Truppführer”) each, a section leader (“Gruppenführer”) and a driver. Two (respectively 3 for a reinforced platoon) rescue sections plus one heavy equipment support section ( 1 Section leader, 1 driver, 5 men in a support equipment truck) plus one platoon command team (1 platoon leader “Zugführer”, 1 driver, 1 platoon command team leader ,“Zugtruppführer”, equivalent of a platoon sergeant and one dispatch rider) formed one platoon (“Zug”).
Service was/is voluntary. During cold war our training was aimed at rescueing people from collapsed buildings after bomb raids, NBC protection/ decontamination, reconstruction of damaged and destroyed essential infrastructure, like roads, bridges, drinking water supply, sewage disposal (to prevent diseases), repair of essential gas and electricity connections.
My highest rank was acting section leader.
Jan
I was a ‘Hitman’ for the Salvation Army for some twenty years or so, but as my voice deteriorated and I could no longer ‘hit’ the right notes, and my clawed hands were unable to shake the collection boxes, I was retired.
I was a Cut Lunch Commando, aka Weekend Warrior.
But I had to give it up because my cut lunches wouldn’t last the weekend. Sometimes the nation requires sacrifices which are too great. 
Good for you getting out of that closet. There is a support group called the CA (Crabs anonymous) that may help you come to terms with this.
What are Crabs?
I thought it was RAF of some sort??
How did they get that name?
(Crabs here are either marine crustaceans - Gee, that’s a surprise - or itchy things you get in your pubes from unclean partners. :D)
itchy things you get in your pubes
Yea
The whole RAF got them from the French girls during WW2. - unclean partners.
:mrgreen::mrgreen:
I can’t quite figure if that’s a slight against those heroes of the RAF, or those wonderful ladies accross the Channel?
Its kinda like the ACDC thing! Love the band but funny they all got the clap from the same hooker and then wrote a song about it. The Jack! Im sure she was a classy hooker!!!
There any many theories on where the term Crab comes from. Its been a term applied to the RAF for a while now.
The famous phrase
“If youve time to spare, fly Crab Air!”
That’s far too deep for an old hippie like me - far out, man!
Never heard that one before, marra.
Army, 71’ through 74’ tank commander in the 1st. Armored div. Germany.stationed at Erlangen, in Bavaria. (near Nurnberg) On my mother’s side, family has been in every conflict since the French and Indian war. Father’s side, WW2 pacific theater. farther back for sure, but not in the U.S.
Crabs: the uniform is the colour of Crabfat grease, used by the RN on it’s big guns at some point. That’s the most convincing explanation I’ve yet heard anyway.
As for me, I’m serving TA and currently somewhere in the middle of the officer training mill. If I sort my fitness out and get my life in gear I should get my first pip some time next year.
U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.
1st battalion parachutists Belgian army.
I am currently rumbling with tanks and stuff 
I think it is my favored destination to work with Armored Units - it’s just like nature and Technic - i love it.
Currently i am SaZ (Soldat auf Zeit - Soldier for a certain timeperiode) for 12 years and i don’t know how to proceed - perhaps i will make the Officer career or i will quit and enter the Civilian/Building Protection (they pay better, but i have to inform myself more about that) - everythings open for me at the moment, but when i continue in the Army i will get promoted with the time and a higher ranks means often more boring jobs, than being “in the field”.
Four years ago i met up with a friend and he said: “I said i want to go to the Heer - and they pushed me into the Luftwaffe!” I had to laugh so hard about that - well he is now in Civil Protection. - I am no human - i am no animal - i am a Panzergrenadier … well i sounds better in german 
Er ist kein Mensch! Er is kein Tier! er ist ein Panzergrenadier! … and by the way, if you knock at a green stone on the ground - pay attantion - it could be one of us
Panzergrenadier has a certain ring to it in English as well.
I was an NCO in the US Army serving in the REMF division.
And I was also a weekend warrior and cut lunch boy for a while also, again serving as a REMF in personnel, which I hated…
I’ve thought about going back in recently, but the thought of being indefinitely extended in Iraq does not appeal to me, but the urge is still there…