I think this was my very first IRS refund. Since it was for exactly $1.00, I opted to just keep it. I think I'm going to go buy a frame and hang it in my office. Anyone else have one of these old punch card checks?

Very cool…

I remember my military pay checks like those…

I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

In basic training, at Lackland AFB, we got cash. Then we were herded tp the barber shop. I couldn't believe we had to PAY for the buzz cut!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: skywag,

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

I remember my first Navy pay, long time ago -- 1956. They posted a list showing how much was available for each person. We filled out a "pay chit" showing how much we wanted, in cash. If we took anything less than the available amount, the remainder would stay on the books and show up the next pay period.

First pay day, I had to re-do my pay chit and go to the back of the line; I had mis-spelled "forty" and written it as "fourty," so it was rejected.

Cash was handed out by a 3rd class, who at the time impressed me as being pretty senior. The OOD, wearing a 1911 in a canvas holster, sat next to him.

My first military paycheck were similar - and not much larger.

quote:

Originally posted by skywag:
In basic training, at Lackland AFB, we got cash. Then we were herded tp the barbar shop. I couldn't believe we had to PAY for the buzz cut!

I couldn't either, but it was only $1.00 for us.

I like the idea of having it framed !!!

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

Was your pay handed to you by Washington himself? :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

Me too. Report for pay. CO and XO. 1911 sitting on desk next to cash box.

In the early 1980"s saw a simular govt check framed and on a wall and the amount was $00.25cts. More was spent to process and mail to the recipent. ...................................... drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
In the early 1980"s saw a simular govt check framed and on a wall and the amount was $00.25cts. More was spent to process and mail to the recipent. ...................................... drill sgt.

I think that was my original thinking with this check. It cost way more to generate and mail to me than the amount of the check.

quote:

I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

When I was at FT Bragg in 1969 I had to pull duty as a pay officer for over 400 ETS that day. I was given a loaded "45", 2 armed guards, & a paper grocery sack with $80,000 ($600,000) in today's money. I had heard a Lt was robbed & killed at Ft Polk the week before.

The part Y'all are missing is that some poor clown has to reconcile the account. Its why they say void after 60 days or 1 year or what ever. He gets to stop counting them. They still owe you the bucks, but its an even greater pain for you to collect it. Oh, and postage was maybe 4 cents back then.

quote:

We filled out a "pay chit" showing how much we wanted, in cash.

My old man was in the navy from 1968 to 2009, went from E1 to Captain. He still used the term "chit" all the damn time. When i was a kid I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

quote:

He still used the term "chit" all the damn time. When i was a kid I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

"Chit" is the tear-off strip with sprocket holes on the side of old fashioned printer paper, the kind with the alternating bands of green and white.

I know this because I used to work for a guy named José. We were speaking, in his office, and I tore some of those sprocket drive strips from the paper and dropped them on his desk.

He glared at me and said, "Get that chit off my desk."

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I never got military paychecks, I got cash the whole time I was in.

Was your pay handed to you by Washington himself? :-)

No, it was Julius Caesar

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

We filled out a "pay chit" showing how much we wanted, in cash.

My old man was in the navy from 1968 to 2009, went from E1 to Captain. He still used the term "chit" all the damn time. When i was a kid I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

A chit is just a piece of paper or memo. They were also used as a traffic ticket like if a Master At Arms saw you with long hair, he'd give you a haircut chit and a copy of it would be sent to your department head.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

He still used the term "chit" all the damn time. When i was a kid I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

"Chit" is the tear-off strip with sprocket holes on the side of old fashioned printer paper, the kind with the alternating bands of green and white.

I know this because I used to work for a guy named José. We were speaking, in his office, and I tore some of those sprocket drive strips from the paper and dropped them on his desk.

He glared at me and said, "Get that chit off my desk."

I sincerely hope you told him, "No chit, José!"

ETA: An urban legend back when these "IBM cards" were used a checks was that you could change the amount that it was worth by altering the punch holes, the value in the example above in columns 9-16. Didn't work.

A few years back I found my draft card from the early 70s ... now I don't remember where I put it. Probably in my wife's precious stash of stuff.