Man-Camp????

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be PC...that's what they're called "Man-camps"

How many people have ever been to, or stayed in, one???

Earlier I wrote an OP about the oilfield, and many times oil/gas exploration fields have these encampments called "man-camps". It's a place where people can stay, eat, shower and generally exist as the field is explored. Everyone works hard, and the rules in these camps are unbreakable. However, many of the new ones are really pretty nice.

When I worked in the energy industry, we were mostly 'transients' so I never really got to stay in one, but I had some really close friends who were roughkneckin' and supervisors who could stay in some of these places. Back then they were fairly simple, but they were a place you could get warm and eat a meal, shower and had a bed. Some of the new man-camps are utterly luxurious!!

I've got a buddy of mine who works up on the North Slope fields. His company puts him up in one of these places, and, WOW...they're NICE!!

It's not like the old days! There's NO drinking, NO fighting...all those things will get you kicked out (and likely fired from your company). But, inside they're nice. Really good food 24x7...hot food even. Cooked to order. You can get ice cream even. There's good mud rooms to take off your S# and hose it down. The rooms are nice. It's quiet. There's even girls!! They're nice, but there's no fraternization allowed though, they're mostly engineers. These are really nice places, very professional.

They have buses which take workers out to the various rigs each day. Everything is paid for. All you have to do is get up in the morning and "work".

My how times have changed!!!

Now, even the transient guys can pull up and park, pay a fee, and come in and eat. Have to behave though, else they'll throw your ass out!

Never thought I'd see the business be a subdued and "nice" business! (Maybe it's not really, but I'm just looking from afar in the aviation business now).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

There's NO drinking, NO fighting...

Who wants to work in the oil fields if you can't drink and fight?

When working out of town we used to stay in motels with contractor rates, usually strip motels that the company could get cheap. Two guys to a room, two double beds usually. Or maybe a private cheap one man room, usually the contractor paid for it. Back in the early 2000s, the rate was thirteen bucks a night for each in a shared room or sixteen bucks for a small single. It was better than deer camp though, eight guys in a small camp with an outhouse, that was a man camp.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Ohhhhh like "fat camp" but for men.

There shouldnt be any hard work going on. Bean bags and giant coffee mugs everywhere, wifi router in the center of the room and several iPad's littering each of the many endtables in the room. And psychiatrists dressed in plain clothes mixed in with everyone as stooges, handing out verbal participation trophies, for accolades such as hitting the like button in Facebook. Back in the 'barracks', no bunk beds instead just 10 big California king sized beds assembled as one. And nothing but skinny jeans in the shared "foot locker" (IKEA closet).

a reply to: underwerks

It's a far different business than it was just 20 years ago.

Before I went back to school, we used to go to the bar every Friday night in Rock Springs, Wyoming...and it was like a war zone. Survival of the fittest. The Kasbah was the place, and it was the rowdiest bar on planet earth. You'd party all night long, fight just because, and sleep in your truck for a couple hours...then go do it again. It was crazy.

In retrospect, it wasn't really that fun, and you were hurtin', especially when it was cold out in winter. But that's just how it was.

It's not like that anymore. Maybe it is some places, but not most. I think it's for the better.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

LOL...not quite, but it's certainly not bad like it used to be.

There's no CA Kings, but there are single rooms with a decent mattress and some quiet. They even put closers on the doors so they shut quietly (slamming doors all night is a real irritation).

So it sounds like you have some experience in one of these! Please do tell!!

I've been in a few, so maybe we can compare notes...or are you just full of S#???

a reply to: rickymouse

Yeah, that's pretty much what we had to do too. You got a room at the Dew Drop Inn Motel, and we'd show up at 230am and leave at 4am (just long enough to shower and nap for 30 minutes).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

No, I was just describing a camp for men to demasculate them.

Dont these already exist?

Back in the day as an elevator mechanic working out of town we would stay at the same hotel.

That was my "man camp".

We would go out to eat then eventually make to a titty bar were we would eventually get thrown out of .

A lot of drinking involved before , during and after along with funny stories of the really drunk guy we lost along the way.

Good times !

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

So what is the great purpose I'm to take away from this?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

most of the civilised world calls the concept " site camps "

Does living on a small navy carrier for 2 years in the 70's qualify as a man camp? Months at sea. Water tasted like crap after a while. 30 second showers an all. Sleeping on a rack surrounded by snoring, farting men in similar jobs directly under the steam catapult exhaust and consequently under the pointy end of the angle deck.

Sigh, and a couple of bulkheads away from the aircraft lift. Bells ringing, ship would jolt every launch.

I guess it's not a camp per-say but a damn fine part of my life's experience.

Beer issue was good. As soon as the piped trumpet sounded I was down there to line up. 2 cans, per man, per day perhaps at 20 cents a can but they were opened and you had to drink them. No aircon so on hot evenings the amber fluid never touched the sides as you downed each can.

Man camp to me yep. .... But nowadays at sea.

My thoughts,

kind regards,

bally

originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

So what is the great purpose I'm to take away from this?

Nothing really.

Just an observation while on another thread of a related topic.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I don't know that I'd call them luxurious. I'm a mud engineer in West Texas and while I have my own two bedroom trailer on the rig site,I have stayed in several man camps and they're no Hilton.


Jaden

PS, there's plenty of fraternization that goes on

a reply to: Masterjaden

I'm sure some are better than others. Depends on the company I guess. The one I went through up in ND was like staying at the Westin compared to what I was used to seeing back in the 80's. I wasn't staying there, but I a friend of mine was and it was nice! It was run by this company (I forget their name) and that's all they did was contract out for man camps. The companies would contract with them, and they served multiple exploration outfits.

Regarding the fraternization thing, yeah I'm sure it does happen, but I guess what I was getting at was they had some pretty strict rules so the gals wouldn't be intimidated. They actually had a whole bunch of rules about all sorts of things. They were pretty hard-core about enforcing those rules too. It wasn't like they were just posted and people were supposed to take note, they actually had people patrolling the halls, eating areas and gathering areas. They were serious about it! It was a pretty high-end outfit. Getting kicked out was a pretty big deal too because there was literally nowhere else to go.

Of course, it was ND too and the living situation up there at the time was just insane, there were so many people. This place had a waiting list several months long. I think it has improved some there now, but it was pretty crazy back in 2014-15.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The PC Police aren't going to like this.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Have been to many different kinds of these 'man-camps', over the years.

Have a lovely memory from 50+ years ago: about 20-25 man crew, camped-out in canvas prospector tents (just like back in scouts), roughly pitched on a swath of Labrador Tea, by the side of a small virgin lake.
Was a temp fireman on a forest-fire fighting crew.

It was surreal being helicoptered-in, and just dropped-off there, in the middle of the wilderness.
No showers, but at least we had a cook and he had supplies.

Near the end of the 4 or 5 days: one of the senior, (Full-time) guys spent a couple of hours going all the way around the small lake with his fly-rod, and came back with enough small speckled trout for us to have about 3-5 each.
Yeah: that's over the limit: but maybe the only time that lake has ever been fished by humans, with virtually hundreds of untouched virgin lakes all around.

The temps were mostly guys that had a hard time getting regular work. Ex-cons; drop-outs; juvies; under-medicated folks; and me! My excuse? Was in high-school and too lazy to have a regular summer-job.
The salary was minimum wage, but we were paid 17-18 hours a day, so the time-and-a-half added-up pretty quick, and gave me a better paycheck in 5 days, than any of my friends working steady summer-jobs made in about 3-4 weeks.

On the last day, when it was clear that we were getting pulled-out: a couple of the guys, stashed all of the dried and canned food in a tarp, and buried it, saying that they would return for a moose-hunt there in the autumn.

a reply to: Nothin

Great Story. Nice memories.

Kind Regards,

Bally

a reply to: bally001

Hi Bally.
Thanks for your kind remarks.
(Saw your 'shout-out' to me in the acronym thread the other day, but haven't had the inspiration to reply yet. Thank-you!)

Would surely be agreeable to your 2-year experience on a small navy carrier being a 'man-camp'.
Have seen some docus and vids on such, and have visited various kinds of ships, and even worked on a few (on-shore work).
Probably not as much fun as a hunting or fishing camp though... LoL!
What's the craziest thing you saw on the carrier?

Down in Aussie: did you ever have like, bush-camps, where you would go for just getting-away from it all?

originally posted by: Nothin
a reply to: bally001

Hi Bally.
Thanks for your kind remarks.
(Saw your 'shout-out' to me in the acronym thread the other day, but haven't had the inspiration to reply yet. Thank-you!)

Would surely be agreeable to your 2-year experience on a small navy carrier being a 'man-camp'.
Have seen some docus and vids on such, and have visited various kinds of ships, and even worked on a few (on-shore work).
Probably not as much fun as a hunting or fishing camp though... LoL!
What's the craziest thing you saw on the carrier?

Down in Aussie: did you ever have like, bush-camps, where you would go for just getting-away from it all?

Saw some accidents involving the loss of aircraft. There are a couple that stick out but probably the one during a storm when they were moving a parked A4 was intriguing. The handler/brakeman was in the cockpit. I believe the pressure on the tilt of the deck lead to the cable snapping and the scooter rolled backwards off the deck. Hit a gun sponson upside down then landed rightway up in the seas. The Handler managed to swim for it. Mae West an all. Seas were huge and the resulting rescue was a sight watching a destroyer in the waves. Seems a diver from the destroyer dove into the water from the deck with a lead and managed to rescue the dude. Brave stuff when you see waves crashing over the destroyer.

Done a lot a camping out bush. Liked fishing and hunting back in the days. Basically retired now living in the bush. Hobby farm an all. Very peaceful.

Thanks for asking.

Kind regards,

bally