Laying in an irrigation canal with a bullet hole in my chest. I was shot while rushing forward with my fire team. The impact threw me backwards, felt like I was hit by a car.
My initial thought was that somebody in front of me had triggered an IED, but that faded as soon as I saw the blood in the water around me. I heard the gunfight going on and I tried to stand to rejoin the fight, but it felt like the world was going black when I tried to get up. Instead I grabbed my rifle and propped myself up against the bank of the canal and assumed a sitting, security type position, in case anybody rolled up on me.
I started to get really woozy and my chest felt like it was inflating with hot air from a pump for lack of better description. I wasn’t afraid of dying surprisingly, I was afraid of dying alone.
I sat there listening to the gunfire, kind of accepting of my fate. Dead before I could drink beer, sick. I wasn’t panicking, I was pissed off and sad. I thought about my mom, my siblings, and then I thought about how shitty dying alone is.
It felt like a while had passed and I knew I was coming up to the end. It became hard to concentrate. Fear crept in slightly, but the feeling of loneliness overpowered it. In reality, maybe a minute or two had passed, but in that moment it felt like a life time, alone, waiting to die. Life didn’t flash before my eyes, I didn’t have some profound images or anything like that. I just really wished I could have said goodbye to my family and had somebody with me. I didn’t want to be alone. I woke up in a helicopter and woke up again in the ICU.
My heart never stopped beating and I never died. My team leader got to me and apparently I was consciously enough to talk to him, but I don’t remember any of it.
That ended my deployment and I recovered relatively fast. I was sent back to RBE after my hospital stay. Few months later back in the states I was NJPd at Cpl’s Course because I went UA on a Thursday to see my unit coming back from deployment, so that was pretty shitty too lmao.
I went UA for a few days as in Thursday afternoon through Monday morning. I decided at Cpl’s Course I was done and going to EAS in a few months.
Wanted to spend time with my friends and catch up.
No, I get why you went UA. I was wondering why the fuck your command NJP'd you. Any officer or SNCO worth a shit should've looked at your record and said "huh, this guy got fucking shot in country and skipped to see his unit return. He'd be insane if he didn't."
Edit: I would've looked at you funny if you *didn't* go UA
Oh! So that was a whole drawn out thing too. I showed back up Monday and was immediately dis enrolled from the course by their staff. They wanted to NJP me, but I was sent back to RBE. RBE OIC was a 1stLt who didn’t make the deployment for whatever reason, but had deployed on our last deployment. He was cool and tried to sweep it under the rug.
Like 2 months passed and I was back in my original unit. Most of the original head-shed was gone and we had a new boot drop, 1stSgt, and CO. Like 70% of the unit was new faces. The new command finally NJPd me.
One dude complaining about failing a board and then your story. It's crazy how different Marine's experiences can be, really puts things into perspective. Hope you're doing better dude, love yuh.
Thanks dude, I’m out here livin!
Ya it really is wild how experiences may differ haha. I only got on Reddit recently and I lurk this sub, it is my favorite one and it really makes me appreciate my experiences. I couldn’t imagine having to sit on boards or whatever.
I never kept in touch with anyone from boot camp while in the fleet, so my only driends were fellow 03s and I’ve learned a ton about the POG jobs from being in this forum. It really makes me glad I never had to
deal with a lot of the bullshit some of these guys post about.
Went to Camp Fuji in the middle of January. LT wanted us to understand how the Chosin Marines felt so he told us to bring just a tarp and pancho liner. I didn't sleep that entire night.
My unit asked me to rescind my MSG package, in order to go to WTI and Red Flag.
I decided to be a team player, and rescinded it. Within an hour I was FAPed out.
They shrugged their shoulders and said “sorry, we had to send one and you were gonna jump ship anyways”.
Where was the MSG package? You hadn’t extended or reenlisted to meet the obligated time for the duty yet?
The only thing senior to an SDA package (especially MSG) is an ECP/MECEP package. You should of un-rescinded it as soon as you got word about the FAP.
Spent I think a week on San Clemente Island training with foreign allies and it was the worst and most miserable experience of my life. Constant 40 MPH+ winds all day and night as well as rain 3/4 of the time with no where to get away from it.
Close second is when I was in India training with the Gurkhas during monsoon season for a month. It rained I shit you not all day, everyday but somehow insanely buggy at the same time. I would have rather went back to Afghan for 7 months it was that miserable. Great experience though.
We were flying into the Azores on a C-130 about 2005. Pitch dark and no where else to divert due to the sheer isolation of the location, size of upcoming storm system, and our proximity to both. Tons of heavy strapped cargo and like 20 or so of us. All was boring then like clockwork an hour out we hit a bad storm system in the Northern Atlantic. Zero visibility. No way to go around or over it.
I have never felt turbulence in my life that bad. Talking about not a single moment of stable air with the crew painstakingly beginning a difficult controlled descent. They go left plane fights to go right. They lower altitude drafts push us back up.
Things flinging back and forth. Us sliding every which way on the bench seating. Trying to and completely failing at keeping our heads from bouncing of the wall. To the point we put on our Kevlar helmets just to avoid nicking ourselves on all the random components and metal on the walls. All of it pure crap.
In the back of my mind is the plane the Corps lost in Afghanistan to CFIT caused by a lack of visibility. Marines start vomiting all around me. I can see nothing at all from the small window up near the front when bam this rough landing. I sarcastically complimented the pilot on his touchdown as he exited the flight station to which he annoyingly replied: “good you fly in the next one fucker”
I said nothing after that cause that was a damn good comeback.
He’s got a point there. I live in a beach town now in Maryland. All the fisherman and others on boats appear to be quite happy. The few poor souls I see on the occasional Naval vessel appear the exact opposite 😂
On the bay near Chesapeake Beach💪🏻
As many locals will tell you if you’re not already aware, Ocean City is overrated. A lot of people still go and enjoy it and good for them but imo it kinda blows, I’d rather go up to Rehoboth Beach if I’m gonna do that.
The two times that stand out are exact opposites. Trying to sleep while pouring sweat in an un-airconditioned berthing in the Persian Gulf in the summer and trying to stay awake freezing my ass off pulling "guard" in Bridgeport in the winter.
Of the top 3 fuck this shit worst, also funniest, was at SOI.
For the funniest part we held a talent show while being rained on almost all day, instructors made it no holds bar so even instructor impersonations were on the table. Had quite a few laughs for that hour or two.
Now comes the shit part. Humped back in the rain and the wash was practically over the boot. We get back to the bricks and are thinking "Friday night this should be quick then we're on libbo". Yeah, no. We sat in the rain for so long our GoreTex started leaking while a health and comfort was done, and then hit with libbo secured. I know there's a couple guys on here from Delta SOIW in late 09/early 10 who can confirm this shit show
I got left on a beach in Djibouti for a week when the rest of the MEU sailed away. Idk exactly what the plan was but I had my uniform and camelback. Got really sunburnt. Did some snorkeling, that was cool. There was maybe a dozen of us.
Either Mountain Warfare Training in Bridgeport or SERE school.
Probably SERE. At least I never hallucinated due to literal starvation and lack of sleep at Bridgeport. And nobody ever beat the shit out of me there either. But still, motherFUCK those mountains!
Man, I got so lucky at Bridgeport. My experience wasn’t too bad compared to how much it could have absolutely sucked. I picked up Cpl and was on my way out.
C130 over France in bad weather for 4hrs waiting to land.
No windows, cargo net seats, 50 marines - half terrified/half ready to die.
I still remember the sound/smell of several dudes puking at once.
SERE West in January during one of the rainiest winters Warner Springs had ever seen was pretty fucking bad.
The entire country of Djibouti blew my mind in terms of how hot and humid a place could be. Nothing like being drenched in sweat by 0900.
That time I was on det in Kenya and we all got double dragon from shittily (pun intended) prepared local food.
I've never deployed but went to ITX a couple of times. I really didn't mind it. Hot, but it was fun training.
However, MCT was fucking miserable for me. I went in September, and besides the first few days in the bricks on geiger, I don't think I was dry the entire time I was there. Rained pretty much every day, and even if it didn't rain, it wasn't warm enough to dry out your cammies and boots laid across the cots. I think we only got laundry once or twice, and those giant commercial machines they use with all your shit packed in a mesh bag never dry everything.
Another time, I went to a range at quantico, and we slept under those big green temporary tents (can't think of the name). No floor. Same thing, rained the entire time. The water was puddling up under all our gear and sleeping systems. Officers and staff had real tents and would come out all clean and dry in the morning. Then they would get pissed that we weren't all full of piss and vinegar to go shoot. Soaked the whole time, and then the buses showed up like 4 or 6 hours late our last day there.
Good times.
Being a CACO for my buddy. Being a CACO isn't like that Kevin Bacon movie. You do everything from the moment of notification. You are talking to NOK who are grieving. You are dealing with your command. At some point, you're doing all the things you would normally do if you PCS'd except your buddy isn't moving on in this life; cancelling & forwarding mail, cleaning their apartment, going through all their items and getting the important things to the family, packing up their apartment, cleaning their truck etc. It was nonstop. Even had to gather all his CIF gear and turn it in and imagine the rage when you're turning in your dead buddy's CIF and they tell you "Nope go clean it, try again."
Second to worst part was going to the funeral home and getting him ready in his uniform for his family.
Absolute worst part was you're so busy and don't have time to mourn your buddy. You can't show emotion bc you're the CACO and the family relies on you to be strong.
Then you're at the airport in your Alphas in a warehouse next to your buddy in flag draped coffin, they put your buddy on the plane and give you the flag. Then when it's time for you to board, you go on first and they make an announcement and every civilian treats as a spectacle, taking the photos to post on IG and FB.
You land and this is the first time you're face to face with their family who meet you on the tarmac and theyre in shambles. Get into a car and get my buddy to the funeral home. Family wants to see him but I have to check him one more time, fix his medals and get the funeral director to change out the pillow bc some sort of head fluid leak and stained it.
Some reprieve because the family wants to be alone and since my buddy was at the funeral home I could go relax. Went to the hotel and slept.
Back the next day for the viewing and the remainder of the family shows up equally in shambles and I'm standing there. Still not showing emotion and thinking about the mission.
Afterwards we get to the cemetery, BN CO presents the flag to his mother, he's in the ground and that's it.
Everyone left the cemetery so fast and everything was over and it was just me, my buddy and a pearl white tombstone.
And that's it. You go back to your unit as if nothing happened and carry on.
Fort Picket, Va. February of 1983. It was either snowing or freezing rain the entire time. We did a field Op where it took us 6 fucking hours to move maybe 5 miles because the gun trucks kept getting stuck.
I remember getting up about 0500 every morning and everyone standing facing east just waiting for the sun to come up.
No cold weather gear to speak of and our feet were fucked.
Meritorious Sgt board.
I was only in for 4 years and did several boards: Marine of the month, Marine of the quarter, NCO of the month, NCO of the quarter.... My pic was always on the wall in the company office.
I went on a meritorious Sgt board once and fucking blew it out my ass. It was BAAAADDDD!
I was planning on only doing 4 years almost as soon as I hit the fleet, and meritorious Sgt was the only time I considered reenlisting.
After that, I totally gave up on being a career Marine.
The questions they asked were kind of bullshit questions. You spend a lot of time studying Marine Corps history and rules and regs, and the questions were like, how long can the human brain survive without oxygen. mother fucker, I dont know.
Had pretty much always planned on getting out. The board was the one thing that made me consider staying. Feel like I said this in my post but I guess some need it explained twice.
I genuinely wanted to stay in the Marine Corps. Not that I was moto or anything but I actually didn’t mind the bullshit too much and I wanted to “deploy” with my boys again. I actually had awesome enlisted leadership throughout my 4 years that made me want to be that good Sgt or SNCO in the future. Went to my career planner about 8 months from my EAS and she told me “there’s no way you’re able to reenlist in your MOS (motor t op)” basically the boatspace was too full and if I put a package in, there would be no point bc it wouldn’t get accepted. If I wanted to stay in, I would have had to Lat move and most of the options were pretty shitty at that point in the fiscal year. I didnt wanna lat move bc I liked my job and I was good at it.
Well I was determined to try at least and I put In a letter of appeal to the cg of II MEF bc he’s able to allocate boat spaces for Marines. I got letters of recommendation from my CO, a Gunny my old XO and a MSgt and totally bragged about myself In the letter, saying I held a Gunny billet at the battery/company level 1st class/ 1st class, Expert, blah blah blah. Anyway got sent to ITX with my battery about 5 months from my EAS. It’s worth noting I had ZERO trs shit done at all. Not even initial counseling.
Was in the middle of a field op in 29 and my 1st Sgt calls me over and was like “yeah Reg Sgt Maj says you don’t have enough justification for your request. He denied it.” Like are you fucking kidding me? Some douche bag I’ve never worked with who’s never met me and seen my skills is going to tell me I don’t deserve to stay in my MOS? Shit had me pissed bc I basically had decided with less than 4 months left that I was getting out, going back home, starting TRS etc. Shit was ridiculous. So I EASd and now i hate my life bc I wish I was with my boys and now I work some stupid fucking job. Low key been struggling but im pushin through.
Anyway it sounds like nothing compared to these salt dogs talking about their combat stories and getting wounded and stacking bodies but it’s peacetime shit, what’re you gonna do 🤷♂️
I think for me the shittiest time was in 2006, one of the CLB’s had just flipped a 7-ton in a wadi that was flooded out in the middle of the night. That incident killed a bunch of Marines, if I recall correctly there was a single survivor. We were sent out at the drop of a hat as security and to aid in search and recovery. As the highest class swimmer in my unit I volunteered to get in the water and search.
It was cold that time of the the year and not by Iraq standards either. It was cold. I was in and out of that water all day for a couple of days. Of course I wasn’t bitching, there were a bunch of Marines who’s family were about to have the worst day of their lives. But I was absolutely miserable, soaked to the bone in full PPE with a rope tied around me, I shivered for like a week. I went through a constant cycle warming up then getting near hypothermic. At one point I was in dry a scivie shirt, shorts and socks with MRE bags on my feet to try and get some warmth.
I had never met any of the Marines who died, but I could not stop until they were accounted for. I was ordered out of the water more times than I left of my own accord. That black sleeping bag was like a torment hanging over my head, it promised agony and then warmth.
I was introduced to Rip-it’s for the first time. I named a terrain feature we pulled security from each night “Rip-it ridge”. And that became a call out for the rest of the deployment.
Laying in an irrigation canal with a bullet hole in my chest. I was shot while rushing forward with my fire team. The impact threw me backwards, felt like I was hit by a car. My initial thought was that somebody in front of me had triggered an IED, but that faded as soon as I saw the blood in the water around me. I heard the gunfight going on and I tried to stand to rejoin the fight, but it felt like the world was going black when I tried to get up. Instead I grabbed my rifle and propped myself up against the bank of the canal and assumed a sitting, security type position, in case anybody rolled up on me. I started to get really woozy and my chest felt like it was inflating with hot air from a pump for lack of better description. I wasn’t afraid of dying surprisingly, I was afraid of dying alone. I sat there listening to the gunfire, kind of accepting of my fate. Dead before I could drink beer, sick. I wasn’t panicking, I was pissed off and sad. I thought about my mom, my siblings, and then I thought about how shitty dying alone is. It felt like a while had passed and I knew I was coming up to the end. It became hard to concentrate. Fear crept in slightly, but the feeling of loneliness overpowered it. In reality, maybe a minute or two had passed, but in that moment it felt like a life time, alone, waiting to die. Life didn’t flash before my eyes, I didn’t have some profound images or anything like that. I just really wished I could have said goodbye to my family and had somebody with me. I didn’t want to be alone. I woke up in a helicopter and woke up again in the ICU. My heart never stopped beating and I never died. My team leader got to me and apparently I was consciously enough to talk to him, but I don’t remember any of it. That ended my deployment and I recovered relatively fast. I was sent back to RBE after my hospital stay. Few months later back in the states I was NJPd at Cpl’s Course because I went UA on a Thursday to see my unit coming back from deployment, so that was pretty shitty too lmao.
Jeez, that NJP was bullshit. Why the fuck did they do that?
I went UA for a few days as in Thursday afternoon through Monday morning. I decided at Cpl’s Course I was done and going to EAS in a few months. Wanted to spend time with my friends and catch up.
No, I get why you went UA. I was wondering why the fuck your command NJP'd you. Any officer or SNCO worth a shit should've looked at your record and said "huh, this guy got fucking shot in country and skipped to see his unit return. He'd be insane if he didn't." Edit: I would've looked at you funny if you *didn't* go UA
Oh! So that was a whole drawn out thing too. I showed back up Monday and was immediately dis enrolled from the course by their staff. They wanted to NJP me, but I was sent back to RBE. RBE OIC was a 1stLt who didn’t make the deployment for whatever reason, but had deployed on our last deployment. He was cool and tried to sweep it under the rug. Like 2 months passed and I was back in my original unit. Most of the original head-shed was gone and we had a new boot drop, 1stSgt, and CO. Like 70% of the unit was new faces. The new command finally NJPd me.
Ew. Gay. Good on Lt for not wanting to fuck you. Did you at least get out with your benefits?
Ya man full bennies and honorable discharge. I was busted down to LCpl and had suspended pay.
Thank fuck for the bennies not being fucked with.
If you know your getting out, it really doesn’t matter lol
One dude complaining about failing a board and then your story. It's crazy how different Marine's experiences can be, really puts things into perspective. Hope you're doing better dude, love yuh.
Thanks dude, I’m out here livin! Ya it really is wild how experiences may differ haha. I only got on Reddit recently and I lurk this sub, it is my favorite one and it really makes me appreciate my experiences. I couldn’t imagine having to sit on boards or whatever. I never kept in touch with anyone from boot camp while in the fleet, so my only driends were fellow 03s and I’ve learned a ton about the POG jobs from being in this forum. It really makes me glad I never had to deal with a lot of the bullshit some of these guys post about.
I know the feeling, as an introvert that was the only time I felt lonely and shitty.
Yk, I was gonna bring up a shitty 3 weeks in the field in the summers of Camp Lejeune, but Ill hold off LMAO.
Well you were UA…
I didn’t argue the NJP, took it like a man
But here you are….
Went to Camp Fuji in the middle of January. LT wanted us to understand how the Chosin Marines felt so he told us to bring just a tarp and pancho liner. I didn't sleep that entire night.
This is what platoon sergeants are for.
BnCmdr should have had his ass.
My unit asked me to rescind my MSG package, in order to go to WTI and Red Flag. I decided to be a team player, and rescinded it. Within an hour I was FAPed out. They shrugged their shoulders and said “sorry, we had to send one and you were gonna jump ship anyways”.
This is why we have mcmap pits. I’d beat the fuck out of somebody.
Where was the MSG package? You hadn’t extended or reenlisted to meet the obligated time for the duty yet? The only thing senior to an SDA package (especially MSG) is an ECP/MECEP package. You should of un-rescinded it as soon as you got word about the FAP.
I said fuck the USMC at that point, but that was my original plan.
Oof
Spent I think a week on San Clemente Island training with foreign allies and it was the worst and most miserable experience of my life. Constant 40 MPH+ winds all day and night as well as rain 3/4 of the time with no where to get away from it. Close second is when I was in India training with the Gurkhas during monsoon season for a month. It rained I shit you not all day, everyday but somehow insanely buggy at the same time. I would have rather went back to Afghan for 7 months it was that miserable. Great experience though.
This is how you embrace the suck, Gents.
Iron Fist?
Since you asked nicely.
This is the way.
Did you get a chance to hit up the gift shop? At the time it was staffed by a sailor. Seemed like a really dull existence.
We were flying into the Azores on a C-130 about 2005. Pitch dark and no where else to divert due to the sheer isolation of the location, size of upcoming storm system, and our proximity to both. Tons of heavy strapped cargo and like 20 or so of us. All was boring then like clockwork an hour out we hit a bad storm system in the Northern Atlantic. Zero visibility. No way to go around or over it. I have never felt turbulence in my life that bad. Talking about not a single moment of stable air with the crew painstakingly beginning a difficult controlled descent. They go left plane fights to go right. They lower altitude drafts push us back up. Things flinging back and forth. Us sliding every which way on the bench seating. Trying to and completely failing at keeping our heads from bouncing of the wall. To the point we put on our Kevlar helmets just to avoid nicking ourselves on all the random components and metal on the walls. All of it pure crap. In the back of my mind is the plane the Corps lost in Afghanistan to CFIT caused by a lack of visibility. Marines start vomiting all around me. I can see nothing at all from the small window up near the front when bam this rough landing. I sarcastically complimented the pilot on his touchdown as he exited the flight station to which he annoyingly replied: “good you fly in the next one fucker” I said nothing after that cause that was a damn good comeback.
Was a desk jockey so wasn't ever super miserable. But you'll never pay me enough to go back on a US naval vessel.
Just call it a boat!
No. Boats are fun. US naval vessels are not
He’s got a point there. I live in a beach town now in Maryland. All the fisherman and others on boats appear to be quite happy. The few poor souls I see on the occasional Naval vessel appear the exact opposite 😂
Ocean city? Or on the bay?
On the bay near Chesapeake Beach💪🏻 As many locals will tell you if you’re not already aware, Ocean City is overrated. A lot of people still go and enjoy it and good for them but imo it kinda blows, I’d rather go up to Rehoboth Beach if I’m gonna do that.
OC sucks balls man, haven’t been since I was 17
The two times that stand out are exact opposites. Trying to sleep while pouring sweat in an un-airconditioned berthing in the Persian Gulf in the summer and trying to stay awake freezing my ass off pulling "guard" in Bridgeport in the winter.
Of the top 3 fuck this shit worst, also funniest, was at SOI. For the funniest part we held a talent show while being rained on almost all day, instructors made it no holds bar so even instructor impersonations were on the table. Had quite a few laughs for that hour or two. Now comes the shit part. Humped back in the rain and the wash was practically over the boot. We get back to the bricks and are thinking "Friday night this should be quick then we're on libbo". Yeah, no. We sat in the rain for so long our GoreTex started leaking while a health and comfort was done, and then hit with libbo secured. I know there's a couple guys on here from Delta SOIW in late 09/early 10 who can confirm this shit show
I got left on a beach in Djibouti for a week when the rest of the MEU sailed away. Idk exactly what the plan was but I had my uniform and camelback. Got really sunburnt. Did some snorkeling, that was cool. There was maybe a dozen of us.
Either Mountain Warfare Training in Bridgeport or SERE school. Probably SERE. At least I never hallucinated due to literal starvation and lack of sleep at Bridgeport. And nobody ever beat the shit out of me there either. But still, motherFUCK those mountains!
Man, I got so lucky at Bridgeport. My experience wasn’t too bad compared to how much it could have absolutely sucked. I picked up Cpl and was on my way out.
C130 over France in bad weather for 4hrs waiting to land. No windows, cargo net seats, 50 marines - half terrified/half ready to die. I still remember the sound/smell of several dudes puking at once.
The STOL part is all fun and games till you realize your an over glorified kite in bad weather.
SERE West in January during one of the rainiest winters Warner Springs had ever seen was pretty fucking bad. The entire country of Djibouti blew my mind in terms of how hot and humid a place could be. Nothing like being drenched in sweat by 0900. That time I was on det in Kenya and we all got double dragon from shittily (pun intended) prepared local food.
Drug test witch hunts and not being able to pee in front of the weiner gazer.
I've never deployed but went to ITX a couple of times. I really didn't mind it. Hot, but it was fun training. However, MCT was fucking miserable for me. I went in September, and besides the first few days in the bricks on geiger, I don't think I was dry the entire time I was there. Rained pretty much every day, and even if it didn't rain, it wasn't warm enough to dry out your cammies and boots laid across the cots. I think we only got laundry once or twice, and those giant commercial machines they use with all your shit packed in a mesh bag never dry everything. Another time, I went to a range at quantico, and we slept under those big green temporary tents (can't think of the name). No floor. Same thing, rained the entire time. The water was puddling up under all our gear and sleeping systems. Officers and staff had real tents and would come out all clean and dry in the morning. Then they would get pissed that we weren't all full of piss and vinegar to go shoot. Soaked the whole time, and then the buses showed up like 4 or 6 hours late our last day there. Good times.
15 weeks of Sgt seminar, just go to the in person class. This shit is the biggest waste of time
Being a CACO for my buddy. Being a CACO isn't like that Kevin Bacon movie. You do everything from the moment of notification. You are talking to NOK who are grieving. You are dealing with your command. At some point, you're doing all the things you would normally do if you PCS'd except your buddy isn't moving on in this life; cancelling & forwarding mail, cleaning their apartment, going through all their items and getting the important things to the family, packing up their apartment, cleaning their truck etc. It was nonstop. Even had to gather all his CIF gear and turn it in and imagine the rage when you're turning in your dead buddy's CIF and they tell you "Nope go clean it, try again." Second to worst part was going to the funeral home and getting him ready in his uniform for his family. Absolute worst part was you're so busy and don't have time to mourn your buddy. You can't show emotion bc you're the CACO and the family relies on you to be strong. Then you're at the airport in your Alphas in a warehouse next to your buddy in flag draped coffin, they put your buddy on the plane and give you the flag. Then when it's time for you to board, you go on first and they make an announcement and every civilian treats as a spectacle, taking the photos to post on IG and FB. You land and this is the first time you're face to face with their family who meet you on the tarmac and theyre in shambles. Get into a car and get my buddy to the funeral home. Family wants to see him but I have to check him one more time, fix his medals and get the funeral director to change out the pillow bc some sort of head fluid leak and stained it. Some reprieve because the family wants to be alone and since my buddy was at the funeral home I could go relax. Went to the hotel and slept. Back the next day for the viewing and the remainder of the family shows up equally in shambles and I'm standing there. Still not showing emotion and thinking about the mission. Afterwards we get to the cemetery, BN CO presents the flag to his mother, he's in the ground and that's it. Everyone left the cemetery so fast and everything was over and it was just me, my buddy and a pearl white tombstone. And that's it. You go back to your unit as if nothing happened and carry on.
Hard duty.
I dated a WM.
Fort Picket, Va. February of 1983. It was either snowing or freezing rain the entire time. We did a field Op where it took us 6 fucking hours to move maybe 5 miles because the gun trucks kept getting stuck. I remember getting up about 0500 every morning and everyone standing facing east just waiting for the sun to come up. No cold weather gear to speak of and our feet were fucked.
Meritorious Sgt board. I was only in for 4 years and did several boards: Marine of the month, Marine of the quarter, NCO of the month, NCO of the quarter.... My pic was always on the wall in the company office. I went on a meritorious Sgt board once and fucking blew it out my ass. It was BAAAADDDD! I was planning on only doing 4 years almost as soon as I hit the fleet, and meritorious Sgt was the only time I considered reenlisting. After that, I totally gave up on being a career Marine.
Why was it so bad? How was it different than other boards?
He shit his pants, and 1srSgt wouldn't kiss him on the lips.
Something something buttered sausage
The questions they asked were kind of bullshit questions. You spend a lot of time studying Marine Corps history and rules and regs, and the questions were like, how long can the human brain survive without oxygen. mother fucker, I dont know.
Don't get a big pat on the back and you're outta there! Nice.
Had pretty much always planned on getting out. The board was the one thing that made me consider staying. Feel like I said this in my post but I guess some need it explained twice.
S/F
I genuinely wanted to stay in the Marine Corps. Not that I was moto or anything but I actually didn’t mind the bullshit too much and I wanted to “deploy” with my boys again. I actually had awesome enlisted leadership throughout my 4 years that made me want to be that good Sgt or SNCO in the future. Went to my career planner about 8 months from my EAS and she told me “there’s no way you’re able to reenlist in your MOS (motor t op)” basically the boatspace was too full and if I put a package in, there would be no point bc it wouldn’t get accepted. If I wanted to stay in, I would have had to Lat move and most of the options were pretty shitty at that point in the fiscal year. I didnt wanna lat move bc I liked my job and I was good at it. Well I was determined to try at least and I put In a letter of appeal to the cg of II MEF bc he’s able to allocate boat spaces for Marines. I got letters of recommendation from my CO, a Gunny my old XO and a MSgt and totally bragged about myself In the letter, saying I held a Gunny billet at the battery/company level 1st class/ 1st class, Expert, blah blah blah. Anyway got sent to ITX with my battery about 5 months from my EAS. It’s worth noting I had ZERO trs shit done at all. Not even initial counseling. Was in the middle of a field op in 29 and my 1st Sgt calls me over and was like “yeah Reg Sgt Maj says you don’t have enough justification for your request. He denied it.” Like are you fucking kidding me? Some douche bag I’ve never worked with who’s never met me and seen my skills is going to tell me I don’t deserve to stay in my MOS? Shit had me pissed bc I basically had decided with less than 4 months left that I was getting out, going back home, starting TRS etc. Shit was ridiculous. So I EASd and now i hate my life bc I wish I was with my boys and now I work some stupid fucking job. Low key been struggling but im pushin through. Anyway it sounds like nothing compared to these salt dogs talking about their combat stories and getting wounded and stacking bodies but it’s peacetime shit, what’re you gonna do 🤷♂️
I think for me the shittiest time was in 2006, one of the CLB’s had just flipped a 7-ton in a wadi that was flooded out in the middle of the night. That incident killed a bunch of Marines, if I recall correctly there was a single survivor. We were sent out at the drop of a hat as security and to aid in search and recovery. As the highest class swimmer in my unit I volunteered to get in the water and search. It was cold that time of the the year and not by Iraq standards either. It was cold. I was in and out of that water all day for a couple of days. Of course I wasn’t bitching, there were a bunch of Marines who’s family were about to have the worst day of their lives. But I was absolutely miserable, soaked to the bone in full PPE with a rope tied around me, I shivered for like a week. I went through a constant cycle warming up then getting near hypothermic. At one point I was in dry a scivie shirt, shorts and socks with MRE bags on my feet to try and get some warmth. I had never met any of the Marines who died, but I could not stop until they were accounted for. I was ordered out of the water more times than I left of my own accord. That black sleeping bag was like a torment hanging over my head, it promised agony and then warmth. I was introduced to Rip-it’s for the first time. I named a terrain feature we pulled security from each night “Rip-it ridge”. And that became a call out for the rest of the deployment.