Found this picture of an F9F-8T Cougar from H&MS 13 that was probably the same one I flew in the back seat in ’63 when I made Plane Captain of the month. Although this pic was taken at Chu Lai, it’s still the same H&MS 13 that my squadron, VMA 212, was a part of at Kaneohe Bay in 1963. They only had one Cougar trainer. That year, my squadron established an award to be designated “Plane Captain of the month” and I happened to be lucky enough to be the first one. Before I could actually fly, however, I had to take pressure chamber and ejection seat training at NAS Barber’s Point. After that initial training I was ready for the flight. The pilot was a Captain from H&MS-13 and the hop was about an hour long. We did all the maneuvers including a loft bombing where he put it in a power dive from around 30,000 ft. and pulled back on the stick at about 6,000 ft. climbing back to altitude and flipping over, simulating special weapons delivery. I was watching the G meter climb to about 7 G’s. I could hear the wings creaking like rusty hinges as my G suit filled up with bleed air. After that maneuver he let me take the stick. “Put your left wing down”, he said, and I eased the stick left. Same thing with the right wing. So now I get a little confident and asked if I could try an aileron roll. “Go ahead if you think you can” says he. Now I’m feeling very confident, even though I wasn’t a pilot (did that years later as a civilian), and I just whipped that stick over in my right lap. I didn’t know that you have to give it a little nose up before entering an aileron roll. Nobody mentioned that part. Anyway, we were up around thirty thousand when I started the maneuver. I was looking straight up at the ocean getting closer and the airplane was not coming out of the roll. It was falling towards the water upside down. I still had the stick all the way over in a death grip, looking up at the ocean, watching the waves turn into whitecaps. The Captain said “Let Go Of The Stick”. “Are You Sure You Got It Sir”, says I. “Let Go Of The Godd-mn Stick” says he with more emphasis. So I let go, and he rolled out to level flight before we got wet. He didn’t say a word to me after that all the way back to Kaneohe and after landing he got away from that plane post haste and left me in the fuel pits. At any rate, there was only one PC of the month after me. They discontinued it after that guy because he puked in his Oxygen mask. Made a h-ll of a mess so I hear. They discontinued the award after that.
Author: SgtGrit
MARINE OF THE WEEK // Single-handedly repelled an ISIS ambush
Staff Sgt. Patrick Maloney
2d Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Corps Raiders
August 27, 2016
Operation Inherent Resolve, Kirkuk, Iraq
Award: Bronze Star W/ Combat “V”
Staff Sergeant Maloney’s team was conducting partnered reconnaissance operations on a prominent ridge along the Kurdish Defensive Line from an observation post exposed to a 280-degree fan of enemy-held territory. As the team established security, three team members were ambushed and pinned down under heavy and accurate enemy fire from positions 500 meters to the west. Enemy machine gun rounds impacted the vehicle his teammates were using for cover. Taking decisive action, he immediately crossed open ground, retrieved ammunition, and took charge of a Peshmerga heavy machine gun in an exposed and open truck bed. Remaining deliberately exposed to withering fire, he laid deadly suppressive fire on the enemy fighting positions. The Peshmerga heavy machine gun malfunctioned twice, requiring him to perform immediate and remedial action while exposed to rounds impacting within feet of his position. His fearless actions and fierce suppression gained fire superiority and enabled his teammates to return safely to covered positions. His bold actions further contributed to the immediate withdrawal of the enemy forces. By his extraordinary courage, zealous initiative, and total dedication to duty, Staff Sergeant Maloney reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
Rock Apes
I know what he means about ” Rock Apes” They were massive and had a human face. We were always happy to see a mongoose. They kept Cobras and 2 Step Vipers in check. I detested going through a swamp. Leeches. What a nightmare. Insects as large as 6 inches long. You were never dry. I completed 2 tours. 1968 and 1969. We saw things I never knew existed. It’s Great to be home. I was wounded by a punji trap. Corpsman Stone pulled it off. He cleaned it up, gave me morphine and a lot of antibiotics. Was sent back to base camp. I had to soak my foot in this pink powder with water. This was for 3 weeks. My entire foot scabbed over and I took it off like a boot. Captain Richenbach wrote me up for a Purple Heart. It’s on my hutch. I can see it from here. God Bless Corpsman Stone. He saved my life. I’m 74 now. Still in pretty good shape.
Semper Fi. Marines. Sgt. E-5 Paul A. Fleming 0311. Ser.No. 2410636
Smart Azs In Trouble
I arrived in the United States in January of 1968 from Scotland and enlisted in the Marine Corps in May of 1968. I arrived at MCRD San Diego on 9 June 1968, and after being up all of the night before embarking and all of the day, too, arrived at the base at about 2100 hours. As we came off of the bus, we were met by Marines in Campaign Hats who all seemed to be yelling at us at the top of their lungs. We finally got the idea and proceeded to get on the yellow footprints. I was on the line closest to the yelling Marines as the line surged back and forth, all of us trying to get our own set of footprints. The lad in front of me stepped on my foot and caused me to stumble into
MCRD SD Plt 3156
I arrived at Lindbergh Field San Diego on Sunday 27 December 1972. No one was there to meet or greet me so I found a SD policeman and asked him how to get to MCRD. He told me to wait out front of the terminal and he made a call to MCRD. I waited for about an hour and had several of the long haired types drive by and try to get me to “get the h_ll out of there” before it was too late. After waiting and wondering for the hour or so, a green Dodge van pulled up and the driver was the finest looking female (WM Sgt) I had ever seen and would ever see in my career. She told me in a very nice manner to get in the van and I did. While driving over to the base we talked about all types of things I would soon experience. She let me “burn a couple” (Marlboro) , but as we approached the gate to MCRD she told me how to field strip the butts and get rid of them. She dropped me off at Receiving Barracks and I saw my first YELLOW foot prints. I was directed to by the Sgt. to go inside and wait and someone would be with me in a little while. I proceeded to lean against a wall, and soon had a short and very angry SSGT jump up in my chest and proceeded to tell me to get the (deleted) off his bulkhead!!! Well I wasn’t too dumb and I figured real fast what a bulkhead was and stood at what I thought was attention. And I learned I wasn’t doing that correctly either. To cut to the chase now, I and a whole bunch of young men that had arrived on Saturday (I was the ONLY arrival on Sunday) were moved to a barracks and assigned a bed that I soon learned was a rack. We didn’t pick up or get picked up by our Drill Instructors until 2 January 1973 so we did a lot of swabbing and cleaning of the barracks. We were issued our sea bags and clothing, told to box up our personal clothes, got a haircut, etc., during that time. If memory serves me correctly, Our DI’s, Sgt. Schweigler, Sgt. Van Bibber, and Sgt. Jamieson picked us up very early on the 2nd and all h_ll broke loose. I don’t have any horror stories to tell about our 12 weeks in their care, but I was jacked up a few times for failing to do EXACTLY as told. All my DI’s were VN vets and they taught us well. They said they didn’t know if we would go to VN but they were going to teach us to survive if we did. I didn’t go to VN as I was a reservist (about half of our platoon was I think) but they made me a better person anyway. I do know that Sgt. Jamieson was a “short” American Indian and I had never seen any one his height jump straight up in my face and give me “love-tap” like he could. When we went up the road to Edson Range we were issued M-14’s and I learned to love that weapon. In fact I have the M1A now cause I loved it so much. I shot expert every pre-qual string but on qual day I blew it and got a toilet seat. I still insist that it does snow in Southern California cause I froze my young butt off that day. Shivvering doesn’t help in qualification with a rifle!! Anyway, I could go on for a while and I suppose I will close this out by asking anyone out there that was in Platoon 3156 to holler back. Oh yeah, Plt. 3156 took final drill comp and we were herded over to the mess hall and told by our senior DI to “drink the soda machines dry!!!”, and we did………then paid for it by doing bends and thrusts until the DI’s got tired.
MARINE OF THE WEEK // He refused to leave a fallen Marine behind…
Sgt. Eubaldo Lovato
1st Battalion, 8th marines
November 11, 2004
Operation Phantom Fury, Fallujah, Iraq
Award: Silver Star (upgraded from Bronze Star)
During the second battle for Fallujah, then-Corporal Lovato and his squad was ordered to clear a house. What the Marines did not know is that insurgents had barricaded themselves behind sandbags in one room.
When a fire team entered the room, Cpl. Travis Desiato was killed immediately by a barrage of AK-47 fire and fell to the floor. The insurgents put up such a volume of fire that the other Marines could not retrieve their comrade. The Marines fired blindly, unable to see the enemy fighters behind their barricade.
Lovato and the others in his squad could see Desiato on the ground. They tried calling out to him but he didn’t answer. A group of five Marines including Lovato made several attempts to reach Desiato ’s body. They threw C4 plastic explosives into the room, but it generated so much smoke that the Marines could not see anything. Then one Marine attached part of a shattered mirror to a stick, which allowed him to see where the insurgents were.
Pinned by enemy fire, Lovato manuvered to retrieve more grenades, with bullets passing through his pants pockets and sling.
Eventually Lovato was able to crawl to reach his Marines and asked a tank to blast the back of the building. The Marines stormed the building and killed the enemy inside. Lovato retrieved Desiato’s body.
OP-6
It is around 1800 and I’m still at battalion CP, got to get moving up the hill to OP-6. Just made a PX run and now making my way up passed OP-5 and getting crap from by platoon mate Poole. The sun would usually set around 1830. Still had plenty of time to get there before dark. Did not want to get caught between 5&6. Here I am with a .45 w/3 mags, and a sack full of cigarettes and pogeybait, hope none of those nasty rock apes come out. Huey just flew right over me ,looks like he’s heading through Elephant Valley. Starting to get dark and have about a quarter klic to go . I hear something in the grass, hope it’s just one of those mongoose. Almost there. Someone popped a flare! Are you kidding me! Crouch down until the flare goes out. Got about 50 meters to go. Ah, made it, without getting shot at from friend or foe. Tonight I’ll get the first watch on one of two LP’s. I can still hear the mix of music drifting up from the compound below. A couple flares go up near the the wire , the guards at the bunker open fire on something ,or nothing. Just another day in the neighborhood
Origin Of The “Old Corps”
Capt. Samuel Nicholas announced on the first day of recruitment at Tun Tavern that all new recruits would get a tankard of rum.
The next morning he announced that since there wasn’t as many recruits as expected that all new recruits would get two tankards of rum.
MARINE OF THE WEEK // “When you inflict that number of casualties on the enemy and none of us were killed, that’s a pretty successful fight”
Gunnery Sgt Brian Blonder
Force Reconnaissance Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
Shewan, Afghanistan
August 8, 2008
Award: Navy Cross
Gunnery Sergeant Blonder was leading a dismounted patrol through the city of Shewan when his platoon came under intense rocket propelled grenade, mortar and machinegun fire that destroyed a vehicle and trapped several Marines in the kill zone 150 meters away from the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder exposed himself time and again to heavy fire as he coordinated the suppression of the enemy so that the Marines could be recovered. Later in the battle, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder personally led a flanking attack on the enemy trench system through countless volleys of machinegun and rocket propelled grenade fire. He continued to press the attack as the platoon penetrated further into the trenches in order to defeat the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s tactical ability, superior marksmanship and aggressive fighting spirit inspired the platoon to continually advance on the enemy despite being highly outnumbered. He was a driving force during the eight hour battle and pushed the platoon to gain and maintain the momentum against the enemy until they were destroyed. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s valorous actions helped reduce a major enemy stronghold as his platoon killed over fifty enemy fighters, destroying several Taliban cells and opening the highway in Shewan to coalition convoys. By his bold leadership, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
Disney characters at MCB Camp Pendleton
In 1980 I re-enlisted after being out of the Corps for 13 years. As a police officer, during most of the 13 years, I took a lot of surveillance and suspect photos. Some Disney characters toured the housing areas aboard Camp Pendleton, promoting Military Night at Disneyland. An MP SNCO escorted them and he asked me, an MP Pfc, to go along and take photos. We had lunch at the San Luis Rey Officer’s Club and this is where I took the photo of Mickey & Goofy assuming “the position”.