Sgt Grit is a place where Marines can come and meet other Marines, share tattoos and stories, keep up with Marine Corps news, or shop for USMC gear.
There I was, a terrified recruit in Platoon 152, doing my best to survive in around the second week back in 1963.
One day we were in the mess hall, I'm standing next to the table waiting for the "SEATS" command when a drill instructor from another platoon, who was yelling at one of his recruits backed right into me… me standing there with my tray. Bang, the bowl of soup goes right into his Smokey Bear cover which was hanging off his first aid packet.
Remember the days of Boot Camp when you received your snail mail and packages from your Senior Drill Instructor or Junior Drill Instructors and you had to clasp the mailing while yelling out “Mail Received, Aye Aye Sir / Ma'am?” Some days it seemed like you waited weeks or months just to receive morale boosting words from family and friends back in the 'Real World'. Well, getting Marine Corps moto-gear and having it delivered in a timely fashion has never been easier, and here at Sgt Grit we pride ourselves in getting our products from our shelves to your doorstep as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our skilled shipping staff takes pride and care in making sure that your order is securely packed to protect against damage during shipping.
Picture of Gen. Paxton, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps! Leadership by example! Hoorah!
Surely he would not have a young Marine hold an umbrella to protect him from the rain. Shoveling snow may seem mundane and ordinary, but No God complex.
http://blog.hirepurpo.se/marine-general-caught-right-thing/
Being too d-mn old to cut my toe nails any more I have a pedicure whenever needed. The gal that does the Pedicure is Vietnamese, I asked where she was from and she told me DaNang and I mentioned I had been in 1st Recon. She told me about going home again for the first time some years ago and going home again just a few months ago. She told me to go to, DaNang on Vietnam.com and take a look at how it is now. I mentioned BaNa and she said go to BaNa, DaNang, Vietnam.com and see how it turned out, China Beach, DaNang, Vietnam.com. I went home and was swept away with what I saw. Now I ain't one to go visiting places I had been where I had to carry a weapon even to the head, and in all the years since I left the Marine Corps the only place I happened to visit since I retired was Guam. I was returning to the states after a visit to Japan for business reasons and the plane stopped in Guam and I had a couple hours to look about. Christ what had been a barren beach with all the palms reduced to splinters was now a spot for Japanese Honeymooners and the hotel was fabulous looking. The pictures show Guam during WWII and the sad looking beaches, the other picture shows me, Top and the Lieutenant having a beer at a hootch on Vietnamese side of China Beach in 1968 or so. The mama-san tried to give us her baby to bring back to the states, I guess she already knew how the d-mn war would end.
Yes, there was a purpose for those loops on the Blues blouse. In the winter, the Blues were worn with a blue cloth belt and blue cap cover. The belt was secured to the loops with a 3" long tab on each side. The tab was passed through the loop and buttoned. The white belt was worn covering the loops, unlike today where the belt is worn through the loops. The blue cover and belt were discontinued sometime in 1948 or 1949. Attached is a photo of my younger brother taken January 1948. I only got to wear that uniform once when I went home for Christmas 1947, it was not authorized in the Pendleton-San Diego area. I still have the blue belt.
When I was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman assigned to the Marine Corps in Khe Sanh, Viet Nam, I herd many of stores about their Boot Camp experience from the guys in my Platoon.
Last year I had the honor of doing the Boot Camp Challenge obstacle course race, at MCRD San Diego, and had the time of my life. There were 60 of the base DI's to motivate us the through the 3 mile course. OOH RAH!
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are men recorded in the book of Daniel, Chapters 1–3, Who faced the fiery furnace.
This story is about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Reese. Three brothers, born in Wales and immigrated to the U.S. They too faced a firey furnace, known as the American Civil War. Abednego is my Great-Great Grandfather. Abednego and Shadrach enlisted in the Union Army and served honorably. Meshach is a United States Marine, called to a Higher Duty Station in 1871. His service was brief, about 10 months. Attached are some documents found in the National Archives in Washington D.C.
Submitted by: MARINE Jim McCallum (the ole gunny)
(Spec. Issue #2), (23 Feb., 2014)
Iwo Jima Flag Raising Commemoration
Not many of you will remember this date, but you'll remember hearing about this event from your fellow MARINES and also from your Drill Instructors. Plus, it was normally discussed during some of the history lessons that used to be taught in school. It is the image of six (6) men raising raising the American Flag during the battle for the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific during the Second World War. The actual date of the Flag Raising on the Island was 23 February 1945, four day's after the actual battle began. Now, Iwo Jima is a volcanic Island shaped like a trapezoid with Mt. Suribachi, being the only mountain on the Island. At 546 ft. high, it is at it's southernmost tip, thereby over looking the rest of the Island to the North. At the time of the Island's invasion it was a part of the prefecture of Japan and was heavily fortified, hence the high causality count sustained by the MARINES that landed there. In 1945.
Attached is a picture of Platoon 327, Parris Island SC. We started training April, 1963 and completed training at PI in July 1963. I would to get in touch with anyone from that Platoon. I am in the second row and third one in from the left side. Please email me at pba2352[at]gmail.com.
On graduation day, we wore trops with ties (field scarves) for the grand occasion. We were marched over to the parade field and as soon as we were on the blacktop, Sgt. McCollum ordered us to halt and get down for push-ups. Nobody had any idea why. The asphalt was rather hot and our ties dragged the ground with each pushup. My main concern was my spit-shined dress shoes, and I made sure to keep the toes from being scratched. We only had to do about a dozen pushups so it wasn't all that bad but it sure was a surprise.
