Author: SgtGrit

Con Thien “Hill of the Angels”

Con Thien was a hill, 158 meters high! It was actually a cluster of three small hills. It was an ugly bare patch of mud! Local missionaries called it “The Hill of the Angels” due to the massive amount of casualties attributed to the hill. The hill was only large enough to accommodate a reinforced battalion. It was the northwest anchor of what we Marines called the “MacNamarra Line.” The “MacNamarra Line” was actually a 600-meter clearing constructed by the 11th Engineers as a buffer zone from the Laotian border to the South China Sea. The “Strip” was originally constructed for the placement of sensors to detect enemy troop movements, but the project was called off in favor of fortifying Khe Sahn.  read more

miss it all

man, I miss it all. I miss being an 18 year old buck fresh on the rock. I miss the morning 5am PT runs around Camp Schawb, I miss the force marches from Schawb to Hansen and back. The chow, I was one of those "son, you can go to jail or join the Marines" guys, I was use to bad chow in juvy so Marine Corps chow was a step up and SOS wasn't all that bad with eggs. Most of all I miss the floats to PI, man…I wore myself out on PI.Funny how much I hated it then, little did I know it was the time of my life.  H&S Co, 3/9, 3rdMarDiv 1975 – 1977 read more

Vette and Rescue

Dear newsletter staff,

Recently a member posted about their Corvette and it's unique USMC touches and challenged others to send theirs in. Attached is my 2010 'Vette and my unique plates paying tribute to my beloved Sea Knight and my University, TCU. I flew SAR for MAG-31, 2nd MAW in the early 80's and amassed several rescues including an F-4 from VMFA-251. read more

I Made It

People always said that I couldn't make it and that I was going to be like all the other mistakes in my family. I  grew up in foster homes my whole life and moved from home to home every 2 or 3 months. I had no one. I couldn't rely on anything. My life was sh-t. Then I saw a Marine recruiter and I knew that joining the Marines would change my life. I'm so proud to be a Marine and it is something in my life that I would never change, and I thank GOD for all the mistakes in my life because I would not be where I am today. Semper Fi, Do or Die! read more