I recall one day at PISC, we were lunging into the hanging dummy with fixed bayonet. The 2nd Lt did not like the way I growled so after the third time he had the platoon form a circle around him and then he called me into the center with him and growled at me saying he was going to show me how to do that. Then he came at me with the rifle and bayonet aimed at me. I do not remember what I did but I took the weapon away from him and had him on the ground while bouncing the rifle butt into his groin.
Category: Main
Marine Math
The Korean War, in which the Marine Corps fought and won some of its most brutal battles, was not without its gallows of humor.
During one such conflict a ROK (Republic of Korea) commander, whose unit was fighting along with the Marines, called legendary Marine General Chesty Puller to report a major Chinese attack in his sector. “How many Chinese are attacking you?” asked Puller. “Many, many Chinese!” replied the excited Korean officer.
MARINE OF THE WEEK // Only minutes after that photo was taken:
MARINE OF THE WEEK // Only minutes after that photo was taken:
1st Lt. Baldomero López
1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
Inchon, Korea
September 15, 1950
Award: Medal of Honor
With his platoon 1st Lt. Lopez was engaged in the reduction of immediate enemy beach defenses after landing with the assault waves. Exposing himself to hostile fire, he moved forward alongside a bunker and prepared to throw a hand grenade into the next pillbox whose fire was pinning down that sector of the beach. Taken under fire by an enemy automatic weapon and hit in the right shoulder and chest as he lifted his arm to throw, he fell backward and dropped the deadly missile. After a moment, he turned and dragged his body forward in an effort to retrieve the grenade and throw it. In critical condition from pain and loss of blood, and unable to grasp the hand grenade firmly enough to hurl it, he chose to sacrifice himself rather than endanger the lives of his men and, with a sweeping motion of his wounded right arm, cradled the grenade under him and absorbed the full impact of the explosion. His exceptional courage, fortitude, and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon 1st Lt. Lopez and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
MARSOC MARINE RETAINS TITLE AS ULTIMATE TACTICAL ATHLETE
Sgt. Ethan Mawhinney, a Pittsburgh native and a Marine Air Ground Task Force planner with U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, successfully defended his championship title at the Marine Corps’ third annual HITT Tactical Athlete Competition at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 28th through 31st, 2017.
My Summarized Story
I was born and raised in Manila, at the age of 20 I immigrated to the United States. Seeking a future and to better myself, I decided to enlist in the U. S. Marines, and was placed in the Delayed Entry Program (under Combat Arms Options). I stepped out of the bus on December 24, of 1990. Completed Bootcamp and ended up with 3rd Combat Engineers in Okinawa for a year. Spent the last 3 years in Camp Lejeune and participated on a Medetteranian deployment with 24MEU-SOC, where we did an operation in MOGADISHU, Somalia. At that time, enlistment in the U. S. Military does not automatically grants American Citizenship through a Naturalization process with the Immigration Department. I failed my first interview due to not knowing the Senator’s in my state. I’m now a naturalized citizen and retired from Civilian Federal Service. It is truly an honor and a life accomplishment to be able to earn the title, as well as serving the country as a way to show my allegiance and appreciation to the United States in giving me the opportunity to become a better person, citizen and a new path towards a new life. I am old now, and have many ailments but I feel that I had accomplished something great that I consider an exclamation mark in my life and will finish strong.
That Special Moment in Boot Camp
Parris Inland in the summer of 1968—the summer of love for hippies on the west coast. However, not so much for Platoon 296 on Parris Inland with Sgt. Morris—not even close! We had completed about half of our training when recruits started coming in from being recycled. That’s when we learned that the Drill Instructor Sgt. Morris told us the truth about doing our entire enlistment at Parris Inland if we couldn’t get our “sh-t together” and move on Camp Stone Bay (for 03’s). I know there are Marines out there who can confirm the fear factor we were feeling. I mean, I was barely 17 and wanted to see women again before I got too old to appreciate them. But I digress, it’s 0300, the alarm goes off for a fire drill in these very old wooden barracks. We all turn out in formation with our buckets in toll and wait. Sgt. Morris was one of the meanest men I have ever known and I worked 30 years as an Intensive Probation/Parole Officer after I got out. Anyways, Sgt. Morris called one of the “new” guys out of formation and instructed him to sing for everyone. After some words with him, the new boot started to sing in a beautiful voice that was so clear and rich—-“Yesterday” by the Beetles. MAN! Sgt. Morris didn’t say another word. We were dismiss back to the barracks—there was no fire. You could almost read everyone’s mind—-we were back home holding on to that girl who promise never to leave us. I graduated from Parris Inland just about 49 years ago and can still hear him sing that song and think how appropriate it was. Foot Note: I was told that the recruit was KIA in V.N. ( or seriously wounded) and Sgt. Morris continue to use a tent pin on recruits and was court martial for abusive behavior (that was the rumor so I can’t swear to it)
head detail
Everyone was given an assignment in boot camp on a cleaning detail. The head detail had to clean the urinals and the toilets ( without gloves ) and we all took pride in our jobs assigned to us- as if we did a poor job we got P T ‘d to a excruciating extreme – or sometimes we walked into a Drill Instructors closed hand- or like ” Divine Intervention’, we bounced off of walls – etc. One recruit was always flustered of the D I ‘s and was a jellyfish – when how as spoken too- got very nervous and stammered- The last recruit out of the head at the end of our day had to yell out, ” Sir, the head is clear.” ( If someone ran out of the head after this announcement we all caught hell. This evening- our stammering mate was the last one out of the head- and our D I that night was the biggest ball buster of the three D I’s. So befittingly the Recruit runs out and doesn’t say anything- so the D I approaches him and says, ” Num-nuts did you forget to inform me of something.’ The private come to attention and blurts out – ” Sorry Sir, My head is clear.” The D I tries not to laugh- and really busts out laughing- and runs into his quarters and shuts the hatch. A few minutes he come out and actually hugs the recruit- and tells us to take five- then hit the rack. Even the D I’s at times were human. Usually one of the three was a hard ass- and one was the comical one and one in between – one served in Korea and told us stories about the North Koreans and their savagery – a later post will describe a Marine Sgt. who was in WW 11 and some more tales.
LASTING LEGACY: MARINES UNVEIL MURAL AT MARINE WEEK DETROIT
A group of Marines with the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Detroit unveiled the mural they’ve been painting for Marine Week Detroit on Sept. 9, 2017.
The mural was painted on the side of the Marine Corps League, Montford Point Detachment 158 building in Detroit, Mich. Five Marines put over a hundred hours of work into the completion of the mural. The mural depicts the history and accomplishments of the Montford Point Marines, who fought in a segregated Marine Corps from 1942 through 1949.
My Uncle, My Hero, My Heart
My Uncle, PFC Harold W. Jinright fought in the battle at Chosin Reservoir. This amazing man is 100% a Marine. “Gunny” as his son calls him, is a kind, thoughtful, sharp witted man with an awesome sense of humor and the most patriot human I have ever met.
Back in the day, PFC Jinright and his wife called each other Mr. & Mrs. Jones. Now that I am older, I changed that to Uncle Jones “Jonsey”, much to his delight. A few years ago Jonsey returned to Quantico and a photo was taken of him in front of his barracks as it was in 1949. I was able to combine the two which made a beautiful memory for all of us. Jonsey also returned later this year for one more OOHAH!
In October, Jonsey is coming from El Monte CA to Surprise AZ to feast on some of his great niece’s chili and cornbread. Then in November he will be attending his 90th birthday party where he prefers to have a Marine theme and photo’s because he is, and always will be, a Marine.
It is with much pride and love that I type these words and memories. My heart breaks and I usually shed some tears as I try to gather info and photos to help Jonsey with his project requests. The Chosin Few as well as the millions that share his love of our country and give so very much to us are the true meanings behind the word Hero’s.
PFC Harold W. Jinright was medevacked to Japan in December 1950 with severe frostbite that affects him greatly to this day. He along with so many of his fellow Marines suffered more than most of us can even imagine and so many made the ultimate sacrifice. PFC Jinright refuses to take praise for his bravery and sacrifice and will laugh and say his only job at the Chosin Reservoir was to make snow balls for the weapons to shoot at the enemy.
But that’s ok; I have enough pride for the both of us. My eternal gratitude to all of you that have the courage and strength to do the many things you have to do to protect us. Thank you for your service.
I am attaching two photos. The one with the weapons and Marine’s was taken at Quantico. The Marine in the middle, hands on hips with the don’t mess with the Marine’s look on his face is my Marine, PFC Harold W. Jinright. The photo taken in 1949 by his barrack’s, he is on the right.
SH*TBIRD! How I Learned to Love The Corps
This true story appears in my book “SH*TBIRD! How I Learned to Love The Corps” and illustrates how our Drill Instructors kept us on our toes. The longest month of my life was my first three days of boot camp. It seemed
virtually impossible to say anything to a DI that was correct in his eyes, unless, of
course, you were agreeing with his assessment that you were possibly the
dumbest, most worthless specimen that had ever crapped between a pair of
boondockers. This was one of the first things we learned. In fact, sometimes there
just wasn’t a “correct” answer.
We had found out within minutes of arriving at MCRD that just about any
infraction, whether real or imagined, was punishable by death. Well, maybe not
death itself, but you still thought you were in Hell. Actually one DI told us that it
wasn’t legal for him to kill us but there was no statute keeping him from making
us wish he would and just get it over with. So, when a DI asked a question a
wrong answer would usually be accompanied by summary judgment and
punishment.
Either the second or third day – with so little sleep you couldn’t tell when one
ended or the next started – we were in formation waiting to do something or
other. Not wanting to waste any time our DI kept us at attention while he
meandered between the ranks raising hell with first one boot and then another.
He was in the process of chewing on a recruit in the rank in front of mine when a
guy to my right, instead of holding “eyes front”, let his eyeballs shift to the action.
Big mistake! The DI forgot about the guy he had been working over and charged
through to confront the miscreant.
“What the f**k were you looking at, Sh*tbird?!!” He’s got his face shoved within
an inch of the recruit’s face.
“Sir! Nothing, Sir!”
“Bullsh*t!! You were looking at me, weren’t you?”
Busted. “Sir! Yes, Sir!”
“Why were you staring at me, Sh*tbird? Because you like me? Is that it?”
The recruit is nervous now. “Sir! No, Sir!”
The DI straightens up, the anger replaced by a quizzical look, a little hurt in his
voice. “What do you mean, you don’t like me? Why not? What’s not to like?” He
lifts his arms up, palms up and turns a circle. “Is it the way I dress?”
Now only a fool is going to criticize that uniform. “Sir! No, Sir!”
“So you like the way I dress?”
“Sir! Yes Sir!”
“And there’s no other reason you don’t like me?” A little edge is back in his voice.
“Sir! No, Sir!”
The Sergeant smiles. “So, you do like me?”
“Sir! Yes, Sir!”
Now a snarl. “Well, likin’ leads to lovin’, a**hole. And lovin’ leads to f**kin’! Do
you believe you’re going to f**k me, you worthless piece of sh*t?!!!
Thoroughly confused, the recruit croaks “Sir! No, Sir!”
The Sergeant is shocked again. “Why the hell not? What have I done? What
happened to likin’ and lovin’? Do you think you’re too damned good for me?”
The boot’s head is spinning. “Sir! No, Sir!”
“So, you DO think you would f**k me?”
“Sir! No, Sir!”
A malevolent look comes over the Sergeant’s face. “Well, you got that right, sh*t-
for-brains! If anybody around here is going to get f**ked over, it sure as hell ain’t
going to be me. And the next time I see you eyeballin’ this…” and he sweeps with
both hands down his body, “instead of having your eyes forward where they
belong, I will f**k over you and there ain’t gonna be any romance in it! Are we
clear?”
“Sir! Yes, Sir!”
Like I said, no correct answers.