Category: Blog

MARINES AIM TO AVOID POST-WAR IDENTITY CRISIS

The U.S. Marine Corps, one of the most storied military forces, is searching for a mission after the war in Afghanistan ends.

Marines consider themselves a quick-reaction force, traveling light and giving their all whether waging war or responding to humanitarian disasters. But for the past decade, the Corps has been fighting long conflicts in the deserts of Iraq and valleys of Afghanistan, requiring it to behave more as a dug-in land army. read more

Marine Humor = “Come here turd!”

In 1960 I was a senior Drill Instructor at the San Diego Recruit Depot. The morning routine was for the DIs to awake before reveille. No recruits were permitted to be out of their Quonset Huts at that time.

One particular morning Sgt Black, the junior DI, and I were standing outside on the platoon street drinking coffee as daylight broke through. Sgt Black sighted something out of the corner of his eye (he the recon Marine). I heard him bellow, “Come here turd!” at this short, sulking figure in utilities buttoned at the top (as required of recruits). read more

Marine Math

The Korean War, in which the Marine Corps fought and won some of itsmost brutal battles, was not without its gallows humor.

 

During one such conflict, a ROK (Republic of Korea) commander, whose unit was fighting along with the Marines, got on the horn to legendary Marine General Chesty Puller, to report a major Chinese attack in his sector. read more