Category: Marine Corps Stories

Marine Corps Vasectomy – It Takes Some Visualization

A Staff Sergeant walks into sick bay and asks the navy doctor for a vasectomy. “I been married for ten years. I got twelve kids. I think its time I got a vasectomy.” The doctor raises his eyebrows and says, “yeah. I’d say its time. How about next week, Tuesday at 1400.” The Marine nods. Now the Marine has been on leave for three weeks and he is from the Air Det., so his hair is long and he was wearing civvies. The doctor says, “All I need is your name, Petty Officer…?”  The Marine is taken-aback. “Petty Officer?! Petty Officer?!!!  I’m a Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, OoRaw! I deserve the respect owed to a Marine!”  The navy doctor looks shocked and a little paniced.  “You are a Marine?! Shoot. I’m sorry.”  The Marine says, “No problem Sir. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.”  But the doctor says, “No. You don’t understand.”  He closes the door and lowers his voice.  “You aren’t supposed to know about this, but navy doctors only perform vasectomies on sailors.  Marines perform vasectomies on themselves.”  The Marine takes a step back, “Uh…that’s Ok Sir. I’m hard Corps but I’d appreciate if you do all the cutting.”  The Doctor responds, “there is no ‘cutting’.”  The doctor opens the desk drawer and pulls out a canteen cup and a firecracker.  He instructs the Marine, “All you have to do is light this fire cracker, drop it into the cup, hold it to your right ear and count to ten. That’s your Marine Corps vasectomy.”  The Marine looks puzzled. “Doc, I don’t get the connection.”  The doctor reassures him that there is a connection.  The Marine takes the cup and firecracker and gives the doc a wary, “Aye, aye”.  He goes home and tells his wife. She doesn’t believe it.  “Navy doctors aren’t enough. You need a civilian doctor’s second opinion.”  So remembering the confusion from the first encounter with the doctor, he goes out and gets a high and tight. He gets into his Dress Blues and walks into the civilian doctor’s office. “I’m a Marine Corps Staff Sergeant.  I need my self a vasectomy, OORAW!”  The civilian doctor says, “No problem.”  He pulls open a drawer and pulls out a cup and firecracker and gives the Marine the same instructions, “Light this firecracker, hold it to your right ear and count to ten.”  The Marine salutes and says, “Second opinion”.  He goes home and tells his wife.  In disbelief she says, “Are you SURE the directions are right?”  He says “yes”.  She asks, “Well. Are you ready?”  He thinks for a second, “Yep”.  The wife hands him the cup and lights the firecracker.  She drops it into the cup.  He holds it to his right ear and he begins to count off with his left hand, “one, two, three, four, five…”  A paniced look crosses his face but he quickly solves the problem by transferring the cup to be held between his legs and continues to count with the right hand, “six, seven, eight,….” read more

2 of a Kind

While serving in Vietnam with 3/1/1 in 1968, I acquired a little friend. My last name being Mongar, I was given the nickname, “Mongoose”. Seems that the kids in a local ville that we tromped through occasionally, heard me being called, “Mongoose”, and next time through, they presented my with this very young mongoose. After my first day of carrying this little critter around, it never left my side. The little thing met it’s Waterloo during a mortar and rocket attack in Elephant Valley, in June or July of 1968. It was an experience I will never forget, one of those things that happened in Vietnam that can never be repeated. read more

Well Son Of A Gun

Corporal, 1981. Had received a Navy Achievement Medal for performance as a member of 6th Marines Rifle Squad. Did not have a Good Conduct Medal yet. 1982, Did a lat move to 0231 Intelligence Specialist, got assigned to 1/6. Spent a year busting my b-tt for that Bn under the direction of LtCol Fox. When I got my orders to go to Oki, the S-2 wrote me up for another NAM. Deploy to 1st MAW HQ on Okinawa. Working in the G-2 as the daily briefer for the CG, MGen Peterson. I get called out one day to go receive my award. Well, son of a gun if it was for a Navy Commendation Medal. He pinned it on proudly, and I was just as proud that it was him doing it. read more

Thanksgiving 1962

For Thanksgiving the cooks were able to obtain some frozen turkeys from the Army. The cooks put the turkeys on steel tables, the cooks then sat on the other tables. We gave them all the heavy scrub brush heads we could find. The cooks spent two nights throwing the scrub brushes at the rats to keep them fom getting the turkeys. Worked.  We had a good Thaksgiving… Anyone who was on Okinawa at that time can tell you the size of the rats, like medium sized dogs… No cats on the rock, I guess the rats got them… read more

Thanksgiving In Vietnam

Grit:

Every Thanksgiving, I think about the Thanksgiving I spent in Vietnam.  One of the few I spent away from my family during my life.

For some reason, this year made me think about the meal we had on Thanksgiving Day, 1970 at Force Logistics Command just north of Danang.  So after the confusion of dinner yesterday,  I pulled out my old boxes of Corps keepsakes and found the Thanksgiving Day Menu. read more

The 12th General Order

By Ken Zebal

In the early 1960s, 2nd Tank Bn had a well-established fire watch program at the tank park. Generally speaking, two lower-ranking Marines from the flames platoon and each gun company were posted at the tank park inside their respective tool sheds from about 1800 to 0600. I was a PFC at the time and was assigned fire watch for Charlie Company along with Pat Rogers. Pat and I went to boot camp at Parris Island together (Aug-Nov ’63) and then to ITR at Camp Geiger (Nov-Dec ’63) before reporting into Co “C”, 2TkBn (Dec ’63) and then going on boot leave. This was my first fire watch and may also have been Pat’s. We were nominated by our Platoon Sergeant, S/Sgt “Gunny” Jandrozits, and then hand-selected by the Company Gunny, GySgt Sam Fullerton whose sea bag read like a WWII war novel. After everyone else went on liberty call Pat and I were briefed by the Company Gunny, went to Mess Hall 207 across the street and were issued mid-rats. In those days it was a brown paper sack filled with a sandwich, hard-boiled egg, apple, container of milk and a napkin all lovingly prepared by one of the cooks. read more

WWII Marines Don’t Get Old… They Get Gritty

Post from 4 years ago;

The Greatest Generation just keeps amazing…

I have an update for you and your readers about my Uncle Marvin, the WWII Pacific grunt. He celebrated his 90th birthday in June… his son and sister-in-law planned a surprise party for him. Had to make it 3 days after his actual birthday though, it was the first opening in his social calendar! He still works full time too… has to have “play money” for all that socializing! read more

Struck A Cord Deep Down

The attached was sent to me on Facebook. I re-did it so it would look nice and I have it hanging in a frame. Don’t know who sent it, I’m sure something can be done with it. When I read it, it kinda struck a cord deep down.

I was in the Corps as a Reservist during the Viet Nam War. I was assigned to H&S Company, 4th MP Battalion, 4th Marine Division. I know there are no MP Battalions in the corps today, they’re Law Enforcement units. read more