Marine Corps Stories – Page 364 – Sgt. Grit Community

Marine and Newborn Daughter

This is my husband Corporal Douglas Hopkins and our new daughter Aubrey.

It's funny, lately, I've been meeting Marines that served during the 80's, 90's, and 00's years and when we talk about our experiences, enlistment years, and MOS I always have a hard time explaining the 106mm Recoilles Rifle and 50cal spotting rifle. They have absolutely no idea what this fine weapon was all about and how much fun it was to shoot! read more

The Last Man: The Final Irony of the Vietnam War – Part 3

Is such treachery beyond comprehension?

When a young man joins the Armed Forces he assumes he will be serving his country. For the majority, that assumption is valid. For the minority that find themselves in combat, they quickly learn that they will be serving their brothers. The President won’t be dragging you to safety. The Constitution will not cover your advance or withdraw. Your brothers will. read more

Sitting with Warrior

Book Review Sitting with Warrior by Carl Hitchens Publisher: iUniverse: www.iuniverse.com ISBN: 978-1-4502-7631-3 ISBN: 978-1-4502-7633-7 ISBN: 978-1-4502-7632-0 “The glowing campfire was irresistible to his wandering spirit. He had taken many roads, many paths since he had left the war in Vietnam. Each path, each road had taught him something, but still he was nagged by the enormity of what he had experienced. The words that flowed on occasion, the silence that filled the moments in between never seemed to reveal the essence of the truth he sought. But this night in restless sleep, the sleeper went beyond dream into a subtle dimension of reality. “He came upon a Native American man sitting by the fire, smoking his pipe. The man called out to him to come and sit by the fire. He said his name was Warrior, and that the sleeper was not there by accident. This was the beginning of the author’s journey out of the shadow of Vietnam. “As a Marine Corps veteran of an unpopular and divisive war, Carl Hitchens contends that ‘Sitting with Warrior’ chronicles not only his journey, but America’s as well. By sitting and listening to Warrior’s wisdom, he has recovered lost parts of himself. This gives America hope for stepping out of the long shadow of Vietnam that today stretches over Iraq and Afghanistan. Hope that by sitting with Warrior and his unifying truth, America can heal her old wounds. Hope that she can draw from her pluralism and diversity unity rather than division—‘out of many, one’.” # From his vantage point as a Vietnam, combat veteran (Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division), Carl Hitchens weaves history with myth in tracing his journey of war, survival, and self-discovery. In his common ground odyssey of citizen warrior, he hopes to aid Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in readjusting from war and its trauma, as well as reuniting America in a renewed sense of national unity. Poet, mythical storyteller, and essayist, Hitchens was born in Washington, D.C. of Nanticoke ancestry, mixed with other drums and songs. He placed first in poetry in the Tenth Annual Whipple Voices Writing Festival. Besides his latest work, Sitting with Warrior, Carl is also the author of Shades of Light, a book of reflective poems. He currently resides in Dewey, Arizona. Carl Hitchens Email: drumtalk@mac.com Website: http://www.drumtalk-hitch.com/Sitting_with_Warrior/Sitting_with_Warrior.html

Justice Comes to Town!

Man, you just have to love Justice when it comes to town! =&0=&: Orville Smith, a store manager for Best Buy in Augusta, Georgia, said he observed a male customer, later identified as Tyrone Jackson of Augusta, on surveillance cameras putting a laptop computer under his jacket. When confronted the man became irate, knocked down an employee, drew a knife and ran for the door. Outside on the sidewalk were four Marines collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots" program. Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of the Marines, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back; the injury did not appear to be severe. After Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene Cpl. Duggan was transported for treatment. The subject was also transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken ankle, a broken leg, several missing teeth, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions, assorted lacerations, a broken nose and a broken jaw, injuries he sustained when he slipped and fell off the curb after stabbing the Marine. (Now that was a well-written Police report!) Semper Fidelis, John Nihen

Just a kid

Im am just 14 years old since i was little i wanted to be in the Military. I had to decide what to be my dad was a army sargent for 30 years and i wanna be a Marine so i just want advice so when i take the test what to be aware of.

Battle Jackets

I was a recruit at MCRD San Diego CA. March 1964 Platoon 328. I was issued one Battle Jacket Winter Service "A" and one Blouse Winter Service "A" We were told the Corps was phasing out the Jackets and if your size was available you would be issued one, and that we would be the last series through S.D. Boot Camp to be issued them. Upon getting back to the Company area. I was called to the duty hut by the Junior Drill Instructor wanting my Jacket, after replying "That was The Privates jacket "Sir" I was bounced off four bulkheads for a while, but I still had my Battle Jacket. I should have let him have it. You could not stand stand Inspections in it, or go on liberty in it. I could wear it on leave or for wall locker inspections, or junk on the bunk inspections. Semper Fi till I die. read more

The Last Man: The Final Irony of the Vietnam War–Part 2

May 15, 1975

The Trip to Bad Intelligence

Up early on the 15th, Lindow, his fellow crewmen and mechanics and the Marines began preparing for the assault.

L/Cpl. Joseph Hargrove, an E Co. machine gunner must have said to himself, “What a birthday party!” He was 24. Just three weeks prior, he and Rogers had made a trip into Henoko, the Okinawa village outside of the 9^th Marines base at Camp Schaub to purchase a gift for Hargrove’s new wife. But that was so long ago. Now he had to find out which chopper he and his team, PFC Gary Hall and Pvt. Danny Marshall had been assigned. The only thing for certain Hargrove knew was that they weren’t taking him anyplace to celebrate. read more

The Last Man: The Final Irony of the Vietnam War–Part 1

The Last Man: The Final Irony of the Vietnam War

By Dick Lancaster

Captain Harry Cramer Jr., the first man, was an obvious pick for the new Special Forces concept the Army had in mind after the Korean War. While secretly training South Vietnamese in the art of ambush, Cramer was killed near Nha Trang on October 21, 1957. His death was ‘an accident’ because officially, America had no combatants in Vietnam. He was quietly buried. We moved on. read more

The Last Man: The Final Irony of the Vietnam War