Sgt Grit is a place where Marines can come and meet other Marines, share tattoos and stories, keep up with Marine Corps news, or shop for USMC gear.
This is a picture of some of India 3/12 just returned from Camp Fallujah, Iraq on April 11th as they were greeted by family members at Camp LeJeune. Pictured are Cpl Jimmy Boyle, Sgt Marc Miller and his proud Sister Meghan, and Cpl Jody Grier. A happy day indeed!
Submitted by Sgt Millers Blue Star Mother, Marilyn Miller, Spartanburg SC
Well, where does a father start? I am proud that I have served our beloved Corps for 15 years. 12 of which was on active duty in the Airwing(VMFA-314, VMFA-531, MATSG-90), got out in 1994. Went back in the reserves after 9/11, took over a year to get my waiver but I got it and was reinstated as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, Kilo 3/23 after 9 years broken time. Rare but these things do happen ask my buddy Ernie Hall!! Deployed to Iraq at the first part of the war in 2003. Upon returning home my Son was about to graduate from high school and expressed to me that he wanted to join the Corps. WOW! Outwardly I was very concerned as I had just returned home from a combat tour in Iraq, but inwardly I was bursting with pride that my Son was thinking about joining the Corps. Words could and still cannot describe what that meant to me. You brother Marines out there with Son’s and Daughter’s that are in the Corps understand. A few weeks before his graduation from recruit training in San Diego, he writes me that he wants me to be in uniform on his graduation day. I wasn’t planning on it because I didn’t want to take away from his big day so I wrote that back to him, which he quickly wrote back that was all he wanted on his graduation day was to stand on the same parade deck that I did 22 years earlier both of us wearing our uniforms. That was and will always be one of the proudest moments in my life along with the day God brought him into my life. Well it’s been almost 3 years since then and he is on his second tour of duty here in Iraq. He spent the better part of 2005 patrolling the streets of Ramadi, and is now back, but this time in Fallujah. With HQ Bat 2/10.
Sgt. Grit,
Thought you might enjoy some candid moments of the Marines here in the Anbar Province and at the Security Detachment in Baghdad. I work with the MEF throughout Iraq and will always hold dear the camraderie of the Corps and how the young Marines take care of this ‘Old Dog’. Can’t go into what I do with the Corps nor where the camps are located but let it suffice for me to say, though it is a different generation than it was in Vietnam all Marines here have the same Esprit de Corps and desire to go out and complete the mission. The old adage of Improvise, adapt, and overcome still holds true for todays Marines who put themselves in harms way everyday.
I’d like to share these pictures with your readers and especially with the ignorant principal who wouldn’t let the children of Connie’s class write to soldier’s in Iraq .These pictures were in the local newspaper which prompted several other schools to contact these Marines to ask that they speak to their classrooms . They’ve spent several days of their leave doing just that!
Dear Grit,
Wanted to get a shout out from Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq and let you know Toby Keith played a concert for all the people on base two days ago, even after the bad guys had lobbed something onto the base, he went on. It was a great show. I am in a “Joint” billet (read: army command with a few Marines to keep things interesting!),and it was nice to hang out with other Marines to watch the show. Keep up the great news letters!
Just thought you might like to know, there are not only Marines, but retired Marines serving in Iraq as well, such as my husband, who is pictured here, in Tikrit, Iraq, a few days before finally coming home, after a year of repairing helicopters.
Hey Sgt Grit,
Thanks for all the great stories and great quotes. I’ve posted some of those quotes in the connex box where my soldiers keep there weapons. The men love them. I am a former Marine currently serving in Baghdad with a deployed National Guard unit. We have several former Marines in the unit. The Marines in Baghdad have been great to my guys. I am a Sergeant First Class (E-7) but all the Marines call me, “Gunny”. Enclosed some pics of the Marine Corps Birthday Ball last year in Baghdad and a pic of me at work.
Don, David Tosh here the bug man from OKC. Greetings from Iraq Just dropping you a line, thought you might like hear about my ?TAD? to Iraq. I received a call from a DOD recruiter In dire need for licensed pest control professionals to support the troops in Iraq. I asked for and was assigned to a Marine base, the job is to easy other then just being in Iraq. Better then in ?90-?91, no weeks on end eating nothing but MRE?s. I have two helpers from Nepal who do all the heavy lifting. The terrain is rough sand dunes with a lot of 4×4 roads. On about 13000 acres. We run about 30 traps around the fence line mostly. So far a lot of foxes and wild dogs. There are 130lbs Hyenas that we trapped. Got a hedge hog and Hugh 10lbs lizard! We take care of rodents and flies at the 4 DEFACs (Dinning Facility) and everything else is service requests when someone has a problem in their area. A few hundred buildings! Some snakes and those Camel spiders which are big and nasty looking. First night here I spend in a leaky tent and it poured rain for 2 days and flooded and soaked my stuff. So we build a nice A/C hooch at our bunker where the Iraqis used to keep tanks and such. It is hardened so I don’t have to run for a bunker in case of a motor or rocket attack. Vector has their own bunker for chemical storage and such. As of yesterday I am the head Pest man on base. The other one headed back to Texas. So I’m left in charge with 5 days training. Not much to it except learning where everything is. I’m very glad to have been assigned to a Marine base.
