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.
"Phase Line Green" The Battle for Hue, 1968. is a book that every Marine, regardless of their M.O.S., but especially "grunts", should read. Coming from a guy that hasn?t opened a book, except for magazines, in years, I couldn?t put it down once I began reading it.
"Generation after generation of American men and women have given special meaning to the title United States Marine. These same men and women live by a set of enduring Core Values which forms the bedrock of their character. The Core Values give Marines strength and regulate their behavior; they bond the Marine Corps into a total force that can meet any challenge." Although these words are quoted from the Marine Corps website, they can be used to describe the basis for the book Corp Values by Georgia governor Zell Miller.
Arc Light" by G.V. Short is an awesome account of the author?s experiences of his two tours in Vietnam. Starting from his days as a "boot" private getting off the plane in Okinawa, he instantly puts you, the reader, in the driver?s seat as he takes you on a journey of his tour(s) of Vietnam.
Retired Captain William Putney, of the United States Marine Corps, recounts his story of the 3rd Marine War Dog Platoon used in World War II in his memoir Always Faithful. In June 1943, Putney enlisted in the Marine Corps. Fresh out of college with a degree in veterinary medicine, he was hoping to serve his country with honor and courage. It came as a disappointment when his orders sent him to be a line officer in the War Dog Platoon. However, he was soon engrossed in the training of the dogs and handlers for combat in the Pacific. Putney?s writing flows easily carrying the reader along on his journey as he describes the almost seven months of training, the trip to Guadalcanal, and the tension filled, dangerous liberation of the island of Guam. After the war was over he was horrified to learn that the war dogs were being euthanized. No attempt was being made to retrain them for safe return to the civilian owners who donated them. He spearheaded the effort to establish a detraining program of the courageous dogs serving our country with courage and distinction. His efforts paid off when the Marine Corps established the war dog detraining program. The program was a huge success and out of 559 Marine Corps dogs, only 19 had to be euthanized (15 due to health reasons and only four were considered too incorrigible for civilian life). Putney paints the reader a clear picture of what the training, the dogs and their handlers, and war was like. It is at times humorous and horrifying without bogging us down in military slang incomprehensible to the non-military reader. This memoir is a wonderful story for the history buff, military buff, and dog lover.
Sgt Grit,
This Sunday my church will have our annual Memorial Day Service. We Honor those who have fought and died to allow us the right to worship and serve Jesus Christ. Those who have served will be recognized during the service, we have a Color Guard from a local high school ROTC come in. This year we will honor a special Marine who just passed away last week. Cpl. David Miller, he was an Iwo Jima Marine, a Purple Heart Recipient and most importantly a Pastor of 45 years. I sat next to him during our Sunday services and many of opportunity to talk with him. His love for the Corps was only surpassed by his love for Jesus Christ and serving Him. In Honor of his service to our country, I have enclosed something that I wrote to display on our bulletin board at my church. I am no writer, but just wanted our younger generation to remember where their freedom comes form and its cost. It is not directly related to the Marine Corps, but to all of our servicemen and woman. If possible could you pass this on to allow some of the youth of America to understand what freedom cost. Thank you to those who have served and serve.
Dear Sgt Grit Well it was that time again when I said goodbye to my son, of the few, of the proud. Strangely it was harder this time than the last time. Last time I watched a boy go off to war and this time I saw a man climb onto that bus. The reality of it is that the 3/2 lost 14 brave, courageous men at the last deployment. I started a scholarship here in Tampa, Florida for Lance Corporal Eric W. Herzberg, 20 years old killed by a sniper in Al Anbar Province and a friend of my son’s.
The bitter controversy unleashed by the publication of former defense secretary Robert S. McNamara’s Vietnam memoir, “In Retrospect,” gives new meaning to the words “McNamara’s war.” Having now slogged our way through the book itself, the outpouring of criticism with which it was met at the moment of publication and some of the relevant history of the time, we conclude the following: In a strange way both Mr. McNamara and those who belabor him for not having either resigned or spoken out at at time when he might have hastened the end of the war are saying the same thing. The critics say he should have done one or the other or both. The author provides a devastating case study of a governmental process, which he did much to create and keep running, that all but guaranteed he wouldn’t. He and the others would instead just keep on improvising, trying one more thing, taking one more step, finding one more reason not to do what both he and his critics now wish he had.
Sgt Grit,
I read every edition of your newletter, and from your articles I am reminded of the pride I feel for my two tours as an FMF Corpsman, and one tour on a Marine Corps District Staff.
On November 10th, the Marine Corps League, Detachment 708, Spring Hill, FL held a Marine Corps Ball. This year they chose to honor the FMF Corpsmen.
Got to have a small dream realized today and I thought I would share with you.
We are in the middle of the ESPN X-Games, kind of an extreme winter sports competition with skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiles and motor-cross motorcycles. All in the snow and ice. One of the big sponsors of the event is the United States Marine Corps. They flew out some of their top recruiters for a working vacation along with 2 CH53E helicopters and 2 Cobra attack helicopters. These served as static displays at the event and they did a fly-by over the event itself. Well, needless to say, the Marines were giving rides to the muckity-mucks involved in the event and local government. Nice, round race-track patterns, then back to the airport for another round. Yours truly couldn’t be held back with a team of wild horses and I was taking pictures from the tarmac as I have an airport security pass. Did I mention I just happened to be wearing a certain black ball cap with the Third Recon logo on it and the EGA’s on my uniform collar? Well, Capt. Cambell with the Corps was shooting the breeze with me and asked me if I would like to go up for a bit of a ride in the CH53E?
Dear Sgt. Grit:
I thought you would appreciate some pictures of our Southern Nevada Devil Pups. If your wondering why these kids are sitting at a VFW Bar, they had just finished 4 hours of “spring cleaning” pulling weeds, mopping, scrubbing floors KP duty and cleaned the bathrooms all for our Veterans.
When I saw them all lined up wearing the shirts you donated, I couldn’t resist the “kodak” moment. These kids have volunteered over 826 hours of combined community service and everywhere they went to serve in the community they wore your Sgt. Grit’s t-shirt “I want to be a Devil Pup.”
Southern Nevada will be sending 21 qualified teens to Camp Pendleton on August 4-13th. This is the first year Southern Nevada has gone over our allotted quota. The turnout of kids wanting to participate was overwhelming and we couldn’t have asked for a better group of dedicated teens.
Please once again accept our sincere thanks for your continued support of this most worthy cause. We will continue to wear your name with honor and respect.