Upper Berth

Sgt. Grunt,

When I went on an Honor Flight to Washington, DC, out of Jacksonville, Florida. (All in one day). I could not resist having my picture taken at our USMC Memorial Statue (since I am an IWO JIMA survivor) and paying tribute with a salute. I also have a miniature of said statue on a shelf above my desk at home. Once a Marine, always a Marine. On another subject which has taken up space in your newsletter lately is my being sent to USMCRD San Diego, despite the fact that I enlisted in New York City which of course is definitely east of the Mississippi. read more

My Heart Is With Them

The brothers memories are alive and well in my home and on my ranger. On a daily basis I salute them all… especially the ones we left behind who are still waiting to come home like they were promised. I was a peace time Marine, but my heart is with them. Salute to all who served and are serving… read more

Guard Duty at 2nd FSSG, Camp Lejeune

Sgt Grit: I was in the Corps from '76 to '86. In my last year of duty I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. I thought I could get out without incident however, three months before my exit I was Sgt of the guard in our area. 24 on, 24 off. I had a young PFC on post in the heavy equipment yard ie.. D8s, dump trucks, front end loaders. Well, late one night my equipment yard Marine really didn't care much for his line of work that late night. The story I got was, when he saw a Marine on his post approaching, he ran and jumped down a small concrete wall and rolled into a prone position with the M-16 pointed at that Marine approaching and said, "Freeze Mother F-cker". He stated after that, "And then I saw the glitter on his collar." The OD was so stunned, he turned away and proceeded to the guard shack and chewed my fellow Sgt of the guard. Two weeks later, the newly demoted PVT was on post again. I was so lucky to be on my off day.  read more

Bloused trousers

The story in the March 28 newsletter, "What Saved Us", reminded me of another "Butterbar" encounter.

I was a wingwiper with VMFAT-101,an F4 Phantom squadron, at MCAS El Toro in '69 during which time a whole lot of Marines fresh from staging at Pendleton were being flown from El Toro to 'Nam.  If you were one of the many you remember standing around in formations in parking lots or grassy areas by the barracks across the street from the flight line waiting for your platoons to board the chartered airliners. read more

SD vs PI

I recently had the pleasure of watching my 17 year old son graduate from MCRD P.I. I am a Hollywood Marine. I went to San Diego from the Detroit area 30 years ago, Now they are going to P.I. from here. He had the choice to go to San Diego since I went there but chose P.I. because he signed up with a buddy who HAD to go to P.I. My SDI was SSgt Mance, assisted by SSgt Perez and Sgt Augustine, who by the way really had it out for me once he found out my MOS was 5811(MP) and he was always getting tickets for speeding in his hot rod. read more