SATS RUNWAY

My name is Michael Butler and my dad was in the Marine Corp from 63 to 67 he was in vma 214 black sheep and he was part of the first group to ever use the sats runway in chu lai vietnam in fact his co sent a letter to his parents telling them about chu lai and sats runway and if you search the web it says mag 12 or mag 11 used the runway first i just wanted to set the record straight my dads name is Lance Corpral George R Butler he was in Vietnam from May of 65 to June of 66 when my dad can get the letter i'll try to remember to post it.  read more

Looking

Sgt Grit:

A few years ago I was in 9th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Hansen Okinawa. We had a MGYSGT named Ron Griffin who was not much older than I was. (Meaning he should still be around) He rotated back to the states and he left his Warrior Book in his desk. I found it and decided I would send it to him but I rotated soon after and just never did. Now I have been retired for 17 years and I am organizing my footlocker so that it will have all of my old military uniforms and photo's and everything I have from when I was in and I came across this book of the MGYSGT's. If anyone knows this Marine or how I might get a hold of him I would truly like the opportunity to return it to him. I have enclosed three pictures. The first is the MGYSGT when he was a SGT on the Drill Field. The Next picture is of the book. The third is from inside the book of a young marine going through Motivation. I have seen some things in your news letter lately about that wonderful place. read more

USMC Weapons Carriers – M37 Dodge

In a recent news letter T Stewart talked about USMC Weapons Carriers or Personnel Carriers as they were later called. He said when he tried to Google the term all he got was pictures of late model vehicles. I would suggest he Google M37 Dodge and he will find the vehicle he is looking for. I am in the process of doing a frame up restoration on one built in 1953 which I hope to complete by the fall of this year. I have also enclosed a couple of pictures of my project. read more

DI at PI

When I returned from Korea, still in one piece, I was assigned to DI School at San Diego. So after 13 months in Korea I am going on 24 months of Training Recruits. So as DI School progressed and we were getting ready for Graduation and all Korean Vets were to report to Sick Bay. We were given a poison to kill the internal bugs common to Korea. I took the Poison as directed (who is going to tell the people that kept you alive in War…NO!} so On Graduation day, I passed out as did a couple others. We were hauled to Sick Bay then to Balboa Naval Hospital, we were dying of the Poison given us to keep us from getting sick. In the Hospital I was given my DI Diploma and later lost it!!! Fortunately mu Enlistment was up and so I asked for Recruiters School, what could be easier. (by the way in those days you were paid $360 for 6 year Enlistment, YOU HAD TO WANT TO BE A MARINE). read more

Taliban Vs Marine

A large group of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they heard a voice call from behind a sand-dune say, "One Marine is better than ten Taliban." The Taliban commander quickly sent 10 of his best soldiers over the dune whereupon a gun-battle broke out and continued for a few minutes, then silence. The voice then called out, "One Marine is better than a hundred Taliban soldiers." Furious,… the Taliban commander sent his next best 100 troops over the dune and instantly a huge gun fight commenced. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence. The Marine voice called out again, "One Marine is better than one thousand Taliban." The enraged Taliban commander mustered a thousand fighters and sent them over the dune. Cannon, rocket, and machine gun fire rang out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence. Finally one wounded Taliban fighter crawled back over the dune and with his dying words told his commander, "Don't send any more men, it's a trap. There are two Marines." read more