motivation

WHILE IN BOOTCAMP AT SAN DIEGO MCRD SUMMER OF 1975 WE WERE RUNNING OUR FINAL PFT FOR TIME AND OF COURSE THE DIFFERENT PLATOONS IN OUR SERIES WERE STAGGERED AT THE STARTING LINE. ONE PLATOON WOULD START AND THEN A MINUTE OR TWO ANOTHER WOULD START THEIR RUN. ANYWAY WE WOULD RUN 1 1/2 MILE AND MAKE A TURN AND GO BACK TO THE FINISH LINE. NOT BEING THAT GREAT A RUNNER JUST AVERAGE I HAD A GOOD PACE GOING AND FELT I AT LEAST WAS GOING TO MAKE IT UNDER THE TIME THE DRILL INSTRUCTORS WANTED US TO PERFORM AT NEVER MIND WHAT THE CORPS WANTED OUR MINDS AND BODIES BELONG TO THE D.I.'S AND NOBODY ELSE AT THAT TIME. ANYWAY JUST THINK WHAT WE WERE THINKING WHEN AT ABOUT THE MILE MARK A LITTLE SHIT OF A RECRUIT RAN BY US (NOT FROM OUR PLATOON) AND WAS SPRINTING BY US LIKE HE WAS RUNNING A FIFTY YARD DASH. WELL OUR FIRST THOUGHT WAS THE GUY MUST BE CHEATING OR THAT SOME ONE REPLACE OUR REGULAR BOOTS WITH LEAD BOOTS OH YAH WE RAN IN BOOTS BACK THEN. ANY WAY WHEN THIS GUY CAME BACK AND PASTED US BEFORE WE EVEN GOT TO THE HALF WAY POINT MOST OF US GOT DOWN RIGHT SCARED HELL WE WEREN'T GOING TO PASS THE PFT AND GET DROPPED TO ANOTHER PLATOON – NOT GOOD. WELL LONG STORY SHORT  I RAN THE BEST THREE MILES I EVER RAN  AND I'M SURE EVERYONE ELSE DID THAT SAW THE GUY RUN PAST US THAT DAY.  WELL THAT MAN RAN A THIRTEEN AND SOME SECONDS 3 MILE AND I KNOW AT LEAST THAT FIRST MILE OF HIS HAD TO BE CLOSE TO A 4 MINUTE MILE. WELL TURNS OUT THE GUY MADE SERIES HONOR GUARD AND WAS ALSO ONE OF THE SHORTEST MARINES EVER TO BE LET INTO THE CORPS AND I WISH I COULD REMEMBER HIS NAME. TO ME HE  WILL ALWAYS BE ONE THING THAT IS TRULY A MOTIVATOR NO DISRESPECT TO MY D.I.'S BUT THAT KID WAS HARD CORPS AND CHESTY WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD. read more

Veterans Day

I was honored to be invited to Washington DC to attend a Vietnam Veterans Day celebration at the Wall  by the History Channel and Honor Flight Conyers and prior to that I purchased a black leather jacket with USMC and combat air crew wings on the front. I wore it from my flight origin in Atlanta until my return. I stopped counting at 20 the number of people who ask me where I got it (mostly women who wanted to buy it for their husbands). My answer was Sgt Grit online so if your sales for this product increased I would expect some compensation. LOL! It was an ENORMOUS Hit. read more

City of Dearborn Veteran of the Year 2011

Every year here in the City of Dearborn, Michigan the selected Veteran of the Year is honored at the City’s official Veterans Day ceremony.  This year’s selection was a Navy Veteran who was in from 1985 to 1992 and served aboard the USS Carl Vinson.  Once Richard was selected I immediately started planning a special recognition for him that only a Marine would do for a sailor.  A few years ago I purchased a Marines t-shirt for his son Jason to wear.  He actually wore it for school pictures months later.  Richard gave me a 5 x 7 of the photo.  Unfortunately I purchase the t-shirt at a local Army-Navy store.   Richard, whose nickname is “Bobber” for obvious reason, also has two daughters.  One a sophomore at Michigan State and the other a junior in high school.  There is a t-shirt in the Sgt Grit catalog that says, “Chicks Dig Marines” so I ordered two of them.  Once the t-shirts arrived I gave them to Richard’s wife so the girls could wear them to the ceremony.  When recognized as the Veteran of the Year at the ceremony everyone in attendance stood and applauded Richard for his accomplishment.  Everyone then sat down while Richard’s daughters, seated in front of him with the t-shirts on, remained standing.  Although it took a while for Richard to determine what the girls were wearing, once he read the t-shirts he immediately look at me and said, “Dude.”  Mayor O’Reilly then brought the girls down front and next to the podium so that everyone in attendance could see what they were wearing.  The ceremony has been aired on the local cable television channel over the last two weeks.  Additionally, in an article of the local paper they referred to Richard as a Marine veteran.  The attached pictures were taken during and after the ceremony.   Sgt. Grit, thank you for having products available to assist in keeping the age old Navy/Marine tradition alive and well.  Richard tells me that he will get back at me but this one will be tough to top.  Fortunately, I don’t believe the Navy has a site like Sgt Grit.    Semper Fi   Ken VanHooser 2484603, Cpl., 2531/8662 USMC, 9/68 – 7/71

Kirby S. Baird & Thomas Patrick Corcoran.

My uncle Thomas P. Corcoran was killed in WWII.16 Jun 1945 in Okinawa, Japan. My father Kirby S. Baird lost his battle with Brain Cancer on 10 Dec 2006. Well this last summer in St. Louis we had Marine week and i decided to go down to it. I am glad that i did because I had the honor to meet Major General Murray who is the President of Marine Corp University. The MajGen took the time out to hear about my father and my uncles service records and honor them both. We have become friends and I have to say to all Marines out there Thank you for your service and SEMPER FIDELIS read more

Camp Hauge and other tidbits

I was stationed at Camp Hauge Okinawa in 1958-59.  We still had Cinderella Liberty then too.  However, since Disbursing for the 3rd and 12th Marines was detached from H&S Co and Battalion at Camp Courtney we had illegal liberty cards to get us on and off the base.  We were able to stay off base overnight.  You only had to worry about a typhoon which would keep all Marines on base after midnight.  I fortunately never got caught.  I hope the statue of limitations has expired! read more