CLIP vs. MAGAZINE

There still seems to be some confusion over the nomenclature of “CLIP” vs. “MAGAZINE”, and current dictionaries don’t seem to help the matter much. Consulting: Merriam-Webster, 2002 online edition Clip (noun) 2: a device to hold cartridges for charging the magazines of some rifles; also : a magazine from which ammunition is fed into the chamber of a firearm. read more

UNFORTUNATE JARHEADS

I was in the locker room of my health club the other day reminiscing
with another Marine. Our memories took us back to Korea. He said he got out of PI in early summer of ’50 and joined the columns of Marines swarming to Camp Pendleton where the various drafts were being assembled for reinforcing the troops around Pusan. He said the brigade had already left. For some reason, lack of housing may be, he was billeted at Del Mar. One day a WO with more than 30 years in came through the area looking for volunteers. He also had several .45s, holsters and pistol belts. The gunner also had requisitioned several vehicles. He took his “volunteers”
south of the border to TJ to roundup unfortunate jarheads in the Mexican brig. He can back with 12. Said, “I’ll be damned if I would let them stay down there when there is a job to be done.”
BTW. He was quickly sent to Kobe to be “out of the way” and to handle things there when the draft arrived there on the way to the fight.
Semper Fi,
Bob Rader sgt ’53-’56, 1405534 read more

UNCOMMON VALOR | IN MEMORY OF CPL. LOUIS J. HAUGE JR.

In May of 1945, the Battle of Okinawa was raging in full force. Marines and Sailors with 1st Marine Division pushed through the prefecture and were met with heavy resistance from the entrenched Japanese soldiers.

The Medal of Honor citation tells the story; a machine-gun squad, trapped by a barrage of mortar and machine-gun fire, engages in an assault against a heavily fortified Japanese hill. The squad leader, Cpl. Louis J. Hauge, sees the two guns responsible and sprints through an opening, hurling hand grenades as he runs. He is wounded before he reaches the first gun, but he pushes through to successfully destroy both enemy positions. As the second gun placement is destroyed, he is shot by Japanese snipers. His men, seeing his actions, rise from their bombarded position and finish the bloody assault on the hill. read more

MARINE OF THE WEEK // He manuvered through the kill zone on foot

Capt. Ademola D. Fabayo
Embedded Training Team 2-8
Kunar Province, Afghanistan
September 8, 2009
Award: Navy Cross

Then-First Lieutenant Fabayo and other members of his team led two platoons of Afghan National Security Forces into Ganjgal Village for a pre-dawn meeting with village elders when the dismounted patrol was ambushed by roughly 50 enemy fighters in fortified positions. With four fellow team members cut off, he pushed forward on foot into the kill zone in an attempt to regain contact, effectively engaging the enemy at close range with his M-4 rifle. When a U.S. Army Advisor was severely wounded, he moved from a covered position under heavy fire to assist in his recovery, helping carry him across several hundred meters of fire-swept ground. He drove back into the kill zone with another U.S. Army Advisor in an unarmored truck, despite enemy rounds impacting the vehicle, in an attempt to reach the separated team members. After treating and evacuating several wounded Afghan Forces, he took the gunner’s position on a gun-truck with three other U.S. personnel as they again drove into the kill zone to recover the bodies of the four fallen team members, providing effective suppressive fires with the vehicle mounted machine guns. By his decisive actions, bold initiative, and complete dedication to duty, First Lieutenant Fabayo reflected great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. read more

MARINE OF THE WEEK // “These insurgents just came at us with everything they had that day…”

Staff Sgt. Jeffery V. Escalderon
@1stbattalion7thmarines
Husaybah, Iraq
November 2004
Award: Bronze Star W/ Combat “V”

Staff Sgt. Escalderon’s men came under numerous attacks in Husaybah on a near-daily basis during the deployment. The Marines of Company B nicknamed a certain area of the city of Husaybah, ‘mortar thirty,’ because everyday at around 4:30 p.m., they received incoming mortar fire from insurgents. read more

FIGHTERS REPRESENT USMC IN BOXING EXHIBITION

Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort competed in the Marine Corps and Chevrolet Freedom Fight exhibition at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. April 14.

Lance Cpl. Keandre Blackshire, Cpl. Malik Collins, and Cpl. Oubigee Jones fought in the exhibition on behalf of the Marine Corps Boxing Team and two of the three Marines emerged victorious. read more

One Old Marine meeting another

I met Gunny R Lee back in 2003-04 at a motorcycle show in Boston, ask if he was a “Hollywood Marine”, he laughed and said he was. I then asked why he hasn’t done a show about the M-40 Ontos, he said that he saw them in Nam but they were not very safe as a 50 cal. could go right thru them. I explained that they were not designed for that kind of war, the were designed to hide in the brush at cross roads etc.and hit Soviet tanks then screw fast out of the area. They were equip with 6 -106 recoil-less rifles with 2 – 4 50 cal. spotting rifles mounted with tracer rounds, on the top 2-4 Rifles. I knew this as I was a member of the 2nd Anti-Tank Bn. Camp Lejune, NC in ’59-’61. Sadden to hear about the beloved Gunny. So young as I am 4 years older than he was. Semper Fi, Godspeed & Rest at Easy Gunny your brothers and sisters will miss you and remember you for the Corps you loved. read more

The REAL movie D.I.

I remember seeing Full Metal Jacket with my first wife the third day of its release in Covina, Ca. We didn’t get there early enough so we were seated in the 4th or 5th row from the screen and the theater was packed. During the the bootcamp segment of the film, there was one other guy in theater aside from me that was laughing during R. Lee Ermey’s initial confrontations with Joker, snowball, cowboy and Lawrence. My wife nudged me and asked me “Was bootcamp really like that?” My reply was “Yup!” She asked me why I was laughing and I told her “It may of been scary at the time but since I lived it, I can laugh about it now.” You just can’t script a D.I. because I remember our D.I.’s, Sgt. Thymes (Plt. Commander), Sgt. Parrish, and Sgt. Brundage using a lot of the same language R. Lee Ermey used. Then one wife and 29 or so years later, my Grandson and I went to Brea Ca. to a police equipment store and met R. Lee Ermey in person. He was a friendly man and had a great admiration for first responders AND their Grandkids. Semper Fi, Gunny! You have earned your place in Heaven. OOhhhrrraaahhh! Daniel Miller, Plt. 3105, 3rd bn., RTR, San Diego, Ca. 9/74-12/74. read more