Archive for July, 2009

Former To A Marine Rates A Zero On The Gung-Ho Scale

Whenever I have the opportunity to talk about my former life as a former-Marine – I feel that because I didn't go the distance and retire after 30 that my only recourse is to say I am a, well,  " a former active duty" -Marine. Even though I served four hard years, one of them in a combat role, the word former is just too tame for me.

The excitement generated by former in front of such an outstanding word as marine is on par with the excitement you might feel when you discover (the smell is a big hint) that it's liver and onions in the chow hall again. Just about a zero on the Gung Ho! scale and man do I ever HATE liver!

We were talking earlier about One Lucky Jar-Head, the guy up in Canada who won the $200. million Powerball by matching all the numbers with a quick pick. Unfortunately, someday we will all be former -Marines but until that day comes I plan on leading the charge at coining a new word – something that means the same as former because I won't even consider EX as an option - only the pukes that couldn't hack it will have to carry that burden.

Marines, even former ones are good at coming up with new words, (adapt and improvise) and over the years we have created a language that is unique to us. In this Marine's opinion the only reason the word former has been accepted is due to no one coming up with a better opplan. Would you refer to Chesty Puller, THE GREATEST MARINE WHO EVER LIVED, as just a former- Marine? If you do, Get down and give me a hundred!

There are no such things as ex-marines as this article would have you believe, there are only "former active duty" marines. Once a marine always a marine.

Anyway, this guy was out in the wilderness with his wife and youngsters cutting firewood when a seriously starving mountain lion tried to make this marine a quick snack.

What this guy did to defend himself, with a chain saw no less, is the stuff marine legends are made of.

Semper Fi

Draft Dodgers And Misfits

When President Carter pardoned the draft dodgers that went to Canada I was one of the few marines that supported that decision. I felt that anyone with the convictions to go and live in a foreign country deserved a break. I am often asked how I feel about marines who get bad discharges – then claim it was the stress that made them f*** up? Well, the jury is still out on that one. Marines these days get a lot of support. The military has moved more aggressively in this (Iraq) war to increase awareness and treatment of combat stress than in previous conflicts.

Mental health teams have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers and Marines are asked about their mental and physical health before and after their tours." Thank God that Chesty Puller isn't around to see this! If the Marine Corps wanted you to have a shrink – they would have issued you one!

The argument stresses that either the Pentagon or VA should revise it's policies so that these combat veterans are not stripped of the medical care they need to get better. I can't say whether or not this is a good idea but it doesn't feel right. If these guys are let back into the family what about all the other guys who were discharged for misconduct? How far back do we go? This 1,019 Marines from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are a drop in the bucket! One grain in a bucket of Iwo Jima sand. The VA has to beg for money now, congress can vote themselves generous pay raises but when it comes to vets the money just isn't there. What happens when we add a few million mis-fits to the mix?

It's been said that "PTSD does not force anyone to do an illegal act. The consequences to the Marine Corps of not upholding those standards of behavior would be a much greater tragedy. It would dishonor all those Marines who have not broken the rules." Mental health experts say that this problem certainly occurred in prior wars. But combat-induced mental disorders and how they may contribute to bad behavior were not as well understood. Most Marines do their jobs in a quiet and efficient manner, some just can't hack it.

USMC Time Machine Is Camo Green

Allow me to take you back a moment in time, the year; 1972, the place; Camp Pendleton, California. The "war" in Vietnam is still dragging on and will be for another three years. Some 7,000 Americans are yet to die. In what some of us consider to be nothing more than a once- in -every -five year "purge" of the undesirables in the Corps, the Marines announce a "Drug Amnesty" Program. This means that anyone who wants to can get out, no questions asked, just belly up to the company office and file the paperwork. No counseling, no "do you realize what your'e doing?", no mentoring of any kind. 

At the time I happened to be the Personnel Chief of a Company attached to an Engineer Battalion. I was the guy that had to prepare the paperwork to process these discharges. Against orders from my superiors I would talk to some of these guys privately and on my own time to see what was motivating them. I cared about these men as individuals, men I had fought alongside, and I thought it was a terrible thing for them to do just to get away from the problems they were having in the Corps.

I knew most of these marines personally and drugs were not the problem. Stateside crap was killing them. These marines hated their superiors, hated the "Stateside Chickenshit", and just wanted out. Their real reasons ranged from not being able to handle a sadistic NCO to too many inspections. Unfortunately, if admitting to a drug problem could get them out, so much the better.

I can't remember how many marines I processed out during that period but each one broke my heart and there were more than a few. My First Sergeant was a tough old bird and OLD CORPS all the way. He forced me under threat of captains mast to notate on their DD-214 that reason for separation was for "DRUG ADDICTION."

Let me repeat, these marines were not drug addicts. Many of them had served tours in Vietnam and God only knows what may have happened to their health and state of mind since then. But do you think any one of them realized that they could be jeopardizing their future care without an honorable discharge?

The VA has discretion to grant full benefits in other-than-honorable or bad conduct discharge cases. It can still deny them benefits if the agency decides the underlying misconduct was "willful and persistent." A largely subjective decision according to VA officials.