This Marine: My name is Richard (that's me on the left in Vietnam, 1969, I was 19 years old). I live in Scottsdale, Arizona and have for the past 20 years enjoyed a great career in the Hospitality Industry, specifically golf travel. I served on active duty in the US Marines from September of 1968 to August of 1972. In my four years in the Corps I traveled the world, achieved the rank of Sergeant (E-5) and was tagged with the nickname "Skip" as a result of my habit of slathering peanut butter on my field rations to make them taste better. (It worked!) I did one tour in Vietnam from July 1969 to August 1970. My qualifications for blogging about the Marines and the Low Carb Lifestyle comes from my personal experience with both.

A Boot Is A Boot - Every Parris Island Marine I ever met thought they were tougher than us "Hollywood" Marines, who, because we had the misfortune to enlist west of the Mississippi, went through "Boot Camp" at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. (Only a jarhead would place Hollywood anywhere near San Diego!) It's true that I never saw a swamp out there but it sure didn't feel like Hollywood to me. Never saw a single movie star, it was hot as hell on that asphalt grinder and I would bet you a months wages that OUR DI's were every bit as mean and sadistic as the ones at Parris Island!

After boot camp I attended the all-services military journalism school, DINFOS, which stands for Defense Information School which of all places was on an ARMY base in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ft. Benjamin Harrison to be exact. It was the home of the Army's Finance Corps among other things. You cannot imagine a worse fate for a new Marine , fresh from 12 weeks of absolute hell but ready for blood spilling. It's the height of the Vietnam War and all of my buddies are getting orders assigning them as 0311, grunts and related infantry MOS's and are off to jungle warfare training for more hell - and loving it! So, me and one other poor sap from my platoon are singled out and designated as MOS 4312, Combat Correspondent and issued orders to an ARMY base to learn how to write about the war. Can anyone say OUTCASTS?!, we were the joke of the platoon! Back then I was so Gung Ho! that I cursed my bad karma and made a fool of myself trying to get my MOS changed so that I could die with the rest of my friends. I joined the Corps to fight - not write! I was too young and stupid to realize just how lucky I was. Fortunately, the Commandant upstairs decided that was not to be my fate and I actually ended up enjoying the experience. (By the way - that Army base no longer exists - but in it's place is a great golf course, a Pete Dye gem called - The Fort. The first tee is located is where my barracks once stood -if I sliced a driver I could hit it. 

One Small Step For Man - One Giant Leap For Skip - Before heading off to Vietnam in 1969, right after our astronauts landed on the Moon, the Marines played another little trick on me and decided they needed more Combat Engineers than they did journalists. They sent me to Engineer School to learn how to blow things up and I enjoyed it so much I made the mistake of graduating first in my class. What an idiot! All of a sudden I became much more valuable to the Corps as an engineer than a journalist. Seems as though they had enough writers after all and when I got to Nam they threw me a bloody flak vest and sent me north - way north. I had finally gotten my wish, I wasn't reporting the war, I was fighting it! I spent most of the first half of my tour building bridges, blowing up tunnels, sweeping roads for mines and generally leaving a smoking trail of destruction wherever I went. The only good thing about it was I made a lot of grunt friends who appreciated my skills at spotting booby traps. I spent most of the rest of that year humping around between Dong Ha and Quang Tri, later to be transferred south to Da Nang where I finished my tour assigned to the Marine Air Wing, I have fond memories of how well the pilots of the "Wild Weasels, Gunfighter Squadron" took care of "their" Marines.

The rest of my enlistment was downright boring, especially after having survived a year in Southeast Asia with nothing more to show for it than nightmares and a bad skin condition. I quickly settled in to a two year stint at Camp Pendleton where the Marines threw me another curve and decided to send me to Admin Chief School. I ended up shuffling papers like a civilian pogue with a nine to five billet that was pretty much like a regular job. I lived off -base with my new wife in a fine apartment and played ball on the 7th Engineer Battalion Softball team. My first sergeant was a heck of a ping-pong player and taught me all he knew until all of a sudden my four year enlistment was over. I enjoyed the Corps and was tempted to re-up but my wife had this crazy idea that she wanted to raise our kids in one place!

Out! - College, work as a veteran's counselor and a job in sales followed in the years after I returned to my home town of St. Louis, Mo in 1972. The war was still dragging on and I was often asked to attend anti-war demonstrations, which I declined to do. I had simply had enough of it and just wanted to forget all that and get on with my life. Twenty-one year olds can do that. I still find it hard to believe that it has been 36 years since all of this took place and lately I have become motivated to re-connect with some of the guys I served with. This new blog I have created will help me get some things off my chest, things I haven't spoken about to anyone until now. Hopefully it will encourage other Marines to do so as well. It also gives me the opportunity to talk about and promote the carbohydrate controlled nutritional approach to a healthy lifestyle that I have adopted at this stage of my life.

Funny thing about the Marines. As much as you think you hate it when you are in it, you tend to only remember the good times when you are no longer a part of it and woe the person who says a bad word about MY Marine Corps! Then, when you first step that un-booted foot on the civilian shore again your new concept of freedom takes on a life of it's own. Suddenly you can eat what you want, stay in the rack as long as you want, grow your hair down to your butt if that's what makes you happy and all sorts of un-marine things. Naturally, this sort of attitude has great potential for disaster - and brother did I ask for it! All of a sudden I turn around and I am a FAT 55 year old capable of being weighed accurately only by a truck scale out on the interstate! Seriously, at 5'-9" tall and close to 400 lbs. that is nothing short of blobsville.

Long story short, self-esteem goes down the tubes, depression leads to eating, eating leads to depression, a cycle you can ride straight to hell if you aren't careful - and on this hog a helmet won't help! At the point where I thought I had reached bottom I discovered the book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and saw light at the end of the tunnel. If I had learned anything at all about my yo-yo battle with weight over the years since leaving the Corps I had forgotten it and then it hit me; everything I had put in my mouth up to that point had done absolutely nothing for me but make me unhappy, why not try something new?! And when I went through my Mother's losing battle with cancer my stress relief was eating. I am paying for that now but believe me, it's never too late to change, no matter what your age or condition. I have already lost a 120 pounds but a guy as big as me can lose that in no time.

You can follow my sometimes hilarious, oft-times, heart-breaking journey to lose two-hundred pounds and attempt to fit back into that Marine Corps blouse hanging in the closet. I know I am crazy to try but it keeps me focused. Along the way I will talk about what I ate, where I got it, how it was cooked and how I was able to do away with sugar and bread. How I deal with alcoholic beverages (a Marine staple but I still can't drink Pabst) and about how I was finally able to change my eating habits for good. If you see any part of yourself in me then maybe I can help you.

Marines are no different than any other human beings when it comes to weight control, some never have a problem and some, like me, fight it all their lives. The Corps says you can't weigh more than they say you can or else and while you are on active duty PT keeps you from going over the top due to bad eating habits. If you don't get the PT or if you get out and don't excercise trouble will be coming. Along the way I will share my story and the stories of other Marines that I admire - real hero's. I hope that you enjoy your visit and welcome your comments.

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