I recently unearthed his membership card to the Sacred Order of the Golden Dragon, which was given for crossing the international dateline.  I am trying to find out if he went through a similiar entrance to the "Royal Court" as did one Donald Truscott (USN). When a ship crossed the international date line any crew who had not previously crossed it were initiated into the Order of the Dragon in a fashion similar to what might have happened in Marine Corps Boot Camp.

After their initiation this is the sick concoction they were forced to drink to complete the process:

Horseradish

A touch of ground-up glue (for body)

Salt
Cayenne pepper
Louisiana Pepper sauce
Cloves
Garlic
Mustard
A touch of benzene
Tunic pepper
Worcestershire sauce

Here is Donald Fergus's memory of the initiation when the U.S.S. Fergus crossed the International Date Line on May 13, 1945.

"We were made to get down on our hands and knees and crawl through a canvas chute full of garbage that had been saved up for a few days. What an awful stink. When we came out of the other end of the chute, fire hoses were aimed at us, blasting us with cold salt water out of the ocean.

We were soaking wet when they poked us with electric rods. What an awful shock that was and how it hurt. The men that were doing all this to us were men who had crossed the line before. Again we were made to get down on our hands and knees. This time we crawled through a line of men’s legs. As we crawled through their legs, the men would hit our bottoms with paddles. By the time we got through that line, our bottoms were red and extremely sore. A fat guy with a big belly was the focus of our next ordeal. The fat guy’s belly was fixed up to look like a bare bottom and we thought it was. We were all required to kiss his belly (bottom). Yuk!

After all that, we still had one more thing to endure. We had to eat/drink a concoction that was created just for us. It tasted really awful. After it was all over I became a member of Sacred Order of the Golden Dragon and was given the above card to prove it. It all happened 64 years ago. It happened such a long time ago, and that is all that I can remember about that day."

All this from their shipmates, after that the Japs were easy!

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It would seem that Joe has had his problems lately. He has gone from TheGuyFromBoston.com to TheGuyFromBoston.net due to a disagreement with his former partner. This guy David Garafalo, was the guy that registered the original .com domain and when they couldn't resolve their differences he kept the website for himself and declared that "just like James Bond, anyone can play The Guy From Boston." And if that wasn't bad enough he then tried to actually convince us that his cheap substitute could replace Joe. Tell that to the Marines, Davy Boy, and see how far it flies. Forget about it! James Bond my aching ass. First of all there is no other Joe Ligotti, an American original and second, everyone knows that Sean Connery will always be James Bond!

Justice For Joe Is A Victory For Marines

Thankfully a judge decided that this was blatent trademark infringement on the part of Garifalo and Joe is back as the one and only, USMC approved, The Guy From Boston. Spread the word my fellow Marines, Joe is back and better than ever. Here's Joe on political correctness, hilarious.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Officers that are too gung ho about discipline, haircuts and "stateside crap" in a combat zone are just fragger fodder as far as I am concerned. The officers who "got it" didn't even wear insignia in combat operations in my war (Viet Nam), their leadership skills did more talking than just a symbol of rank and they didn't sweat the small stuff. If men are risking their lives in the bush every day who gives a rat's a** about spit shine? 

"Just frag em and they won't bother us no more." Or wait until the right moment in a firefight and shoot that a**hole in the back, and what with all the confusion in combat the death is blamed on the enemy. Those officers who wanted to get back to the "world" kept their mouths shut and their six covered.

Having experienced how these things work in a combat zone first-hand, and in the chaos of a rear area I think it's a distinct possibility that Pat Tillman was fragged, shot in the head by his own troops who knew he was a friendly. He might have been just too much of a straight-shooter for his comrades to tolerate, who knows? Was he to be a witness in a court martial against someone? Did he bust some snuffies for drugs or thievery?

For now it seems the Tillmans are buying into the friendly fire version but I wouldn't be at all surprised if someday it came out that he was fragged. Maybe when all involved have made general, and retired where you can't touch them, the truth will come out.

"Friendly Fire" – Another Military Oxymoron

Reminds me of "military intelligence," jokingly referred to by combat troops as a contradiction in terms due to the wide-spread perception of  mass confusion and the ineptness of our military leaders. It is a vast machine, our military, and one that sometimes gets a bad rap, especially when they are second guessed by civilians. Remember the term, "hurry up and wait?" It was invented by the military.

Somehow the job gets done, but at a heavy price, especially when someone dies because they didn't get "the word.". Or how about "military justice" another famous military oxymoron where verdicts are passed down, based not on guilt or innocence, but for reasons the brass refer to as "for the good of the service." Yeah, whatever.

There Is Nothing Friendly About "Friendly Fire"

Military justice also plays a big part in the way incidents of "friendly fire" are processed through the military machine. If there is a possibility that the circumstances have the potential to embarrass the service, lies will be told and judgments made, again, "for the good of the service." In most cases junior officers are thrown to the dogs because they are expendable and a dime a dozen, those "responsible" are found, blame is assigned, guilt established, judgments made, case closed. However, when someone with a little celebrity status comes along and gets killed, like Pat Tillman, everything changes.

Under the heat of the spotlight the brass has to aim way higher than lieutenants. They are going to have to fry some big boys to keep their public relations intact and those sacrificed will understand that giving up their career "is for the good of the service." After all, some time later when the heat dies down all will be forgiven and the record corrected. It's a fact of life about the military that people like Kevin Tillman are just discovering. I ask you, is there anything "friendly" about losing a brother?

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