Marine Looks Dapper In A Full Metal Jacket

A Marine Combat Correspondent can still fight. Even though trained as a reporter fresh out of USMC Boot Camp, on an Army base no less, there is no forgetting you are a basic marine rifleman, first and foremost. You cannot imagine a worse fate for a new Marine , fresh from 12 weeks of boot camp hell, ready to avenge the deaths of friends as a marine grunt, then finding out the Corps has other plans for you and that your first duty station is an U.S. Army base.

But it happened to me. It's the height of the Vietnam War and all of my marine buddies are getting orders assigning them as 0311, grunts and related infantry MOS's and are off to jungle warfare training for more hell – learning how to fight this war – and loving it! Vietnam, watch out, here we come!

Even back then I wasn't so dumb that I didn't realize my luck. I made a fool of myself with a half hearted effort to get my orders changed so that I could die with the rest of my friends. I joined the Corps to fight – not write! But secretly, I was elated! I was so excited that I would be following in the footsteps of Ssgt Jack Rice, my uncle, the writer and my personal hero.

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