Inspiration Time

Today, we watch as some of the youth of this country take to the streets against precieved injustices, crying out in anger and waving signs and banners claiming this is a terrible country. I, for one, am left to consider the gullibility of todays young.

Then I received an E-mail that has reminded me that, within the Marines, there remains hope. Please read.


Everybody Should Read General John Kelly's Speech About Two Marines In The Path Of A Truck Bomb

 

Marines are known the world over for this one simple fact, Marines do not back down from a fight, Not Ever!
I am proud of the U.S.M.C. and I am proud of my Son, A United States Marine!

 

Semper Fi to your son Ura-Ki..

 

God Bless our fighting men and women.

 

Semper Fi to my fallen brothers.
The tactics those Marines practiced that day were in part learned from an almost exact scenario that happened on 23 Oct. 1983, in Beruit , Lebanon. Only difference then, was the Marines were not allowed to carry loaded weapons, and carried very little ammo. Thus, resulting in the death of 241 Marines,Army,and Sailors. I was with 2/8 in '83, we were enroute to relieve 1/8 and should have been rotating them out at the time of that bombing, but were re-routed to Grenada, for a 25th Oct. landing date, just another little speck in Marine Corps history. After our brief stay there, we jumped back on ship and hightailed it to Beruit to relieve 1/8 . So upon our arrival, there was no shortage of ammo then, and tactics were changed, and so had the situation. So that lasted for 5-6 months. So it's been said that 23 Oct. 1983 , was the start of the war on terrorism. So I'm always proud to always see my old unit still making history, kicking ass and taking names, and arranging the meeting of so many of our enemies with their God. But always with a sad heart that my brothers are falling as well. But that's what they are trained to do, and will do it with pride , Semper Fi Marines, past, present and future.

 

Incredible story.

 

Holy hell...that's struck a chord...I'm a mess. In this screwed up world and our own screwed up country, it is a comfort to know one can still have faith in something, in someone. Always faithful. They, our best, represent who and what we are as a country or perhaps, better said, what we achieve to be as a country.

I did a lot of work with 10th Mountain in Afghanistan and when I wanted to pee in their Wheaties I would say something like "Yeah, if I ever got into a world of shit I would want them to send in the 10th Mountain Division......or a couple of Marines."

 

Yea, This story hit a little nerve, In A-Stan we had a number of small Outposts called F.O.B's ( Forward Operating Base) and these would get hit often by IED carrying cars and motorcycles. A few of these FOB's had M-1 Abrams parked at the front gate to deter this madness, and I saw the results of a foiled attack at one. Jersey barriers and a few big dips in the road spaced at 22 feet apart will slow or stop a lot of these attacks.

 

@Ura-Ki Strange enough, one of the things that sticks with me is when I shared a C-17 (cargo plane) with nothing but 2 coffins and their two accompanying comrades going from Kandahar to Bagram. It was an IED that got them. The guys accompanying them were two of their best friends. They were broken in heart and spirit, consumed by loss, and that dark, empty cavern just echoed with it. You could touch their pain as it hung from the walls. Both were young as were the Fallen Warriors... They tried but they couldn't stop the tears, the pain. I have never felt such sadness or so helpless. Like smoke it tainted my clothes and the pores of my skin. And, sometimes it comes back but not to haunt me but to touch me, to tell me not to forget. And, I don't. I can't. Of all the crap I've lived through and seen for some reason this stuck to me. I carry it with me. Yet, honestly, I don't want to forget. Even though it makes me sweat or jerks me awake. I don't want to forget. Ever.

 

I can tell I hit a nerve. LOL! Oh wait! That's right... You're one of those nutcases that jump out of perfectly good airplanes allowing the enemy to shoot your bits and bobs off while you float down completely defenseless. Were you 101st? I love those guys even if they all were psychos. I worked for 101st LTC and loved the guy. LOL! I did some work with the 82nd in Tirana, Albania and they also were nuts! They entire 18th Airborne Corps is whacko!!!!!! But... you have to be to jump out of a completely functional aircraft. Insanity is their prerequisite! LOL!

 

LOL I always enjoyed a good Jump! H.A.L.O.'s at night with N.O.D. or H.A.H.O's and having to navigate 90 miles in the dark. Fast Roping out of a moving Helo, or a rocking chair rope over water or onto a pitching deck, puts a smile on a fellas face every time! Course I was scared shitless half the time, or to amped up to be scared the rest of the times. Brings back a lot of memories, 3741 Jumps, and only One broken Leg, One dislocated shoulder, three broken fingers, one dislocated thumb, and two compressed disks! LOL

 

You know I have not been there. I've been to all the battlefields for Europe: throughout Normandy (OMG, Omah! how they did that I cannot imagine!), Arnhem, Verdon and others, even some of the old Soviet memorials in East Berlin (when it was 'East' Berlin) but never to Pearl Harbor. I would like to and will do so someday.

See! See what I mean! Insanity, pure and simple... Whacko! but, I suppose you are in good company here. LOL!!!!

 

I have stood there and openly cried my eyes out, How could I not! Even standing on the bow of the U.S.S. Missouri over looking the Arizona, I had wet cheeks!