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Shawarma for lunch
I went on a trip to the UAE for an intelligence exchange conference. Per diem was a cool $105 a day. There was no way I was going to spend that amount unless I ate in high-end restaurants. That wasn’t me – food could be had on the cheap. The first day, I strolled down…
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Dinsmere (name changed to protect the innocent)
Dinsmere was a Lance Corporal, having been promoted back after getting busted to PFC. He was a great Intelligence Marine, but not a Marine’s Marine. We were on an exercise and had the opportunity to find and explore a MAZ-543 with a Scud missile. The MAZ was a massive eight-wheeled missile transporter with a small…
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A dog named Notso
The XO of Marine Aircraft Group 11 had a bulldog named Notso. His last name was Bright. One year for the Marine Corps Ball, one of our august officers volunteered for duty the day of the Ball so that he would not have to attend. The Commanding Officer took exception to this and looked for…
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Once More On Board (Bored) Ship
Ship life for officers is little better than that for enlisted folks, except for one major exception. Chow in the wardroom is unlimited and eating on the mess deck is an exercise in finding the right (any) nutrition and quantity. I was now a lofty First Lieutenant and the S-2 of the Marine Aircraft Wing,…
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The Old Guard New Lieutenants
New lieutenants don’t think like you or me. I was an old Lieutenant – crusty with eight years of service and five promotions already under my belt. I was on the career home stretch. I had company, too. One of my fellow MECEP’ers, Andre Leblanc was what I call the ultimate Marine. He had come…
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The Tank
Is there anything under a tank that one needs to see? Part of training new lieutenants is to have them crawl under a running tank. I am sure this is important to build self confidence and show that it can be done. Our day came during training. I happened to be the acting Company Commander…
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Training to be a USMC Officer, The Basic School (TBS, also called The Ball Slap)
Training to be an officer in the Marine Corps is interesting and the epitome of diversity. All the differing backgrounds and bases of knowledge had to be molded so that every new lieutenant had a basic skill set to enable him (I say him because my company was an all-male company through training) to be…
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Bored Marines
One never wants one’s Marines to be bored. While with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit cruising through the Mediterranean, we were scheduled for an exercise at a training area in northern Italy called Monte Romano. As an intelligence collection and signals exploitation unit, we didn’t operate with the main body. We supported the warfighters by…
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Dumping the Trash
My deployment as part of the 26 Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provided rich fodder for stories. Extended periods on board a ship tends not to bring out the best in Marines, even when they are able to get ashore. Here’s a picture of that hog – long since decommissioned. As we transited across the Atlantic…
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Falling Gaijins
James Roddy and I took a day trip from Misawa to Towada-Ko, old Towada where there is a lake in the mouth of an ancient crater. This is a tourist spot for the Japanese, but not a place where many Americans go. It was really beautiful when we went – the leaves were starting to…
