Ive been blogging lots lately. Thats right Mike, I said it. BLOG!! If youre so sure its not a blog than why am I looking at a little faux black piece of tape with white letters on it that says, "BLOG POST". I think this should be taken up with staff. Seriously. And while were at it with staff. hehehe......um....who the fuck decides what gets rejected and what gets accepted around this motherfucker?! Not only did Gatsbys set get rejected, but Monroe of all women had ANOTHER rejected set. Both girls are gorgeous and had great sets but....what the fuck!!! Get your heads out of your asses SG.
Anyways. Today sucked. I got word earlier today that one of the guys I was in the Marines with killed himself last night. His name was Joseph, Im not sharing the last name. Im not sure if I would say we were buddies or pals or anything like that. He was a fresh boot when he came to me and checked in. He was a Private. I was a Corporal. I hadnt hurt my back yet so I was still 1st Squad Leader in my engineer platoon. Hands down I had the best squad in the entire company. It was just known. Luck of the draw, four new boots came in at once, he checked in first, he came to first squad.
I didnt want him. I didnt like him. He was slow, didnt want to learn and had an attitude like he knew everything because he was one of the top three to graduate from his engineer school. He checked in in civilian attire. You dont do that. You check in in your Alpha Dress Uniform. While checking in the next day he said, "Yeah" to our First Sergeant. You dont say "Yeah" to ANY First Sergeant, let alone YOUR First Sergeant. He caused me a lot of heartache. A lot. Thats the way the chain of command works. If one of my Marines fucked up, I payed for it. Not them. Rest assured, later on that day we had a little "talk". It took a lot of time but he came along and he learned. He didnt have much as far as composure goes. He was always goofin off in formation and he talked back a lot but he was a good kid. A performer on every level. I came to the point where I knew I could count on him to get stuff done.
One time when I was out in front of the formation, as acting Platoon Sergeant, when we were in Brunai briefly, there was this old salty Colonel that thought he was going to walk between myself and my platoon. If there are any Marines reading this right now, you probably just laughed and said "Oh hell no" to yourself. As I saw the Colonel approaching, I called the platoon to attention and saluted with the proper greeting of the day, yet he still continued on his path between myself and my platoon. Joseph, being my rifleman in First Fireteam, broke formation and stepped in front of the Colonel asking him to walk around. At that moment, the shit hit the fucking fan. Dude, I had all kinds of high ranking officers and enlisted Marines running over to see what the commotion was. My Gunnery Sergeant saw what was going on and came running over. He came to me and I explained the situation. I got back in formation, he took over, called us to attention and dismissed us to get on the ship. As I was marching us to the docks, you could hear Gunny Rowan tearing this Colonel a new ass for trying to break that sanctity. As a whole, officers are kinda dumb when it comes to shit like that. Theyre only officers because they went to college, joined a frat most likely, and got wasted for four years earning a degree in underwater basket weaving so they could sit behind a desk and be called "Sir" out of what they think is respect. Not all. Just some. Anyways, both myself and Joseph got our asses chewed just out of general purpose, but behind closed doors when the officers were away, our First Sergeant told us to forget about it.
Anyways, he made shit interesting to say the least. And he was always smiling and always willing to give advice to his fellow Marines or help out and he busted his ass when I asked him to. And come the weekend, he was always in the common areas or out on the patio drinkin it up and causing a ruckus. When he picked up Corporal, he requested that I be out there with him and pin his rank on him. I had already hurt my back by that point and had moved on to run the company office pending my administrative seperation so that pissed off his Fireteam Leader, his Squad Leader (who took my place) and his Platoon Sergeant. I was honored and up until that moment didnt realize that maybe he looked up to me. I was upset when I couldnt go to Iraq with all of them. Here were all these guys, the few of us remaining that came there together when we were boots, and the rest of them, the guys that I helped train to go to war, and taught as much as I could to, and they looked up to me and depended on me to be there and I couldnt go. I left a month before they all deployed but every single one of them came back alive.
Theres a bond with people that you were in with. The people that you carried on traditions with. The people that you pinned on and helped them to earn their blood stripes and the ones that did the same for you. And if you dont know what that means than you wouldnt understand because in todays society its called hazing. I dont call it that. I call it tradition. And there was never a single person that was forced or pressured into being a part of it in any way. I was pinned on with Corporal and Sergeant. My star tattoos cover up the scars but if you look close enough you can still see the pin holes. I earned my Blood Stripes too. Joseph came to me and begged to be a part of this and we did and I swear he enjoyed it. He was so happy when he picked up Corporal. I was happy for him. He earned. He only did his four years and got out. Went home and started a family. Had a wife and kid. I'd lost touch with him over the years but he was on my myspace because that was how I kept in touch with most of the guys I was in with. A few weeks ago I deleted that account because some cocksucker kept hacking into it. Ah well.....Im rambling too much on this. I wish I couldve stayed in. I dont know yet if Im gonna go to the funeral. Its in Indiana. If I do, Ill most likely coming through Columbus if anyone wants to hang for a minute.
obituary
Anyways. Today sucked. I got word earlier today that one of the guys I was in the Marines with killed himself last night. His name was Joseph, Im not sharing the last name. Im not sure if I would say we were buddies or pals or anything like that. He was a fresh boot when he came to me and checked in. He was a Private. I was a Corporal. I hadnt hurt my back yet so I was still 1st Squad Leader in my engineer platoon. Hands down I had the best squad in the entire company. It was just known. Luck of the draw, four new boots came in at once, he checked in first, he came to first squad.
I didnt want him. I didnt like him. He was slow, didnt want to learn and had an attitude like he knew everything because he was one of the top three to graduate from his engineer school. He checked in in civilian attire. You dont do that. You check in in your Alpha Dress Uniform. While checking in the next day he said, "Yeah" to our First Sergeant. You dont say "Yeah" to ANY First Sergeant, let alone YOUR First Sergeant. He caused me a lot of heartache. A lot. Thats the way the chain of command works. If one of my Marines fucked up, I payed for it. Not them. Rest assured, later on that day we had a little "talk". It took a lot of time but he came along and he learned. He didnt have much as far as composure goes. He was always goofin off in formation and he talked back a lot but he was a good kid. A performer on every level. I came to the point where I knew I could count on him to get stuff done.
One time when I was out in front of the formation, as acting Platoon Sergeant, when we were in Brunai briefly, there was this old salty Colonel that thought he was going to walk between myself and my platoon. If there are any Marines reading this right now, you probably just laughed and said "Oh hell no" to yourself. As I saw the Colonel approaching, I called the platoon to attention and saluted with the proper greeting of the day, yet he still continued on his path between myself and my platoon. Joseph, being my rifleman in First Fireteam, broke formation and stepped in front of the Colonel asking him to walk around. At that moment, the shit hit the fucking fan. Dude, I had all kinds of high ranking officers and enlisted Marines running over to see what the commotion was. My Gunnery Sergeant saw what was going on and came running over. He came to me and I explained the situation. I got back in formation, he took over, called us to attention and dismissed us to get on the ship. As I was marching us to the docks, you could hear Gunny Rowan tearing this Colonel a new ass for trying to break that sanctity. As a whole, officers are kinda dumb when it comes to shit like that. Theyre only officers because they went to college, joined a frat most likely, and got wasted for four years earning a degree in underwater basket weaving so they could sit behind a desk and be called "Sir" out of what they think is respect. Not all. Just some. Anyways, both myself and Joseph got our asses chewed just out of general purpose, but behind closed doors when the officers were away, our First Sergeant told us to forget about it.
Anyways, he made shit interesting to say the least. And he was always smiling and always willing to give advice to his fellow Marines or help out and he busted his ass when I asked him to. And come the weekend, he was always in the common areas or out on the patio drinkin it up and causing a ruckus. When he picked up Corporal, he requested that I be out there with him and pin his rank on him. I had already hurt my back by that point and had moved on to run the company office pending my administrative seperation so that pissed off his Fireteam Leader, his Squad Leader (who took my place) and his Platoon Sergeant. I was honored and up until that moment didnt realize that maybe he looked up to me. I was upset when I couldnt go to Iraq with all of them. Here were all these guys, the few of us remaining that came there together when we were boots, and the rest of them, the guys that I helped train to go to war, and taught as much as I could to, and they looked up to me and depended on me to be there and I couldnt go. I left a month before they all deployed but every single one of them came back alive.
Theres a bond with people that you were in with. The people that you carried on traditions with. The people that you pinned on and helped them to earn their blood stripes and the ones that did the same for you. And if you dont know what that means than you wouldnt understand because in todays society its called hazing. I dont call it that. I call it tradition. And there was never a single person that was forced or pressured into being a part of it in any way. I was pinned on with Corporal and Sergeant. My star tattoos cover up the scars but if you look close enough you can still see the pin holes. I earned my Blood Stripes too. Joseph came to me and begged to be a part of this and we did and I swear he enjoyed it. He was so happy when he picked up Corporal. I was happy for him. He earned. He only did his four years and got out. Went home and started a family. Had a wife and kid. I'd lost touch with him over the years but he was on my myspace because that was how I kept in touch with most of the guys I was in with. A few weeks ago I deleted that account because some cocksucker kept hacking into it. Ah well.....Im rambling too much on this. I wish I couldve stayed in. I dont know yet if Im gonna go to the funeral. Its in Indiana. If I do, Ill most likely coming through Columbus if anyone wants to hang for a minute.
obituary
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I got around to putting up a photo of my puppy too