-
We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
-
If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
-
Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.
Happy birthday USMC
- Thread starter missoak
- Start date
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
On one level, thank you.
On another level...well, let me explain.
In boot camp, our drill instructors included several references to General Smedley (Gimlet Eye) Butler. Now, don't get me wrong, Butler had an incredible career as a Marine--definitely a warrior.
However, that was not what he was famous for. Butler was most famous for two things: a proposed amendment to the constitution--The Peace Amendment. And, a book--booklet really--War is a Racket. It is in the public domain now. Available on the internet in pdf. Its cost is nothing more than the time it takes to google it.
You see, as a general Butler finally woke up to the fact that his entire career had been spent not fighting for freedom, but killing other people to forward American business interests in Central America. The Banana Wars and so forth of the 1920s and 1930's.
So, why would the USMC training regiment at Parris Island ensure to include references to a general officer who was forced into retirement and whose biggest impact was a booklet that exposed the back-room dealings, and a Peace Amendment to the US Constitution that heavily restricted the ability of the US government to kill people in other lands? (I've read the proposed amendment--its online. It pretty much knocks out every military adventurism. It would allow only defense against invasion.) Why would the USMC plant the seed about this guy?
I can only speculate that somewhere, somebody who developed the training program could not come right out and tell recruits in their training materials what Butler said and believed; but, wanted recruits to at least have some tiny little chance of finding out.
Chesty Puller was the greatest Marine warrior. Hands down, no argument, light years ahead of the next guy. Smedley Butler was the greatest Marine period: he not only recognized what the deadly special interests were up to, and how they used the military; but he announced it to all in his booklet. And, then followed that up with an attempt to change the constitution to make it much harder for the federal government to kill other people in foreign lands and sacrifice American young men for banal monetary interests and votes.
So, MissOak, on one level, thank you. The former Marine in me always swells with pride on 10 Nov. On another level, well...age and experience has led me to conclude the "another level" is far more important.
Last edited:
Dave_pro2a
Regular Member
Shriners beat it by around 100k members.
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
<chuckle>
You've got a point. "The few, the proud" doesn't exactly lend itself to the idea of being the largest anything.
Nonetheless, I appreciate the warmth behind her sentiment.
F350
Regular Member
Only if you are only counting currently active members; remember "Once a Marine, always a Marine" there is a legion of former (meaning just not on active status) Marines out here. I have a Devil Dog tattoo on my right forearm, the wife laughs when she sees another USMC tattoo on a guy, because she knows there is going to be a 5-10 conversation ahead.
Drank a toast to the Corps last night with a couple ounces of 2012 George T Stagg, the world's finest bourbon @ 143 proof.
Attachments
Last edited:
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
Dang it. Now I'm all thirsty. Hang on a sec while I go get some scotch.
OK. Where were we? Oh, yes.
If I recall, in Chesty Puller's biography Marine!, Chesty liked good bourbon.
Last edited:
F350
Regular Member
Dang it. Now I'm all thirsty. Hang on a sec while I go get some scotch.
OK. Where were we? Oh, yes.
If I recall, in Chesty Puller's biography Marine!, Chesty liked good bourbon.
Ten High bourbon seemed to be the official drink of Marine Corps DIs when I went through MCRD San Diego. (I was secretary of the lead platoon in the series, I knew all the shat on the DIs. They often gathered in our duty hut at night and I would pour the "coffee") cheap but tolerable.
I like scotch but find it a little weak, I rarely drink bourbon under 100 proof and my daily drink is WL Weller Antique @ 107.
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
1. <chuckle> Thanks for the story about boot camp.
2. You're a better Marine than I. One of my favorites is a pure corn likker at 100 proof, but I gotta add one ice cube. For Goslingers 151 (151 proof dark rum) I gotta add an ice cube and a tiny splash of cold water.
Freedom1Man
Regular Member
197proof everclear.
I use to drink that straight, but I was only in the Army.
Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk
I use to drink that straight, but I was only in the Army.
Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk
redhawk44
Member
Plt. 381, MCRD 1964
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
Oh! Did they have platoons that far back? I woulda guessed cohorts and centuries.
<Citizen ducks and runs now because he knows if the conversation goes any further he's gonna lose badly against these old salts.>
Last edited:
OC for ME
Regular Member
Scotch?Dang it. Now I'm all thirsty. Hang on a sec while I go get some scotch.
OK. Where were we? Oh, yes.
If I recall, in Chesty Puller's biography Marine!, Chesty liked good bourbon.
Un-American I say!http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hollywood+marine
http://www.amazon.com/Guadalcanal-Tarawa-Beyond-Marines-Pacific/dp/0786446714
Me, I was a sissy fast boat sailor. Looked for penguins up north every year...never did see any...saw a few ruskies though. Did keep a few scientist from becoming polar bear horse-devours.
Happy B-Day Jarheads.
Citizen
Founder's Club Member
Scotch?
It may be un-American, but making barley into beer is against the very laws of nature.