MCCOY'S MARINES: DARKSIDE TOWARD BAGHDAD

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | November 10, 2003 | John Koopman

[river rat]

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Marines . . . A seat on war's 50-yard line . . . Men in uniform will be killing people . . . A patch of paradise, here's Kuwait . . . Keeping up with Kilo Company . . . The time has come . . . Darkside's pep talk, clubbing baby seals . . . Staring into the face of death.

[Valin]

Consider yourself flagged.

[Lurker]

"My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby harp seals. We will hit them with everything we have."

1/8 bump.

Semper Fi.

L

[river rat]

Some of the damnedest thoughts or statements have come from "uneducated" Gunnys...

"None of you bastards have orders or permission to die... Anyone of you that dies, will be immediatly Court Marshalled..."

"If I want prisoners, I will ask for them and describe them in great detail......Do NOT bring me unrequested prisoners.."

"Leave their dead on the surface a bit longer.....The wind is right, to carry the stench back to their positions..."

"I don't want anyone who can't read -- setting out the Claymores"....Especially, the part that reads - "This side toward enemy"!

There is no question in my mind, that the Lord put Gunnys on the earth to see to it that green ass Marines had the chance to get home to their families --- and the enemy didn't....

Happy Birthday Brothers

Semper Fi

[river rat]

"Do it over agin? SIR, YES SIR!

Damn, I didn't know you were a gluton for punishment....

Do you get up in the morning and slam your head with a hammer? Just kidding...
Remember brother, we're a LOT older now...
The wheels are just not as strong as they need to be..
The eyes not a sharp.....the nerves not a steady....

In short.....the "edge" is gone..and you KNOW that can get you killed real quick..
Let the young guys handle business.....They're doing just fine...

Semper Fi

[river rat]

There are more "old grunts" in this forum that you would ever imagine!

The younguns are out their fighting, and we old farts have been reduced to keyboard warrior status...

Col. McCoy, the C.O. of 3/4 - is "Old Corps", get the job done, deal with combatants quickly, brutally, violently and get our boys home..

One of those rare Officers, with whom the Marine Corps seems to be overly blessed ---

Our "Young Lt." thought the world of him...

I'll try to post the rest of the series as the SF Chronicle released them... These are all going to be ACTUAL embedded reporter notes from the long drive from Kuwait into downtown Baghdad...

It was Marines from Col. McCoy's 3/4, that assisted the Iraqi citizens to bring down that huge bronze statue of Saddam in Baghdad's main square ---- the scene seen round the world on TV...

Stay tuned..the rest of the story should be good.

Semper Fi

[MissAmericanPie]

I don't know that I can wait for the five segments. What a great read, please ping me for the other's if you don't mind.

[river rat]

Lurker, I'm so damned old - I forgot to mention the one quote I really wanted to include, about a "fair fight".

This from an old salt E6 that HAD to be at least 45 at the time.....maybe 150 pounds - quiet, stealthy and deadly as a cobra.

"A fair fight, is getting up to a warm breakfast and smelling that the napalm has already fried the enemy to a delightful crisp"..

Semper Fi

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Valin.

River Rat, ping to me to rest of the chapters, Thanks.

[river rat]

How could one say "no" to a lady from Texas?

I'll try to remember all those that asked to be pinged for the other segments.....

But I'm so damned old and forgetful, I might forget to even check for the article tomorrow!

Old age is a &*^*(&^

Semper Fi

[MEG33]

Ping another lady from Texas,please.

[river rat]

This is Lt. Col. Bryan P. McCoy, commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

And these are his Marines......

Semper Fi

[river rat]

Come on...it shouldn't be that difficult...

Our checks were from the Department of the Navy.
Navy Corpsmen served with the grunts...
All the doctors that patched us up were Navy on Navy ships....
The first Marines were sailors assigned special duties...

Bet you didn't know that...last one....

Semper Fi

[MEG33]

It isn't tough for a USNR wife 53/56!

[river rat]

Testing tomorrow's ping list....
Photos added at bottom of todays post..
Semper Fi

[EternalVigilance]

Thanks to you and all the others for your service.

The rest of us owe you bigtime.

[MissAmericanPie]

Thanks for the ping.

[EternalVigilance]

What a great post!

I enjoyed every bit of it tremendously.

[hosepipe]

What I wanna see is.........

1) The guys thats capture terrorists
2) bug them with traceing equipment, wireing for sound, let them go
3) track them to find where they end up (make notes)
4) raid those locations, capture more, break things
5) GOTO 2).

Bravado is such a waste when what you're after is species extinction..