Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch

DefendAmerica.mil ^ | 17 May 2004 | By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jennie Haskamp

[ride the whirlwind]

The event that brought him home in time for little league was life changing, but when he speaks of it, he is humble and quick to change the tide of the conversation to the Marines he met recently, or to the support he has received from friends and strangers alike, rather than be hailed as a hero himself.

Wow. Great attitude this marine has.

[Jackie-O]

Thanks for the ping Tex!
Welcome home Hero! God Bless you and your loving family...God Bless our troops!

[Jackie-O]

For those of you who may have missed it...Posted by April.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1127351/posts

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"When I got hit, I saw a flash of light and then everything went black. All I could hear was fuzz and static," he recalled, pausing to clap as his son's team brought in another runner, putting them ahead by five runs. "

Blinded, momentarily deaf and not yet feeling pain, Popaditch groped his way around the inside of his tank until he located Chambers. 

 "This is the funny part of the story. I grabbed him and screamed, 'Chambers, we have to get the tanks out of here,' and 'Chambers, you're going to have to call for a medevac.' He didn't answer me, so I shook him and screamed it three or four more times, until I realized he'd probably answered me but I couldn't hear him."

As the tank started moving he could faintly hear Chambers on the radio....

"I heard him hollering at both drivers, just doing what tank commanders do naturally," he said, admiration in his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

(Thank this brave Marine - his wife is a Freeper:)

Thank you from Cee-gar man and family

Posted on 04/30/2004 11:05:15 AM EDT by Cee-gar Man US Marine

~ ~

Thank you, and God bless you, Gunnery Sgt. Nick - and your family!

[TexKat]

Ping

[MEG33]

When we picked this Marine as ours in the Situation Room..we didn't realize we had picked such a giant as this....

God Bless our Ceegar Man! I salute the Marines!

[DollyCali]

From Timeout

HOW WE DISCOVERED CEEGAR GUY

During the war, several hundred news-addicted Freepers kept up with fast-breaking events on daily threads called "Operation Iraqi Freedom--The Situation Room--Day #___".

Many threads ran to 5,000 or 6,000 posts a day. They were exciting, sad, informative and (during news lulls) hysterically funny. There were dozens of networks with "BagCams"---live feed from Baghdad---where, among other things, we could watch the correspondents on our computers when they didn't realize we were watching...very funny!

All the BagCams and network broadcasts were eventually trained on Firdos Square, the traffic circle with the statue in the middle. We became very familiar with that blue mosque, the reporters on top of the hotel, the dog who would bark every time a bomb landed. Bombs would also set off all the car alarms in the vicinity...it was funny.

As troops moved into Baghdad, we watched our computers excitedly for tanks rolling into BagCam range. Finally they did and "the Situation Room" erupted with cheers, tears and pride. There were some stupid humans-shield types in the square with a huge banner saying "Go Home U.S. Wankers". Some Iraqis had taken it away from them and changed it to "Go Home Human Shield Wankers!". They paraded around the square with that sign.

Right then someone posted the wonderful photo of Nick and his cigar. It looked just like he was laughing and blowing smoke at the Wanker human shields! (Many female freepers fell instantly in love with Nick...we envy you!). He became an instant icon in The Situation Room. He captured for us the joy of that moment when our wonderful troops completed that perilous journey and finally drove into "our traffic circle". Thank you, Nick.

For a good idea of what it was like, I'll provide a link to the Situation Room anniversary thread posted a few weeks ago. Much of the humor was probably one of those "you just had to be there" things, so some of it may not make sense.
ANNIVERSARY: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1101684/posts
Please keep in mind we didn't know Nick was wounded....or that he was happilly married...***blush***.

Here's a link to the day the tanks rolled into Firdos Square. I don't know if the pictures still show up...I doubt it...you'll probably see a little square with red X instead of pictures. Start around #1757.
TANKS IN THE TRAFFIC CIRCLE: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/888599/posts?q=1&&page=1751

I haven't re-read those threads, so I hope we didn't say anything to embarrass you (or us!). Please know how much Nick means to us and that he is in our prayers every day.

Timeout


68 posted on 05/08/2004 8:59:55 AM EDT by Timeout (Weren't none of us recently fell off a turnip truck)

[DollyCali]

Timeout.. I would like to add to your great post that we (the female "we's") wanted to get a poster guy, as the guys had BellyGirl. We posted a few pix here & there but overall "adopted" Nick, whom we just labeled Ceegar Guy.

The other close poster guy was the one driving a truck w/flag prominently around him.

I put Ceegar Guy on my profile page at the end of March...(2003) along with Belly Girl.... to be FAIR & BALANCED!!!

:)

Gotta run.... Dirty house is calling for me!

[retrokitten]

.... to be FAIR & BALANCED!!!

LOL! That's cute! I think the reasons Nick and Belly Girl were adopted by everyone is that males and females could look at both people and still respect them. Belly Girl (and all the Protestwarrior.com people for that matter) are pretty brave to infiltrate those protests. And Sgt. Nick, well, who could look at that picture and not smile and be proud of our military men and women??

And Timout, what a terrific post! You summed things up beautifully.

[Jackie-O]

Thanks Dolly! I pinged April, tho I suspect she would rather be spending every waking moment with her man, than checking her pings!!! (Lucky Girl!)

[blackie]

Big Hero ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[RightWingMama]

Operation Iraqi Freedom--The Situation Room--Day #___".

I sure miss those threads. They kept me sane.

[dansangel]

Thank you for the ping to this post. I wasn't aware of Cee-gar Man. What a brave Marine and a real credit to the US. makes my heart swell, it does!

May God continue to bless him and his family abundantly - as well as *ALL* of our brave men and women in uniform, past and present.

[amom]

Thanks so much for your sum up of the day we met our CeeGar Guy. Excellent job. What a time it was!

Nick and family are a major part of my Heros in American History. I can't thank them enough for setting examples I can show my children and friends and say "Folks THIS IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT!".

[amom]

I sure miss those threads. They kept me sane.

Boy you can say that again! Me too.

[potlatch]

Thanks for the ping TexKat. What a wonderful guy, no whining or complaining, just happy to be alive. And I'm so glad he is!!

[TMSuchman]

This just goes to show that you can't keep a good man down! SEMPER FI GUNNY! Keep on charging!

And by the way

TANKS & AMTRACKS for your service!

[river rat]

I'm not convinced we still deserve men such as this....

I'm also not sure we won't betray them....as we did before.

Semper Fi

[Travis McGee]

If we betray our troops again, I wonder if America deserves to be free.

[MudPuppy]

Combat Center Marines, Doc, part of the 'Main Event'
Submitted by: MCAGCC
Story Identification #: 2004521164320
Story by Sgt. Jennie E. Haskamp


MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER Twentynine Palms, Calif.(May 15, 2004) -- I am not a boxing fan. Before May 13, I didn't even know who Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver were. The only fight I'd ever watched was Trinidad vs. De La Hoya-the first time they fought.
That all changed with a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Steve Brenner and said he worked for a boxing promoter named Don King. I said, "Who's Don King?" Seriously, I did. If I told you that I didn't immediately know who Don King was, you might not believe me-unless you know me in which case you're probably laughing.

Mr. Brenner gave me a minute to catch up, and then explained that his boss wanted to invite some Marines to the fight that weekend-the fight in question being the much-anticipated Jones Jr. vs. Tarver rematch (something about it being personal this time?)

I asked how many tickets he had in mind, and he asked how many I wanted. I immediately told him about Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch from 1st Tank Battalion who recently returned from Iraq. After a brief description of Gunny Pop's story, I boldly asked Mr. Brenner if we could have a ticket for the gunny and his wife.

Somewhere in the back of my conscience, I knew that asking for two tickets was rude-but I really wanted the gunny's wife to be able to go too.

Mr. Brenner laughed and said, "Well, young lady we had in mind to give you 200 tickets, but we'd certainly like to do something for your gunny. Can my boss call him and speak to him?"

The next day, while I scrambled to distribute the tickets-which hadn't arrived from Las Vegas yet-Gunny Popaditch received a call from Mr. King, thanking him for his service and that of his fellow Marines and Sailors. (Gunny knew who Don King was.)

Late Thursday, I received a call from Coylette James who also works for Mr. King. This time, I didn't ask, "Don who?" She said there was a problem with the shipping company and would it be OK if she sent the tickets in the morning via air freight.

As promised, the tickets arrived at the Palm Springs airport, and when my two young Marines returned with the box, we were all shocked. True to their word, they'd sent us 200 free tickets. What they didn't tell us is that they were $400 and $600 seats.

It was then my Marines convinced me I should attend the fight-even though I'm not a fan.
Ms. James called again, to ensure we'd received the tickets and to ask where the gunny would be sitting. It seems her boss (Don King, I reminded myself) wanted to introduce the Gunny before the fight.

After I got my emotions under control, and she assured me they didn't send the expensive tickets on accident, I gave her his seat number, and asked for the reservation number at the Mandalay Bay (Who knew on a fight weekend getting a room at the Mandalay Bay would be like pulling teeth? Apparently everyone but me.) I actually thought I could get my Marines a room to share at the hotel-and one for the gunny too. Ms James simply took down our last names and assured me two rooms would be ready.

As I left work Friday night, I headed to cash sales to buy some chevrons and coins to take to the Exchange for a plaque. My grandma always said, "If you are invited to dinner, take dessert." I figured I'd buy a plaque for Gunny to give to Mr. King, as a "thank you" from the Combat Center Marines and Sailors.

I got there two minutes before the Plaque Shoppe closed-but he was nice enough to sell me an elaborate case to put my trinkets in and even let me take home his T-square and some two-sided tape. I left him with a few lines to be engraved the next morning and went home to make a plaque. How hard can it be? I took a semester of wood shop in junior high school, afterall.

Saturday morning, I took my homemade plaque to get the engraved plate glued to it. At the Exchange, I overheard Marines talking about the fight-"We don't know where the tickets came from, but we're going to the Jones-Tarver fight tonight. Can you believe it?"

The excitement level at the Exchange was contagious, and I as I drove over to pick up Gunny and April Popaditch, I realized I was excited too.

In Vegas, there was a problem with our room reservations, but Ms. James squared it away almost immediately. I thanked her and asked how she fixed it. She said, "Prayer works, girl. Prayer works."

After we changed into Charlies and headed to the event center, our night seemed to explode.

Ms. James and Mr. Brenner met us at the security gate, and ushered us into the King Productions pressroom. A steady stream of people came in and out as we sat there. Gunny couldn't see them well enough to recognize them-and April and I were equally oblivious to their fame and status.

As Mr. Brenner took me to get my press credentials-they'd assured me I'd be able to take photos of Gunny Pop and Mr. King-Gunny and April were taken to their seats.
When I finally made it to the floor, Gunny and April were engaged in conversation with Carl King. (Don King's son, someone explained when I asked.) Rather than go to our ticketed seats, Carl invited us to sit with him, on the floor, until the people who held tickets for those seats arrived.

As the evening progressed, boxing champions, movie stars, NFL quarterbacks, rap stars and average citizens made their way over to say hello to Gunny and to thank him for his service.
Michael Buffer came over to meet gunny and write down some information about his Marine Corps service and how he was injured. Gunny explained that the 'guy in the white coat' was Michael Buffer, a famous sports announcer.

Finally, someone I recognized-Mr. T-arrived. I asked if they would bring him over to greet my Gunny.

He started barking, "We've got Marines here? Ooh rah, Ooh rah," as he made his way over to where we were standing. He grabbed Gunny's hand and posed for photos, and when I pointed out there were more Marines in the stand, he headed right to where they were.

The Marines went nuts as Mr. T ignored his security detail and climbed up into the stands where they were, signing autographs and posing for pictures, saying, "I pity the fool mess with these Marines."

Prior to the title bout, Mr. Brenner invited Gunny to the ring. We had expected Gunny to be invited, but at the last minute they included several more Marines. With "Doc" and the Marines standing nearby Gunny entered the ring.

Once Gunny was in the ring I went up to hand him the plaque. "Come on in, young lady," said a very large man wearing a black suit, holding the ropes open, just like they do on T.V.-one up with his massive hand, one pressed beneath his foot.

"Me, uh, no, sir, I'm not coming in-I uh, I'm just going to give Gunny the plaque. The Marines and that Doc down there are coming in," I stammered.

I'm sure I sounded like a twit, and I was actually stammering, and he coerced me into the ring, assuring me that all of them were coming in as well.
So now there I was, standing in the ring, next to Gunny and the rest of our Marines and the Doc-looking at Don King and Michael Buffer.

Michael Buffer made some announcements I didn't hear, and then said he wanted to introduce "a hero... a true heavyweight... a champion."

"He served in Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and volunteered to return for Operation Iraqi Freedom 2," he sang into the microphone. He said a lot more, but I was in a daze. I know he mentioned 1st Tank Battalion and MCAGCC, but what stands out is the way he roared, "Gunnery Sgt. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik Popaditch!"

All of a sudden I knew who this man was. He is the "Let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuuuuuumble" guy.
Gunny gave the plaque to Mr. King, and thanked him for all of the Marines and Sailors, there, home and forward deployed. Don King had tears in his eyes when he took the plaque and thanked Gunny Pop, and all of us in uniform. He said us doing what we do as Marines allows people like him to do what they do.

Patty LaBelle sang the national anthem as we stood there at attention, and I prayed that the tears in my eyes would go unnoticed by the camera.

My thoughts drifted to my husband Adrian, in Iraq with 3/7, and I wondered if he would ever get to see this footage. He, more than anyone else, would appreciate the irony of me being in the ring.

After photos in the ring, Doc and the Marines made their way back to their seats and I asked Joe Brown, a former Marine Corps corporal, and currently a boxing commissioner, if Gunny could watch the main event from somewhere closer than we were sitting.

After Mr. 'Cpl.' Brown found Gunny a seat between himself and the vice-president of boxing, April and I headed to our seats. We took a detour to get a Pepsi, and while I was signing the receipt for our drinks, people started screaming and running out of the stadium shouting, 'Knockout!'

As luck would have it, I missed the entire fight-all two rounds of it.

I didn't care though. What would follow was better than any fight. Antonio Tarver, the new light heavyweight champion of the world, invited Gunnery Sgt Nick Popaditch up into the ring to take pictures. For the rest of the evening, everywhere we went, people stopped Gunny and asked him for his autograph-asked to have their picture taken with him-thanked him for his service.

People bought our drinks, waited in line to meet Gunny, even shook my hand and thanked me as well.

They treated all of like heroes that night. Marines called and e-mailed me to tell me that people bought them drinks, paid their cover charges, and thanked them everywhere they went-all over Las Vegas that night.

It was refreshing, to go from seeing the media portray the military in such a bad light to being in Las Vegas that night. I hope all of the Marines and Sailors in Iraq get a chance to experience that when they come home.

I may not be a boxing aficionado, and I may not recognize all of the people I have photos of from that night, but I can tell you this. I have never been more proud to be a United States Marine, and I will always know who Don King is--the first time someone asks!

-30-