Posted on 08/11/2007 10:15:29 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
3rd Platoon gobbles up a gift from home
RAWAH, Iraq — One day last month in San Diego, a good-hearted woman whose brother-in-law is a Marine in Iraq had an idea to support the troops downrange.
Her brother-in-law, 1st Lt. Josef H. Wiese, 24, of Steilacoom, Wash., is a platoon commander whose Marines man a patrol base in Rawah, a debris-strewn city in western Anbar province.
Now, what would be a really helpful thing to send to Joe and all those tireless young Marines in the searing Mesopotamian heat?
Tuna. Yes, that would be the thing. Great for snacks, it can be spread on just about anything, and they wouldn’t even have to heat it up. But since there are more than a few Marines there, it would be good to send a big enough amount.
And so it was that the thoughtful woman’s gift made its way through the postal system, across continents, across oceans, and was delivered to Wiese and the Leathernecks of 3rd Platoon, Company D, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.
Wiese eyed the gift, with gratitude but also surprise.
“So, my sister-in-law, she went out and bought this whole big family-size can of tuna — not even family size — restaurant size.”
“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a whole lot of tuna.’”
He realized he now faced a problem in logistics. With this much tuna, how would they keep it fresh once they opened it?
The first step was to stage the tuna, so to speak. Marines being in excellent shape, they managed to raise the can to a perch on the refrigerator.
A day passed. Then two. Days turned into a week.
“I guess it sat up there for about a good two, three weeks, intimidating us,” Wiese said.
Then, at some hour of a 24-hour-day, Lance Cpl. Christopher Martinez finished standing watch.
“I was hungry,” said Martinez, 21, a Squad Automatic Weapon gunner from Corpus Christi, Texas.
“So,” Wiese said, “Lance Cpl. Martinez came to me with this big smile: ‘Let’s eat this.’”
Next problem: “We didn’t have any bowls big enough for this thing,” Wiese said.
Then a solution struck Wiese and Martinez. They could use a big plastic trash bag, and a carton that normally holds numerous Meals, Ready to Eat.
“I used the insides of the box to kind of spread open the plastic bag,” Wiese recalled.
They grabbed a quart bottle of mayonnaise and emptied it in.
In went various seasonings, including a seafood seasoning salt that sells in Wiese’s home state of Washington. A Marine from Louisiana gave them a seasoning familiar in his home region.
“So we finally got this thing mixed up,” Wiese said. “We start popping out hot dog buns because that’s all we had and threw tuna on the hot dog buns.”
Then came the next stroke of genius. If they used the pre-sliced American cheese they had around, they could offer the Marines tuna melts.
Wiese and Martinez fairly exulted in their ingenuity.
“‘Yeah, we just achieved something spectacular. — ‘Hey, you want a tuna melt?’”
Few did.
“We were trying to pawn off all these tuna melts. ‘No thanks. Not hungry yet.’”
But soon, the Marines finished off the tuna melts. Still, “more than half that tuna [was] left inside the plastic bag,” Wiese said.
But as word spread that it was good stuff, “It went away in a day or two,” Wiese said.
“It was pretty good,” said Pfc. Bryan Gregory, 22, of Bagdad, Ariz. “A little odd … but whatever gets the job done.”
Semper Fi.
L
This gave me a real chuckle. Nothing, but NOTHING, stops the Marines. They’ll find a way. BTW, the last Marine quoted is from Baghdad, AZ. I thought that was a typo, and looked it up, and there really IS a Baghdad, AZ. It has lots of golf courses. Perhaps one day Baghdad, Iraq will, too. We pray for the safety of our troops and for the success of their mission.
Now you’ve made me hungry for tuna.
Tuna. It’s not just for liberals anymore.
A nice tuna sandwich on toast would totally own right about now
Great story!
For some of the troops I help support, I decided they would probably like something a little different than those dry cheese crackers or stick-on-the-roof-of-your-mouth peanut butter ones (all prepackaged.)
So, I cleaned the store shelf of little cans of ham spread. Then came crackers - every kind you can think of. I just knew they would love it.
Then a friend reminded me - no pork products to the troops. Huh? This is ham! Not pork.
BINGO! I think I hit myself on the head at that point.
Anybody have any ideas what to do with a dining room table full of little cans of ham and boxes of crackers?
The Marines: God’s gift to America.
This way you know what got sent because you did it. Try it out.
Sell ‘em, eat ‘em or throw a party. The next neighbourhood event sure won’t lack ham and crackers... LOL.
Loved the tuna story!
About your ham, you could donate it to your local food shelf. A lot of people are in need of good, shelf-stable food.
But it doesn't have an "h".
Have a theme fund-raiser around the food, and use the proceeds to send something to the troops.
That ain't right! Bad enough we keep the female troops mostly confined to bases, but cowing to Islamic dietary standards is going way over the line.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Salute!
What about some Salmon. Fruit cocktail is always a favorite, they can eat the fruit and drink down the juices.
And dont ever forget PBJ sandwichs, which on the History Channel said that Peanutbutter and Jelly sandwichs was invented durning WW2 for aircrews as a easy snack while flying missons.
God Bless the USMC....
Anybody have any ideas what to do with a dining room table full of little cans of ham and boxes of crackers?
Your local rescue mission would love to have it.
You’re right. I was confused by the fact that on the google page, it showed “Baghdad, AZ, Golf Courses.” But on the city’s home page, it was indeed “Bagdad, A,” originally a copper-mining town. Thanks for the correction.
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