Drill Instructor Says He Followed Example (trial of Sgts. Brian Wendel and Robert Hankins)

The Marines we have today are awesome -- I"m not taking away from that. BUT the PC crowd would like a softer, more socially acceptable Corps. It reminds me of the often quoted words of Eleanor Roosevelt:

“The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!”

May it ever be so.

From a friend on email this morning....

Dan Rather, Katie Couric, and a tough old U. S. Marine Gunny were all captured by terrorists in Iraq. The leader of the terrorists told them that he would grant them each one last request before they were beheaded. Dan Rather said, “Well, I’m a Texan; so I’d like one last bowlful of hot spicy chili. “The leader nodded to an underling who left and returned with the chili. Rather ate it all and said, “Now I can die content.”
Katie Couric said, “I’m a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what’s about to happen. Maybe someday someone will hear it and know that I was on the job until the end.” The leader directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder and Couric dictated some comments. She then said, “Now I can die happy.”
The leader turned and said, “And now, Mr. U. S. Marine, what is your final wish?” “Kick me in the butt,” said the Marine. “What?” asked the leader? “Will you mock us in your last hour?” “No, I’m not kidding. I want you to kick me in the butt,” insisted the Marine. So the leader shoved him into the open, and kicked him in the butt. The Marine went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9 mm pistol from inside his cammies, and shot the leader dead. In the resulting confusion, he jumped to his knapsack, pulled out his carbine and sprayed the Iraqis with gunfire. In a flash, all the terrorists were either dead or fleeing for their lives.
As the Marine was untying Rather and Couric, they asked him, “Why did you ask them to kick you in the butt first? Why didn’t you just shoot them in the beginning?”
“What,” replied the Marine, “and have you two jerks report that I was the aggressor?”

I thought it appropriate in light of our comments! LOL Unfortunately, it would be true to form for the Enemedia to do exactly that.

An NCO who expects obedience and attention to detail, while openly flouting military regulations himself, is standing on shaky ground. In my experience, hypocrisy of this kind is often a sure fire way to create brooding resentment and low morale among the lower ranks.

Sometimes the regulations are so rediculous that they get people killed or injured. In which case you break the rules and suck up the punishment.

"These fine young Marnes are just as damn tough as the Marines at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Resivior, and Khe San. These kids are no different now than they were in Chesty’s day."

It has been over 50 years now since I last served on active duty. The kids definately are different. However with the right training they can be taught to perform on par with the old breed.

Those DI's have all been taught how to conduct themselves when training marines and should be severly punished whenever they are caught in direct violation of the orders issued to them. Semper Fi
An Old Man

"I thought it appropriate in light of our comments!"

Actually, it is very painful for me to insinuate that the Corps might be changing into a PC outfit. But there it is, a skirt in charge! Making the Corps into something it was never intended to be.

Thanks for the story, I will pass it on to my son, the U.S. Marine.

Semper Fi

Sometimes the regulations are so rediculous that they get people killed or injured. In which case you break the rules and suck up the punishment.

That can be true. In fact, I found myself in that situation a few times. Thankfully, the higher-ups were like minded. I wanted to include that in my initial reply, but I couldn't come up with the words at the time.

As you wrote, you have to suck up the punishment. Saying "but everyone else does it!" is not the way to go. I imagine that most NCO's would not accept that response from one of their soldiers/airmen/Marines/sailors, so they shouldn't use it themselves.

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