Posted on 09/20/2004 5:27:26 AM PDT by DJ Taylor
Dan Rather is Not an Ex-Marine
Dan Rather cannot call himself an Ex-Marine, and he must stop referring to himself as such. To be a Marine, a recruit must graduate from boot camp, and Dan Rather did not; he was medically discharged before graduation. According to him, he was medically discharged from the Marine Corps due to a medical disability caused by a childhood case of rheumatic fever.
I went through Marine Corps boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego about the same time Dan Rather was there, and here’s my take on his brief tour in the Marine Corps. First of all, I find it highly unlikely that the Marine Corps would allow Dan Rather to enlist in spite of a known disability. At the time, a childhood case of rheumatic fever would have made him ineligible for enlistment in the Marines. So, if Dan Rather did not simply medically "wash out" through no fault of his own, as he says, then how did he manage to enlist and then leave the Marine Corps in such a short period of time (three months)? I cannot say with certainty that I know how he did it, but here is how I saw others do it at the time:
I remember well that my recruit-training platoon consisted of about 50 recruits. About 20 of us were high school graduates, about 20 were high school dropouts and about 10 were college boys in their third or fourth year of college. However, come graduation day, none of the college boys were there for graduation; they had all dropped out along the way, as did Dan Rather. I knew at the time how they did it, but I had to think about it for a while to figure out why.
In the Marine Corps of the 1950s, it was not easy to simply quit once you entered recruit training. A recruit quickly learned that it was much easier to go through to graduation than it was to attempt to quit. For a recruit to attempt to quit, he revealed that he lacked motivation. If a recruit required additional motivation, he was removed from his platoon and sent to the Special Training Platoon (STP). In STP, a recruit’s life was a living hell until he could show that he was properly motivated, and then he was sent back to a training platoon. All that attempting to quit would gain a recruit was an additional few weeks in STP before he could return to a training platoon, complete training, graduate and leave.
A medical discharge from recruit training due to a preexisting disability was seldom attained, simply because the enlistment physical was so thorough that very few recruits were admitted with existing physical defects. A medical staff who had seen it all could easily identify recruits who attempted to fake injuries or infirmaries, and these recruits quickly found themselves doing time in STP. So how did Dan Rather receive a medical discharge from the United States Marine Corps in May 1954? In all likelihood, he did it the same way the college boys did in my recruit-training platoon.
There was one so-called medical condition that the Marine Corps would not put up with, or even question, and that was bed-wetting. If a recruit wet the bed, you never saw him again. He was gone, out, no STP, no second chance, no counseling, he was quickly medically discharged and sent home, as was Dan Rather.
The reason for these rapid medical discharges for bed-wetting was simple. If a man truly could not control his bladder, he did not belong in the Marine Corps for obvious reasons. If a man wanted out of the Marine Corps so badly that he would wet the bed in order to leave, then no Marine wanted to breath the same air that such a man breathed. He was removed from the Marine Corps and good riddance.
I believe Dan Rather received one of these bed-wetter medical discharges just as the college boys did in my recruit-training platoon, and he probably did it for the same reasons. The college boys in my platoon had avoided the draft throughout the Korean War by claiming student deferments, as did Dan Rather. Now, they were soon to graduate from college and would no longer be eligible for a student deferment. However, if they were to obtain a medical discharge from the Marine Corps, they would no longer be eligible for draft into the U.S. Army. So, they dropped out of college for a semester, enlisted in the Marine Corps, wet the bed, received a medical discharge and no longer had to worry about the draft after graduation from college.
If you ask why these bed-wetters didn’t simply allow themselves to be drafted and then receive a medical discharge for bed-wetting, it just didn’t work that way. You must remember that, at that time, the Marine Corps was all volunteer and it was into the U.S. Army that a draftee was inducted. If a draftee wet the bed in Army basic training, he was simply issued rubber sheets and he continued on with basic training. There was always a job in a unit somewhere in the vast U.S. Army that even a bed-wetter could do, but he Marine Corps was too small and too proud to even consider trying to place such a person in any Marine unit.
In my over 30 years of military service, I found only one type of man more scurrilous than a bed-wetter, and that was a man who would feign wounds in combat in order to receive Purple Hearts. Yes, any man who will use fake awards to abandon his comrades in combat is even more shameless than a man who will wet the bed in order to avoid service to his country in time of war. Dan Rather is in his true element defending John F. Kerry’s traitorous conduct while amateurishly and feloniously forging official U.S. Government documents in an attempt to damage the reputation of the President of the United States during an election year.
I believe that Dan Rather is a bed-wetter, and I will continue to believe that until he releases his medical records and proves me wrong. If he has nothing to hide, he will fill out and sign Standard Form 180 and release his military records to the news media just as he has demanded of our Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush.
Donald J. Taylor Semper Fi
As I recall, my first few days at MCRD San Diego were less than comfortable as my schedule was never in line with the Marine Corps. They wouldn't let me smoke when I wanted, nor could I do anything else. I made a large mistake by inquiring if it would be possible to switch services.
In an instant, I had a special meeting with three huge Drill Instructors, whose names are "seared in my memory." They gave me two options: "I could go out in a box or I would graduate a U.S. Marine."
Obviosuly, I decided on the latter and decided that it would be healthier to smoke when the smoking lamp was lit. I concur that it is not too easy to get out of Boot Camp and now I am forever in debt to those three Drill Instructors who at the time had convinced me that they did indeed have that box.
Semper Fi!
NOW I know why libs like Rat-ther are called BED-WETTING maggots!
Semper Fi, "Doc" Holladay
P.I. 1975
First of all, I find it highly unlikely that the Marine Corps would allow Dan Rather to enlist in spite of a known disability.
Happens all the time for two reasons: (1)the enlistee fails to disclose said disability to the recruiter or (2)the recruiter instructs the enlistee not to disclose said disability.
simply because the enlistment physical was so thorough that very few recruits were admitted with existing physical defects.
My "thorough" physical did not detect that I had suffered a fractured skull at age 17 and my recruiter told me not to disclose it. Recruiters tend to overlook/hide things in order to make quota. That's been happening since RS Tun Tavern and will never stop.
You’re right, I’m new to this web-site and not too sure of what a “Troll” might be, so I’ll let you decide.
Your comment concerning my writing skills is appreciated, as they seem to come from someone associated with the Staff/Faculty of the University of Virginia at Richmond. I assure you, any writing skills I may have were gained after my retirement, while using the GI Bill at George Mason University, and not prior to my service in the Marine Corps.
As for the “smell” of 10 college boys being bed-wetters, you seem to have taken special umbrage with that statement, probably because, as an academic, you identify with them. I apologize, if I offended you, and I would like to clarify that paragraph for you. When I wrote, “about 20 high school graduates, about 20 high school drop outs, and about 10 college boys,” I was being intentionally vague about the exact number because, after almost a half century, I wasn’t completely sure of the exact number. What I do specifically remember is that there were between 5 to 10 college boys in my recruit platoon and none of them made it to graduation. Most of them I knew to be bed-wetters, but I never learned why some of them disappeared, I only suspected that they too were nocturnally incontinent. It was only after several years that I began to suspect that I had been witness to a draft-dodging scam perpetrated on the Marine Corps.
I will not go into my military service and tours in Vietnam, as that is not pertinent to the issue at hand. But, I will admit that there has been a deep burning hate in my gut for Dan Rather ever since the election of 1968 when, in support of an ant-war Democrat for President, he began to make anti-American and pro-Communist reports from Vietnam for CBS (Communist Broadcasting System). The fact that I was in a death struggle with the enemies of my country and he took the side of the enemy will not soon be forgotten by me or any of my fellow marines, soldiers, sailors, or airmen with whom I served in the Republic of Vietnam.
If this makes me a “Troll” on your web-site, then maybe I’m just on the wrong site.
I, respectfully, withdraw my charge. You clearly are not a troll. No self-respecting troll would state the anti communistic stuff you did. Welcome, and I mean it, to FR. For a first post, it was a good one. The idea Rather would have been a bed wetter .... it just rings so loudly as possible.
And I detest Rather as well. You are on the, ahem, right site.
(Btw, I'm not an academic, nor in academia (and I don't write well, granted). I'm merely a golfer, a severely handicapped golfer. Was bitten by the incurable virus only last year.)
"as they seem to come from someone associated with the Staff/Faculty of the University of Virginia at Richmond. "
Btw, just curious, what prompted this association? I don't have a thing to do with this outfit...
Thanks for posting. My deceased father was a Marine (was in Cuban Missle Crisis). I made the mistake of referring to him as an "ex-Marine" one time - he quickly corrected me and said "Son, you're never an EX Marine..."
Dan Rather couldn't carry his dog tags.
Thanks for posting!
When I was in the U.S. Navy (10 years), during bootcamp, we had a recruit who intentionally began wetting the bed to get out...he was admnistratively discharged due to unsuitability. He didn't receive a medical discharge.
Having been a Corpsman with 1st BN, 5th Marine Regiment, Weapons Company, 81mm Mortar Platoon, I can personally attest to the fact the Marine Corps does not tolerate rack pissers, fat bodies, and non performers.
Semper Fi
You suffer from cranial rectumitis, college boy.
I can't stand him and I'm not; just trying to watch out for weirdos coming into FR and attempting to harm FR credibility, as it is anyway. The story was just so far fetched - and the poster's one day old status, and that being the first article he posted, a vanity, made me suspicious. But, a few posts later, you'll see he and I have come to terms about the fact he can't be a troll. He and I share a common animosity toward communists.
You suffer from cranial rectumitis, college boy.
Hey, I've already acknowledged being too jumpy on the conclusions with Dj ....
And I am a man.
Sorry gobucks,
I read your later post after I responded. My mistake, and your intention is valid. I'll be sure to read further down the threads before I reply in the future!
I remember a Hannity interview in which the son said he could recall specific conversations with his father, during which his father praised LT Bush. The ONLY reason to ignore this kind of info is political agenda. Rather and CBS can no longer fool the public. Well, not the thinking public anyway.
PS click on this link and read the text of an officially written and acknowledged as authentic memo about Lt Bush
Perhaps at first glance from a physical perspective. However, in reality you're an immature gum flapper.
Took him that long to aquire 3 PH's, a Bronze and a Silver.
Funny, the real Marines never call themselves ex-Marines but "former Marines" because one is a Marine for life!
I should know, because my closest friends are "former" Marines and as a matter of fact they do feel offended when one calls them "ex-".
Welcome to FR DJT!
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