I posted this some time ago, but Since then I have recieved numerous new contacts from the Corps, and have been asked many questions regarding my Time as a Marine. This is from an online interview I did with TOGETHER WE SERVED a military website. LEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS? My older brother Bryon joined the Corps almost two years to the day before I did, so he likes to say that I followed HIM...truth is, it was MY idea to join the Marines first, but I was still a junior in HS. Since there was no way in hell he would ever allow his lil brother to outdo him, he enlisted first and became a K9 handler. I think he did it just to annoy me. I graduated Boot camp from the same company and Battalion he did, only a couple years later. Some of his DIs were still in the system, sop he wrote them and made sure they made my life miserable...thanks a lot Bryon...jackass! WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING? I was 17 when I enlisted. I told my recruiter I wanted excitement, danger, and thrills. What I DIDNT want was any job fixing things..I was NOT mechanically inclined in any way shape or form. I had to call my dad once when I was 16 cause I had no idea how to put oil in my car. the LAST thing I wanted was to spend my time stuck under a hood or engine cowling! The recruiter asked me what specifically I wanted to do, and I said, JUMP OUT OF HELICOPTERS! About the only part that deaf used-car salesman heard was helicopters, so after graduation from boot camp, sure enough, I was sent to NAS Millington to learn helicopter maintenance. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper about it and it took all of a week for me to develop a very bad attitude. My one saving grace, however, came from doing very well on my swim quals. A skill I was told that would land me an Aircrew slot. COOL! Instead of being a glorified grease monkey fixing what other guys broke, I would be soaring high, wearing way cool flight suits, and zooming through canyons at mach speed.... Well, wrong again skippy! When I got to Aircrew school in Pensacola, they discovered that I was half blind in one eye...so back to wrenching I went. Remember that bad attitude I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it just got a whole lot worse! My Achilles heal in the Corps was boredom. When I got bored, which was pretty much on a daily basis, seeing as how I had ZERO interest in anything mechanical, I got in to trouble. And when I got into trouble, my mouth ensured I STAYED in trouble! SO, to keep out of as much trouble as humanly possible given my tendency for mayhem, I volunteered for any and all TDYs WESPACS, TADs, FAPs, ANYTHING to get me out of garrison. Well, somehow, despite measuring off the scale on the shit bird meter, I made it ten years in the Corps. By the time I left active duty, I realized, that despite my best attempts to the contrary, the Corps did in fact make me a pretty decent aircraft mechanic. I now work in Quality Control for one of the largest airlines in the world, so I musta done SOMEthing right! IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN COMBAT, PEACEKEEPING OR HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY. Well, about the worst combat I was involved in was a Marine Vs Squid brawl at the E-club in Subic. Although vastly outnumbered and outgunned, we used our superior ability to improvise, adapt and overcome to swing the battle in our favor..basically we cheated and used chairs, beer bottles, startled Pilipino waitresses..anything we could get out hands on. In all seriousness, I was in Desert Storm and Desert Shield. We earned the CAR, but primarily due to the fact that we were floating in a mine field in the gulf. We lost 8 guys and two aircraft from our unit in one night. I was a Sergeant at the time, and had already lost fellow Marines to training accidents over the course of my career. At first, I dealt with it as I had all the others. Move on, get the job done, it happens. Their loss didnt hit me personally till the S-4 officer and SNCOIC came to inventory one of the fallen Marines personal locker, which was located right next to my bunk. I watched as they surveyed and inventoried all his belongings. When they went through a stack of photos he received from home, they showed a tiny little infant daughter. Several dozen more photos showed that little girl as she grew to a toddler while we were deployed. She was born a month or so after we left. She never got a chance to meet her father. Thats when it hit me hardest. My youngest daughter was only a few weeks older than this child. I was lucky and was able to be there for her birth. Two weeks later I deployed for what we all believed would be a standard 6 month WESPAC. Two months after that, Saddam invaded Kuwait, and the rest was history played out on CNN. I looked at the photos and suddenly all the silliness and immaturity that marked much of my career came crashing down on me. I never took anything seriously before that, made a joke of everything. That stack of photos, that toothless grin that her daddy never saw in person brought my world to a screeching halt. I woke up to the fact that it wasnt a game anymore. That could just has easily been pictures of MY daughter being inventoried and sent home to a grieving widow. That was when I decided that if I was gonna stay in the Corps, I had better square my shit away and grow up! OF ALL YOUR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, WHICH ONE DO YOU HAVE FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH ONE WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE? By far and away, my LEAST favborite, was any time I was in garrison. As I said, boredom was my curse and garrison bored me to tears! I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in sunny southern California. The base was pretty good, and NOTHING compared to working in those huge blimp hangars! Off post I engaged in SCUBA diving, Sky diving, and White water rafting...ANYthing I could to curb my adrenalin addiction. My problem was the duty itself was mind bogglingly dull. Take fuel samples and wash airplanes! Not exactly the exiting duty I craved! Conversely, anytime I was deployed was my favorite. I LOVED being at sea! Sunsets over the Pacific, pulling into exotic ports, the danger and excitement of flight deck duty! Now THAT is what I envisioned when I enlisted! FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE, INCLUDING COMBAT, DESCRIBE THE PERSONAL MEMORIES WHICH HAVE IMPACTED YOU MOST? There are so many I cannot possibly narrow it down, but above all else, it was the MARINES I served with that stand out the most, Most good, some bad, some just plain crazy! The friends I made, the NCOs that did their best to square my ass away, The fellowship of standing arm in arm, drunk as a skunk at closing time at the E Club as Lee Greenwood plays out GOD BLESS THE USA. THESE are the memories that stay fresh after all these years! WHAT ACHIEVEMENT(S) ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF FROM YOUR MILITARY CAREER? IF YOU RECEIVED ANY MEDALS FOR VALOR OR OTHER SIGNIFICANT AWARDS, PLEASE DESCRIBE HOW THESE WERE EARNED. Most of my awards came AFTER I left active duty in The Corps. My NAM and Aircrew wings are probably my proudest awards, but I got those as a reservist flying Combat Search and Rescue/Special warfare missions for the Navy. OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICES YOU RECEIVED, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE ONE(S) MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY? Surprisingly, the hardest one for me to earn was my Beat the SMAJ badge, otherwise known as the good conduct medal..Yeah, despite my setting new records in the shit bird category, I actually managed to earn a few..God only knows how, given how often I was in trouble. I guess looking back, I always had a couple good NCIOCs who saw something in me that I didnt see myself. WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY? Sgt Kinahan, and Sgt Gubata, without a doubt! They took me under their wing, beat the hell out of me when I deserved it, and set goals for me I never would have set for myself. God only knows how many time these two outstanding Marines stood before the Man on my behalf, explaining to the Skipper that despite my lack of discipline, total disrespect for authority, and general bad attitude, I was somehow salvageable Marine material. CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH? Uh, yeah..pretty much every day from August 10, 1985, to Aug 10, 1995. With very few exceptions, my entire career was funny as hell! WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY? I left active duty in Aug of 95. I soon bored of civilian life, (see a pattern here?) and decided the life of a LAWMAN would be exiting. I graduated from the San Bernardino Sheriffs Academy June of 96. Shortly there after, financial hardship brought on by a very ugly divorce forced me to seek more lucrative employment. I returned to my home state of Michigan, got my FAA Airframe and Power plant licence, and have been wrenching on aircraft ever since. I now work as a Quality Control Inspector for one of the largest airlines in the world. (and yes, Im still bored, but Im payed quite well to be bored!) WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS? I belong to the VFW, American Legion, Patriot Riders, and Leathernecks Motorcycle club. I am a motorcycle enthusiast and nothing compares to taking the Harley out for a three day run with my fellow Leathernecks! IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER? Well, despite my best attempts to the contrary, the Corps somehow did manage to teach me how to fix airplanes. Been doing it for almost two decades now and have gotten pretty good at it. Lifestyle wise, I have little patience for whiners. Suck it up, cupcake, cause life is tough! Unless you have stood on those yellow footprints, or have done your time in the mud, the blood, and the beer, I dont wanna hear ya complain. BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE MARINE CORPS? Simple..DONT DO ANYTHING I DID! Perform to your absolute potential. Dont half ass! If you screw up, (and everyone does from time to time) Get over it, accept responsibility, and move on. Live by strength of character and the strength of conviction. Live hard, fight hard, play hard. Leave political correctness to the weak who dont pack the gear to do what you do. Dont Quit! EVER! IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH. I had a Gunny, whom I hated when I was in..MAN did he chap my hide! I found him on here, and ya know what? It dawned on me that throughout my life after I left the Corps, it was HIS memory that spurred me on not to half ass, cut corners, or get by on good enough. Turns out that the miserable old goat was right all along. Heres to Ya Gunny..Semper FI, Brother!
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 12:51:53 +0000