The SandGram

Affirmative Action Scandal Rocks Naval Academy: Students Disillusioned at Lower Admissions Standards, Easier Coursework for Minorities

Tags: BigPeace.com, blacks in the Marine Corps, MARINE CORPS RECRUITING, Minority recruiting, NAACP, Peter Schweizer, USNA

New Email from LtCol George Goodson

I emailed George and asked if he had a moment to write something and he sent this interesting piece on the Origin of different terms.  Some I had never heard of.  Thanks George and look forward to more pieces from you soon!        

                                  THE ORIGINS OF TERMS                    

                          By George Goodson, LtCol, USMC, Retired

                                                 Jan 22, 2011                                   

    In George Washington’s day images were painted.  Some paintings show him

    standing behind his desk with one arm behind his back.  A few showed both arms

    and legs.  These paintings were more costly than the former.  Why?  Hands and

    arms are more difficult to paint.  Hence the expression,

    “It will cost you an arm and  a leg.”

    In the same time frame, men and women bathed only twice a year: May and October.

    Women kept their hair covered.  Men shavedtheir heads and wore wigs.  Why?  Lice

    and bugs were omnipresent.  Wealth men wore wigs made of wool.  They carved a

    bread into the proper shape, put the wig in the bread, and bake it.  The heat made the

    wigs big and fluffy.  Thus the expression for someone wealthy and powerful,

    “Big wig.”

    In the 1700, most houses consisted of one large room with one chair.  A wide board

    folded down from the wall for dining. The head of the household sat in the chair.

    The rest of the people sat on the floor.  Occasionally guest would be invited to

    sit in the chair.  To sit in the chair meant you were important.  The family would

    referred to him as the ‘chair man.’  Today in business, we use the term

    Chairman / Chairman of the Board. 

    Playing cards was a common entertainment.  To buy cards, one would have to

    pay a tax on the ace of of spades.  To avoid this tax, many people bought only 51

    cards.  Those people were said to be stupid since they

    weren’t playing with a full deck. 

    Early politcians wanted feedback from the public to determine what people thought

    important.  Politicians sent their assistant to local taverns to listen to conversations

    and learn of their concerns.  They were told to “go sip some ale.”  “You go sip here.”

    and “you go sip there. ”  Go sip eventually became gossip!             

    At local taverns and pubs, people drank from pint and quart size containers.  The bar

    maids job was to watch the customers and keep the drinks coming.  She had to pay

    close attention who was drinking in pints and who was drinking in quarts.  This finally

    became:  “Minding your P’s and Q’s.

    In the days of sailing ships, all war ships and freighters carried iron cannons that fired

    round iron cannon balls.  A good supply of the cannon balls was kept near the

    cannon.  To keep them from rolling about the deck they were stored in a square

    based pyramid with i ball resting on 4 which rested on 9 which rested on 16,

   This provided  30 cannon balls next to the cannon.  To keep tke cannon balls in this

    position, a metal  plate called a monkey with 16 round indentations held the cannon

    balls.  The monkey was made of brass.  However when the weather was too cold the

    cannon balls would  become loose and roll off the monkey.  Hence the expression,

    “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey .”

            I thought this vulgar until I found its origin.  

                           Semper Fi, Marines

Tags: LtCol George Goodson, LtCol George Goodson USMC (Ret)

Christianity in America “Oh God, where art thou?”

Recently, my wife and I bought a second home that we are in the process of fixing up and turning into a rental.  We know the owner very well, a retired Air Force Officer who was once married to the most beautiful four foot two Marine Corps truck driver you have ever seen.  Some of the stuff that Bud gave us included a box with important keep sakes from her time in the Marines.  There were photographs of his wife during WWII, some in her uniform around the trucks she was tasked with driving and other odds and ends that meant a lot to her.

One of the items in the box that intrigued me was a small New Testament Bible with a Marine Corps Eagle Globe and Anchor embossed on the outside cover.  It’s very worn and fragile and reminds me of the small Bibles they hand out from the Chaplains office on Base. I carried one in Iraq and took it to Afghanistan as well.  It’s probably the same type of Bible that EB Sledge once used as he fought across the pacific.  Reading a passage and then making notes about the day’s events around the scripture which is how he ended up writing With the Old Breed.

What I really find iconic is the first page of the Bible.

 The White House Washington

 As Commander-in-Chief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States.  Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration.  It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.

                                                Signed

                                                Franklin D. Roosevelt

This was given to all service members during World War Two and so far I’ve found different versions for the Army/Navy and Marines with the emblems on the cover.  All of them contain the same message from the President.  We were a nation of Christians back then, from top down.

It brings back a message that I fear has been lost over the last 30 years and that is God.  You could probably say along with Christianity as a whole in the United States.  Why is it that we fight so hard to separate ourselves as a Christian founded nation?  It was good enough when the framers of this country ensured that “God” was included into the Constitution and back in 1864 when we put “In God we trust” on the money as a standard that represented our nation.  Up to sixty years ago, even the President of the United States, a Democrat, found solitude in the Bible enough to have his message front and center on the first page of the book.  Could you see that happening today without worries of getting sued by C.A.I.R. because you offended a Muslim or say a Wiccan?

I know when this book was printed, we were losing men at the cyclic rate all over the world and maybe as they lay wounded out in some far off fox-hole, they pulled this little pocket Bible out and read the scripture.  It might have pulled them through some tough times, or even taken a bullet that would have pierced their heart, who knows.  In this one case, a young woman who served our country felt it was important enough to keep among her most cherished possessions. 

I am proud and profess to be a Christian; we go to church and say prayers each night at the table and before bed with my children, and attempt to instill a moral compass in them that we learned through our Christian upbringing.  Honestly though, I get the feeling we are holding on to something the Nation is attempting to do away with.  Because the Courts keep ruling on previous rulings based off of precedence, the Left, Liberal, Progressive party (whatever this party calls themselves this week) is slowly pushing God out of our lives.  Like my Uncle Bruce says “They are doing it the same way you cook a frog.  Nice and slow.”  See if you threw a Frog into a boiling pot, he would jump out, so you slowly raise the heat until he boils and then it’s too late.  Same thing here as they slowly squeeze religion out of Country.  Pretty soon we will all be closet believers so that we don’t lose that promotion or offend our neighbor.  This isn’t endorsing mass recruitment into any faith, but if we aren’t careful, and we keep moving away from being a nation of Christians,  we will lose our identity or worse. Do we want to be treated as the Christians of the Middle East are?     

If you are reading this and think that there is too much Christianity already in our Nation and would like to do something about it, then write your representatives and have them start by removing all religious holidays as federally mandated days off.  I would like to see them working over Christmas and Easter like the rest of us in the private sector.  Boy, I bet you’d hear the atheists in the Government scream the loudest when they lose their paid vacation!  Then make them work on Sunday as well since religion doesn’t mean anything to them.  The list could go on and on.

Just something to think about I guess.  Enjoy your faith folks and say a little prayer for our Nation, I think she needs it, because I sure don’t see the folks at the top doing it in this PC world we live in today unlike our leaders of yesterday who were willing to put an endorsement on the first page of a Bible.

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: Christians, loss of faith in America, Religion, The Bible

NROTC Marine Option Scholarships

NROTC Marine Option Scholarships.

Next month, we are holding another board for the Marine Option Scholarships awards.  This is where we offer between $150K to 250 thousand dollar scholarships to H.S. Seniors across the country.  This is both a Leadership and Academic award that takes in account what a young man or woman has accomplished over their four years in High School. 

I am going to give you some insight on how you should prep yourself if you are reading this post and if you follow some simple guidelines, will find your package very competitive in four years.  If you are a H.S. senior reading this, it’s too late. Move on, you have already either made the right choices or sat on your butt the last four years.  You might as well pass this info on to a freshmen and hope he/she listens.

First of all, you have to WANT to become a Marine Officer.  This isn’t something that the faint of heart, lazy or weak should even think about.  Just to be clear.  The Officers sitting on that board reviewing your packages are looking at a couple of things really hard and I will break that down for you here in this post.

Why does this person want to be a Marine Officer?  You might have family who served or been exposed to the Military and this influenced you to pursue this line of work.  You have to think hard about why you have this desire to be a Marine and it will also pay off as you write your essay for the package.  That desire to serve shows in the essay along with what you did all through High School. 

We are looking for leadership…PERIOD.  Well brains too, but Leadership.  I want to see the kid who has participated in Sports all four years and served as Team Captain/Co-Captain.  Student Government, SGA, Class President etc, these don’t take a lot of time and look good ie you were elected by your peers.  Boy Scouts, Explorers, Girl Scouts.  Eagle Scout, weighs a lot with us.  Eagle Scouts, we find are very driven, focused guys.  Young Marines, Civil Air Patrol, Jr ROTC billet positions, the same.  Church youth groups, part time jobs during the school year, maybe full time in the summer with stuff like “Yep, Johnny is the youngest night manager I have ever promoted” from you bosses recommendation.  You need to find that balance or what is good for you, not over extending your life but getting a good mix all four years.

Academics.   Yes, we need some brains out of you!!  You need to be in the top 10% of your class, score over 1100 on the SAT and have over a 3.0 GPA.  To be competitive, you need a 3.5 or higher.  We gave some scholarships to a few folks with a lower GPA but they were off the charts with all the other stuff they were doing and able to maintain a 3.0 while Captain of the Cross Country and Wrestling team  on top of flipping burgers, SgtMaj of the Jr. ROTC and cutting grass!  This is most impressive.  We would rather have a solid GPA knowing that this person can balance out the pressure of College academics along with balancing all the other extracurricular activities there are in school.  

Essay: Now when you apply, you have to fill out an essay on why you want to be a Marine Corps Officer.  We want to know that you were hit in the head at an early age by the Corps and thus you researched on what you needed to do to achieve this.  “It was because of X,Y,Z, that I looked forward in my life to set the ultimate goal of being a Marine Officer, so I dug in and prepared myself physically and mentally to get there…”  You get my drift.  We know everyone would love to have a free ride to college, but are you the type guy/gal that I want as a Lt if my boy joins the Corps and you are his Officer? Personal statements are huge. Spelling errors, grammar (don’t ding me I wasn’t a scholarship guy) and content.

The PFT: This Physical Fitness test counts a lot, the higher the better but the board knows they have four years to improve that score.  Johnny, the semi star athlete will do fine, Bobby the computer nerd won’t.   You have to run three miles, do pull ups and crunches.  Also the kid who works out at the recruiters office with the Pool (shows lots of interest in the Corps) scores big points with us and it also gets him ready for the test, hint hint.
– SAT/ACT :  I’ve seen the Officer’s on the board weigh a lot on the test scores as an indicator on how the student can handle the load. I myself don’t, because I couldn’t take the SAT to save my life and scored a giant 850 both times…combined.  I took them during wrestling season when I had dropped from 158 to 138lbs so I could hold the varsity slot. My brain cells were shot. So, if the kid has crappy test scores ie 1050 SAT’s or 23 ACT (1000/21 min) but taking AP or Honors courses with a plate full of activities then they were voted in.  Some guys say, “I’d rather have a kid that can multi-task and work hard then a brain who I have to baby-sit”

Minus points: Police involvement (tickets, MIP) Drug experimentation, Alcohol events. Please tell them not to get a tattoo, that requires a MCRC/WRR waiver and that equals a giant pain in the rear.  It takes time to get and may result in the package being pulled due to the lack of a waiver.  We had five of these and all good kids that would have received a yes vote but never made it to the board due to lack of a waiver.

Review and closing thoughts.  We are looking at the “Whole Man” concept as future leaders of the Corps. There was a kid, Dad was Air Force academy and had prepped his kid like I’m doing for you. He was in a ton of clubs all four years, class leader-SGA, ran CC to get into shape for Wrestling all four years, worked part time during school year (big bonus points for the members more 20 hrs a week) full time summer job, church, volunteered community service, formed his own lawn care company and would cut the old folks grass from his church for free, 1250 SAT’s, 3.5 GPA, 270 PFT, Top 10% standing in class, Eagle scout, NRA rifle champion etc.

We gave him the scholarship in the first hour of voting, he was in the top five. Then you had the kids applying with a 3.5 to 4.0 GPA, 1300+ SAT’s, no extracurricular activities/leadership positions, weak PFT (below 200) top 1% etc and we turned them down and gave it to the 3.2 GPA/ 1050 SAT/ all American kid who had a package like the one above. Bottom line, if you want your kid to get a free ride for school and I’m sure most of us on here would like that, get them involved early. If they are weak standardized test guys (Like me), make sure their GPA is high, lots of Extracurricular activities, and concentrate on leadership positions through the Sports program, Boy Scouts/CAP/JROTC (billet holders, we know ROTC is a real pain time wise) and work (I was Employee of the month 3x’s/handled the money/youngest manager etc) CPR Cert/swimmer rescue etc.

I forgot to add something about the schools just in case your kid is putting an app in. They give them space to add their five choices that have NROTC. Once the boards are complete, each district will submit the names and rankings (1-83) to Pensacola. They will look down the list and go “We have 35 slots for Texas A&M, so all #1 guys that have A&M listed will get A and M” and assign them their first choice until they run out of A&M slots, then UT etc, etc, etc. The rub comes in where a kid has some really hard schools (dream shots) in there on all five. Say he gets his fifth choice as assigned by MCRC and told to he’s going to UT but he didn’t get into Univ Tex, only A&M, then he loses his scholarship. Pensacola will assign the slots, based off your ranking overall, then the number of slots available. If he is around the bottom 30% then he is pretty much directed where he’ll go. So make sure that he/she can get into all the schools they put on the dream sheet or it’s a no go, i.e. was awarded a scholarship for UVA but didn’t get in and he shows up at VA Tech where there is a NROTC thinking he can walk on there. Not going to happen.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions, feel free to email me at TheSandgram at Yahoo.com

Semper Fi,Taco

Here is some great advice from a buddy of mine whose son was just awarded a free ride.

The short answer to your ROTC question about how much money they pay and where he can go…….. they don’t care which school or which state your son wants to go to. I haven’t seen any limits on cost. My son got awarded a scholarship from the USMC. They associate the scholarship with a school – he had UVA listed first on his list of 5 schools. He was awarded the scholarship to UVA. Our problem right now is that he didn’t get into UVA. We’ve put in for a school change, but the Marine Corps has to buy off on it…….. we’ll see what happens.

Learned a lot about placements today. The district boards choose which candidates get the scholarships, then Placements (P’cola) decides which school each student will get. This is based on board ranking and school availability. Those students who are picked on the early boards stand a much greater chance of getting their first or second choices. Those who are chosen on the regular boards have less of a chance at their first or second choices due to 1) billet availability – some have been taken by the first board selectees; and 2) in-state and out-of-state ratios. The in/out of state requirement is new this year. I’m sure this new requirement was enacted due to fiscal restraints. Example: 10 kids are selected for the scholarship. They all want to go to XXX University. All but one are from out-of-state and the one in-stater is last on the list. There is an 80% in-state requirement for XXX. #1 and #2 both get XXX. #10 also gets XXX because he is from in-state. #3-9 move on to their second, third, fourth, or fifth choices. Now all of the selectees are offered the scholarship at their “placed” school. The school applications go out and each student is either accepted or declined admission at each school. If accepted, no worries. If not accepted at their “placed” school, but accepted at another school(s) on their list, the decision process goes back to placement. Now everything must be re-evaluated – billets that have come open due to declined admissions, in/out-of-state ratios, scholarship board rankings, etc. How all of this falls out is anyone’s guess.

My take aways:
1) Visit all prospective campuses early – make sure you know your order of personal ranking before filling out the scholarship.
2) Apply early (to both the ROTC scholarship board and each university on the list).
3) Try to be realistic in your expectations of getting into the schools. If you choose 4 ivy league schools and one in-state safety school and you’re not competitive at the ivies, you may be able to get the scholarship at your safety school if all of the billets haven’t filled up yet. If they have, you will be out of luck and out of the scholarship.
4) You will greatly increase your chances of keeping your scholarship if you are realistic in your choices and choose at least one in-state school. Having 5 acceptance letters allows placement the greatest flexibility in assigning a school and keeping the scholarship.
5) Keep an email record of all of your communications with your local board coordinator.

Take-aways 1-4 are self-explanatory. #5 is what made a big difference in my case. Chis’s list of schools: UVA, Vandy, Tulane, Embry-Riddle, and USF (South Florida) – All of which were realistic. We visited most of the schools early. The only ones we missed were Tulane and USF. Chris applied to UVA, Tulane, and USF early (the others don’t take early apps). He was accepted to Tulane and USF. As soon as Tulane accepted him, he and Mom went over for a campus tour. This was just after the board met. He fell in love with Tulane and found it to be a great fit. Chris emailed his local coordinator requesting to change the order of his list. His coordinator dismissed his request as the board had already met (but placement hadn’t occurred). His coordinator is a 1st Lt who just took over the job, so he may not have been up to speed on all of the processes, but instead of asking the questions, he just said no and left it at that. A week or two later, placements made their decisions and posted them on the web. Chris emailed placements and they put him on a waiting list for Tulane. The whole process didn’t sit quite right with me, so I did a little digging with the help of Taco and the MOI at Tulane. They provided me with some names and numbers at MCRC and P’cola. After getting a little run around, I finally got hold of the right folks. I explained to them what had happened and was told that if I could prove that Cody tried to change schools before placement had occurred, they would consider his transfer now instead of having to wait until after next board and all of the processes explained above. Good thing I had Cody print out his emails to his coordinator! A scan, email, and two hours later, Cody was reassigned to Tulane. Talk about a load of stress taken off………. whew!

I know this is a lot of info to digest, but it’s all something I wish I was aware of before the process started. I also know that it’s not all-inclusive, so if you have any questions, please feel free to post or PM. I’ll do my best to answer your questions and if I don’t have the answer, I may have a name and/or number that I can share with you. Best of luck!

Tags: College, Free ride, How do I become a Marine Officer, Marine Officer, NROTC Marine Option Scholarships, ROTC

Fake Navy Seal of the Week, Bob Angel

Poser of the week is…Drum Roll, Bob Angel

My friend Matt Massie over at MyServicepride.com slaves daily putting orders together for customers all over the world and sometimes he gets an order that makes him scratch his head.  This one order was just a bit over the top and I guess the Poser figured Matt, the guy doing the coffee mugs didn’t know his way around a Ribbon Rack.  He was wrong.  Bob Angel posted a profile over at Military.com claiming to be a part of Seal Team 3 and I wanted to show snap a shot of it but he deleted it as of today.  Matt sent Bob’s request to a real Seal from that team and three different sources to be sure he is a poser.  Ben, another member of MyServicepride.com also found this guy on VetFriends.com with a profile basically saying the same thing.  Here is the Rack the guy claimed to have.

6 Purple hearts is almost unheard of. In Vietnam, most people declined any PH Medals over #3 because a 4^th meant you’re going home and it was very difficult to ever rotate back into theater afterwards. Also, this is only 2 away from the most ever awarded. (Only 2 from Vietnam got 8. One had a Silver Star, the other was a CMOH Recipient. Hackworth had 4 in Korea and 4 in Vietnam.)

6 Bronze Stars and 6 Meritorious Service Medals, but no Navy Commendations or Achievement Medals. To compare, the ACMC has 1 Navy Ach. Medal, 4 Navy Comms, 2 MSMs. I would say it’s nearly impossible to walk on water  for 6 MSM’s and 6 BSM, but never get a Navy Comm or Navy Ach. Medal.

6 NAVY Presidential Unit Citations during the Vietnam Era would require someone to be in 2 places at once at least 2 times.

No Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbons or Overseas Service Ribbons. Rare for any squid or Jarhead.

No National Defense Service Medal

Matt then wrote a really nice letter (below) to this Person explaining why he was refunding his order and basically to pound sand!  I love MyServicepride.com they rock!

Mr. Angel,

I have cancelled your order and refunded the full amount back to you. After 2 independent verifications from within the Navy Special Warfare Community, there is no record of you ever having graduated BUD/S and no record of you having been awarded 6 Purple Hearts, to name only two of many discrepancies with the awards shown in your order. Your account on my website has been deleted and any future accounts you may try to make will also be deleted.

 
“UDT/SEAL/SEA-BEE

I served proudly with SEAL TEAM 3, At the same time with RIVER PATROL BOATS, And an ENGINEER ON UDT TEAM 12. These were the best of the times in my in service of my country. REMEMBER–ALL OF US GAVE SOME, BUT SOME OF US GAVE ALL!! B.G. Angel MRC RET. ”

Posted by Bob Angel

You leave a trail, Mr. Angel and this fraudulent behavior is criminal.

I refer you to U.S. Title Code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 33 > § 704. Military medals or decorations

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000704—-000-.html

(b) False Claims About Receipt of Military Decorations or Medals.- Whoever falsely represents himself or herself, verbally or in writing, to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States, any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

&

(d) Enhanced Penalty for Offenses Involving Certain Other Medals.- If a decoration or medal involved in an offense described in subsection (a) or (b) is a distinguished-service cross awarded under section 3742 of title 10, a Navy cross awarded under section 6242 of title 10, an Air Force cross awarded under section 8742 of section 10, a silver star awarded under section 3746, 6244, or 8746 of title 10, a Purple Heart awarded under section 1129 of title 10, or any replacement or duplicate medal for such medal as authorized by law, in lieu of the punishment provided in the applicable subsection, the offender shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

Stay away from my website. You are not welcome here.  If Bob Angel the Navy SEAL pops up again in another forum, website or other military community, your information will be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Matt Massie

www.MyServicePride.com

Tags: Bob Angel, Fake Medals, Fake Navy Seal, MyServicePride.com, Poser Navy Seal

‘Band of Brothers’ inspiration dies at age 92

Major Richard “Dick” Winters who was the inspiration for the novel and HBO special series, “Band of Brothers” died last week in Hersey Pennsylvania.  He was 92 years young, a Veteran of WWII and an inspiration of what all Officers in the Military should aspire to be in their careers.  I loved the book Band of Brothers but the mini-series is still one of my all time favorite shows ever made.  I got to “know” Major Winters through the terrific acting in the show and I have to say that if I could be just 1/10^th of the man he was, it would be enough to last a lifetime. 

Dick Winters, I know you are leading your men in Heaven and I hope that one day I have the honor of serving with you as we guard the pearled gates together.

Semper Fi and God’s Speed.

http://www.majordickwinters.com/

Tags: Band of Brother, Major Dick Winters

JP over at Milblogging.com just posted a great piece on their site about Military scammers better beware, California‘s Online Impersonation Law takes effect today (makes impersonation a crime)

 This is a problem that has plagued a few folks online and one of my MilBlog buddies as well when some scammers set his name up in a dating database looking for love and money.  One thing you can do to combat this, is set up a Google Alert on your name so that it will send you a message when your name pops up online somewhere (think of it as cheap insurance fraud alert).  This is how CJ Grisham was able to head off a potentially aggravating situation a few months ago.  I’m going to write to my Congressman in DC to see if this type thing could go national and I encourage you all to do the same.  Even if some dipsh** Federal Judge in CO says that it’s your right to lie and claim you a Vet and Hero, maybe this can backdoor the system to allow the Justice Dept to go after these scammer’s and posers. 

Just a thought as we bring in this New Year!!

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: MilScammers, Online Scammers

Merry Christmas, Your Officer of the Day is Gen. Mattis

UPDATE:  Jeff Schogol from Stars and Stripes confirmed this happened here…

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/the-rumor-doctor/the-rumor-doctor-1.104348/did-gen-mattis-pull-duty-on-christmas-so-a-marine-could-be-with-his-family-1.134995

The following was provided by John Wear:

 The story below was told by Dr. Albert C. Pierce, the Director of the Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics at The United States Naval Academy.  He was introducing General James Mattis who gave a lecture on Ethical Challenges in Contemporary Conflict in the spring of 2006.  This was taken from the transcript of that lecture.

 A couple of months ago, when I told General Krulak, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, now the chair of the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, that we were having General Mattis speak this evening, he said, “Let me tell you a Jim Mattis story.”

 General Krulak said, when he was Commandant of the Marine Corps, every year, starting about a week before Christmas, he and his wife would bake hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cookies. They would package them in small bundles. Then on Christmas day, he would load his vehicle. At about

4 a.m., General Krulak would drive himself to every Marine guard post in the Washington-Annapolis-Baltimore area and deliver a small package of Christmas cookies to whatever Marines were pulling guard duty that day. He said that one year, he had gone down to Quantico as one of his stops to deliver Christmas cookies to the Marines on guard duty. He went to the command center and gave a package to the lance corporal who was on duty. He asked, “Who’s the officer of the day?” The lance corporal said, “Sir, it’s Brigadier General Mattis.” And General Krulak said, “No, no, no. I know who General Mattis is. I mean, who’s the officer of the day today, Christmas day?” The lance corporal, feeling a little anxious, said, “Sir, it is Brigadier General Mattis.” General Krulak said that, about that time, he spotted in the back room a cot, or a daybed. He said, “No, Lance Corporal. Who slept in that bed last night?” The lance corporal said, “Sir, it was Brigadier General Mattis.” About that time, General Krulak said that General Mattis came in, in a duty uniform with a sword, and General Krulak said, “Jim, what are you doing here on Christmas day? Why do you have duty?” General Mattis told him that the young officer who was scheduled to have duty on Christmas day had a family, and General Mattis decided it was better for the young officer to spend Christmas Day with his family, and so he chose to have duty on Christmas Day. General Krulak said, “That’s the kind of officer that Jim Mattis is.”

Tags: Christmas on duty at Quantico, Gen Mattis, General Krulak, jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes

Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy’s Fiction about the TSA trip home

TSA and Soldiers Returning Home From Afghanistan‏

Everyone loves a good story and I am telling you right now that this letter being sent around the world by a fictional Soldier named Mad Dog Tracy is a total work of fiction.  First of all, the TSA rescinded the nail clippers stupid stuff years ago (yes they broke off the little file part on my clippers after 9-11, but didn’t keep them) and there is not a TSA agent in the nation who will take your nailclippers unless you have a blade welded to it.  I go through and deal with TSA on a weekly basis as a pilot for a Major Airline.  I have seen some dumb sh** over the years in the name of security like the day I forgot to take out my big shaving cream can and they took it when I was non revving to DC to see my folks in civies or the awesome cigar lighter I forgot in my bag.  I made a mistake, they have a crappy job to do and now some smuck in Palm Springs is lighting his cigars up with my lighter probably.

TSA wouldn’t order the unloading of all the cargo/bags, it would be customs and since it cleared the Gov’t customs in Kuwait, they are good to go. I have done the trip home from Iraq once and Afghanistan twice.  I can tell you that we carried our weapons on the Continental 757 charter direct to Cherry Point and the bags were offloaded there.  We broke down in Shannon Ireland and we left our weapons on the airplane with a couple of Marines standing guard. Coming home from Afghanistan, they had everyone turn in their weapons in Kuwait and the charter took us to BWI.  We cleared customs no problem because of the thorough anal cavity probes we received during the customs inspections in Kuwait (which I wrote about here) and then back through security to get on our planes to the different cities.  The whole time TSA was thanking us for our service and what we had done.

 This letter reminds me of the Capt at Bagram in 08 who wrote this bullsh** letter about Obama and what he did on his visit.  I read the letter and then checked my sipr side where I had his complete schedule (we had a part in putting it together at the Embassy) I got this letter four times in an hour from the states and had to reply to everyone that you know where I stand on politics but none of it was true as much as I would like to say yes.  The dumbsh** Capt, can’t remember if he was 82 or 101st sent this letter to his family with his whole friggin signature block filled out, dsn/cell/work area etc. He was relieved and sent home. They wanted to fry his arse but the letter was sent to his family and not the media or bloggers. It went viral and the JAG said since the letter was intended for family he couldn’t be charged but I bet a hundred bucks his career was ended over poor “Judgment” and that is one of those things where an email has a half life of an atom!

The Guard denies this happened and like most good stories, some kid wrote this and it went viral. I can tell you that it is complete fiction.  When you get this, please hit reply all on the email and then link this post so that they may pass on my message.  I like to see folks get hammered when they deserve it, but in this case, they (the TSA) are getting a bad rap from someone who may have written this from the security of his momma’s basement while drinking the hot coco she just brought down while working on the next skill set of his new “Call to duty” Black Ops game.

Here is the fiction that I have received 9 times in the last two days.

Heloooooooooooooooooo  

Is there ANYONE at TSA with a brain??????????

As the Chalk Leader for my flight home from Afghanistan, I witnessed the following:

When we were on our way back from Afghanistan, we flew out of Baghram Air Field. We went through customs at BAF, full body scanners (no groping), had all of our bags searched, the whole nine yards.

Our first stop was Shannon, Ireland to refuel. After that, we had to stop at Indianapolis, Indiana to drop off about 100 folks from the Indiana National Guard.  That’s where the stupid started.

First, everyone was forced to get off the plane-even though the plane wasn’t refueling again.  All 330 people got off that plane, rather than let the 100 people from the ING get off. We were filed from the plane to a holding area.  No vending machines, no means of escape.  Only a male/female latrine.

It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons.  Everyone was carrying an M4 Carbine (rifle) and some, like me, were also carrying an M9 pistol. Oh, and our gunners had M-240B machine guns. Of course, the weapons weren’t loaded. And we had been cleared of all ammo well before we even got to customs at Baghram, then AGAIN at customs.

The TSA personnel at the airport seriously considered making us unload all of the baggage from the SECURE cargo hold to have it reinspected. Keep in mind, this cargo had been unpacked, inspected piece by piece by U.S. Customs officials, resealed and had bomb-sniffing dogs give it a one-hour run through. After two hours of sitting in this holding area, the TSA decided not to reinspect our Cargo-just to inspect us again:
Soldiers on the way home from war, who had already been inspected, reinspected and kept in a SECURE holding area for 2 hours.  Ok, whatever.

So we lined up to go through security AGAIN. This is probably another good time to remind you all that all of us were
carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying
pistols.

So we’re in line, going through one at a time. One of our Soldiers had his Gerber multi-tool. TSA confiscated it. Kind of ridiculous, but it gets better. A few minutes later, a guy empties his pockets and has a pair of nail clippers.  Nail clippers. TSA informs the Soldier thatthey’re going to confiscate his nail clippers. The conversation went something like this:

TSA Guy: You can’t take those on the plane.

Soldier: What? I’ve had them since we left country.

TSA Guy: You’re not suppose to have them.

Soldier: Why?

TSA Guy: They can be used as a weapon.

Soldier: [touches butt stock of the rifle]  But this actually is a
weapon and I’m allowed to take it on.

TSA Guy: Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets.

Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?

TSA Guy: [awkward silence]

Me:  Dude, just give him your damn nail clippers so we can get the f**k out of here.  I’ll buy you a new set.

Soldier: [hands nail clippers to TSA guy, makes it through security] To top it off, the TSA demanded we all be swabbed for “explosive residue” detection.   Everyone failed, [go figure, we just came home from a war zone], because we tested positive for “Gun Powder Residue”.   Who the F**K is hiring these people?

This might be a good time to remind everyone that approximately 233 people re-boarded that plane with assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns-but nothing that could have been used as a weapon.   Can someone please tell me What the F**K  happened to OUR country while we were gone?

Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy

Tags: Afghanistan, Fiction story about coming home, Sgt. Mad Dog Tracy, TSA, TSA and Soldiers Returning Home From Afghanistan‏

December 7th, Pearl Harbor…A Date that will live in Infamy

Pearl Harbor 
On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii By planning this attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island , where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the   United States )

In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft.. At a range of 230 miles north of   Oahu , he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam,   Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.

 

Casualties 
US Army: 218 KIA, 364 WIA. 
US Navy: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA. 
US MarineCorp: 109 KIA, 69 WIA. 
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA. 
TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA. 
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Battleships 
USS Arizona (BB-39) – total loss when a bomb hit her magazine. 
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) – Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor. 
USS California (BB-4 4) – Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired. 
USS West Virginia (BB-48) – Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired. 
USS Nevada – (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired. 
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) – Light damage. 
USS Maryland (BB-46) – Light damage. 
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage. 
USS Utah (AG-16) – (former battleship used as a target) – Sunk. 
——————————————————————————————————————-
Cruisers 
USS New Orleans (CA-32) – Light Damage.. 
USS San Francisco (CA-38) – Light Damage. 
USS Detroit (CL-8) – Light Damage. 
USS Raleigh (CL-7) – Heavily damaged but repaired. 
USS Helena (CL-50) – Light Damage. 
USS Honolulu (CL-48) – Light Damage.. 
——————————————————————————————————————–
Destroyers 
USS Downes (DD-375) – Destroyed. Parts salvaged. 
USS Cassin – (DD -3 7 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged. 
USS Shaw (DD-373) – Very heavy damage. 
USS Helm (DD-388) – Light Damage. 
———————————————————————————————————————
Minelayer 
USS Ogala (CM-4) – Sunk but later raised and repaired. 
———————————————————————————- 
Seaplane Tender 
USS Curtiss (AV-4) – Severely damaged but later repaired. 
———————————————————————————— 
Repair Ship 
USS Vestal (AR-4) – Severely damaged but later repaired. 
———————————————————————————— 
Harbor Tug 
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) – Sunk but later raised and repaired. 
——————————————————————————————– 
Aircraft 
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92   U.S. Army Air Corps.) 

 

Tags: A date that will live in infamy, Jap sneak attack, Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona