Coffee after combat

Upon their return from Makin Island to the submarines USS Nautilus and the USS Argonaut ....Marines of the 2nd Raider Battalion enjoy a well deserved hot cup of coffee. 

The mission, although deemed a success, was fraught with problems: boat motors refused to run making them break out the paddles, high surf tossed them like bathtub toys, intelligence failures on make up of enemy forces were just a few.

Once ashore, communications between LtCol Carlson and his unit commanders was non-existent due to the radios being soaked in saltwater during the movement ashore.   

During the confusing movement from the island back to the submarines, 12 Marines were left behind.  Those Marines were found and executed by the Japanese, including Sgt Clyde Thomason, the first enlisted Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII. 

Bravery was not in short supply on that island those two days: in addition to Sgt Thomason's Medal of Honor, 23 Navy Crosses were also awarded.

The Nation rallied around the Raiders exploits and that ensured their legacy and near mythical status within the Marine Corps forever. 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48811/48811-h/48811-h.htm

Copied from elsewhere....but sums up my sentiments exactly:

Barry Hasselman

If you want to stay home, stay home.
If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask.
If you want to avoid large crowds, avoid large crowds.
I am not required to descend into poverty for you.
I am not required to abstain from human contact for you.
I am not required to shop alone, without my kids, for you.
I refuse to participate in "quarantine life" until there's an unsafe, 
untested vaccine released in eighteen months. I refuse to receive 
said vaccine to make others feel more safe.
I won't set myself--or my children--on fire to keep you warm. 
If you're convinced the vaccine is safe and effective, you can get it yourself.

Some of you are allowing fear and policies devoid of scientifically
accurate data to destroy America and ruin your life. 

I can't control your self-destructive behaviors, but we all have a say in America.

We need to tell legislators that we demand options. We have a constitutional 
right to take risks. 

Life is full of bacteria and viruses--many of which spread 
before symptoms manifest and after they subside. 

We have a right to receive OR refuse vaccines.

The data was inaccurate at best; purposely overblown to justify 
government overreach at worst. Stop allowing the government to destroy:
The Food Supply
Small Businesses
Medical Autonomy
Access to Healthcare
Religious Gatherings
Privacy Rights
Fellowship

When the "new normal" is filled with starvation, depression, suicide, 
imprisonment, governmental spying, and pure DESPERATION, the 
virus is going to look preferable to the world you helped facilitate.

245 Years ago today.....

I  was perusing another blog and he pointed out something....today is the anniversary of the first shots of American freedom in Lexington.  The vast majority of us were sleeping when the time 0520 EST came and went that our forefathers basically told the English King to pound sand. 

The men, who the day before were plowing their fields or tending their shops, dropped everything to start a revolution.   The went against professional soldiers of the most powerful  nation on earth at the time.   Farmers, shop keepers, men who longed to shed the yoke of tyranny for an ideal....that all men were granted by their Creator certain inalienable rights: Life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I have traced my family history on my Mothers side back to a number of time great grandfather that fought in the War of 1812 and was given a land grant in western New York (Nunda) for his participation.

So as we sit in our homes fighting a new fight, if you have one, hoist a beer to those brave men who that day showed the world America was its own.

https://oldnfo.org/2020/04/19/two-hundred-forty-five-years-ago/

Well said Theodore......well said.

Why I’m a Conservative

The biggest reason I’m a conservative is because I like to use my own my mind. I refuse to be boxed in a mode of thinking that dictates what I’m supposed to be prior to my birth.

I saw this on the "Last Tradition" blog and does a pretty good job of summing up my feelings exactly, but not all.  Let me add:

I was taught since childhood to stand on my own two feet, that nothing in life is free except that which you work for.  Everything given has strings attached.  It gives me a solid feeling inside when I look around and know that I earned everything I have...no silver spoon here.

I am responsible for my actions and take full credit for that which I have done.  I pay attention to the law and have the upmost respect for those that wear the uniforms that keep us safe, I wore one of them for over 21 years and now wear another; I continue to serve.

I am grateful for my health, my family, and the blessings that have been bestowed on me by my Creator and through my hard work.  

Quarantine is when you restrict movement of sick people. 

Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people.

I HAD MY FIRST REPLY!!!!!!

Thank you AFSarge!  You are the first person to ever reply to a posting on this sorry excuse for a blog!!!

Gotta relay a funny story, coffee related of course, about an incident on board the USS Juneau (LPD 10) in 2003.  I was serving as the Combat Cargo Officer at the time aboard that mighty vessel. 

A little background:  when anyone embarks aboard a Navy ship, there is a "tax" that must be paid.  This "tax" is paid for in bodies.  You cannot load a ship with over 600 Marines without having to bump up the numbers of personnel taking care of little things, like laundry, chow, a guard force etc.

So, there were three mess areas aboard the Juneau, the Wardroom (officer dining), the Chiefs Mess (E-7 and above) and the mess decks (E-6 and below).  Each has requirements for bodies to assist in the duties.

So a young LCpl (E-3) Marine, we will call him Smuckitelli, was assigned to the Chiefs Mess as an attendant.  His duties included serving chow, and cleaning up.  On board the Juneau we had a crusty, and I do mean crusty, old Master Chief (E-9) that had been in the Navy since Jesus Christ himself was striking to be a Bosuns Mate.  Master Chief Crusty had a coffee cup.  This coffee cup had been given to him by a Master Chief back when he had been promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4).  And, from the looks of it, that coffee cup had never seen a wash rag in all those 27 years of ownership.  It had so much tar built up on the inside, I would swear that it held about a thimble full of coffee. 

One day, when Smuckitelli had finished all the required cleaning, he saw said coffee cup sitting in the cup holder and decided that it needed to be cleaned and scrapped clean.  And he did.  Apparently, from what I am told, he worked on that cup for over an hour getting it sparkly pearly clean white. 

Lunch rolls around and Master Chief Crusty comes into the mess and immediately heads to the coffee cup rack to fetch his cup.  As an officer I was not allowed in the Chiefs Mess but the Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) that worked for me was in there when the incident took place.   Master Chief took his coffee cup out of the rack and just stared at it for about 30 seconds.  The roar that came from him was likend to that of a Valkyrie swinging into full battle mode.  He screamed at the top of his lungs "WHO THE FUCK TOUCHED MY COFFEE CUP?"  All the mess men behind the counter stood there and looked at Smuckitelli.   

Had it not been for the extremely quick actions of my Gunnery Sergeant and a few of the other Chiefs, Smuckitelli would be swimming with the fishes to this day.  They restrained Master Chief Crusty and hustled Smuckitelli out of the Chiefs Mess and hid him for the rest of the deployment, up in the Wardroom.