Review: The Girl in the Gun Club: My Time as One of the Few Good Men

The Girl in the Gun Club: My Time as One of the Few Good Men by Tracy Salzgeber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Everyone has a slightly different experience serving in the Marine Corps. This book tells the story of SSgt Sulzgeber's ~13 years on active duty.

As with every other Marine, she's still a Marine - just a No-LOAD (No Longer On Active Duty), like me!

I went into this book expecting to read the worst. My brother Marines have a bad and well-deserved reputation for treating our sister Marines pretty poorly. I figured this book might lean into that negative reputation.

It didn't. There were some instances where SSgt Sulzgeber experienced negative consequences due exclusively to her gender. Far more frequently, her gender caused a little extra negative consequence on top of other, larger consequences that are the sort of routine stories Marines tell one another all the time.

That doesn't make those "extra" consequences right, it makes her story real.

I'd recommend this book to any Marine (active, reserve, No-LOAD) as well as to any person that is looking to join the Corps. It is an unflinching look at both the good and the bad when it comes to Marine Corps leadership and their care and feeding of the average jarhead. I'd recommend it for non-Marines as well, just be prepared. Marines can be pretty salty.

There are tales of success. Tales of failure. (SSgt Sulzgeber doesn't pretend that she is the second coming of Dan Daly or Smedley Butler). Tales of frustration at the hands of bureaucracy. Tales of success despite the best efforts of "leaders" to create failure. Tales of stress. Tales of the random goofiness that comes with being in the military (in general) and the Corps (specifically).

The book is well written and unflinching. I could not put it down.

Outstanding job, Marine!

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Review: Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli

Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli by Maximilian Uriarte
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you thought that Max's The White Donkey was good, then get ready. This new book is a tour de force view of the Marine Corps, the war in Afghanistan, and how there isn't any situation that is defined by a single feature.

The artwork is gorgeous. Pages will go by with subtle and meaningful shifts in the image that heighten the tension of the story without a single word on any page.

The dialog is tight and accurate. The story covers many aspects of life in general as well as life in the Corps in particular.

This is the single best graphic work to be issued this year.

Do....no.....miss....it.

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AMERICA SENT HER SONS

AMERICA SENT HER SONS.

England is a cup of tea.
France a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is her sons.

Brazil is football on the sand
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is her sons.

Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a Kangaroo.
America is her sons.

Japan is a thermal spring/
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh there are many lovely things,
Things of note to make one’s heart sing,
But America loves her sons above all these.

When others needed them,
America sent her sons
To fight, to bleed, to die
To settle the discontent of European kings
And force peace to reign again.

When evil arose most cruelly,
Demanding racial purity,
America sent her sons,
Black brown, white and yellow,
To stand against Siegrunen,
Totenkopfs, Hammers and Sickles.

She watched her sons bleed anew
On foreign sands in faraway lands
Places named Omaha, Utah,
Carentan, Bastogne and Arnhem.
Saipan, Tinian, Dong Ha,
Fallujah, Ramadi, and Helmand.

For the sake of millions they never met
They gave their lives.
Red blood poured out freely
To pay a high price for liberty;
With only fields of white crosses
To mark their passing.

You may criticize America her faults,
Her arrogance, her swagger
Her braggadocious bravado,
Her unrelenting roughshod manners.
But remember this most of all-
In numbers few could ever hope to match,
Time and again,
America will always give her sons,
To pay the butcher’s bill.

by Author and US Marine Corporal
Jonathan LaForce

Posted with permission of the author.

Dear Death, From An Admirer

There is a perception in the popular culture that those serving in the military are little more than unimaginative and uninformed automatons.  For [those] that know us best, they know that we can be some of the most engaged, engaging, and creative people around.

My example for today was discovered a couple months ago.

Dear Death

Dread not the one conceived to come for you
But I, and the forefathers of the wings upon which I stand.
I too shall cast with my brothers
That beautiful and far-reaching shadow of freedom across the lands
So that the young, the old, and the innocent may escape your burning clinch,
Your wretched breath, and your sickening belch.
You will, fall to your demise.
And from one humongo-ginormous deafening echo of thunder
Across the blue skies of our great nation,
I will have rudely intruded, eaten the scraps from your table, slept in your bed,
And hand delivered the confiscation of your last breath.
…Your secret admirer,
United States Marine.

Written by Jerry Collins, a fellow No-LOAD Marine.

Offered to you as a reminder of the day, and of those that shielded us and continue to shield us from feeling the premature chill of Death's cold grip.  In liberty, there is life.

A Good President

Stolen from Facebook via the Sgt. Grit:

Today in Marine Corps history: 11 March 1778: Marines participated in action when the Continental Navy frigate BOSTON, en route to France, sighted, engaged, and captured the British merchant ship MARTHA. As the drum of the BOSTON beat to arms, John Adams seized a musket and joined the Marines on deck until the frigate's captain, Samuel Tucker, sent him below for safety.

 You have to love a President that not only puts skin in the game, he puts his skin in the game!  I read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough.  I don't recall the above being included.  But I was certainly impressed by John Adams' life and commitment to our American ideals.

Is This Tough Enough

How would you like to run 10 miles?  And work your way through 75 obstacles?  In a gas mask just to up the challenge?

Todd Love did that.

But hold on.  There's more.

He had a hard time running.  He left his legs in Afghanistan.  And climbing is a bit of a pain as his left hand is still there as well.

At Dallas Park, Love even joked about his injury. He said: 'I was up front with the minesweepers searching for explosives and I found them. I guess that’s the easiest way to put it.

Sort of puts life in a little better perspective.

Leaving...On A Jet Plane

Marines...that is.

Amazing Grace Indeed

Spreading peace where e'er they go.

This version works too.

Wishing you all the best on Patriot's Day, 2012.  Never forget the price that was paid for our freedom.

Not A Murderer After All

Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was accused of leading his squad the slaughter of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005.

Some may remember of US Representative John Murtha infamously declared that the Marines had overreacted and killed "innocent civilians in cold blood."  In making this pronouncement, Mr. Murtha severely undermined the ability of these Marines to receive a fair trial.

Eight Marines were charged with varying charges that ranged up to unpremeditated murder as well as plain old murder.  The charges against seven Marines were ultimately dropped.

Staff Sergeant Wuterich recently entered into a plea agreement that concluded his case.  He plead guilty to failing to maintain adequate tactical control and making a "negligent verbal order".

In a court martial, only the prosecution may initiate a plea agreement.  Given how poorly the prosecution had fared against SSgt. Wuterich's codefendants, and given the exculpatory evidence presented during his trial, the prosecution was looking at a complete loss on all charges.  They opted to offer an end to the agonizing process that SSgt. Wuterich had been going through.

The facts of the case are that the Marines were attacked by insurgents using an IED.  They further received incoming fire from the houses that they ultimately cleared.

And the "insurgents" were known for employing many tactics that involved secondary attacks following an IED attack, and hiding among the civilian population for the purpose of causing civilian deaths due to American responses.

The Marines at Haditha responded to an obvious ongoing threat in accordance with their training.

This was what war looks like.  It isn't easy, or pleasant, or nice.  It is downright nasty.

People have to make snap decisions.  They get to live with the consequences while the rest of us practice our Monday morning quarterbacking.

Perhaps a bit more appreciation for the perspective of the people we ask to fight for our freedom is in order.

The deaths of those Iraqi civilians remains a horrible tragedy.  The responsibility for that tragedy rests with the "insurgents" that fought using tactics that violated the Geneva Conventions and every decent religious tenet on the face of the planet.

BOCE Photography

Arthur S. Mole was one of the greatest producers of the large scale photography of human activities.  Specifically, he organized large crowds into visual sculptures.

This image from Parris Island naturally drew my attention.

You have to click on the image to appreciate the scale of coordination needed to create this image.  Another interesting note, these Marines and recruits were under the command of Brigadier General Pendleton when this image was created.  The Marines' largest base, located in California, was named after General Pendleton.

More on Mr. Mole's photography here.

The Engine Is Warm Now

As it was with racial integration, so it is with recognizing and validating the service of homosexuals in today's military.  It took a while to overcome the military opposition to racial integration.  But once it became policy, once the order was given, the military attacked the issue until it was essentially a non-issue.

I would expect that we will see the same thing now that people may serve openly in our armed forces.

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who strongly opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell last year — told NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday that he is “very proud” of how the Marines have handled the repeal of the policy last month. “I’m very pleased now,” Amos said and explained that his previous statements in support of the ban were expressing the hesitancy for change within the Marine Corps.

A Marine Stands Alone

And honors us all.

No Coincidences Revisited - POW/MIA Day 2011

I posted this on my original "Dain Bramage" blog back on 9 September 2006.  I offer it again in recognition of National POW/MIA Day.

And in honor of Scott D. Ketchie.  A son of Alabama who has yet to return home.  I remain honored to wear a bracelet bearing his name.

The Worst Day Of His Life

Dakota Meyer readily identifies the worst day of his life.  It is the day four of his friend died.  And regardless of what he did, Dakota couldn't stop them from dying.

I am willing to bet that he can identify the second worst day of his life.  The day they hung a medal on him for what he did while those friends were dying.

Hours before receiving the nation's highest award for military valor, a humble Marine from Kentucky wonders, why he's being honored for "the worst day of my life." 23-year old Sergeant Dakota Meyer told CBS Radio News, "it's going to be a hard time" when President Obama presents the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony.

...

"If I was a hero I would have brought them out alive that day. That's a hero. I was just doing my job," he told CBS News.

...

Asked about a message to future Marines, Meyer said, "You got to do what's right." His voice choking with emotion, he added, "Leave no marine behind."

Reading the coverage (scroll down for the links), Sgt. Meyer sounds like the prototypical U.S. Marine.  Decent, focused, hardworking.  The best friend a person could ever hope to have.

A class act, he agreed to accept the Medal of Honor as a memorial to his friends that died that day.  He asked that members of his unit be present so that they too could be honored.

Watch the presentation ceremony...



Seeing all of the past Medal of Honor recipients in attendance, I hope that they offer him the support and advice he needs the most.  They are the voice of the nearly singular experience that they have in common.

While he would gladly trade that bit of gold and ribbon to have his four friends back with him, he should never forget the thirty-six lives that he did save.  And he should never forget the thirty-seventh life he saved that day; his own.  For Sgt. Dakota Meyer is loved, respected, and honored for being who he is.  He is the quintessential American hero.  And we should be humbled to have him walk among us.

Kudos to President Obama for his presentation speech.

What We Do....

link

Lewis B. Puller

"After watching a Marine raise the flag over the American Consulate in Oct 1950, as fighting still raged in Seoul, Korea, an Army officer growled something about Marines would rather carry a flag into battle than a rifle. Then -  Col Lewis B. "CHESTY" Puller replied, "A man with a flag in his pack and the desire to put it on an enemy strongpoint isn't likely to bug out."

Courtesy of Leatherneck Magazine and via Sgt. Grit News