I chose the book for one reason only, being a former Marine myself it was only appropriate I choose this book since I served during the time periods depicted in the book.
I found the book so intriguing I couldn’t put it down, the colorful way Col. Bathurst documented each assignment and the sometime cruel comedy of it all.
What a great story of a very great man
Note from the Author: Thank you very much James; I am truly humbled by your comments. JB
Originally posted 2015-10-19 15:13:31.
We’ll All Die As Marines is one man’s memoir of Marine life from a lowly private to a full bull colonel. Colonel Jim Bathurst has written a memorable and compelling account of his life as a Marine of over thirty-five years.
A young native coming from the shores of the Chesapeake Bay young Bathurst had a real problem trying to matriculate from high school. Lacking direction and absolutely hating going to school he begged his parents for their signatures releasing him to of all places the United State Marine Corps. The author starts the long trip from basic training at Parris Island to the Infantry Training Regiment. Along the way he gives a full and descriptive view of life in the Marine Corps as a private in the late 1950’s.
Becoming accustomed to a Marine’s life the author thrives on life which is full of tradition and discipline. We find him going up through the enlisted ranks becoming a drill instructor and becoming a man not only accustomed to taking orders, but he learns how to lead men from some great mentors along the way.
While still an NCO Bathurst has a tour of duty in Japan and later in 1966 he does a 13 month tour in The Republic of Vietnam. He relates his combat tour as lessons in leadership and shows the esprit de corps that takes on the elan that is known as a combat Marine. With these hard lessons in his pocket he rotates back to the States and is assigned to the prestigious ceremonial platoon known to all as “8th & I.” The author relates all the hard training and scrupulous attention to detail with this famed unit.
During this time span Bathurst is commissioned a 2nd Lt and his career as an officer takes off as he skyrockets through the officer ranks with assignments in Okinawa, the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, training with the Army at Ft. Bragg, Airborne training at Ft. Benning, Marine Barracks at Lemoore, California, Armed Forces Staff College and the Recruiting Station in Chicago, Illinois. Quite a full career!
This is the basis of a full and enriching career with a tutorial of what is the true Marine Corps. This is an excellent memoir for all who want to truly learn the meaning of Semper Fi.
Originally posted 2015-10-19 15:09:45.
I have been wanting to post something about this issue for years, but found others to talk about. However, the time has come that I MUST do it NOW! Thanks to my good friend and Marine brother, a retired Sergeant Major of Marines, who sent this to me this morning. I enjoyed it and agreed with it so much that I had to read it twice. This guy has nailed it squarely on the head.
COMMENTARY- The Blade, Toledo, OH
Parents, not guns, are responsible for keeping kids safe
BY MATT MARKEY BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
There were 361,119 hunters in Ohio in the most recent season. Michigan had 665,431 hunters. They carried shotguns, rifles, pistols, and lethal archery equipment, so they were armed to the hilt. But no one shot anyone else.
That’s more than one million individuals with firearms, but they didn’t settle a neighborhood squabble, a fight over a girlfriend, a dispute involving territory, a road rage incident, a case of perceived disrespect, or an instance of just looking at someone the wrong way, with violence.
They did not allow their guns, which most own for hunting and personal protection, to become weapons used to settle some petty discord, the result of which we see on the streets of our major cities on a frighteningly regular basis.
In that scenario, which seems to be playing out on an endless loop, lives end — too often those of innocent bystanders — families are devastated, mothers are left to mourn, the perpetrators end up in the prison system, and we pay to support them for decades.
And many of our politicians, community leaders, and sociologists hit the well-worn but ever-reliable default button of blame — Gun Violence. They are infatuated with that term. Make the lifeless device culpable. Focus your condemnation on a piece of steel. Claim that the inanimate object is the actual source of the evil.
There were more than 3,000 youths at the 2022 high school Target Shooting National Championship competition. Every one of them had a powerful shotgun, but nobody shot anyone. There will be more than 4,000 people taking part in the National Matches at Camp Perry this summer, firing rifles and pistols, but as has been the case for more than 100 years, nobody will shoot anyone, despite the abundance of firepower and ammunition on site.
Then we hear about a six-year-old in Virginia taking a handgun to school and shooting his teacher. The national news calls it Gun Violence, but nobody demands to know where he got the gun, where did he learn to use it, and where are his parents.
Two teens arrested after a recent brawl at a Columbus mall were found to be carrying fully-loaded handguns. In a Cleveland suburb, two boys, ages 12 and 13, were charged with aggravated murder for shooting down a 14-year-old schoolmate. The cases keep rolling in, and we lump them all into that convenient Gun Violence folder.
Much closer to home, the examples are equally abundant.
A 16-year-old is arrested for shooting and killing another teen near the playground area at Ravine Park Village apartment complex in East Toledo. A convenience store on Phillips Avenue is robbed by two gun-toting teens, and one of them dies in a shootout with police.
In January, a 15-year-old girl is found shot to death in a North Toledo alley. Three teens decide to shoot up a funeral in Toledo and two funeral home employees are wounded. A 15-year-old boy is killed and a 10-year-old seriously wounded during a Wednesday night shooting at Avondale and Brown avenues.
Other teens are injured in shootings at two in the morning where the gunslinger is also a juvenile. We have a news conference, bringing out the long faces and the somber tone, but nobody in authority asks mom and dad what their children are doing out at that hour. Nobody asks where they got the guns.
Instead, we make Gun Violence the boogeyman. We describe it as if it is the next coronavirus variant or an invasive species that just arrived from a foreign land. No one dares demand some personal responsibility from the parents of the youths involved in these shootings and other crimes.
We hear about these “violence interrupters” who are going to ride into town, work the streets, and put an end to kids killing other kids. That approach turned out to be a band aid that didn’t stick when applied over a metastasized gargantuan tumor, and a colossal waste of time, and money.
Still searching for a magic potion, we find a program from Kentucky. This is going to fix our Gun Violence problem. More programs, more government money, more meetings. But nobody wants to talk about parenting or your responsibility for the children you bring into this world.
When a juvenile believes that picking up a gun, pointing it at another human being, and pulling the trigger is the way to solve their problems or take what they want, we’ll have to go a lot further than Kentucky or Chicago — maybe to Heaven above — to find the solution. Because nobody wants to dare mention the source of the issue.
Kids learn a lot at home — both good and bad — and if home shirks this responsibility, then there are plenty of nefarious outside sources ready to fill the gap. And when kids see that irresponsible behavior is acceptable, as well as a lack of concern and culpability for their actions, they often take these same traits into a troubled adult life.
Like many kids, I found that my father was a very effective violence interrupter. You treated your neighbors, teachers, women, law enforcement, and your friends with respect because, from the earliest age, that is the way you saw your role model treating other people. And you did not want to transgress and end up in Dad’s court.
While searching for an appropriate and acceptable description for the kind of leadership we need at this critical juncture, when kids killing other kids has become so common, this came up — a comment from a Toledo police officer following yet another slaying involving our children.
“We need parents involved in kids’ lives. We need structure. We need routine. We need discipline. We need rules and boundaries,” this female officer said.
That should have been the mic drop moment that ended this circus of news conferences and proclamations and addressing this issue with wads of money and more bureaucratic folderol.
She nailed it, but I don’t think that perspective has been raised by anyone in authority ever since.
Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
My question has always been who is responsible when when a 10 or 12-year-old takes a gun from home to school and kills someone? No one wants to place the blame where it should be. instead we feel sorry for the parents, Oh my it’s so sad that my 10 year-old Johnny shot and killed his best friend over an argument. R U shitting me? Furthermore, the parents cannot believe that their son did something so horrific. It’s those damn slack guns laws. Really?
I know I will be criticized by some as being crazy or out of touch with reality, but I believe we should lock both parents up for ten years. Put that kid in a juvenile home and get his ass straightened out once and for all. It is time we start looking at who is actually responsible for a 10 year-old killing another kid. Nuff said, and bring it on liberals!
This book was terrific. As a Marine veteran, I found Jim Bathurst’s descriptions of life as a Marine both entertaining and instructive. His depiction of the life of a young Marine in the period before the outbreak of the Vietnam War was spot on. On almost every page, he has a personal story with a valuable lesson for any young military officer or NCO. Any student of leadership would be well-served to read this book since it contains numerous examples of both good and bad leadership – and Bathurst pulls no punches when he evaluates the men he served with over his long and illustrious career. I must admit that I was privileged to have served in the Marine Corps with Jim on several occasions and I consider him one of the best examples of professionalism and effective leadership I have ever met. The book tells the story of his rise from private to colonel during a time when the Marine Corps had to deal with sparse resources, the Vietnam War, drug abuse, and a host of other leadership challenges. Bathurst takes on these challenges head-on and provides insights and lessons learned that will benefit any military professional and enlighten any student of the military and its culture. I highly recommend it.
Originally posted 2015-10-19 15:01:26.
LOL, I am not surprised by this at all. What else would one expect from the a third world shithole. Personally, I have never been a big MLB sports fan. Oh, I used to watch it periodically when I had nothing better to do with my time. Then it got so darn boring that I’d rather sit outside and watch the grass grow. That does not mean that I didn’t recognize it as “America’s Game. What else could be more American than Father and son going to the stadium for hotdogs, cokes, and beer. Well, have fun now fathers, for you may have to explain some things to that young son. Good luck.
You can’t spell blasphemy without LA By: Greg Maresca
The Los Angeles Dodgers are making plenty of news, none of which is for their play on the baseball diamond. Rather, the Dodgers have sold their souls to the whims of the woke. Headlines resulted after the Dodgers announced they would be honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at their annual Gay Pride Night on June 16th.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are anything but a group of pious Catholic nuns, rather they are a militant collection of drag queens who profanely mock God, nuns, and women. They go by names such as Sisters: Edith Myflesh, Anal Receptive, and Porn Again. Their blasphemy of Christianity doesn’t end there as they proudly host a “Hunky Jesus” event and endow a pro-abortion, “Free Choice Mary” award. “Go forth and sin some more!” is their motto.
How is parading around in costume insulting Catholics a symbol of pride?
For a billion-dollar professional baseball organization, this is certainly a bizarre way to conduct business. The sports’ world, drowning in virtue signaling, has sold out to the woke minority without firing a shot.
When called out on these drag queens, the Dodgers lived up to their longtime moniker and quickly dodged right and disinvited the dragsters. Unable to resist the leftist LGTBQ+ blowback, they dodged again, this time going hard left by not only reinviting the Catholic mocking drag queens and offering “our sincerest apologies,” but will award the dragsters “the Dodgers’ Community Hero Award for service to the LGBTQIA2S Community.”
Why stop there? The Dodgers should change their name to the Los Angeles Drag Queens that would complement their prominent Bud Light sign in the outfield grandstands at Dodger Stadium.
Why limit such profane mockery to only Christians?
Why not expand their repertoire to include The Mullahs of Mecca, who can do a drag rendition of the Islamic prophet Muhammad? While talking promotions how about black-face minstrel day … well, you get the idea. The left’s overwrought double standards never ceases to amaze.
Once upon a time in America, MLB teams had events like bat day, picture day, and seat cushion day to entice the fringe fans out to the park. In 2023, it’s perversion. Apparently, producing, promoting, and playing baseball is simply not enough. Is their product on the field that skewed that they must supplement it with such derogatory fashion as honoring drag queens that mock Catholics?
How do you explain this garbage to a 10-year-old who just wants to enjoy a game at the stadium?
It is no secret that the Dodgers have been hosting Gay Pride Night for the last decade. Throughout that tenure, the only thing emanating from Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez was silence, until now. The Archdiocese called on “all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand against bigotry and hate in any form and to stand for respect for one another and for the religious beliefs of our communities of faith.”
Curiously, no mention of the Dodgers, who underscored how anti-Catholic bigotry remains the oldest and most acceptable of American prejudice.
Los Angeles translated from the Spanish “the city of angels” and not Hell’s version, is home to one million Catholics, many of whom are traditionally minded baseball fans who are Hispanic.
What about the Catholic ballplayers? Perhaps they don’t know that Dodger Hall-of-Fame pitcher Sandy Kofax, a practicing Jew, declined to start the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur.
The Dodgers believe Christians can be bought off with a “Christian night” in July that will somehow make amends that is not only offensive but distasteful. People need to stop ignoring this insanity and step up to the plate – no exceptions.
No person of faith should support any business or organization aligned with such perversion that ridicules our Judeo-Christian heritage. Righteous anger should turn this publicity charade into the Dodgers’ version of Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney’s transgender moment. Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, has suffered a continuous drop in sales ever since. So has Target. Americans need to continue to respond by closing their wallets and continue what economists say is the most successful conservative boycotts ever.
Follow the money is the only game corporate America truly comprehends.
Oh, let’s not forget about the other corporations who seemed to be falling on their swords one after the other like Target, Kohl’s, and of course the greatest of all, Bud Light. BTW, have you seen the latest commercial developed by some entrepreneur for BUD?
WARNING: this commercial is rather explicit, so if you have tender ears, just skip it.
