The “Root”

Today is a day that we Marines of yesteryear will never forget.  Some of you reading this post may not have even been alive on that dreadful day. It was a day where we as Marines suffered more losses in one day since the battle for that infamous island of Iwo Jima. While I was not there in the heat of all of it, I was impacted indirectly. I was the CO of the Corps’ largest recruiting station at the time, and two of the Marines  lost on that tragic day were from Chicago. The city mourned and SgtMaj Collins and I participated in its mourning. Quite a memorable experience for us both. It’s all in “The Book.”

My friend and Marine brother Greg pays tribute to that fateful day. Thank you Greg.

Twenty and Counting                                        By: Greg Maresca

For those not keeping count, it was 20-years ago that this column first appeared in these pages. Through the auspices of the now retired Jake Betz, former editor of The News Item, he gave a fledgling part-time sports’ stringer and broadcaster an opportunity to write a featured op/ed.

Sometimes I wonder if Jake regrets unleashing this space that grew like a cancer – slow at first and then metastasizing to other publications and outlets who were willing to give it a play. That first column has mushroomed to nearly 1,000 was something I debated about writing.

I had possessed no desire to write it but felt compelled. Such an overreaching sentiment would rise like a phoenix about many subsequent issues, questions, and concerns that live rent free within my DNA.

Back in 2003, as the run up to the 20th anniversary of the Hezbollah attack on the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit’s headquarters at the Beirut International Airport approached, I waded through TV guides searching for at least one program on this forsaken piece of American history that should be anything but.  Sadly, and to no surprise, there was nothing, no documentary to be seen, heard, or read about. Not one news’ program discussing where the genesis of the War on Terror had its deadly roots firmly planted.

Seemingly, the day was going to innocuously pass like any other.

This was not going to happen on my watch.

There was just too much blood and treasure spent on that fateful early Sunday morning nearly half a world away to not remember.  The casualty count on this cowardly suicide attack on the Marine Corps hadn’t been that high since the battle for Iwo Jima.  The largest non-nuclear blast since both atomic bombs were unleashed during World War II would claim 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers nestled away in their bunks at 6:22 on that fateful Sunday morning October 23, 1983.

Being a used book aficionado, I found one of the few tomes written on the Beirut deployment in a flea market for the pricy sum of a quarter.  The volume was practically brand new, and I wondered if anyone had even read it before being exiled to the flea market circuit. No bookmarks or any notations were found within its pristine binding.  The late esteemed military history writer Eric Hammel’s “The Root: The Marines in Beirut” now stands guard over my ever-growing stack of must reads.

John Chipura had quite an incomparable story to tell but never would have the opportunity, but I would.  When I read about his tale months after the 9/11 attack, its irony was nauseating. Chipura, a New York City native of Staten Island, was serving in Beirut the day of the attack. He returned unscathed only to meet his end as a member of the NYFD based out of Brooklyn at the World Trade Center nearly 18 years later.

Regrettably, not much has changed as the Middle East remains the graveyard of American foreign policy after years of trying to fashion the region into a stable, peaceful, and prosperous place.

Taking on edgy and provocative issues encouraged me to read widely, while at the same time fostering the principles of an open society and free markets, which are today more important than ever in a culture growing with leftist orthodoxy and fanaticism.

Facts, analysis, and experience are the guide where edification matters more than good intentions or telling folks what they want to hear.  You cannot be concerned with what people think, do, or say, since being called into question and criticized is the byproduct and where having the skin and guile of a crocodile is all part of the gig. For those who disagree, the hope is to challenge them with a better understanding of an alternate yet reasoned out perspective.

Putting accuracy ahead of popularity and running counter to the contemporary ethos is both costly personally and professionally. There are plenty who do not care for this column, but thankfully there are also plenty more who do.

Out of fidelity to the truth, certain things must be said and written about.

There is no other way.

Thank you for reading.

Very well said Greg, thank you kind sir!

 

 

 

 

Originally posted 2023-10-23 11:09:15.

9 thoughts on “The “Root””

  1. This day was Ronald Reagan’s worst day as president. He knew it to and wrote about it in his memoir. 40 years later and still a clusterf^^k.

  2. We have unfinished business with Hezbollah. Its day will come.

    1. Lord I hope so, but sadly the present Corps isn’t capable of doing anything about it. They are more concerned with integrating recruit training and making heads universal. Thanks to Berger and company.

  3. It is not surprising that no official government comments were or will be made on the anniversary of the Beirut debacle on October 23, 1983. Neither is it surprising that no member of the “4th Estate” dared to bring up the subject after our embarrassing run out in Afghanistan. No one wants to be part or even bring up the discredit of sacrificing over 240 Marines, sailors, and soldiers.

    I have read and heard conflicting official and unofficial accounts of what transpired on that ill-fated day. The worst was that the military were ordered to occupy the single building at the airport. In this I cannot understand.

    Conspicuously, proper military logic was absent. Everything from half ready weapons, allowing an uninspected vehicle near the billeting area, massing troops in a single area easily attacked, and not learning from previous incidents in a “war zone”. In April 1983 the US embassy in Beirut was car bombed with a loss of 63 lives.

    I believed than, as I believe now that the ground commanders should have been court martialed and the civilians that made such stupid decision as were in the ROE be removed from their positions. I cannot, even to this day, believe that I would have allowed my Marines in that unprotectable position. Better for me to be court martialed for disobeying a stupid order rather than the loss of so many good Marines.

    I know than many would say that you have been given order and that as a Marine Officer you are expected to obey, but all orders have to measured against three principles. First, is the order legal? Second, is the order moral? Third, will executing this order cause more harm than good or place your subordinates in unacceptable or unnecessary hazard in the present situation. If you can say no to any of the conditions above, the order should be ignored.

    1. The whole thing was a no go from the start. I agree. I could not have obeyed an order to house all those Marines and Sailors and solders in that building. His orders required him to maintain a “low profile,” i.e., this was to be a peace keeping mission to show our support. Not a very good mission to give to a Marine BLT. That’s not what they were trained for back then. Peace keeping, low profile breeds laziness, slackness, boredom, etc. There were so many things that went wrong from the get go; there was more blame to go around than there were bodies to attach it to. That’s what happens when you have civilians laying out the ground work and ROE’s. That was a very sad day for the Corps in many ways!!

      1. Not a good idea to give a peacekeeping mission to a BLT. Absolutely. The ROE was pathetic. Sad day, one of the worst for the Corps. May God rest the souls of those who gave all.

  4. Marines….
    that Sunday 23 Oct 1983, was a shot to the gut of our Corps!
    I among many Marines found ourselves at Phils Tavern in
    Blue Bell Pa. to toast our brother Marines that we lost.
    the next day, which was my 47th birthday, i stood before the
    CO at MAG-49, NAS Willow Grove PA..
    “Sir my uniform still Fits, I am good to go”
    10 years to old, he said.
    I was not done, I became involved with the Beirut Connection,
    a publication for the Familys of BLT 1/8, there we 9 Marines
    from the Phila area that we lost.
    2 years later a Memorial was dedicated to our fallen !
    Maj Gen Al Grey CG of 2nd Div was on board to speak of
    his Marines as only he could and still does.
    God Bless our Corps & Country
    AL Pasquale
    USMC 1954-1962
    SEMPER FIDELIS

    1. Al I agree with all you say, but I cannot and will not ask God to bless the Corps of today. It sucks big time in every way. Sorry.

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