Tag Archives: USMC

Current Events

The First is Always the Best

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Yes, how well I remember the first salute I received at around 1530 on 7 August 1967 at MB, 8th&I, Washington, D.C. when I was commissioned. Here it is:

Then GySgt Lee M. Bradley, my hero, mentor, and godfather giving the newly commissioned brown bar his first salute and collecting the infamous silver dollar, which now retired SgtMaj Lee M. Bradley says he still has.

One Final Salute                                                                  By: G. Maresca

For my first 17 years, a hat was, well, a hat. It wasn’t until I stepped off the bus in the wee hours of a humid June morning and landed on those celebrated yellow footprints of Parris Island that I quickly learned what I once called a hat was now a cover.

After my tour in the Corps, which included two deployments that literally took me around the globe, the only piece of uniform that fit me upon my departure were my covers. Thanks to adding two inches in height and 45-pounds in girth, my dress uniforms were always a major point of contention, especially during inspections. Fortunately, the camouflage utility uniform had a good amount of give, which was our uniform of the day – the one benefit of not being a pogue.

Once I returned to civilian life, my remaining covers were tucked away in my sea bag that in subsequent moves always found a home anchored in the basement. It wasn’t until my daughter requested me to render her first salute upon her commissioning in the U.S. Army that the cover would find itself, however briefly, returning to active duty.

Having been prior enlisted, I was unfamiliar with the protocols of the commissioning of a second lieutenant. Not only would she be commissioning but was named a George C. Marshall graduate having earned the U.S. Army’s top cadet award based upon scholarship, leadership, and physical fitness.

My poplin camouflaged cover was practically inspection ready considering it spent nearly four decades packed away awaiting its eventual parole to a hunting or fishing expedition that never materialized. My name was still visibly stamped on the inside and all that was left was a brief meeting with a touch of starch and an iron.

The only issue that still needed to be addressed was my hair. The mane is still in full force and pretty much the same color as when I first donned that cover. The mop, or what Uncle Vinny once sardonically called “good guinea hair,” was on tap to get a regulation high and tight shortly before the commissioning allowing enough growth to still pass muster with USMC regulation and acceptable to our family’s commanding officer, the butter bar’s mother.

The last time, I rendered a salute wearing that cover, I was still on active duty. I have no recall who was the heir of that salute, but to think the next one bestowed would be my own daughter decades later at her commissioning was surreal. The entirety of the formal proceedings were certainly a significant moment in time for an aging Jarhead.

Before accepting her request, I wanted to make sure that she didn’t want one of her ROTC cadre to do the honors as she has spoken with high regard for the senior noncommissioned officers that worked diligently with her during her undergraduate years and in particular MSgt. Cardray Moulden.

Our family’s military history is significant, having had two uncles who served in World War II one in the Army, the other in the Navy, and my, Dad, a Marine, served in the Korean War – all were enlisted. On her maternal side, one served on Iwo Jima, while the rest were Army veterans fighting the Nazi’s in Europe during World War II when military service was not necessarily a choice. The common denominator that ran through them was a patriotic sense of time-honored duty to serve one’s nation.

This seems to be missing among today’s youth as last year the Army reached only 75% of its recruiting goal, while the other branches barely met theirs. 2023 is no different. At a Congressional hearing, Pentagon brass testified things have not been this bad since the draft ended in 1973 and that the all-volunteer force may no longer be feasible.

Maria Maresca’s initial salute had two sets of firsts. Not only would she be the first woman in the family on either side to serve, but also the first to forgo the chevrons and pin on the gold bars of a second lieutenant.

Across our fruited plain, May is commissioning season. The formalities at Shippensburg University, not far from the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg or the Army’s longtime War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania is by no means a destination for any of these young officers. Rather it is the first stop in a journey that will sculpt, fashion, and solidify the rest of their lives as they serve a cause much greater than themselves.

The hope inspired by both Major General Andy Munera, the Commanding General U.S. Army Cadet Command out of Fort Knox. Kentucky, and the university’s ROTC’s Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Nicole Jepsen stirred a current that could not help but energize the auditorium of the Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

These newly commissioned officers’ commitment to serve stands out in a nation where only 9% of those eligible to serve do. They carry with them the hope of a nation that my last commander-in-chief Ronald Reagan once called “a shining city on a hill.”

This will be my last post for a while as my bride and I are taking our new RV (new to us) on its second shake down cruise to another FL State Park, that will make two down and 45 to go. I think it is fitting to post Greg’s story of his daughter receiving her first salute from her Dad. Great story. Congratulations Greg to you and to the new Brown Bar! I wish her well.

 

 

 

Originally posted 2023-05-21 12:17:26.

Current Events

Lest We Forget

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Yesterday, 19 February, was the 78th anniversary of the landing of the Marines and sailors on the island of Iwo Jima. Each year on this date I am reminded by many fellow Marines of the speech given by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn at the dedication of the Fifth Marine Division Cemetery shortly after the battle ended. Of late I find myself wondering how those of whom he speaks feel about what they see looking down on this once great nation for which they gave their lives. Most Americans today, especially the younger ones cannot even venture a guess of what happened on this small Pacific island so many years ago.  And, sadly, many could care less. But I still care, I care very much for he speaks of my brothers

Should you have some free time today on Presidents Day, you may want to click on the lnk I have provided and learn something about this significant event in our nation’s history, that is before it is erased by those who choose to change our history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima.

Please read it slowly and carefully so as to not lose the full impact of his words to us all.

By Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn

This is perhaps the grimmest, and surely the holiest task we have faced since D-Day. Here, before us lie the bodies of comrades and friends. Men who until yesterday or last week laughed with us, joked with us, trained with us. Men who were on the same ships with us, and went over the sides with us as we prepared to hit the beaches of this island.

Men who fought with us and feared with us. Somewhere in this plot of ground there may lie the man who could have discovered the cure for cancer. Under one of these Christian crosses, or beneath a Jewish Star of David, there may rest now a man who was destined
to be a great prophet — to find the way, perhaps, for all to live in plenty, with poverty and hardship for none. Now they lie here silently in this sacred soil, and we gather to consecrate this earth in their memory.

It is not easy to do so. Some of us have buried our closest friends here. We saw these men killed before our very eyes. Any one of us might have died in their places. Indeed, some of us are alive and breathing at this very moment only because men who lie here
beneath us had the courage and strength to give their lives for ours. To speak in memory of such men as these is not easy. Of them too can it be said with utter truth: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here.” It can never forget what they did
here.”

No, our poor power of speech can add nothing to what these men and the other dead who are not here have already done. All that we even hope to do is follow their example. To show the same selfless courage in peace that they did in war. To swear that by the grace
of God and the stubborn strength and power of human will, their sons and ours shall never suffer these pains again. These men have done their job well. They have paid the ghastly price of freedom. If that freedom be once again lost, as it was after the last war, the unforgivable blame will be ours not theirs. So it is we the living who are here to be dedicated and consecrated.

Too much blood has gone into this soil for us to let it lie barren. Too much pain and heartache have fertilized the earth on which we stand. We here solemnly swear: This shall not be in vain! Out of this, and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this, will come — we promise — the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere.

Let us as Marines and Sailors never forget what this photo means to us

Originally posted 2023-02-20 10:40:08.

Current Events

Berger’s Corps – Part II

16 Comments

Ok, Mr. Berger, you asked for it, so here it comes.. Was this part of your FD 2030 plan. I’m sure it was, or you are even less of a Marine than I originally thought. You should meritoriously promote her to Major so she can lead the way to your new USMC (United States Misfit Corps). Meanwhile you purge Marines who won’t take the shot and let officers wear their religious head gear. BTW, how’s all that “stuff” helping recruiting? Getting much help from the retired community? I don’t think so from what I hear.

Oh BTW sir, there is a great article in the June issue of the Gazette about these staffers Moe, Larry, and Curly task with coming up with a new name for this organization that some brain child in DOD came up with in the year 2042. You should read it. Or maybe you already have — Nah, you wouldn’t waste your time reading something like that. You’re too busy trying to beat down all those foolish retired generals that have not a clue what they are talking about. Happy Wokeness sir!

 

Lesbian Marine Corps Pilot Dreams of Waging War on Conservative Americans Over Roe v. Wade Repeal
Capt. Meleah Martin, a pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, smiles from the cockpit of an F/A-18C Hornet at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. Marines like Martin keep 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing ready to “Fix, Fly and Fight” as the Corps’ largest aircraft wing. 3rd MAW continues to answer the call of this nation whenever and wherever it is needed.

A lesbian marine corps pilot is fantasizing about going to war with the “domestic” enemies of America, who she describes as the conservative members of the Supreme Court following the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

The pilot was profiled in an NPR article published on July 4 where she stated that conservatives are a worse threat than any foreign terrorist because of a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with.

“We swear an oath, ‘To support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic’ … Well, it’s time to start worrying about the domestic, because clearly we have more of a problem here than we do anywhere else,” Marine Corps Capt. Meleah Martin told NPR.

“It’s really disappointing when something like this happens, because, like, how do I defend that?” she continued.

“We thought The Handmaid’s Tale was, you know, just an entertaining show, but we’re honestly headed back towards that direction, you know what I mean?” Martin said. “It’s just sad to see. It’s crazy,” Martin added.

Big League Politics has reported on the purge in the military of patriotic individuals who love freedom and stand for traditional values:

“In what is being hailed as a victory for diversity and progress by Democrats, transgenders are now shockingly overrepresented in the Armed Forces.

A study from the National LGBTQ Task Force has shown that transgenders are two times as likely to join the Armed Forces as their counterparts who do not suffer from gender dysphoria. One reason might be the free genital mutilation surgeries offered by the woke military.

The National LGBTQ Task Force is taking their findings and demanding for more taxpayer-funded giveaways and privileges for transgenders.

“The Defense Department must allow transgender people to serve openly,” said Darlene Nipper, deputy executive director of the organization. 

“It’s wrong that these brave men and women — who sacrifice so much through their service to our nation — should have to fight for their rights both as active military and then as veterans,” Nipper added.

The study showed that transgenders participating in the study blamed discrimination for their inability to hold a job. This is being used by lobbyist groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force to demand more handouts.

“The reality is that after honorably serving their country, transgender veterans often face discrimination in employment, housing, health care, and in other settings,” said Nipper. 

“Transgender people must be able to serve in the military if they choose to and after their service, they must receive all benefits and services free from discrimination,” she added.

This is happening while conservatives and patriots are being expelled from the military for exercising their 1st Amendment rights.”

This is why the military is being purged. The regime wants demonic LGBT perverts who will not hesitate to shoot on Americans. Some of them even brag about how they would do it at a moment’s notice. This is the New America under the “liberal world order” pushed by the illegitimate Biden coup regime.

Originally posted 2022-07-10 08:48:17.

Current Events

Berger’s Corps

36 Comments

I never thought I would ever write such a letter to my Commandant of the Marine Corps. As I was writing my book, my editor reminded me several times to what President Reagan said: “Republicans (read Marines) should never speak ill of a fellow republican (read Marine). However, I could not help myself because during my nearly 36 years wearing the Marine uniform I learned that while we like to believe that all Marines are honorable, just, and forthright in their decision making processes, I found they were not! Therefore, I had to call a spade a spade; the principles I learned from my mentors would not allow me to lie. Some were nothing more than career-minded cocker spaniel Marines who looked out for no one but themselves. In fact, the Corps seems to attract those of that ilk and we also tend to breed them.

I remember when selected for colonel, a friend for whom I had worked and respected a great deal warned me that I was about to enter into the political side of the Marine Corps. He was right. The cocker spaniels who are discovered early normally do not rise above field grade, but every now and then one kisses enough ass, has the right tickets punched, collects a godfather or two along the way gets a star. Once anointed with that star, it then becomes critical that he sense the political wind and set his sails accordingly. And that Mr. Berger is a description of you.

I served under ten commandants. Most were okay, some I idolized, and one I detested for what he did to us enlisted Marines by taking away our collar emblems. Of the eight who served after my retirement, there are only two for whom I have any respect. I have often wondered why that is, why have we not had a Chapman, Wilson, or Barrow? I suspect that having achieved that “political rank” I became more aware of  the real reason for some of their decisions and actions. Then you appeared on the scene.

When first nominated and I read your Bio, I was impressed thinking we now had one who may steer the right course regardless of the political wind. Was I ever mistaken. You have done nothing but set those sails to follow the liberal agenda regardless of where it takes our Corps. All of your actions since appointment seem destined to change the Corps from an organization respected throughout the world for its nearly 250 years of honorable service to our country to “Berger’s Corps,” whatever the hell that happens to be. We retirees are still trying to figure that out. Your new force structure, organization, and employment concepts have every former commandant and most of the retired generals scratching their heads. But enough has been said about those asinine decisions; therefore, I shall let the generals have their say.

My concern is, as it always was when I wore the uniform, with the Marines themselves and what you are doing to them—the Pvts, PFCs, LCpls, and NCOs. In other words the doers in the Corps, the ones who bleed and die in the politicians’ wars. Have you any idea what goes through the minds of the privates? There is a chapter in my book entitled “The Private’s World,’ you should read it, you might learn something. Did you are any of your minions at HQ think of the average Pvt when you came out with that sick pride month statement or were you simply setting those sails to ride the political wind. I think the latter. What about the average young boy who enlisted in the Corps, the one who was raised by our once normal moral standards. What does he think of you pride month celebration? Or don’t you care?

I have friends, retired peers, albeit younger then me who have children and grandchildren in the Corps. Have you any idea what they are saying? Or do you just not give a damn, this is “Berger’s Corps”?

Of late you MR general came out and tried to attack the retirees’ pride reminding us of the meaning of Semper Fidelis and telling us “our Corps” needed our help in the recruiting arena. HA! Sorry, but it isn’t “our Corps” anymore; it’s Berger’s Corps. And I don’t want anything to do with that Corps as it is unrecognizable to me and many of my peers. I have already talked two young boys out of joining Berger’s Corps. My friends and peers say their hearing from their children and grandchildren that they are now counting the days not for reenlistment as was planned, but discharge. I don’t know how big the recruiting service is today, but you best look at increasing it drastically. But then Rand says that 70% of the 18-25 year old’s are unqualified mentally or physically from joining the military. Maybe the LGBQTs will answer the call and fill Bergers Corps .Won’t that help unit cohesion?

Speaking of  Semper Fidelis. Who is actually being unfaithful? Is it us retirees or you and your minions? What about all those traditions that brought the Corps to where it was before you started destroying it all? Yes, there probably were LGBQTs in the Corps throughout its history. I’ll buy that, so what? Does that mean we need to flaunt their existence. Do you know what else is celebrated this month? How about PTSD Awareness Month, or doesn’t that matter to you since they aren’t serving today? You have done nothing but added more gender confusion to the Corps’s many concerns.

You, Mr. Berger, will go down in the annals of Marine Corps history as the worse commandant ever, even worse that that fool that took my collar emblems away when I was a LCpl.

Your post has nothing to do with Marine readiness and everything to do with undermining unit cohesion — the esprit de corps that is the USMC’s foundational fabric. If mass eye-rolls among the Marine rank and file had a sound, the thunder from outside the Beltway — those not kissing Biden’s ass — would be deafening.

Fact is that this crap impacts readiness because the insult to morale impacts reenlistment decisions. Marines are ashamed to be associated with this degradation. One Marine Sgt spoke for many others: “This shit is one more reason why I am not reenlisting — nobody wants this shit and the result is that our best Marines, enlisted and young officers, are leaving. Lots of them are leaving.”

With all that said, I will leave you to your sick, demented, history destroying ways and pray that someone will come along and shut you up. I’d sign this with the normal closing of Semper Fidelis, but you have no idea what that means and you certainly do not deserve it

 

Jim Bathurst

Col, USMC (Ret)

Originally posted 2022-06-04 14:21:17.

Current Events

Why Has he Not been Fired?

9 Comments

I have been remiss in posting anything on here for quite some time. I have been in the hospital with some plumbing issues. I reckon that comes about with some of us old codgers from time to time. But, other than feeling a tad weak and lightheaded at times, I believe I am on the mend. 

Anyway, I, along with a hell of a lot of other retired Marines, am wondering what is taking Trump so long to fire the fellow. He should have been the very first service chief to get the finger wave from Trump. In case you have not been privy to it, here is a very well-written piece by Gary Anderson, Col, USMC (Ret)

The Case Against the Marine Corps                                                    Commandant

Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith should be the next
item on Hegseth’s housekeeping list.

The imminent early retirement of Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allen will leave one more Biden-era leftover military chief to be purged. That is General Eric Smith, the commandant of the Marine Corps. Actually, it is the opinion of many current and former Marines that Smith should have been the first to go.

If forcibly retired, Smith would join Allen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and the ex-Commandant of the Coast Guard Linda Fagan as casualties of the rot that permeated the defense establishment during the Biden era. This list does not include the Chief of Staff of the Army, who has so far flown beneath Hegseth’s radar as the Army has made significant innovative inroads on the China front. (RELATED: The Feather Merchants: Senior Leaders Subverted the Marine Corps)

Brown was too woke, and Allen was accused of not doing enough to counter China in the aerospace area. Franchetti and Fagan were seen as DEI hires not qualified for the job. The indictment against Smith has several counts; all more serious than the other four.  (RELATED: Some Generals Should Be Fired. Start With Eric Smith.)

First, he has stubbornly persisted in implementing his predecessor’s poorly conceived and badly executed Force Design strategy which abandoned the Marine Corps’ traditional focus on amphibious warfare and its role as the nation’s world-wide general purpose force in readiness in favor of a China-oriented missile heavy force that duplicates capabilities already exercised by the other services with missiles more capable of accomplishing the mission than what the Corps is buying. (RELATED: Getting the Marine Corps Out of the Chinese Finger Cuffs

Despite mounting evidence that Force Design is logistically unsustainable, is ignored by the Chinese, and is not wanted or needed by the theater commander or by the regional allies, Smith has stubbornly doubled down on it. General David Berger obviously chose Smith over several more competent and qualified general officers because he was a loyal acolyte who had helped Berger circumvent the Marine Corps’ time-tested Combat Development Process (CDP) to implement Berger’s “genius breakthrough.” The CDP was not perfect, but it was designed to prevent really bad ideas, such as Force Design, from becoming reality. (RELATED: The Marine Corps Has Gone Off the Rails)

A second charge is perhaps more serious than the first. In January of this year, General Smith made a false official statement to a group of reporters when he told them that the Marine Corps had never embraced DEI as official policy. (RELATED: Marine Corps Commandant Tells a Whopper)

He did this while his staff was desperately trying to purge its websites of all evidence to the contrary. This either showed poor judgment or abysmal ignorance of the fact that anything that goes out on the Internet stays there forever. Either of which should disqualify him from the office of commandant.

Any public statement by a Marine Corps commandant to the press is, by nature, an official statement. A false official statement is an offense punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If I had been caught making a false official statement while a serving Marine Corps officer, I would have been relieved of my position and subject to an Article 32 hearing (the equivalent of a civilian Grand Jury) and likely hauled before a general court-martial. Smith still sits in the commandant’s chair. Some pigs are more equal than others in Smith’s Marine Corps.

Third, Smith has contributed to the suppression of professional military expression and discussion in the Marine Corps, begun by General Berger, who made it plain that Force Design was a done deal and that honest discussion and criticism were neither wanted nor would be tolerated. On numerous occasions, members of the faculty at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College invited retired senior Marine Corps officers to debate the merits of Force Design. In each case, the sitting president of the Marine Corps University (MCU) cancelled the invitation. In one instance, a former MCU president was told that he lacked the expertise to discuss the topic.

As noted military theorist William Lind has pointed out, a particularly egregious example of the anti-intellectual bent of the Berger/Smith era: Not long ago, a German naval aviator spent some time at the Basic School, the school for all Marine lieutenants.  Because the German officer had a rank above lieutenant, TBS put some lieutenants under him.  He ran his small units German style, according to what maneuver warfare recommends.  The Marine lieutenants loved it.  The German officer was called in by other faculty who said to him, “You are teaching Marines to think.  We don’t want them to think.  We want them just to follow orders.”

Before Berger/Smith, the old trope about Marines being dumb was an urban legend. The senior Marine Corps leadership actively encouraged informed professional debate among Marines at all levels. No more.

The current president of MCU actively encourages spying on officers to uncover thinking that he deems inappropriate.

Come on, President Trump, what is it with this fellow? It seems to be either you like him, or you are simply not paying attention to what he and his predecessor have done to your Corps. Do you realize that you do not have a 911 call left?