Devil Dogs in Kilts?

**Jerry** · 19th April 05, 08:29 PM

Navy, Tin can veteran here. But I was in the navy during the Viet Nam war, and the marines I knew then were a great bunch of guys and deserved all of tyhe respect the rest of us could give them, as do all marines past and present. On a side note, my ship, the USS Julius A Furer, DEG 6 was commisioned on the same day as the Corp anniversary. We were in Puerto Rico, and had a ships party to commemorate the first anniversary of our commisioning. The local contingent of marines was in the same club, celebrating the Corps anniversary. Never let be said that Marines and sailors can't get along. WE ran out of mixers and they ran out of Booze, so we combined the parties and had a great time. (at least as much as I can remember of it).

**Riverkilt** · 19th April 05, 11:18 PM

M-14 Cold Warrior here, USMCR '65-66 61st Rifle Company Lexington, KY. E-1 "retired"

Politely asked to take my drinking habits elsewhere in exchange for an honorable discharge...39 years ago...dang I'm old!!

Yaish, I don't remember the EGA buckle when you were at the Arizona Highland Games or I'd have said "Semper Fi" for sure.

Was brainwashed as a kid. Did sort of a Marine Corps option in the Navy League's Sea Cadets in high school and the Marine Corps option in NROTC in college before drinking my college career away and having to scramble to enlist somewhere before being drafted. Irony of it all was after my discharge I ended up seeing "urban combat" in the MLK riots as a police officer.

Anyhow, if there's any connection between Marines and kilts its gotta be PRIDE. Not that others aren't proud too, just that it comes easy to old Marines. And, I don't suppose many of us care too much for what other folks may think of us or how we choose to dress

Ron

**Kid Cossack** · 20th April 05, 05:23 AM

Well said, Riverkilt! By the grace of God, I served during peacetime, and fall into the "never went anywhere, never did anything" category.

When the time came to dip a toe into the kilted waters, I pondered long and hard on how best to start. I wasn't sure of a tartan (at that point, I hadn't even seen, I don't think, the Marine Corps tartan), so I fell back on a Utilikilt original in olive drab. Hey, those ARE my clan colors!

I'm not too surprised to see what seems to be a disproportionate representation of former Marines here. The combination of pride, history, tradition and not giving a rat's patootie what the rest of the world thinks is a heady one.

(With that said, I hasten to point out that the Army, Navy and Air Force have some pretty good units too, and that we're all on the same side, so my enthusiasm for the Marine is not a denigration of the soldier, sailor or chairman.)

Did I really say chairman?

**cavscout** · 20th April 05, 05:42 AM

I believe the Marines hold a special claim to the word honor and sacrifice. I also hold any branch of the American military in the highest respect. While in the Army National Guard I was impressed to see that every member of my Scout Platoon was prior service from each branch. The depth of experience we had was impressive for what some call weekend warriors. We had men with Tank experience, Artillery, Air Traffic Control (yours truelly), Sniper, ... about half these men had seen combat in Grenada, Panama, 1st Gulf War and Bosnia. The awesome part about this unit was we all knew the negatives to being in the military (low pay, lack of freedom, long hours...) but we each reupped because it was what we chose to do. These were the greatest bunch of guys I've ever worked with.

**thescot** · 28th November 07, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by cavscout

I. . .While in the Army National Guard I was impressed to see that every member of my Scout Platoon was prior service from each branch. The depth of experience we had was impressive for what some call weekend warriors. . . .

Yeah, the reserves can have a host of very impressive people. Once at Twenty-nine Palms, there was a "C" Company made up of Viet Nam vets doing some training in the desert. A few were headed to mainside when an MP fresh out of boot camp and OJT stopped them for wearing field jackets. He told them that he'd probably overlook it if they were "regulars," but since they were reservists, they'd have to go back to camp.

This insult from a newbie brought the wrath of C Co. (about like the wrath of God, only more certain) their way as they went back and loaded a truck to head to the MP barracks for an attitude adjustment.

Fortunately, the CO got wind of it and talked them down. Not only were they almost all battle-hardened veterans from Nam, but many were also firemen in real life. What a great bunch of guys. They really knew how to watch your back, too (another story).

Joke: As the first wave of boats lined up for the assault on Tarawa, they got the GO and started for the beach, only to be recalled. You can imagine the confusion that caused. One of the boats came back along side the ship and the skipper asked, "What's the problem?"

"There's been a terrible mistake," the loading master answered. "There's a regular onboard one of the boats."