tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post6938287792503028225..comments2023-07-04T03:04:37.725-07:00Comments on The Veteran Experience | Ben Shaw: Hide Your BoozeBen Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280885836684955658noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-18526006436739832062009-02-11T12:02:49.541-08:002009-02-11T12:02:49.541-08:00While this generation thinks they invented this ki...While this generation thinks they invented this kind of behavior, I once threw up in the laps of two beautiful young women on a Chicago street bus. They are great grandmothers now, but likely remember it. I certainly do. However, on the same bus was a young Marine who had apparently gotten lucky that night. He was standing in the aisle and hanging from a strap while proudly displaying the smeared evidence of his success on the front of his green uniform trousers. I guess he was in a hurry and could not get undressed. That was several wars ago.Uncle Caesarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-91604217570673688802009-02-11T12:22:36.505-08:002009-02-11T12:22:36.505-08:00Are the upper eschelons in the Marines making any ...Are the upper eschelons in the Marines making any attempt to instill in the recruits that while they are on foreign soil that they will be asked, indeed expected, to be emissaries of the United States of America? They are that, whether they so chose or not. I don't so much care what they do while on our soil -- we have ways of dealing with that, and can tell college age exhuberance from criminal intent. However, once off our soil (I'd count the base where they are stationed as our soil), they should know what is expected: Boy Scouts on sterioids comes to mind. If winning the peace (an odd phrase) is what we really have in mind, we need to be sure that the non-war actions of the most visible elements aren't losing it for us. Back to my original point/question: Is "upper management" teaching the troops that THEY are what the local citizenry sees as the best of America, and that as such, it is their duty to BE the best of America when in their sight?<br>Auntie CAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-16776470554813982082009-02-11T12:38:33.235-08:002009-02-11T12:38:33.235-08:00In answer to your question, we have had it firmly ...In answer to your question, we have had it firmly drilled in our heads that, while visiting foreign countries, we are, in essence, ambassadors for the United States. Yet unfortunately, the desperation to get off ships, to satisfy a craving, or generally let loose frequently overpowers what we know to be true. Boy Scouts on steroids. Boy Scouts with guns as well. While I firmly believe that this behavior is the infrequent and isolated, it tends to draw the most attention. We, collectively, pay for that. There are some towns where I gather Marines are no longer welcome.Ben Shaw | byshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280885836684955658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-3649360533170000262009-02-11T12:52:48.383-08:002009-02-11T12:52:48.383-08:00I am really getting a kick out of this one because...I am really getting a kick out of this one because all afternoon I have been on line with the United States Postal Service and reading the new updates of restricted and prohibited items to mail in care packages. According to the updated Oct 2008 Postal Bulletin, we are not even allowed to send mouthwash over there anymore because of the alcohol content. <br>Coffee is prohibited too in many APO's. No wonder the Marines are losing it...Sarahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-32618670657226724802009-02-11T12:57:28.568-08:002009-02-11T12:57:28.568-08:00Coffee and mouthwash is prohibited in many FPO add...Coffee and mouthwash is prohibited in many FPO address's too. I rest my case.Sarahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-45688446949713589352009-02-11T16:41:42.530-08:002009-02-11T16:41:42.530-08:00Nothing disparaging meant by the Boy Scouts on ste...Nothing disparaging meant by the Boy Scouts on steriods comment, just trying to come up with a new term for the dicotomy between having to look like a recruiting poster (the Boy Scouts bit, clean-cut, for God and Country) while also being able to heft that gun mortor whatever and do the damage required by the job (the steroids bit), and how difficult it must be.<br><br>Sarah: No coffee or mouthwash? Hard to tell whether to laugh or cry.<br>Auntie CAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586080509912068029.post-41525066616862279242009-02-11T18:10:28.486-08:002009-02-11T18:10:28.486-08:00The things my peers did while in college were on t...The things my peers did while in college were on the whole much worse; this isn't to lower Marine standards, but rather to say "shame, shame" on everybody acting immature. 18-22 year olds should act twice their age, at least.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07763209657254848735noreply@blogger.com