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MadDogDonnie
01-03-17, 10:59 PM
I arrived on Parris Island on December 30th, 2000. I graduated from recruit training on March 23, 2001 with 2nd BN Echo Company PLT 2029, SDI SSGT Maloney. I came home on leave, and was given...

MadDogDonnie
01-03-17, 11:17 PM
I forgot to add, I was discharged on July 2nd, 2001.

silveradomick
01-03-17, 11:48 PM
Donnie, <br />
<br />
I dont believe a word of your story as it pertains to being offered a chance to stay in. Smells like BS to me. <br />
<br />
A colonel let you decide if you wanted to stay in or get out, and hooked...

MadDogDonnie
01-03-17, 11:56 PM
Thank you for the reply. That's actually what i do tell them, or something close to it. I see you're from Pittsburgh. So am I. While i don't really care at all if you believe me, the story is 100%...

FoxtrotOscar
01-04-17, 12:55 AM
For the record, strictly on the technical aspects, yes, your a Marine...

On the Honorable side of this, you are a failure of that title Marine...

Now, what is the real purpose of this confession...???

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 01:03 AM
For the record, strictly on the technical aspects, yes, your a Marine...

On the Honorable side of this, you are a failure of that title Marine...

Now, what is the real purpose of this confession...???

Because I agree with you. To lay this internal struggle down, i think i just needed to hear it. I thank you for the reply.

FoxtrotOscar
01-04-17, 01:15 AM
Your welcome.

You don't have to look at this as a negative, it was a learning experience, although an expensive one...

Stay positive about the Marines and what they strive to represent, that will be your redeeming quality in life...

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 01:27 AM
Your welcome.

You don't have to look at this as a negative, it was a learning experience, although an expensive one...

Stay positive about the Marines and what they strive to represent, that will be your redeeming quality in life...

That is good advice. Again, thank you.

Hammer
01-04-17, 06:41 AM
I agree that you earned the title of Marine; but you are a failure as a Marine, if the story is true. If there was a way that the title could be taken from you, it should be.

Like Silverado; I don't believe your story.

Mongoose
01-04-17, 07:13 AM
I have never heard of a boot being given the choice of staying or leaving. My feelings is and always has been......getting through boot-camp does not make you a Marine. It gives you the title, but...

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 07:44 AM
Thank you for your replies. Like i said above, and whether you believe me or not, my story is true. As far as being given a choice, it was clearly explained to me upon entering SEPS that if you act like a bag of **** you'll get the boot, but if you act right and act honorably while in SEPS, they would keep you. I always acted right (excluding my decision to do cocaine) until the day i left. That's why they tried to keep me. The decision i was free to make was how i acted. The consequence was whether i would stay or not. Again, thank you for your replies.

Phantom Blooper
01-04-17, 07:47 AM
&quot;Should I Stay Or Should I Go?&quot; <br />
<br />
&lt;!-- Usage of azlyrics.com content by any third-party lyrics provider is prohibited by our licensing agreement. Sorry about that. --&gt;Darlin' you got to let me know...

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 07:53 AM
Well who else would i ask? LOL

Old Marine
01-04-17, 09:26 AM
Well who else would i ask? LOL

When you get to the pearly gates, ask the Marines who guard them.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 09:51 AM
When you get to the pearly gates, ask the Marines who guard them.

Again, good advice! Thank you for the reply.

fl1946
01-04-17, 10:16 AM
Like others noted, I'm not sure why you posted on this website. What you did was not exactly something to be proud of and share...especially to other Marines.

If you wrote this to seek sympathy, see a priest and go to confession instead. You will not find us standing at the next corner handing out candy and granting you forgiveness. Man up and live with it. You already embarrassed yourself.

LordViper
01-04-17, 11:01 AM
I was taught that the motto &quot;Once A Marine, Always a Marine&quot; could only be voided by a Dishonorable Discharge. Nobody disputes that Marines are &quot;First to Fight&quot; or that Marines &quot;never retreat&quot;, why...

FoxtrotOscar
01-04-17, 11:35 AM
LV, <br />
<br />
There are more ways to &quot;DISHONOR&quot; the Marines other than just a piece of paper with those words &quot;Dishonorable Discharge&quot;.... <br />
<br />
Your conscience is your guide...!!! <br />
<br />
No one is disputing the...

LordViper
01-04-17, 11:48 AM
To properly answer his question, we cannot inject opinion or support grey area interpretations because this approach will lead to a variety of different answers, which of course is not an answer at all. I believe his question is directed to the solicitation of fact and as such his answer can only come from official decree. Is there any? The closest thing I found was from http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/usmc_slogans.htm which is not really official which I suppose will be the counter statement.

Phantom Blooper
01-04-17, 12:17 PM
To counteract that quote and drop three paragraph's to "A Few Good Men".

Clearly his time in the USMC was not!

advanced
01-04-17, 12:24 PM
Viper, come down off that high horse you're on and understand that many of us here are combat Marines. In our world what we thought of another Marine is all that counted. For many of us an official...

LordViper
01-04-17, 01:37 PM
Well there it is, OscarFoxtrot says &quot;For the record, strictly on the technical aspects, yes, your a Marine...&quot;, while Advanced accuses me of &quot;being on a high horse&quot;. Ask a combat Marine and you get...

Phantom Blooper
01-04-17, 02:10 PM
No one is disputing whether or not he is a Marine by graduation and going to MCT.....except himself. <br />
<br />
Was he was a good Marine until his snoot fest on leave? He said he was and ALL his superiors...

LordViper
01-04-17, 02:27 PM
Hey MadDogDonnie, your profile reports you as: "Still in Service". I think you are in need of correction. Are you still here or did you go UA?

Phantom Blooper
01-04-17, 02:42 PM
Damn.... Lord Viper one minute your sticking up for him.....now you are going to charge him with UA.

silveradomick
01-04-17, 02:44 PM
Hey Bloop it was looking in the mirror (lined with powder) that got him jammed up in the first place! Better not suggest too much mirror time or Donnie will blow his nose again...

Phantom Blooper
01-04-17, 02:46 PM
Hey Bloop it was looking in the mirror (lined with powder) that got him jammed up in the first place! Better not suggest too much mirror time or Donnie will blow his nose again...


I was going to edit it "with a straw on it"....but my time ran out.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 03:38 PM
I apologize for my absence, gentlemen. I also thank all of you for the replies. All of them. I'm in the middle of helping a friend fix their car, so i haven't thoroughly absorbed all the posts yet....but I do have something short to add before i respond more completely later.

Just because someone has a piece of paper saying they were honorable doors not mean they truly are. In kind, just because a person has a piece of paper saying they aren't doesn't mean they really aren't. I say this as a general truism of life. It's directed at nobody.

I have already made up my own mind long ago about this question. My intent here by revealing such intimate details about my life is because I want YOUR input on the matter.

I will certainly fix the error that says I'm still in service, but i don't intend to stay longer than this thread lives. I know when I'm not wanted, and i expected it. It is for this reason that i am so thankful to all of you for replying.

And lastly before i come back later, i would never in a million years don the uniform again. It was rightly stripped from me at checkout, and that is how it will stay. What will not go, however, it's my undying love of "our" Corps, and my constant, lingering self hatred for turning my back on her. It is for this reason that i completely welcome your slander. I deserve it and i know it.

silveradomick
01-04-17, 04:18 PM
Donnie to be perfectly honest with you it's not partying a little too much that I have a problem with. ****, most jarheads I know and love did plenty of things that the Corps would have frowned upon had the powers that be found out. The difference here is that according to you, you were afforded an opportunity, a second chance, and you squandered it. You quit. Quitting, for a Marine, is never an option. Had I been in your shoes, and had been caught screwing up, I'd have taken my punishment and if given the opportunity to continue serving, I'd have been honored to do so. My brothers in the Corps meant too much to me for me to turn my back on them. Apparently the same was not true of yourself.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 05:27 PM
Like others noted, I'm not sure why you posted on this website. What you did was not exactly something to be proud of and share...especially to other Marines.

If you wrote this to seek sympathy, see a priest and go to confession instead. You will not find us standing at the next corner handing out candy and granting you forgiveness. Man up and live with it. You already embarrassed yourself.

Thank you for your reply. I mean no offense when i say that you don't have the capability to forgive me for what i did. None of you do, and i would not realistically expect or deserve it even if you did. Nor do i seek sympathy. I posted on this site, however, because you do have the capability to express how you feel about this whole thing, and i genuinely thank you for doing so.

Hammer
01-04-17, 05:28 PM
Justin; you put the issue into proper perspective. Been there; done that; and moved on and lived to fight another day!

Semper Fi!

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 05:31 PM
Thank you for your reply, and doubly thank you for searching around to find that link you posted below.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 05:39 PM
Thank you very much for the reply. I do not wish to challenge anybody's opinions here. Your opinions are precisely what i want. However, my MOS was 2167. LAV repairman. I would likely never have...

LordViper
01-04-17, 05:40 PM
Hey Bloop it was looking in the mirror (lined with powder) that got him jammed up in the first place! Better not suggest too much mirror time or Donnie will blow his nose again...


LOL
Just to be clear, my intention was not to defend him but to defend a lifelong philosophy that I have been programmed with. I have been asked this question before by other folks who received "early outs". The only answer I have ever known was "Once a Marine, Always a Marine." This post challenged the very heart of one of the core beliefs that I was indoctrinated with. I guess being a software engineer for the last 20+ years I have a tendency to look at things as black or white, on/off, 0 or 1. In reality, I do not care if the Corp considers him a Marine or not, I only what to know what the definitive answer is. I was hoping for a quote from the UCMJ, or something like that. I guess it is a matter of heart. Perhaps he earned the title Marine, but his heart is not that of a Marine. Forgive me for kicking the hornets nest, but I find it often yields passionate answers.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 05:52 PM
Thank you for the reply! You make an excellent point with the Stolen Valor example. Like i said in the OP, I'm fully aware of the legal part of this. What I'm looking for is honest opinions from...

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 05:59 PM
Again, thank you for the reply. Like i said in a previous post, i already know the answer to how i feel about it. I want to know how you feel about it, because i care how you feel about it. I...

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 06:03 PM
Donnie to be perfectly honest with you it's not partying a little too much that I have a problem with. ****, most jarheads I know and love did plenty of things that the Corps would have frowned upon had the powers that be found out. The difference here is that according to you, you were afforded an opportunity, a second chance, and you squandered it. You quit. Quitting, for a Marine, is never an option. Had I been in your shoes, and had been caught screwing up, I'd have taken my punishment and if given the opportunity to continue serving, I'd have been honored to do so. My brothers in the Corps meant too much to me for me to turn my back on them. Apparently the same was not true of yourself.

Yes sir. I almost completely agree with you. That is my biggest problem with myself.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 06:15 PM
LOL
Just to be clear, my intention was not to defend him but to defend a lifelong philosophy that I have been programmed with. I have been asked this question before by other folks who received "early outs". The only answer I have ever known was "Once a Marine, Always a Marine." This post challenged the very heart of one of the core beliefs that I was indoctrinated with. I guess being a software engineer for the last 20+ years I have a tendency to look at things as black or white, on/off, 0 or 1. In reality, I do not care if the Corp considers him a Marine or not, I only what to know what the definitive answer is. I was hoping for a quote from the UCMJ, or something like that. I guess it is a matter of heart. Perhaps he earned the title Marine, but his heart is not that of a Marine. Forgive me for kicking the hornets nest, but I find it often yields passionate answers.

I completely understand where you're coming from. I'm no software engineer, but I'm currently in school working on my electrical engineering degree. Naturally, within all of the math/physics/programming that i do...it similarly compels me to seek definitive answers. On/off. That's it. I'm as aware as i can be concerning the legal aspect to this question, though i still thank you for taking the time to search and find the link you posted. I'm afraid this entire question is designed to expose the gray area involved.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 06:18 PM
Justin; you put the issue into proper perspective. Been there; done that; and moved on and lived to fight another day!

Semper Fi!

Thank you for your reply. Much appreciated.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 06:30 PM
As a side note, i fixed the "still in service" error. How do you add a profile picture?

Cpl Keller
01-04-17, 08:25 PM
Okay, IMO graduating noot camp only earns you the EGA and the chance to be a Marine. You squandered that chance not only once by drug use, but twice, when you were offered a second chance, and you turned it down. So i would not consider you to be a Marine.
HOWEVER,
You can still uphold the things that Marines stand for in your daily life, namely: honor, integrity, courage, and strength. I hope you use what you were taught in boot camp to be the best man you can be.

MadDogDonnie
01-04-17, 08:32 PM
Okay, IMO graduating noot camp only earns you the EGA and the chance to be a Marine. You squandered that chance not only once by drug use, but twice, when you were offered a second chance, and you turned it down. So i would not consider you to be a Marine.
HOWEVER,
You can still uphold the things that Marines stand for in your daily life, namely: honor, integrity, courage, and strength. I hope you use what you were taught in boot camp to be the best man you can be.

Thank you for the reply. I very actively strive to do precisely what you suggest.

Mongoose
01-05-17, 08:03 AM
While a big part of Marines think that making it through boot-camp makes you a Marine......I say that's bullshet. In my time in Nam, as a Grunt, I saw a few really sorry azz Marines. Most would be shocked to find out how many Marines were guilty of self inflicted wounds in a combat zone. So as I said before.....In my day, you were judged by your brother Marines....a title meant nothing at all....you had to prove your Honor and Loyalty to get the respect it takes to be called a Marine.

advanced
01-05-17, 09:22 AM
viper, when it comes to what makes a Marine, which opinion of what it takes would you appreciate most, that from a combat or non-combat Marine?

SGT7477
01-05-17, 08:41 PM
I guess who the hell are we to judge, you wouldn't be the first to screw up, Semper Fidelis.

troop901
01-05-17, 08:49 PM
I agree with advanced and goose, simply a grad ceremony does not make you a Marine, any thing other then a Hon. discharge you lose that title, you can say, yes, I graduated Marine boot camp. I was...

troop901
01-05-17, 08:52 PM
I guess who the hell are we to judge, you wouldn't be the first to screw up, Semper Fidelis.

Send him a bakers dozen Ronnie lol.

SGT7477
01-06-17, 06:19 PM
Troop never got Rocky's name so its up to you,lol,Semper Fidelis.

troop901
01-06-17, 09:26 PM
Troop never got Rocky's name so its up to you,lol,Semper Fidelis.

It took me awhile to figure that one out Ronnie, yes, you got me.
Semper Fidelis brother.

Marine1955
01-07-17, 08:27 AM
As a side note, i fixed the "still in service" error. How do you add a profile picture?
Besides that little problem your setting a bad example for young Poolies who read this screwed up mess you got yourself into and that's not good at all..
I myself only me think your a waist of human flesh. for wasting our time and our beloved Marine Corps time and money they spent on you just so you could chit on them.
Wish there was a way to make you pay back the Marines for there time and money they spent on you..

MunkyVsRobot
01-07-17, 08:48 AM
I am surprised this thread has drug on for so long. The MOS of 8014 dones't really make you a Marine but as answered within the first few posts he did earn the title of Marine but he decided to relinquish it when she smoked weed and quit on himself and his fellow Marines. Thinking this thread needs to be closed for the good of the heard.

FoxtrotOscar
01-07-17, 10:34 AM
The Thread has run it's course...

Nuff said...