Corps: Past/Present/Future - Page 2
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  1. #16
    USMC 2571
    Guest Free Member
    There's really no place to talk about past-present-future without having 30 threads going, so this seemed the best way.


  2. #17
    Mongoose
    Guest Free Member
    Quote Originally Posted by FoxtrotOscar View Post
    Just my opinion here, but I think Grunts should always maintain tight cohesive living conditions, this creates unity and unit effectiveness which gravitates to the field environment..

    Room's create, apartment dweller mentality...

    Teams must act and work as one under adverse conditions to complete the mission without individuality issues cropping up in the field...

    Just my opinion...!!!
    Well, from May of 68 till may of 69.....the only room I was in was a operating room and a hospital ward. Does that count??


  3. #18
    My niece is presently a LCpl at CLNC. Don't have a lot of contact with her. But, it is clear, we don't have much in common as far as being Marines is concerned. She never asks for my input on anything which is probably a good thing because I don't know if I would know enough about the issue to be of any real help to her.

    My impression is the open gay situation is not a problem. Marines just consider it an equal opportunity issue.

    The Pentagon will announce its policy regarding women in combat at the end of this year. All indications are women will be integrated into combat MOS's - ready or not. Based on the open gays experiment, I am inclined to believe Marines will, once again, accept their fate and carry on best they can. Only time will tell how this experiment turns out.

    Next up, is transexuals and changes in grooming/uniform regulations to accommodate religious preferences like full beards and turbans (just like the Army already allows). Same song-and-dance. Marines will continue to adapt and overcome like we always have.

    Don't see what's on the horizon beyond these liberal experiments and the current SECDEF's stated attitude of "everyone should be given the same opportunities to serve and the larger the eligibility pool the better".


  4. #19
    Mongoose
    Guest Free Member
    I can only comment on the Corps of my time. It was simple as hell. No gays. No transsexual issues. No religious issues. The Corps was cut and dried. You didn't have to be smart as hell. You did what you was told and could retire in 20 years. Great days to be a Marine.


  5. #20
    USMC 2571
    Guest Free Member
    Very true


  6. #21
    Well, I for one would share my fox hole with a good woman any day, a gay wouldn't be so lucky.


  7. #22
    Past-present-future, this is a good thread. I got started in 84, and looking at the gear we had and how we worked, I think any Marine from WW2 on would have felt right at home. Had broken time that kept me out of the Gulf in 91, got back in 93, and by the time I went IRR in 97 had started seeing some changes.

    Not big ones, though. Radios were a little better, admin work had more computers, we had 5-tons instead of Deuces, but it was still ALICE and shelter halves and M16s (A2 then), the last M60 tanks were getting phased out, jeeps were mostly gone... Not a lot of change in how we worked though.

    I look at what silverado and josephd have seen change, just a few years after me, and I'm amazed. It's mostly good, though, from what I can tell. Marines are still Marines.

    "Old breed, new breed, doesn't make a damn bit of difference" - I think some kinda famous old Jarhead said that once. Still true. As long as it's Marine Breed!


  8. #23
    I think(know) some grunt units on the left coast have two man rooms. Not sure about ruling out completely the whole squad bay living quarters.


  9. #24
    The technology advances over the past let's say ten years have been just enormous. When we deployed to Iraq in 2003 for the invasion, one vehicle at a platoon level was equipped with a blue force tracker system. It was brand new tech that allowed platoon commanders to see the entire battle space in real time on a screen in their vehicle. Now, every vehicle is equipped with one, meaning that as low as a fire team leader has access to the location of every unit on the battlefield, along with tons of other pertinent info, right at their fingertips. That sort of all encompassing knowledge certainly provided new ways to be even more lethal at a small unit level.

    Something I always refer back to for perspective is that in 2003, cell phones were a novelty still, with little or no internet capability. One (just one) guy in my platoon spent the money on a digital camera to take with him on our tour, and the rest of us used 35mm disposables. That 4 megapixel digital camera of his cost him an arm and a leg, and saved the pictures on a memory stick that he would then mail home. Seems archaic in today's world where everyone has a 16 megapixel camera built into their phone that allows them to instantly email those pictures anywhere they want to.

    Sapi plates were also newer technology for us. My unit wasn't issued any until after the invasion was over. When I tell people we invaded Iraq with flak jackets and kevlars that weren't much different than those worn in the first gulf war, I usually get funny looks.


  10. #25
    What are some of the advances you Vietnam era guys remember seeing happen? I mean, little things that either helped or hurt the way you were used to doing things in country, like what I was describing up there with the BFT and body armor. Anybody care to share some anecdotal stories? I for one would be all ears.


  11. #26
    Well, It's nice to know where all the good guys are, but we spent most of our time trying to find out where the bad guys were. Another thing, we didn't go back every evening for a hot shower, chow and a nice comfortable rack and then email or call home. We kind of lived off the land and starved all the time.

    I guess to sum it up a bit, do you know anyone that killed anyone with a rock. Just saying.


  12. #27
    Bro I'm not trying to get into a dick measuring contest with you. Why is it always like that here?

    For the record, half of my first deployment we lived in our trucks. There was no such thing as a base to go back to, because we hadn't built them yet. We "showered" by dumping water cans over each other when we got a chance to, which wasn't often. We were also in MOPP level 2, 3, or 4 for much of the first several weeks.


    The other half of that deployment we lived in circus tents when we weren't on missions. 100 guys to a tent, 140 degrees and humid inside, 140 degrees with a maddening 30mph wind outside, and no way to get away from it except to volunteer for more missions, or walk out into the bleak, brown, expansive desert. I normally went the volunteering route, because if I had to suffer, at least I wanted the opportunity to get at the Muj.


  13. #28
    USMC 2571
    Guest Free Member
    No measuring contest. Advanced (Russ) was just making a comment. What happens here is that every time someone from a prior era says something, newer guys jump on it, and that's fine, but it leads to arguments every single time. No one's saying this or that is better or worse. 2015 is not 1965, we all know that. So why not just discuss things without even thinking it is some kind of contest as to who is the baddest mthfkr? Maybe we could try that approach someday on this site.


  14. #29
    Nah no argument from me at all. Just trying to avoid the swordfight and generate discussion regarding what I think is a pretty interesting thread topic.

    Also for the record, I'm happy as hell that I didn't have to do things the way guys in Vietnam, Korea, or WW2 had to do them. That **** would've sucked hard, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Marines who went before and built the reputation we stand on today.


  15. #30
    Mongoose
    Guest Free Member
    Quote Originally Posted by advanced View Post
    Well, I for one would share my fox hole with a good woman any day, a gay wouldn't be so lucky.
    Well now Russ.....I can remember times in the Corps, that I would have shared my fox hole with a good woman, bad woman, blind woman, ugly woman, fat woman. woman with no legs, woman with no arms, woman with out arms or legs, or a woman who was blind, fat and ugly with no arms or legs.


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