The Biggest Disappointment in My Life

[LadyLeatherneck]

I was cleaning out the garage today and found a journal
I had to keep in an English class I was taking. I took this
class the summer before I got out of the Marine Corps.
The teacher would write a subject on the board and we
had to write about it so the first subject was

The Biggest Disappointment In My Life 6/27/95
and this is what I wrote:
The biggest disappointment in my life has been joining
the Marine Corps. I had higher expectations of it. I thought
I would be able to excel as a a Marine and as a person. In
many ways it has brought me down rather than up. I've
seen many people hurt themselves because of the ways in the
Marine Corps. Instead of helping Marines when they have
problems and seem to not be able to handle stress they
put them down. I'm glad to say I have done extremely
well for myself, but have not agreed on many things that
I have seen around me.

I was kind of in shock when I read this because you know
how sometimes we forget how we feel when we're going
through the motions. I sat there trying to analyze my feelings
at the moment because I sure don't feel that way now. Having
joined the Marine Corps was the best decision I could have made,
but I guess when you're there sometimes it doesn't seem like
it. I do recall that during this time I was an NCO and we had
had two Marines who had tried to commit suicide and I guess
that might of been what caused these feelings. Well anyhow
I just wanted to share as I'm sure I am not the first or last one
to feel this way.

Semper Fi

[Sparrowhawk]

about the Marine Corps.


"Never hit your mother with a shovel, it leaves a bad impression on her mind!"
Paul Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)."


I hated the Corps when I first got to boot camp; I hated the Corps throughout I.T.R. and when she sent me to Viet Nam. I hated the Corps when I got back stateside; I hated the Corps throughout most of the time I was in. When asked if I wanted to re-up, I said to the Gunny, “I have thought about it, laughed about it and forgotten about it.”

But, then again, I liked the corps when everything was in order. When I put on my uniform, when I looked sharp, and women flirted with me with their eyes, when I was in uniform. When my shoes were polished and my gear was in order. When I played six men football at Concord Navel Weapons Station and got knocked all over the field, and was busted and bruised for weeks. When igot into a big fight with some swabbies, because of Marine Corps tradition. Gosh those were the good old days.

Humm, I guess, it was like a hot wild women, a rough love/hate relationship that feels good, and you can't get enough of it. I love the Corps as it helped me realize who I was and helped shape me into the person I am today. Most of all I guess I was thankful that while in the Corps, I never had to burn shiitters.

[LadyLeatherneck]

See, I knew someone WOULD understand....

here's one that made me chuckle:

WorkPlace 7/25/95
Today was a rough day. I never realized how stressed
out I get from work. Supporting a Battalion of 1,000 Marines
is not easy especially when it comes to adminstrative work.
Somedays I wish so bad I hadn't joined the Marine Corps.
I think half the time they expect us to work like little robots
and never get tired. They expect us not to feel or have
opinions. I can't wait until I'm free from this misery.

Okay, that entry just made me bust out laughing....
for the obvious reasons...LOL

Now I know why I use to hear the term "Suck it Up Marine"
in the back of my head for so long ....it was me talking to
myself..LMAO

[Sparrowhawk]

In Vietnam

"You're here because you want the real thing!"

[wrbones]

We all had **** to ***** about. LL has brought up a good point. Even then, I knew it was all I ever wanted to do. I hated it, I loved it, I was always wound up. Get the mission done and done as well as you can .I hated the games, I loved working with most of the folks I ever met in the Corps. I hated that my family got in the way of the Corps, and I hated the way the Corps got in the way of my family. BUT. It was worth doing, It had meaning. It was important. It is the same today, I'm pretty sure. I hope in some ways the Marines of today have it better. In others. I hope they can suck it up and carry on, no matter what. It is the most important job that they will ever have. It is the most fun, the most aggravating, the most joyful, hateful, unpleasant, irritating, damnedest, most powerful exerience of their life. It is worth it. and I'm damned proud to be one of you. A United States Marine!

[USMC0311]

Maybe I'm a masochist, but I always have and always Love the Corps. Nuthin to it but to "DO IT"
Semper Fidelis, Hard Corps/Old Corps

If it was easy it woulden't be Marine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Price ya pay to play

as the new breed says get Hard LoL and suck it up
still sounds like sumthing a hooker would say

[GarvinRay]

The greener pastures always looks better to the young uns. LOL

It took me about a year to figure out my true relationship with the Corps and where I fit into the picture. The Marine Corps did me a lot of good and hopefully I returned the good deeds in trying to improve our beloved Corps. I will admit that sometimes it seems you are beating your head against a cement wall. However,if you believe in something, go for it.

[Sparrowhawk]

Get Hard and Suck It Up

Love that saying... 03

[USMC0311]

Mornin Grunt..

I am HARD Marine.. U take care or the rest Brother
Semper Fi, Marine!

I was wondering if any one would B crazy enough to address me with that saying.. And Low and Behold It's a fellow grunt TY and Semper Fi,
U the man Cook.

[Barrio_rat]

After being out 11 years now, I find myself (for the past 3 years or so) remembering the good times in the Corps. The fun that was had, even the stupid stuff that we thought was fun at the time, until we got busted or realized we were very lucky we didn't get busted. But I still remember why I got out and when I do, I don't long to be back in. I'm just glad that I did it.

[badbob]

I don’t know who said it, I think it’s from WWII - “It is a Soldiers right to complain.”

I guess we all complained at one point or another when the Corps became a little unbearable, and probably many times, had good reason to.

There was the occasional, unexpected 25 mile Hump or a White Glove inspection at 1500 on a Saturday afternoon because some senior NCO was on the rag, and the constant Fall Out in this, Fall Out for that, that turned some of us into Corps bashers.

Well, complain we did, all the time, and we had a saying that helped deal with these situations – “Eat the Apple and FU*K the Corps”

The Corps is a tough life, it has to be tough or we couldn’t be.

We earned the right to complain, the day we earned the right to ware Emblem, but if someone outside said anything derogatory about our beloved Corps, War was just declared.

Deciding not to stay and make a career in Marines was the hardest, and I believe the most important decision I have ever made in my life. I labored with that decision for 6 months before my discharge.

Unfortunately, I was young, only 21 years old, and having spent 4 years in the corps, I had no clue how FU*Ked up the civilians really were.


Semper Fi,
Bob Neener
1964-1968

[LadyLeatherneck]

Badbob, great response. I think that's what it's all about.
You have your good days and you have your bad days but
the thing is that no matter how bad it got we were there
the next day, like true Hardchargers! I too had to make
a very tough decision of reenlisting or getting out. Was
guaranteed Sergeant and had orders to work at the
embassy in Spain for a year or for 3 years(accompanied
with my family.) I just realized that being a Marine really
took time out of being a wife, mother, and daughter, and as
much as it hurt to sign that DD214 I realized that if anything
my son needed me more than the Corps needed me. I still
have regrets sometimes, but in the long run I know it will be
worth it and so far has.

Semper Fi Marines

[8th&I Marine]

I look at it this way, I learned as a PFC By way of my company GUNNY. If we aint complainin about something then there is something wrong. I hated the spit and polish of 8th & I, but dammit I had alot of fun. Got the fire knocked out of me by Gen. Gray. Did enough mark time steps to cross the world more than twice. Some idiot stupid enough to trash my CORP. that is war


cantrell

[JAMarine]

Very Good Posts Marines.

I too Loved My Corps. Did I like every minute of it. No Way!

I joined the Marine Corps because I was a stupid kid that had awesome parents and friends that cared enough to steer me in that direction. They knew I needed to grow up and I needed some discipline and direction in my life. I was in a place in my young life where I NEEDED TO PROVE I was the best. The Marine Corps was the natural choice

Who out of all of us didn't have the thought in some form: "Oh God, What have I done"?

All in all I was very happy and satisfied during my stay. I grew mentally, physically and matured under great leaders. Would I do it all over again? You Bet! In A Heart Beat.

Semper Fi Marines and Friends.

[USMC-FO]

Great thread !

40 years ago today I stood at attention at the old Fargo Bldg in Boston and took my oath. I was 18 and very proud of what I was doing. I was going in to be with the best.

I hit PI 24 hrs later and proceeded to get kicked, punched and slapped around and for a brief moment I thought...Ooops big mistake. But I quickly learned what it met to "suck it up" and carry on. Lessons that I carry with me to this very day; standards and expectations that never leave you. Lessons that I try and impart daily to my young son.

Did I love every moment I spent in the Corps: hell no but as others have noted every "snuffie" who wears the Eagle Globe and Anchor has earned the right to ***** about crap and to fuss, goes with the territory. I did not care for the spit and polish or some--not all--dumb ass 2nd Lt who were so caught up in their bar(s) that they forgot they were part of a team, and in many cases didn't know squat! This particularly so in 66. But you deal with all this and move on. I loved being in the field and running fire missions.

I too labored about staying in but felt it was time to move on, which I did. But being a Marine has been with me ever since.

I have always be pround of being a Marine, particularly post 9/11. I drive around in a truck with my divison logos and my Eagle Globe and Anchor (don't we all have those??) I am regularly acknowledged by other Marines as I make sure to "Semper Fi" them too. I have taken my son--9 yrs--to the Marine Memorial and to The Wall for the November 10th birthday and we'll be back this year for the 227th and the 20th of The Wall.
I enjoy being among Marines and I enjoy, and want, my son see and hear what it means for all of us.

In addition to my children being a Marine is what I note as my most significant life accomplishment, not much else matters in my scheme of things.

Semper Fi Marines !