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The Downside of Cross-Cultural Bonding
Read the whole story here: http://www.gusmcoy.com/?page_id=1566
Read the rest at: www.gusmcoy.com
I had just gotten off of my first deployment to Iraq in the summer of 2003 and everyone in my company was feeling exceptionally blissful because we had just conquered the Iraqi Army in an epic confrontation of warfare. We were beaming with pride and we assumed that our fighting days were over. Remember, this is 2003 and we weren’t experts on nation building, so you can’t hold it against us for not predicting things to come.
We did a lot of drinking when we came back from that deployment. Not just a lot, but a destructive amount of alcohol entered our bodies at this time. It was the kind of drinking that has Marines making spontaneous decisions that will end poorly. My poor decision occurred after I had only been back in the States for two months. Some Marines got married when they were drunk. Others might get some sort of DUI, public intoxication, or assault charge. What was my drunken decision? After only being home for a short period, I volunteered for another deployment. This type of shanghaiing in the Marine Corps is known as being, “Tun Taverned.”
Tun Taverned (tun tav-ern-ed) adverb. 1. The eager enlistment, reenlistment, or willingness to volunteer for deployment while under the influence of alcohol or hung-over. 2. The idea to volunteer for any mission in the United States Marine Corps while intoxicated in a professional drinking establishment or barracks location. [Derived from the drinking establishment known as Tun Tavern, a saloon once located in Philadelphia, PA that is commonly thought to be the birthplace of the Continental Marines]
Before I knew it, I was boarding a ship and heading towards the Middle-East again. I was with a new group of guys, going to a familiar country. You’re a genius, Chewy! Only a smashed Marine would think that the name, “Iraq,” sounds like it would be a good idea. This is the eternal hypocrisy of military members. Marines are the most self-deprecating and bitchiest people on earth when they are operating in a warzone, but the second you take them out of there, they miss it.
I have no idea what that says, but it is the funniest psy-ops leaflet I’ve ever had to pass out. Iraqi: “Okay, buddy! Good Mistah! Good Bush!” When we got to Iraq, it was evident that it was vastly different from my first time there. For one, there was no significant threat of violence there at the time. This was the period in between “Mission Accomplished,” and the sectarian violence that absorbed the country for years. We happened to be there during a down period in hostility. We were also operating in a part of the country that I had never been. Al-Basrah was a large city on the Southeastern corner of Iraq. The area was controlled by the British Army, and our small contingent of Marines was linking up with them to perform joint military operations.
By joint military operations I mean that we were basically out there to make sure no one was stealing from the local oil field profiteers. I hated the notion that I was out there to be a police officer for these people—not because I had some deep held belief about my role in the military or our foreign policy…but because I knew I would make a terrible cop.
I’d never really been around British people before this stage of my life. To be honest with you, my only knowledge of the United Kingdom came from examining Benny Hill act like an idiot on PBS, and the film The Patriot. So you can understand my view of the British would be a bit skewed. The first conversation I had with one of the British soldiers was awkward at best. I did my best to try and make nice, but my sheltered American familiarity with British culture almost caused some big problems.
I yelled, “God save the Queen!” Yep, that was the first thing I said to them. I honestly thought that’s what you’re supposed to do.
I got a response from a random soldier, “Fuck the Queen!”
What? Something was not right.
I assertively asked the soldier, “What the fuck is wrong with Her Majesty?”
He responded, “We’re Scottish, save that shite for someone else.”
“You’re Scottish?! Like Braveheart and Trainspotting?! You must be rolling in H, huh?” I was a moron. I continued, “Do you know Duncan McCloud?” Alright, I wasn’t that naïve, but I was an American, so I had to be an asshole.
The young Scotsman looked furious, but he kept his cool.
So our senior officers, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to do a joint operation with us and the Scottish soldiers. It was basically an exchange program, where we would be going on patrol and reporting to their chain-of-command. I was chosen as one of the lucky ones that got to go out with the Scots on the next patrol.
I approached my sergeant right after I got the news, “Sergeant, can you get the LT to assign me an interpreter for the patrol?”
He responded, “The Brits already have one, you’re fine.”
“No, Sergeant, I meant for me…I can barely understand anything they say. They sound like those Pikeys from that Brad Pitt movie.” I wasn’t being a smartass, I was legitimately afraid of a language barrier compromising the patrol. I continued, “I mean…they’re not going to be playing the bagpipes when we’re going through urban Basra or anything…are they? Do they even make kilts in camouflage?”
“Get the fuck out of here, Chewy,” was his response.
We left early in the morning on a cool autumn day in Southern Iraq. The patrol started out well enough, until it got a bit uncomfortable after the Scottish officer halted the patrol and started giving out orders. I honestly didn’t know what he was telling us to do, so I turned around and asked the ginger soldier—I have friends that are gingers, so it’s ok for me to write that—behind me what was going on, “Can you ask your lieuftenant to speak English, please?”
“You’re a bloody xenophobe, boyo,” the soldier responded.
I was still in full asshole American mode, “Fuck no, I’m not a Xena-phobe…that show is awesome and Lucy Lawless is hot!” His blank ginger face was lost as he didn’t get my magnificent allusion to American telly.
See, I’ll be the first to admit that I am a grade-A nationalist. I can’t help it, I just think less of other people and where they’re from. This is not something I developed in the military either. I’ve had to struggle with this my whole life. When I was 15, I was eating dinner over at a football teammate’s house. It was a polite meal in suburban Minneapolis. His family had a good looking girl that was staying with them through an exchange program. As soon as I heard her speak, I had to chime in. Once she told me she was from Estonia, I basically went into a twenty minute tirade about how Estonians are just dumb Russians and that the only reason anybody in America knows about their insignificant country is because of awesome American screenwriters who penned them into the Encino Man script. She cried uncontrollably and I wasn’t invited back.
The patrol continued. After a while, I began to feel a bit alienated as we were supposedly doing a serious combat patrol. I didn’t see much, just a bunch of trashy locals—not all Iraqi’s are trashy, but Basrah is definitely the Detroit of Mesopotamia—and angry dogs. The Scots had on their pasty skinned war faces, but I was just looking around with confusion. I was confused for a couple of reasons. For one, I was still a young Marine, so I genuinely didn’t know what the hell was going on. Two, their Scottish accents were thick with verbal nonsense, and my simple hip-hop polluted mind couldn’t grasp their complicated dialect.
End of spaceRead the whole story here: http://www.gusmcoy.com/?page_id=1566 Read the rest at:... more-
- JackMandaville
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- 10 months ago
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Usmc Birthday Celebrates 235th | Meo News
Latest News Updates CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan –On Nov. 10, Mr Marines and Mr sailors of Combat Logistics Battalion 3, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward) gathered together to celebrate 235years of Marine Corps history and tradition.Latest News Updates CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan –On Nov. 10, Mr Marines and Mr... more-
- fuziimran
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- 1 year ago
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Brian Chontosh--USMC...Why don't we hear about this?
Those of you who might not know, the man on the left is the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and he is proud to know the man on the right.
Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.
Meet Brian Chontosh Churchville-Chili Central School Class of 1991.
Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant (now Captain) in the United States Marine Corps. And a genuine hero, the secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.
At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.
That's a big deal. But you won't see it on the network news tonight
And all you'll read in Brian's hometown newspaper is two paragraphs of nothing. The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.
Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out.
And we're almost on a first-name basis with the jerks who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom but we don't hear about the heroes. The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue .
The ones we completely ignore, like Brian Chontosh. It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad . Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.
When all hell broke loose, ambush city. The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades.
And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him. So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire. It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish. And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack...
He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the 50 cal unload on them.
Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across their machine guns and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the Humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines.
Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
And he ran along the trench, with its mortars and riflemen, machine guns and grenadiers. And he killed them all. He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Ooh-rah, and drive on.
"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
That's what the citation says. And that's what nobody will hear. That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news.
Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.
But I guess it doesn't matter. We're going to turn out all right as long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.Those of you who might not know, the man on the left is the Commandant of the Marine... more-
- bsperka
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- 2 years ago
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Fallen Soldier
Kaj and I are in the final stages of piecing together our show on remote control warfare. When we came up with the idea to highlight different technologies, we wanted to focus on technologies in development to fight wars of the future. But today, I’m reminded that the future wars might just be the same wars we’ve been fighting all along...i.e. Afghanistan.
A couple of years ago, Cerissa (Vanguard producer) came up with the idea to create a thoughtful moment of remembrance for fallen soldiers to play on Current every Friday. It was a graphic package listing the name, rank, age and hometown of the fallen along with where they died and how.
If we had a Fallen Soldiers for this week (so far), it would read a little like this:
The following Marines died Oct. 26 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Cpl. Gregory M.W. Fleury, 23, of Anchorage, Alaska.
Capt. Eric A. Jones, 29, of Westchester, N.Y.
Capt. David S. Mitchell, 30, of Loveland, Ohio.
Capt. Kyle R. Van De Giesen, 29, of North Attleboro, Mass.
*NOTE: There were at least 10 more American deaths this week in Afghanistan, but not all names have been released.
Recently on the Vanguard Blog:
- Drugs and Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge - Adam Yamaguchi
- A Geologist’s Analysis of the War in Afghanistan - Kaj Larsen
- Everything is connected: ecstasy, rainforests, and beyond - Adam Yamaguchi
- Street Hustlers, Militants, and Vanguard’s Mission - Mitch Koss
- Cambodia’s Coming Drug Crisis - Joanne ShenKaj and I are in the final stages of piecing together our show on remote control... more-
- LaurenCerre
- added this
- 2 years ago
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GORDON DUFF: SABROSKY INTERVIEW TIES ISRAEL TO 9/11 : Veterans Today
DR ALAN SABROSKY, FORMER DIRECTOR OF STUDIES AT THE US ARMY WAR COLLEGE
“ISRAEL DID IT”
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
Meet Dr. Alan Sabrosky, a brave man, a USMC Vietnam vet, an American of Jewish ancestry and someone devoted to the security of the United States at any cost. Ask any Jew what it takes to stand up against the most powerful and ruthless group in the world, the Israeli lobby inside the United States.
Sabrosky has been calling for a new 9/11 investigation for some time. What makes him unique is that we have a Jew who can hardly be called “self-hating” or “anti-Semitic” or against Israel. He is consistent in everything he says. His point is that you are an American or you are an Israeli but you can’t be both, especially now with Zionism turning Israeli foreign policy into a “runaway train.” 9/11, as Sabrosky sees it was the watershed in a relationship between America and Israel that has gone from bad to unsurviveable, especially for America. He contents that AIPAC exercises near total control over the electoral process in America through the ability to outspend any other group and destroy anyone who stands against them.
The unwillingness of the US to stand with the international community on humanitarian and war crime issues where Israel is found in continual violation is, to Sabrosky, a critial issue. In discussion the US and her lack of support for the Goldstone Report, Sabrosky says:
US criticism of the HRC resolution should be disregarded, as Washington only parrots Israel’s wishes here…
… it might have been better to have included Goldstone’s condemnation of Hamas offenses as well, but it is legitimate as it stands for five reasons: (1) Israel committed the great majority of the violations; (2) Israel had an overwhelming preponderance of military power; (3) Palestinians suffered almost all of the death and destruction; (4) Israel has a long, sordid history of ignoring UN commissions and resolutions, and of attacking UN facilities and killing UN staff, as when the clearly marked UNRWA facility in Gaza was bombed; and (5) the HRC focus is properly on the actions of the oppressor (Israel) and not on those of the oppressed (the Palestinians).
Another is that it did not accord Israel the right of self-defense. But Israel’s claim to self-defense in its savaging of Gaza is specious, because Israel — like all occupiers and oppressors — has no inherent right of self-defense against its victims. Who, for instance, would have accepted Nazi Germany’s assertion that its brutal reprisals against the Czechs for their assassination of a Nazi commander named Reinhard Heydrich was an exercise in self-defense? No one, and no one should accept Israel’s claim, either.
A third is that holding Israel accountable for its actions will somehow endanger the Middle East peace process. But there is no peace process, simply meaningless discussions to the dead end (for Palestinians and the rest of the region) of Israeli hegemony, and under Netanyahu or any electable government in Israel, there is not and cannot be one. There will be an enforced peace imposed from outside of the Middle East, over the objections and obstruction of Israel, or there will be none at all.
ZIONISM AND ISRAELI NATIONALISM
This is how Sabrosky describes the nature of Jewish nationalism as described within the term we call “Zionism”:
The differences between Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and that of other countries and cultures here I think are fourfold:
1. Zionism is a real witches’ brew of xenophobia, racism, ultra-nationalism and militarism that places it way outside of a “mere” nationalist context — for example, when I was in Ireland (both parts) I saw no indication whatsoever that the Provisional Irish Republican Army or anyone else pressing for a united Ireland had a shred of design on shoving Protestants into camps or out of the country, although there may well have been a handful who thought that way — and goes far beyond the misery for others professed by the Nazis;
2. Zionism undermines civic loyalty among its adherents in other countries in a way that other nationalist movements (and even ultra-nationalist movements like Nazism) did not — e.g. a large majority of American Jews, including those who are not openly dual citizens, espouse a form of political bigamy called “dual loyalty” (to Israel and the US) that is every bit as dishonest as marital bigamy, attempts to finesse the precedence they give to Israel over the US (lots of Rahm Emanuels out there who served in the Israeli army but NOT in the US armed forces), and has absolutely no parallel in the sense of national or cultural identity espoused by any other definable ethnic or racial group in America — even the Nazi Bund in the US disappeared once Germany and the US went to war, with almost all of its members volunteering for the US armed forces;
3. The “enemy” of normal nationalist movements is the occupying power and perhaps its allies, and once independence is achieved, normal relations with the occupying power are truly the norm, but for Zionism almost everyone out there is an actual or potential enemy, differing only in proximity and placement on its very long list of enemies (which is now America’s target list); and
4. Almost all nationalist movements (including the irredentist and secessionist variants) intend to create an independent state from a population in place or to reunite a separated people (like the Sudeten Germans in the 1930s) — it is very rare for it to include the wholesale displacement of another indigenous population, which is far more common of successful colonialist movements as in the US — and perhaps a reason why most Americans wouldn’t care too much about what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians even if they DID know about it, is because that is no different than what Europeans in North America did to the Indians/Native Americans here in a longer and more low-tech fashion.
9/11
Sabrosky makes a case, not just for a coverup of 9/11 but goes much further. He points out as do so many that the physics of the attack are unworkable. He, however, is one of the few to point to a conclusion many find obvious but few have the nerve to admit, that it would have been impossible to stage 9/11 without the full resources of both the CIA and Mossad and that 9/11 served the interests of both agencies quite well.
There was nothing they could have wished for more.
Sabrosky also makes a point involving media coverage of 9/11:
Finally, we need to take a hard look at why the mainstream media (MSM) have paid more attention to Sarah Palin’s wardrobe than they have to dissecting blatant falsehoods, discrepancies and inconsistencies in the US Government’s treatment of 9/11 and its aftermath.
ZIONISM AND TREASON
The inescapable point isnt the 60,000 Americans killed or wounded in a war started out of treason or the world it threatens to destroy. Americans have been looking away from these glaring realities the way they looked away from Vietnam. Sabrosky leaves Israel and her American Jewish supporters who he sees as traitors with a warning:
Do we take Sabrosky seriously because he is a Marine or a Jew? Do we wonder why the things he says reach so few? Is American in a shooting war where our biggest enemy sits behind us, killing us off, robbing us blind and whispering gently in our ears how much they love us?
It would seem so.DR ALAN SABROSKY, FORMER DIRECTOR OF STUDIES AT THE US ARMY WAR COLLEGE... more-
- Monkey_Films
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- 2 years ago
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- 1 comment
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The deadliest weapon in the world is a US Marine
US MARINES in Iraq Real Footage Warning Graphic - Not sure if all is in sequential order.
josephNYY2 (5 hours ago)
I love our troops. I love how they try to make this a better country for us, and a better life for there families. We don't thank them as much as we should. If not for them, we wouldn't have freedom, terrorists would not only over run this country, but others as well.
They are the protectors of the world. And just in case you don't remember, these are kids around our age. 18,19,20 year olds protecting us. God bless them, and i hope they come home safe. They are my hero! HOORAH
DivineAvengr (6 hours ago)
God Bless you Marines out there. We love you!!!
Pizzatastic (4 hours ago)
...and the mostly Democratic Congress who supported the war. I'd say this is a war worth fighting.
spruce2727 (1 hour ago)
Thanks Troops, Forever IndebtedUS MARINES in Iraq Real Footage Warning Graphic - Not sure if all is in sequential... more-
- arcticspirit
- added this
- 3 years ago
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- 1 comment
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Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots program hampered by recent burglaries
Some grinches appear to really have it in for the Marine Corps League's Toys for Tots program.
Three recent burglaries at the league's storage building are threatening the organization's ability to make sure children from needy families receive toys this Christmas.
John Gingrich, an organizer of the annual Lebanon drive, said burglars took about 50 bicycles, $2,600 worth of toys, $1,000 worth of tools and office supplies. The most recent burglary occurred between 5 p.m. Thursday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, he said.
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Last year, 895 families received toys, Gingrich said.
"It's definitely going to put a damper on our overall program, but it's just a minor setback. We're going to work twice as hard -- not that we don't put enough effort into it as it is," Gingrich said.
Last weekend, burglars took electronics such as MP3 players and hand held games from 35 boxes of items donated to the league at a Nov. 2 drive in the Reading area.
Gingrich estimated that $2,000 worth of toys were taken, plus $600 in toys that league members had just purchased, as well as tools and office supplies.
Most of the bicycles were stolen.
"It's not an issue of how many you have. It's the idea they steal from you to take away from somebody that really needs it," he said.
"The biggest victim is not the Marine Corps League but several hundred children who may be slighted because of this," said Lebanon Police Chief Bill Harvey,Some grinches appear to really have it in for the Marine Corps League's Toys for... more-
- arcticspirit
- added this
- 3 years ago
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- 1 comment
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GOOD MORNING VIETNAM
ORIGINAL SONG AND SLIDES ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR IN 1966-
- minimumjohn
- added this
- 3 years ago
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