Here’s hoping it all ends well

Good article about Russia

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1505817/posts

If we made captured terrorists sleep outside in below freezing weather (24 degrees), the New York Times would call it torture. The USMC calls it training. Hoo-rah!

The hardest parts of mini-bootcamp were trying to sleep outside (I got four hours), and putting up with all the farting. (There were about 40 recruiters and 228 poolees. You do the ass math.) Every time I nodded off, someone would cut the cheese anew. There were 86 poolees in my platoon, with four squads; when we marched, you better believe people up front served up some nasty beef stew for the other eighty-five of us to enjoy. One of the recruiters walked through the tent to tell us to go to sleep; he released an Assgasian hostage right on my face when he was walking out. God damn!

We had two delicious and nutritious MREs: I got chicken and salsa (with Mexican rice) and spaghetti with meat sauce. (When it came to deploying weapons of ass-destruction, I gave as good as I got.) We had about five minutes to eat each meal, so I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I used to serve breakfast and lunch at the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, where they had filet-mingon on the buffet every day, and we got to snack on it afterwards. And I love me some MREs, baby.

I learned to move with speed and intensity.

When half your platoon has to piss, and there are only two toilet stalls and one urinal, things get interesting. “TWO MEN TO A STALL! WHEN ONE MAN LEAVES, THE NEXT STEPS UP. TRY NOT TO PISS ALL OVER EACH OTHER. IF YOU HAVE STAGEFRIGHT, MOVE ON.” I had to run my IST with a full bladder and my long underwear around my knees (I hate layers). Two and a half weeks ago, my 1.5 mile run was 17:00. This time, it was 13:06 (hoo-rah!). Last time, I got 28 crunches in 2 minutes. This time, it was 42 (hoo-rah!). The minimums to ship to bootcamp are 13:00 and 44, respectively. Still can’t do a pull-up.

I was the oldest poolee there; many of these high school kids were not used to the idea of things being asked of them. “You might want to move faster.” says the DI from San Diego. The kid’s faces looked like deer in headlights.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: “The coolest thing about being a United States Marine is that not only do you get to be a United States Marine, but you get PAID to be a United States Marine. Pretty cool, right?” “YES SIR!”

The hair on my nutsack doubled over night. Now it looks like I’ve got Willie Nelson in a leg-lock.

Our DI changed into runner’s shorts and a T-shirt when we ran the IST. “You look tired and cold to me.” “NO SIR!” “I don’t want to hear any bitching about how cold it is.” “NO SIR!”

Every time we sounded off weak, he’d say, “You’re sounding like the Air Force, try it again.” “AYE AYE SIR!” Jefferson Barracks is an Air Force location; when the DI showed us how to make our bunks, the sheets were enormous; caught off-guard he said, “The sheets you’ll use are the right size; this is an Air Force barracks, they’ve got queen-sized beds.”

Tough guys were punished. During our long march, one of the guys in back next to me was sick of people in the middle losing step, and forcing us to jog up to the person in front of us every five seconds. “I want to go to the front, they suck.” Recruiter replied, “Sure, go ahead. Wait, I’ve got a better idea. Since you’re such a fucking bad-ass, you’re gonna run in circles around the entire platoon. MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT!” Then they broke a stick off of a tree and told him to hold it up while he ran (for the last half of the march!). If they lost sight of him, they’d say, “where’s that bad-ass? KEEP RUNNING!”

I also got a taste of “Incentive Training” (push-ups, etc.) Six straight minutes of it (the platoon took turns). I expected a lot more face-time; I only caught the DI’s wrath once, for smiling while in the position of attention. I learned how to bite my tongue (literally!).

Second best quote of the weekend: “What do we do on Sunday if we’re not religious?” “I’ll tell you this right now; everybody in my platoon goes to services on Sunday. If you’re athiest, you’d better find Jesus, or find somebody.”

I called the last fire-watch, and I thought we’d be woken up earlier than they said (5:00). I got everybody up early and told them to silently pack their shit and get ready, so that when the DI came in, we’d all be standing up with our shit squared away and ready to walk out of the tent. “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY TENT. GET THE FUCK–” “GOOD MORNING, SIR!” He was pissed!!! “GET OUT, NOW!”

My recruiter told me poolees walk away from these weekends either charged up and motivated, or re-thinking their decision. I firmly belong to the first group. What was hardest about the PT was the endurance factor–nothing they had us do was hard, but it really added up at the end of the day. This was the best weekend of my life, and I am more motivated and encouraged than ever.

That’s all I got; if I think of something else worth posting, I will. I just looked at the comment stats, and for everybody who has told me to STFU: I see your point!

Question: We often hear pundits say that it won’t matter what Russia or Iran do in terms of equipping Iran with Nukes, because Israel will never allow Iran to be fully armed with Nukes and will simply launch massive Air Strikes against all Iranian nuclear facilities in advance of a working Nuclear device. Can you shed some light on this common theme in the Conservative blogosphere?

Is anyone aware that nukes are so…so…passe? Nukes are so 1970s.

Let’s talk dog food…

If, let’s say, I were a terrorist I would stop trying to scrape enough plutonium off glow in the dark watches (yes, I know it’s radium but bear with me…) and think about poison. Yes, the corollary to ‘Better Living through Chemistry’ is ‘Better killing through Chemistry’ or can you say ‘Bhopal’?

Oh, how simply fragile is the human body!

Now, how do I get poison into the food? I need an exploratory committee…I need a ‘dry run….

I am actually far, far more worried (with a degree in biochemistry I would be) about chemical warfare.

Aside from the smell, a few hundred million dead Americans is much easier to clean up than the nuclear debris.

Has anyone thought of the dog food thing as preliminary or, worse, a hint? Are terrorists taking notes (you knowm this bomb vest binds at the shoulders…how about a trip to a glutten factory in China?)

Or am I just being paranoid? Maybe unoid (that’s one noid…)?

Tim Roesch
Command Private Major - retired

Little Mahmoud is feeling his oats….

Mr. Roesch - Since we have not had a slew of senior citizens dying from eating dog food it is evidence that the Bush economy is better than the clinton economy.

Remember if you have thought of it so has someone else. The first to act is remembered for it.

For the truly paranoid, our government did this to better defend ourselves against a food contamination attack.

The chinese are so over run with pollution that it is likely we have heard the truth on this. maybe.

Anybody remember that nasty smell that covered Manhattan a few months ago (Aug ‘06 I think) that was simply blamed on New Jersey? I do not think they ever publicly released what the hell it was.

However, not long after that I was talking to a suit from the Enviromental Saftey Office here on campus. Apparently he gets updates on this type of thing. Says it was beta-mercaptoethanol (BME). BME is harmless, but smells like shit, and in fact is a main contributor to the smell of shit. Anyway, it smelled like a probe to me, maybe enemy, maybe our own people running a scenario to prove a point. Just thought I would share.

My first post dispite reading almost daily. Keep the real deal coming, Pat.:beer:

Complacency kills. Israel will have to succesfully execute some action in order to “never allow Iran to” possess nukes. Isreal is most likely to execute all it can order to achieve this, but Israel maintains no guarantee of success. They have no magic wand. So those who care, including those in the conservative blogosphere, should not counsel complacency as a national policy towards any of Iran’s ambitions, because “Israel will handle it”. Complacency is what led to the Pelosi/Reid Dictatorship. All these people who didin’t vote, or voted for the Party of One Policy: Anti-Bush, and are now aghast at the horrific anti-American, anti-prosperity consequences of their vote, are reaping the consequences of complacency of thought and action.

As a former airman who underwent basic training at Lackland AFB in san antonio, I appreciate the jokes regarding the air force. compared to the marines, it is physically much less demanding. Lackland is large and it has a marine unit stationed on it. By the time our unit finally got up for PT the marine unit was in the middle of their run already. I remember one day as we marched out to the field for PT, we posted 2 crossing guards on the street as we crossed. the marine unit had to run in place and wait. then the leader of the marines shouted something to the effect “f*** this sh*t” and order the marines to continue on. They ran right through us. Our TI were pissed and yelling but most of the airman were laughing(on the inside anyways.)

Semper fi

Rumsfeld47: Ah, but a seaman at least starts something constructive. =-)

Tim Roesch
Command Private Major - retired

coming to the defense of seamen everywhere!

i tried but i cant top that last comment.

No, but they teach seamen not be blown from the deck of a carrier, how to use their cute hats as flotation devices and when you’re cruising for seamen make sure you bring your big guns.

Hey Hardluck…don’t forget that though a cruise missile can ruin your whole day, a good hit of small pox can ruin a whole week before you die… or less.

Tim Roesch
Command Private Major - retired