This Is What I Know
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A Weekend
March 6, 2005
I'm having a Marine Corps weekend. Actually, it's not so much a Marine Corps weekend, as it is a Marine weekend. (I'm not real crazy about the Corps. I am crazy about individual Marines.)
On Friday my friend, Lori, and I went up to OKC to Sgt. Grit's. My daughter-in-law had a test she had to take most of the day, so I had asked for the day off, (so I could pick my grandkids up from school) and Lori and I planned our Sgt. Grit's trip for the morning. My K's recruiter is in the Marine Reserves now, and works at Sgt. Grit's. I had told Lori a story about my early experiences with the concept of Marines, and she had been encouraging me to tell him. (I've always liked him - she likes him, too. He recruited two of her three boys.) Anyway, we went up there and chatted with him awhile. Either he remembered me, or he's just plain a nice guy, and pretended to. (LOL! It's okay, either way.)
We picked up a few things, I priced Corporal swords, (just in case I ever want to buy one, for any Corporal I may know, maybe) and I told GySgt Davis my story. (He was a SSgt when he recruited my K --- my K, who told me when he was 11 that he wanted to be a Marine. I never said a word against the idea - I was hoping he'd get over it, but that was probably not the hardest recruiting job GySgt Davis ever had!)
Lori told him the Oklahoma Marine Moms were putting together baskets for injured Marines at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, so he donated some Thank You cards. We were going to get them signed by the Oklahoma Marine Moms, and put in the baskets.
When I came home, I sat down and read "McCoy's Marines: Darkside to Baghdad". All of it. I was up until 2:00 a.m. I couldn't put it down. (Good job, John.) But boy! I sure Cleopatra'd a lot of that! (Kilo Company, he's talking about. Kilo Company, he was imbedded with. KILO!!!!!)
Then, today, we went back up to OKC, for two things - first for a fundraiser for Young Marines in the early afternoon, and then for the gathering of the Oklahoma Marine Moms, in the evening. Young Marines, in case you don't know, is not a recruiting tool for the U.S. Marine Corps. It's an activity and training group for young kids (younger than ours - like 10 thru 16) using the best attitudes and practices of the Corps to guide kids. Anyway, this fundraiser was a cookout. At a bar. (The Oklahoma Marine Moms met at a different place! LOL!)
I met a Woman Marine at the fundraiser, who's rank I don't know (except that she's totally a Marine) and I liked her instantly. Her first name is Candy. She also instantly asked us to get back in my car, and go get... stuff she needed, which she paid for. (LOL!) I did not say, "Ma'm! Yes Ma'm!" although I wanted to! Later when we got back, she said to me, "I hope you won't be offended - you are going to meet my friends - biker Marines." {"Marines?" I thought. "Marines with grey hair and Harleys? Oh, I'm going to love that!"} And I did. Truly. Some of them said to her, "Where are the kids?" and she said, "This is a bar! I can't bring kids to a bar!!!! S'up, you? Eat! Everything you buy goes straight to the Young Marines." LOL!
I have a T-Shirt I bought a while ago at Sgt. Grit's, that has a Blue Star Banner on the front, with "My Son Is A Marine" on it. I was wearing it, and grey haired Marines, who also happened to be bikers, with sweet smiles, came up and asked about my K - "Where is he?" "What's his MOS?" "How's he doing?" Frankly, folks, it was sweeeet!!
Then Lori shared this great idea with me - we wouldn't ask the Marine Moms to sign the Thank You cards, we'd ask these Marines. Lori mentioned it quietly to Candy, and Candy was all over it!
And they signed the cards. I looked at a few of them - they all used their rank, identified themselves as Marines, too - said thank you to those injured Marines - frankly, I loved it. Marine Moms are cool, but Marines are even cooler! {Even on Harleys! Maybe, especially on Harleys!}
About 5:00 p.m., we left, to go to the Oklahoma Marine Moms gathering. We figured we wouldn't eat, because we were full of steak and brats, and potato salad! but we had items to include in the deployment boxes, (17 of them) and we had flat rate Priority Mail boxes to share, and we had stuff for the injured Marines, and we like Marine Moms!
Debbie is the coordinator of the Oklahoma Marine Moms - she had all the boxes ready, and the baskets ready to fill, and before the Moms (and Dads) filled their plates, they filled those boxes.
And we 'checked in' with each other. And we shared information, about Comfort Quilts, and Flat Rate Priority Mail boxes, and heat 'ties', and sand storm guards. Debbie gave me a pin with an American Flag, a Blue Star Banner flag, and an Eagle, Globe and Anchor, on it. She said she wanted me to have it, because her Marine wasn't going back to Iraq, and my Marine was already back for the third time. (That 'third time' part really gets people. Ummm. Yeah! Him, too! LOL!)
It was a good day. I was surrounded either by Marines, or their Moms. I was as safe as I could be. It was good.
Oh, the story I told GySgt Davis? It was this: My father was an Air Force officer, and as long as I can remember anything, I remember this phrase - "Why do I get the feeling the Marines just landed?" The phrase means warmth, and love, and safety. But as near as I can actually remember, Michael Davis is the first real Marine I ever met. My K is the second.
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