Any of my fellow AARP Marines play this game with their unit for PT?
Bots, utes, flak jackets and no ranks. A combination of soccer and rugby.
I played it both in Yokosuka and in the fleet with 1/7 so it can't have been isolated.
There was always a Humvee ambulance in standby 😂
Taken during my deployment to Somalia as part of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/7 from November 1992-April 1993.
Taken with a Pino 35 35mm camera.
Taken during my deployment to Somalia as part of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/7 from November 1992-April 1993.
Firstly, the shots of the skull. I don't know if that's too much for this sub and if a mod needs them removed, I totally understand.
In context, we were part of a 10 hour convoy from Mogadishu to Baidoa. We stopped overnight in Baardera. My squad was tasked with building a machine gun post covering a road. We didn't have sandbags to fill so we needed cover. We found a nearby field with a bunch of rock piles. Turns out those piles were old graves and, well, Marines will be Marines.
The kid flexicuffed to a pole. Those kids had been tossing rocks over the wall at us all day. Two guys in my platoon jumped over the wall at opposite ends, snuck around and grabbed one kid in the ensuing scatter. We left him cuffed there in front of his friends for about six hours as an example. We did give him water. We weren't complete animals.
Taken with a Pino 35 35mm camera.
I wasn't in any of the cool and popular wars (stationed in Japan during Desert Storm) but Somalia was its own animal.
Deployed with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/7 out of the Stumps. Our CO, Captain Phil Smith, called us the Tip of the Dick as we came in right after the beaches and old US embassy were occupied. We were there from November 1993 until April 1993. We traveled from Mogadishu to Baardera to Baidoah and back. Twice.
I took these photos with a Pino 35 35mm camera.
(the Hitchhiker I drew on the wall of the "hotel" room we were in at the soccer stadium. I've always wondered if it's still there)
Fun times at Camp Wilson. 1st Platoon, Bravo Co., 1/7.
I am a USMC veteran on permanent disability for PTSD. I also haven't had a career/worked consistently since 2006 because of said disability.
I stopped pursuing dating, whether OLD or in person, because of the question that always comes up: "What do you do for a living?" For a while I answered with "Benefit Acquisition for the Veteran's Administration". I even tried "The government pays me to stay away from polite society.". But, eventually, the truth comes out and the inevitable "Oh, I see" type of response comes out.
I've had plenty of people tell me to hold that information until I get to know someone but occupation/income is an inevitable conversation. There is still a lot of stigma around mental illness especially PTSD and veterans.
With 60 giving me the side eye around the corner I'd like to spend the remaining years with someone. I just don't know how to present who I am without that look of "Is this guy gonna hurt me during a flashback" I see in their eyes.
Any thoughts/advice/experience is appreciated.
Edit: I really appreciate all the responses. Thank you! I tried to respond to as many as I could while still watching the World Cup. That US game though. Wow!