I still fail to understand why sharing what we did overseas in uniform is important to complete strangers (extra points for plastering it over internet forums). Inevitably, dicks start getting measured, bullshit is told, people start pointing fingers, callouts are made, and we crash and burn as a community (in that order). This was supposed to be a funny story or sharing of wisdom thread.
Everybody who is still anybody when it comes to stacking bodies...isn't on this site anyways. We're all Former Action Guys (FAGs) at best, and some are fucking imposters at worst, with most being in the middle somewhere, or maybe just are red-blooded Americans that love shooting too.
I don't care about that time you turned a living, breathing, human being into a lifeless pile of blood and shit. Or the number of "combat" patrols you made, or the amount of supplies you looked after. It isn't something to measure dicks on. What I do care about is hearing a great story on how you drank a fifth of Jaeger and mistakenly pissed in your roommate's wall locker *allegedly*. Or maybe how you and a group of the boys used to place bets on seeing who could take a shit closest to the 1stSgt's tent without getting caught at night when you were bivouacked...again *allegedly*. Or how every field day (Thursday evening) you turned the front lawn of the barracks into 'the octagon' and went at it, and the company staff could never figure out why the grass was always torn up.
Those are the times I want to remember. Not trying to calm down a kid who just got half his face blown off, or trying to apply first aid to a civilian kid - that is the same age as one of yours back home - as they bled out. F that. Keep your self-sucking-dick war stories to yourself...or maybe toast and say a prayer for a brother that you still miss every time you think about him.
I lost a great friend last month. He was one of the guys who sent me many of the meme's that I share in the MPT. We went to recruit training together in '97, and retired (him in '17, me in '18). He was the second close friend of mine to die of natural causes before the age of 50 in just the last 3 months.
^^^ In his honor, I'll share one of his recruit training stories as we were bunked directly across from each other in the squad bay: We used to have these skinny green towels that barely covered our bodies. Frequently, you stood a hygiene inspection after a shower during your first phase or two of recruit training wearing these towels and nothing else besides shower shoes. Old Chris would tie his towel off in front, leaving the gap in front of his dick which would be hanging out. That bastard made me start to chuckle every time...which would eventually lead me to getting caught and getting my ass smoked by the drill instructors at the next opportunity. Finally, one evening I blue falconed him and pointed out why I was laughing. He got the nickname "green wienie" from there on, and had to report to the quarter deck every time they called for the green wienie. Revenge is sweet when you're sweating together on that damn quarterdeck.
I'll raise a glass to him tonight.