The Gun Counter

..... and I mean that. How could a nation as a whole live up to the standard that guys like this set?

http://www.military.com/news/stories/marines-news.html

[center]During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

"I was in my own little world," the young corporal said. "I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."[/center]

and not only that, they often do not ask much from us in return

250 Taliban on their home turf attacking an exausted 30 man Marine patrol from ambush? Clearly not a fair fight. For the Taliban, that is.

I'm hoping that the Designated Marksman is due to get some bling added to his fruit salad for this.

And once this guy settles down and has a family, don't you feel sorry for any punk picking his daughter for a date?

Punk yes.

Gentleman, no.

As I have written before, I love Soldiers. And Marines.

I will miss being with the troops.

Man, some of those kids are nothing short of amazing, and if you asked them about it, they'd say 'it's my job, man' and mean it.

Thank God for them.

I meant to post about this in May of 07.

I was blessed to go on a "tiger cruise" with The Boy - an officer in the Navy.

His ship is an LHD - they take a couple of thousand Marines and their Landing Craft / Helicopters / Etc. to the beach.

We met them in HI as they returned from their deployment to the sandbox and sailed on the ship with them from HI to SD, CA, stopping to drop the Marines at Pendleton.

In the week we were at sea, I (being a smoker) spent a fair amount of time out on the weather-decks with some of these young men. I was humbled in ways I lack the eloquence to describe. I knew I was in the presence of heroes (and, likely, a few jerks... ) but none of them wanted anything but to get home. All acted shy and sheepish when I thanked them for their service - "Just doin' my job, Sir."

Nope - Sorry. The slacker with the stretchy-thing in his lip who rang up my soda at the stop-n-rob is 'just doing his job.'

You volunteered to go halfway around the world to take the war to our nation's enemies so they wouldn't bring it here. You're a frigging hero, and I am grateful for your service.

When you get back to the world and hear the lib-tards on the TV and radio talking about the war, don't let them bug you. Most of us have some idea of what you sacrificed, know you're doing a damn fine job, and have no idea how to tell you how much we appreciate it - we just don't get to run our mouths on TV.

I think those kids - their faces - will stay with me for the rest of my life. I sorta hit it off with one of them -- reminded me a bit too much of me at his age. We've talked on the phone a few times since, traded e-mails... He's getting some education now and plans to re-up as an Officer. I couldn't do much, but some good advice to a kid with no Dad ... I'm equipped to do that. Hopefully it will make a difference for one young hero...

DD

/heh, The Nav

I don't miss the petty stuff but I sure miss the men I worked with and the mission. Even when that mission was just boring Cold War days on Gonzo Station drilling, drilling, drilling...