You ever have one of those days?  Or weeks?

Yeah, I thought so.  At least I don’t feel so all alone. It happens to the best of us. Even the truly gifted (which I’m not one of…) can still trip over air every now and then.  And then you look back, right?  Like there was actually something there (but there wasn’t…you’re just a klutz).

Not talking about long-standing issues, or things that just keep you out of the norm for extended periods of time – I’m talking about when things just don’t go well, and you have an instance (or streak) of bad luck that just knocks you off-center for a bit.

As many of you know, I’ve had a life of interesting occupations that tend to be a bit on the physical (and sometimes hazardous) side…with which come the inevitable bangs and bumps, and sometimes a few more serious owwees…  The kind that stick with you.

And get worse with age (just sayin’…)  And overuse (because I’m not bright enough to stop).

So…I had one of those (couple of) weeks. Still working my way out of it as we speak.  But first, some context.

Now don’t get the impression I’m whining here, I’m not.  But these are a brief list of some of the reasons I have some of these issues that lead up to the last few weeks.

Besides being blown up a few times, a couple of parachuting mishaps and various other little incidents in the military, I’ve fallen through a roof at a fire (when I was a firefighter), and been in more than my share of scuffles and knock-abouts during my career in law enforcement.

Due to these and other incidents, I have three spinal fractures (base of neck, midway between my shoulder blades, and mid-lower back); a couple pieces of shrapnel; eye, ear (hearing/balance) and head issues (no wise-cracks here…I’m watching you!); two blown-out knees, and a few other marginal parts and pieces.  (again…hold your tongue!)

Over the years I’ve learned to deal with some of these, and work around the others.  Unless I get bull-headed and just do what I want to anyway…which doesn’t always work out well.  At least I’ve never been accused of being the brightest bulb in the box!

Stubborn (I prefer “determined”), idiot (“independent”), what the heck were you thinking (“innovative”), bull-headed (“self-motivated”), you just never learn, do you (“focused”), and a few other terms seem to be frequently used.  But bright?  Not so much.

At least I don’t (normally) say “hold my beer”, or “watch this”!  I just refuse to be defined by my well-earned limitations. They do, however, tend to impose restrictions, or step on my brakes every now and then.  Like the last few weeks…

So…there I was.  Starting out on a great adventure!

Well, actually, I was just sitting down on the floor (a big no-no for me…no back support) with my  Dremel tool  in my hands, getting ready to file down my dog Freedom’s toenails.  He screams like a baby if you try to cut the front ones (they’re very sensitive), so they have to be filed.  This is fairly new to me, I’ve only done a couple of his nails once before, and I had to stop to rest my back.  I figured I’d just do two or three at a time, with plenty of breaks in between.

As I bent over to take his front paw in my hand, selecting the nail to be filed, and turned on the tool, the lower back slid out of place.  When it goes out, the vertebrae mis-align, and pinch the nerves (which is excruciating), which causes the muscles to spasm, and further mis-align the spine…and hold it (out of) place.  It’s like a railroad spike being driven in with a sledge hammer…only much sharper.  And it is constant, not just immediate.

When the back goes, I’m down (in bed) for a week or two, or for up to a month or so, before I can finally get up (with help) into my walker, and shuffle (with help) to the bathroom and back, for about another week or two.  Then, if things are going well, I can transition over to my forearm crutches for a week or two (sometimes longer), and hobble around the house (with help initially, then under supervision), even sitting in a chair (with help and back support) for short periods of time.  Finally, I can transition over to my cane, and move about unsupervised, even leaving the house for short excursions until I’m finally able to walk again unassisted…in about a week or two.

The fun part is, if my neck or upper back go out (and yes, they go out independently, and generally with no warning) for doing mundane things like pulling the skin off a turkey neck while I prepared Thanksgiving dinner for my mother (who was visiting a few years ago) and my family, turning slightly, and dropping the skin into the trash can.  As I turned with my arm out slightly to drop the skin, the neck went out.  For no reason.

So, like I was saying, if they go out, they cause spasms, which immediately pull the lower back out, and here we go again…

Back to this time.  I’ll try to wrap it up.  I was down in bed, and as I was helped into bed, my leg dragged slightly (I can’t pick them up after the back goes), and my left knee cracked, and went out.  It’s the worst one (from one of the explosions…the right one is from the parachute mishap), but luckily, it didn’t hurt that much – because the back masked the knee pain.

A couple of weeks later, as I’m up and moving around (Yay!  This one was a short one), I went outside and was moving around, but was still not fully functional because of the imbalance of the back and knee, and some effects of the medication, I lost situational awareness, backed up slightly, and tripped – backwards – over the tongue of my son’s boat trailer.  Yup…didn’t even notice a full-sized bass boat on a trailer right behind me…

So I fell backwards over the trailer hitch (which is just over knee-high) onto the driveway pavement, jammed my right wrist (which ended up being wrapped for a few days, and is still painful today…with my still sore, but basically functional back, and sore knee), and in keeping my head from hitting the pavement, hurt my neck.

That’s ok.  You can go ahead and laugh.  What a frigging couple of weeks!!!

I’m hoping to fix lunch today without cutting off any fingers…

If You’re Really Lucky…
​By Jim Kuiken

You get to meet someone. Special.

I’m going to take you on what looks like a trip down memory lane, a composite of previous articles and posts…but what actually isn’t. It’s a reiteration of the basic truth of what makes our country, its people, and especially those very few – Great (and no, that’s not a political reference, don’t get all riled up – it just happens to be the appropriate word). 

I’m going to talk about Heroes (again). Because we should. Often.

Last week I went down to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico VA, to attend a talk and book signing by one young man who I’ve spoken of before. Medal of Honor recipient, retired Marine Corporal Kyle Carpenter.

​I’ve had the honor of knowing more than a couple Medal of Honor recipients, so while I was there at the Marine Corps Museum, I walked down the hall that contains exhibits of the major wars that the Marine Corps has been involved in, to the Medal of Honor display. 

Of course, these are just the Marines who have received the Medal (I know some Army guys who’ve received them as well – but this IS the Marine Corps museum…) I was just looking to see if I could find the ones I knew on the wall. I’m privileged to call these men friends (and now one new acquaintance)…and all but one are still living. And there they were.

Lots of folks think (big H) Heroes are tough guys/gals. Bad@$$es. In some cases they are. But lots of those who make sure you know how big and bad they are…aren’t.

Actually, real Heroes are that way because of something totally different than you may think. I posted a picture a couple of years ago of a young soldier that gave her life in defense of her fellow soldiers, trying to save them.  She (like most of them) was so very young…and so very selfless.

I wrote a comment about her, which others then picked up and quoted. “Courage knows no gender.  Courage knows no race.  Courage comes from within, from a deeply ingrained sense of duty, from service to something bigger than just yourself…from love.”

It’s not bravado. For most real Heroes, it’s because they care. They feel a sense of duty, of service. Trust me, there are some serious Heroes out there who go unnoticed. ​

A couple of years ago, I dedicated the following song to my youngest sister, because it (in my mind) describes her.

It also fits Kyle. Someone I can respect – selfless, humble and kind. Exactly what I expected, for a Hero like him. If you’re really lucky, you meet one every now and then.

It actually starts as far back as the Revolutionary War…with “Molly Pitcher”.  Legend has it that “she” took her husband’s place when he was killed, picking up his musket, and actually being wounded in battle.  That is not exactly true, and “Molly Pitcher” is actually a composite description of at least two women, who both took their husband’s place on cannon crews, in two different battles in two different places.  One (Mary Hays) came to be known as “Sergeant Molly” (first woman to ever receive a warrant as a non-commissioned officer (NCO), by General George Washington himself), who at one point during the battle, “a British musket ball or cannonball flew between her legs and tore off the bottom of her skirt. She supposedly said something to the effect of, "Well, that could have been worse," and went back to loading the cannon.”  The other was “Captain Molly” (Margaret Corbin), who was wounded in action, and became the first woman in the United States to receive a military pension. ​

And who can forget Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, M.D., who was a Prisoner of War, and was the first (and only, to date) woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for her actions in the Civil War?  Ironically, “Walker is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. Her name was deleted from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917 (along with over 900 other, male MOH recipients); however, it was restored in 1977”.  She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. ​

I’d love to catalogue all these courageous women, from all the wars and battles up to today, but there are just too many of them.  My point is they’ve been around as long as this country has, and have been in the fight from day one – and they’re still out there on the battlefield today.

And don’t think they’re just out there in “admin”, motor transport, as cooks, or any of the traditional places they used to put females in the military.  They’re all over, in almost every career field!  There are female Army Rangers, Navy Submariners, Marine F-35 Pilots, Infantry small unit leaders (these are two Marines, one who was promoted out of her billet, and the other who is a ground Intelligence Marine, and qualified Sniper), as well as numerous Senior leaders (Generals, Admirals, etc…) – including Infantry Division leaders…all traditional male roles.

I know a lot of folks still don’t believe these women belong in these units…especially combat arms – and for sure, not in any of the “special operations” billets, like Army Rangers or Special Forces, etc – but you’d be surprised (I’ll tell you about that in a minute).
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But first, let’s clear one thing up.  Yeah, I’m a hard-core knuckle-dragging combat wounded 30-year Marine Sergeant Major (and Force Recon, to boot), but my personal opinion is that any legally qualified person who can pass all the qualifications (without changing them to allow lower standards or giving any special considerations, etc.) for a particular position, should be allowed to fill that position, unless or until they no longer meet the standards (just like anyone else).

So, as one of those “special operations” folks myself, I recognize some people excel so far above and beyond even those “special operators”, that I am in awe of them.  Here is one such person – Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent.  She (along with many others) spent pretty much her whole career in special operations, with the SEALs, Special Forces and other agencies, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc… ​

And there are many more women in special operations, as well as most areas of the military.

Which is why I was so happy to have been invited to the 32nd Annual Joint Women’s leadership Symposium last month!  (See, I told you I’d come back to this… ;)  It was an action-packed invigorating event, with breakout sessions, great dinner speakers, fantastic panels, networking, and just general good camaraderie!

• Last week of Jan – Second week of Feb:  Working with Military Veterans Advocacy (MVA) advocating on Capitol Hill (the Hill), primarily for the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans bills (HR-299 on the House side, and S.1195 on the Senate side), as well as other Veterans Benefits bills, and meeting with numerous House and Senate offices and the Representatives and Senators, as well as Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees.

 

• Two weekends a month (all year, through this coming August): Sponsoring my fellow Marine and friend, who as I mentioned before, I served with in the Marine Corps here in the US, as well as Kosovo.  He served honorably, and went on to serve in Iraq as well.  He was also very successful in his civilian career, reaching the very top of his profession.  Like a lot of those who served, the toll of his service weighed heavy, and eventually, coupled with other factors (such as mis/over-prescribed medications from the VA for his PTSd and TBI), contributed to the reason he was incarcerated.  He is now in a Pre-Release facility, and is doing (as I knew he would) very well.

 

• Last week of Feb – First week of Mar:  Back on the Hill with MVA, same advocacy.

 

• Feb 27th:  Interview and filming for a documentary about PTSD by Jess Arnold (WUSA9), supporting the PTSD photo gallery of artist Susan J. Barron, who put together Depicting The Invisible: A Portrait Series of Veterans Suffering from PTSD.

• Second week of Mar: Back on the Hill with MVA, same advocacy.

 

• Mar 14th: Meeting at the White House with their Legislative Liaison Director, with MVA, same advocacy.  

 

• Mar 19th:  Meeting with leaders from the local Rudiarius Motorcycle Club Chapter (Veterans, Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement) and the Fairfax H.O.G. Chapter about continued fundraising activities for this year (they have been long-time fundraisers for charitable causes in the local community).

 

• Mar 30th:  Freedom and I were invited to attend the Reception honoring the “Depicting the Invisible” portrait series, hosted by The Army and Navy Club, Washington DC.

 

• First week of Apr: Working on and supporting a book / documentary project, including a visit with my friend and fellow Marine (a MOH recipient) Harvey “Barney” Barnum.​

• May 1 – 5:  Freedom and I went on our annual Black Lake fishing trip with my good friend, and highly acclaimed award-winning author, Clint Goodwin, and his son-in-law and a couple of friends.  As always, Freedom was our good-luck fish-licker, and brought us success!  It was a much-needed get-away, and a great time. 

 

• May 15 – 24:  Trip to South Texas on family business…a big wedding!  A great time was had by all!

 

• Last week of May and first week of Jun:  Trip to New Orleans to redesign, reorganize and expand Military Veterans Advocacy from its current organizational structure and size, into a more robust, growing and self-sustaining organization that will be able to continue and expand its ability to carry out the MVA mission to support and assist military members, veterans and their families to protect their rights and benefits through Legislation, Litigation and Education.

 

• Second week of Jun:  Back on the Hill with MVA, same advocacy.

• And of course, all sorts of personal appointments, Freedom’s weekly appointment with Carol at the Vienna Pet Spaw, and general maintenance and yard work, etc…just to fill in the slow spots…  

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So much for the “explanation” (i.e., thinly veiled excuse…).  Sure, I was busy, but that is no excuse for not keeping up with my writing.  There were a few ones in there that would have interfered, like the weeks up on the Hill.  When we’re walking from office to office all day, seeing up to 8-10 Members or their staffs each day, there is literally no time to do anything else.

However, during those weeks where I was on trips…I can’t say with a straight face that I couldn’t have found a couple of spare hours per week to write the weekly posts and updates.  And probably work on a chapter or two in the book.

But I finally realized the BIG problem that was in my way (besides just not “doing the work”).  It all hit me square in the face when I read this outstanding article by Robert Glazer.  To Be Successful You Need to Say No Often.

I already knew this, several times over.  From my Marine training.  From my Dale Carnegie training in the 80’s.  From numerous other sources over the years.  I just let it slip back.  I just have a hard time saying No!

It’s the old adage.  “If you want something done, ask a busy person.”  I have always been a busy person, and I’ve always had people asking me to help, to do stuff.  And I keep doing it.

I did it so much, that I stopped doing my stuff!!  Well, guess what.  That stops now.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to drop the ball…but I AM going to shift what I do for people so I phase myself out of being needed.  Like reorganizing MVA so it is a growing, self-sustaining successful organization that doesn’t need me anymore! 

I’m going to say no – often.  And I’m going to focus back on what I need to do, for my writing, my personal life, and my family.  Life is like a roll of toilet paper.  The closer to the end you get, the faster it goes…and I don’t intend to turn into an empty cardboard roll before I get back on track!

And as a career military man, a law enforcement professional, and former firefighter / EMT-A (my absolute favorite job, by the way…), I’ve seen a lot of people, in good and bad situations. My goal (and the goal of those I worked with) was to protect those in need, and serve (my community, my country, and those people that I could).  
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So, animal or human? I tend to like them both…especially animals. They tend to be more humane…

Endeavor to Persevere…
​By Jim Kuiken

Well, it’s that time.  I do a lot of things (just ask anyone…especially those “friends” who call me the Energizer Bunny…).  I write (books, blogs, articles, etc.), I work out, I help organizations (veteran / first responder) fundraise, I do speaking engagements (Leadership through adversity, building winning teams, etc.).  And I work on behalf of those who risk all, and suffer the consequences of their service for all of us.  (Military, Veterans, Law Enforcement, Firefighters, EMS, etc., and their families).

All of these things are in service to and recognition of those who serve and protect us.  That is where my life has brought me, and that is my purpose.

So a new year kicked off (I know, that was a blatant reference to last week’s post), and with the new year comes new and renewed effort to effect change.  This year, like last, I’m focusing hard on helping some of our Veterans – specifically those who were contaminated by toxic exposures through their service to this Nation, as well as those who are still fighting with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to receive benefits they are entitled to…that they earned.

Last year I joined forces with Military Veterans Advocacy (MVA).  There are a LOT of Veteran Service Organizations (VSO’s) and other non-profit organizations that do everything from providing Service Dogs, to helping families of the fallen pay off their mortgage, suicide prevention, assisting with housing, and offering support in all sorts of ways.

MVA is a bit different.  Basically, they write draft Bills and push legislation with Congress, trying to make the Dept. of Veterans Affairs take care of our veterans.  To uphold the promise that was made to each of these servicemembers when they joined…that they would be taken care of if they suffered sickness, injury or death because of their service to the Nation.

When Bills don’t work, MVA takes them to court, and again, tries to make the VA do its job.

As an example, last year MVA drafted, supported and worked with many Representatives and Senators to pass H.R.299 - Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017, which was designed to RESTORE the presumptive exposure to Agent Orange benefits to those who served offshore during the Vietnam War…and who already had those benefits granted in the original bill in 1991, until they were stripped away by an administrative policy interpretation by the VA in 2002.

After HR-299 bill was passed in the House (382 – 0…yes, that’s right, by a unanimous, bi-partisan vote), it went to the Senate, where two (yes, just 2 out of 100) Senators put a “hold” on the bill in committee, effectively killing the bill.  And the VA vociferously opposed the bill the entire time.

So, again, we’re moving forward this year with a re-drafted bill to try to restore the benefit that was stripped away by the VA, and make sure the 90,000+ (still surviving, with many fading fast) veterans affected get what they earned – care for the illnesses they incurred because of their service to our nation, during war.

BUT, we’re doubling down!  Not only are we working on the Blue Water Vietnam Veterans bill to get their benefits back, we’re going after multiple Toxic Exposures for our Veterans!

Agent Orange / Herbicide exposure.  (Vietnam era, but in multiple locations where it was used and stored throughout the Pacific and other areas).

Gulf War exposures.  Radiological exposures.  Asbestos exposures.  Others…

And the big one that everyone’s talking about today – Burn Pits exposure, from Iraq and Afghanistan, and other areas (and times…because it’s not just a recent thing, we’ve had burn pits in many wars and areas in the past).

And court cases!  Besides individual benefit cases, MVA pursues cases that have wide-reaching impact (for classes and groups of veterans), in the Court of Veteran’s Appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States!

I applaud all those organizations that help or support our veterans and first responders.  Heck, I’m even developing a non-profit of my own to do just that.

But I’ve chosen to step up and take it to Congress and the Courts, to force the VA and the government to hold true to the promises that were made to our service men and women, and their families.  We’re not asking for handouts.  We (the servicemembers and veterans) paid our price up front.  They stepped up when many step away, and put themselves and their families on the line, and many of them are suffering and dying because of that sacrifice.

Going after the government is a lot like tilting at windmills…  But you can have an effect on government – and actually make it work!  You just have to not take no for an answer.

Sometimes, waiting for your benefits isn’t enough.  You have to “Endeavor to Persevere”.

Wow!  That’s so not my family!!  Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not mine.

My family consists of a hodgepodge of folks from all walks of life.  First, my siblings.

I have one brother (from my mom and father, but we were raised by my mom and dad – who married my mom a few years after she and my father were divorced.)

I have three sisters…one from my mom (and dad), one from my father (and his wife), and one with no parents in common…

And I have a dog…my Freedom.  Who everyone loves. 

None of us (siblings) has 2.5 kids.  A couple have 5, I have 3, one has one, and one has none.  And the fun part is we are anything but homogeneous​…if you base that on ancestry. 

In the old wooden sailing ship days, they came up with a command to “Batten down the hatches” which has turned into a common phrase…even though we no longer batten down hatches in the modern Navy…they “dog” the hatches now.

In any case, the current meaning is to prepare for trouble, like an incoming hurricane, a ticked off boss, a tough personal issue, etc.

Duck and cover is a phrase, originally from the 1950’s relating to a response to a nuclear attack (which we were all nervous about during the Cold War, and even practiced “duck and cover” in our classrooms…once again, I’m giving away my age…), which is now a common term among the infantry, and means to “duck” when you start taking fire, and “take cover” behind something that can protect you from the incoming bullets.  It has also become a common metaphorical phrase now, meaning to take cover from anything dangerous or unpleasant – again – like a hurricane, boss, issue, etc…

And as long as we’re using former military terminology that is now used as a metaphor in normal conversation…both battening down the hatches and ducking and covering can lead to a “bunker mentality”, where someone hides in a bunker, and then feels so safe that they tend to stay behind walls or in a metaphorical bunker, and not want to come out…more comfortable in a bunker than they are exposed to everyday life.

It can happen to the best of us if we’re not paying attention.  Events just overwhelm people sometimes, and before you know it, you’ve gone from ducking and covering to preserve a bit of control or sanity in your life, to finding yourself barricaded inside a bunker with only slits for windows, and wondering what the heck happened!

Let’s say, (not so) hypothetically, that a series of events takes place over several weeks, or a couple of months.  Things like:

• You’re working on “The Hill” for several weeks to help pass a bill to restore Agent Orange benefits to a group of a hundred thousand (surviving…) Vietnam Veterans who originally had those rights granted in a bill from 1991, but then the VA, through an administrative procedural implementation “interpretation”, stripped those rights away from those Veterans (many who are dying or who have died, or who are suffering the effects now) in 2002, and you see your bill (HR 299 – after a 7 year fight to restore those benefits) going down in flames because of one Senator (Isakson) who lets it die in committee…just like the Veterans are dying because he and the VA oppose the bill, even though it was passed unanimously without opposition in the House, and a majority of the Senators on both sides support it.
  
  
• You’re attending/participating in multiple events (fundraisers, visiting wounded Veterans at Walter Reed, visiting incarcerated Veterans at various institutions, presenting as a guest or main speaker at multiple venues, etc., etc.)
  
  
• You have a major hurricane predicted, and spend a week preparing, stocking supplies, etc.
  
  
• Immediately following that, you have a family visit for about a week and a half, and (willingly) spend all your time with them, enjoying their visit very much, even as it takes you away from your normal tasks which have already been stacking up.
  
  
• You allow multiple people to pull you in multiple directions, each with good intent, but overwhelming your time with their needs or requests, further adding to your own backlog of issues and tasks that need your attention.
  
  
• And the list goes on…

Eventually, it takes its toll, and you hunker down in your bunker, and shut the door.  Just to get some peace.  Some quiet.  To shut out the volume of the incoming…

You can stay there if you like.  It’s quiet.  Cool and dark.  Uncrowded.

And a self-imposed trap.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with taking a break, getting some fresh air – even walking away from everything for a while just to get some sanity and perspective back.

But then, as my grandpa told me (after he got done laughing when I got thrown off of a young bull calf I had jumped down onto from the corral fence, and ridden for almost a full ¾ of a second...just because), “you gotta get back up on that horse and ride’im!”  As I limped away with my bruised hip, back and ego, I replied “good thing he’s not a horse” – which only made him laugh again.

So, there are two choices.  Stay in the burrow, or, as a friend (my former Campaign Manager) was once told by one of my fellow Marines – with a grin (when she mentioned that a meeting time he suggested was pretty early in the morning), you can “Suck it up and quit’cher whinin’…ma’am” – and pop your head back out and take a look around! 

Refocus, reengage, and reprioritize your time and commitments.  Besides my already published techniques (“B.R.A.S.S.” and “The Next Steps”), I’m also going to re-establish my time management, but with an updated system from when I went through the 1980’s traditional system training…and start prioritizing what I need to get done, and not get drawn back down the rabbit hole of over-commitment, other people’s priorities, and time thieves, especially #s 1, 4, 8, 9, and 10.  Like it says at the end of # 12, “in short, by not letting the thieves steal your time”.

It feels almost like spring time again…just as the leaves are starting to fall in my yard!  It’s really good to see the sun again.

In the modern military there are “fire and forget” weapons, like some anti-tank missiles.  You aim at your target, the missile locks on, you fire it, and the missile does the rest.  You can duck back under cover or go on about your business, while the missile does its mission.

Kind of like the Ronco© Showtime Rotisserie… “Set it and forget it!”  Put in your chicken, turn it on, and it cooks all on its own – or so they say.

Young Marine Corps Grunts are not.  They’re more like an unguided missile, a hand grenade, or very large sledge hammer…  Do NOT turn them loose on their own and expect a genteel result.

So…way back in the early-mid 1970’s (I’m guessing early ’74 or so) I was a young Corporal, and one of my ship-mates (we were in the Marine Detachment, or MarDet, stationed on the USS Proteus AS-19, a Submarine Tender stationed in Guam), who was an even younger Private First Class (PFC), were hanging around the MarDet area one day…when the Gunny stepped out and asked for volunteers.

Any normal person would have immediately gotten very busy, left the area at a dead run, or done something to disappear quickly…because everyone knows that when the Gunny asks for volunteers, it’s going to be what we euphemistically call a “work party”.  And trust me, that “party” part is an oxymoronic misnomer…

But, as I said, any normal person would’ve gotten very scarce very quickly.  Grunts are not normal, and to say that Brian and I were far past that “not normal” state is actually a very significant understatement.

As we say in the Grunts, “Pain is weakness leaving the body”.  We had our own (somewhat twisted) extension of that quote.  “Pain is good. Extreme pain is extremely good!”

As soon as we heard “working party”, we jumped on it.  Not only did it sound like it was going to be a lot of hard, physical work…it got even better!  It was going to be hard, physical work in a tight, enclosed, very hot space for an extended period of time!

Doesn’t get any better than that!

Our ship was going through some retro-fits (repairs, upgrading, etc.), and the MarDet had its own spaces.  A berthing space (living quarters with our bunk beds, TV room, armory, office, etc.) and our “head”, or latrine for you Army folks, and bath/rest room for Air Force and civilians.

We were responsible for the cleaning and upkeep of our own spaces, and all the heads on the ship were being refurbished…sort of.  The decking (or floor) was some sort of hard, thick black waterproof material applied over the steel deck – since a ship is basically a big steel boat divided by steel decks (floors) and steel bulkheads (walls) into compartments (rooms).

If you get the impression that the Navy has its own language, you’re correct…

Anyway, we were told to go into the MarDet head, and chip out the flooring so new material could replace the old…  And no further instructions…

There is a reason the Marine Corps insists that junior Marines be given very specific tasks, followed with guidance by someone a little senior, constant oversight, and instruction.  Young Marines are nothing if not enthusiastic – and Brian Moyer and I were known to be very enthusiastic.  We called it “motivated”.

After a couple of hours of increasing complaints coming from sailors in the decks below our spaces, the Gunny came over to check on our progress, and frankly, to see what the h#!! all the complaints were about.  We had taken “initiative”, and decided it looked so bad we were going to get it all up, and had attacked the decking with 20-pound sledge hammers…which we had been “enthusiastically” employing with all of our strength and speed – in, as always happens when Marines “work” together, a competition to the death…  (sorry these old photos are hard to see…they’re as faded as my memory) ​

Not only did we not “chip” at the decking material, we had beaten it all out by smashing it up, and had even dented the steel decking below it.  Evidently, we were just supposed to chip off a layer or two so they could pour the new material in over top of it.

The Navy Chief (of the Department responsible) was flaming mad, the Captain of the Ship heard about it…but the Gunny did not impose the normal punishment for overly enthusiastic behavior…which would have been a “working party”.  I think that was probably for the best…

It was a learning experience for all involved.  The Gunny never put Brian and I on another physical task or working party unsupervised – we enjoyed it too much.

Brian and I ended up volunteering for Operation New Life about a year later, and worked out in the hot sun for weeks building a huge tent city for the Vietnamese fleeing at the end of the war.  It was extremely rewarding work, helping all the folks…but it was also another opportunity for hard, physical work out in the heat, and to compete on how many areas could be cleared, big “GP” (general purpose) tents we could set up, etc., etc.

It was hard, long, dirty, sweaty work under extremely trying conditions – and we loved it!  Heck, Brian even got to help a Navy Corpsman deliver a little baby girl in one of those tents, when her mother went into labor!

The days were long, and it was a huge international story, with press swarming all over the place, as we helped house, feed and reunite families as the refugees poured in.

However, as we know, the press is not always accurate…  One newspaper published a bunch of photos, including this one, of Brian and another Marine running through the area where they were building tents, with a caption that said something like “Marines running to render assistance…” ​