Posted on 03/31/2005 11:13:47 AM PST by doug from upland
There was a thread yesterday that caused quite a controversy -- Should a photo of an armed Marine be posted at a school?
Well, it seems that there is a happy ending. I spoke with principal Cynthia Robinson a short time ago. She was gracious enough to speak with me even though she was on lunch duty.
A sister brought in a picture that was displayed, which showed her Marine brother with a weapon. A controversy erupted because people were led to believe that the picture was removed because of the showing of a weapon. That is not the case.
Ms. Robinson told me that she had no problem with the weapon. The problem was that the picture had a guy with no shirt and tatoos. She objected because it was not a dignified picture. She had considered putting a frame around it so only the girl's Marine brother was shown.
The girl brought in another picture of her brother, with his weapon, and it is on display.
Ms. Robinson is proud of our military. Her father was in the Army, and her husband served in the Navy.
End of controversy.
Thanks. Sometimes we will even accept support from sailors and jarheads. And in extreme cases from the Airforce and other civilians. In EOD the uniform doesn't matter, we all go to the same school and work together.
You are dead right. In war you kill people and break things. That is a fact of life and death and the way war is. I've seen my share.
Its hard to put hands your pockets when you sit in your unit bar in your sweat pants or bathing suit. So watch out what you say about EOD.
By the way, I've worked on a few items, up close, that didn't have a comic book or manual to tell me how to do it. One thing in EOD school that is taught that other schools don't have is just pure logic.
Also I had a good friend who was forced out of the Army because he never could get promoted. He almost starved to death as a civilian since he was use to three square meals a day at the mess hall and enjoyed watching The Three Stooges in the dayroom when they didn't have training.
He tried to get in the Navy but almost drowned whey they threw him in a swimming pool. He immediately thought of the Air Force since they live the best. He jumped off a big rock and flapped his arms and immediately fell to the ground so he didn't even go talk to the Air Force.
His last choice was the Marine Corp who were glad to have him. Therefore his transition from the Army to the Marine Corp just happened to raise the average IQ of both services.
Apparently you have never been around many Army EOD units.
They don't sound much like the "old hands" in the Corp I used to work with.
The principal does not seem to be backing down, she never had a problem with it - except the district had a stupid zero-tolerance policy. You know, the type that calls the cops to take out a 6-year-old in handcuffs for drawing a stick figure of Dad with his weapon. Yes, it has happened.
Seems the District bowed to public opinion and told the principal to go ahead and post the picture.
"end of controversy"?
Doug? I'd go 20-1 that that woman lied about the guy with no shirt deal. If that's what it was, then why did she consider "revisit[ing]" the school mascot's sword?
I'm not buying it.
I think you are right, now she has got herself backed into a corner and she will make any excuse to get out of it without her looking like a total moron.
HA! That put a big smile on this leatherneck's face! Yer alright, EOD. For a dog, that is ;)
Semper Fi.
Thanks, I don't really have anything against Marines, but I am glad my daughter married a soldier.
Hey, now, EOD. As one of the tattooless jarheads in question, I'm not sure I can let you just write us off as not being 'Old Corps' due to a lack of tattoos. If it would improve your image of me, I have been known to bust a few pool cues over heads, toss a couple squids through Korean bar windows, and spent a night or two in the brig for, ahem, 'fraternization'...All without ink under my skin.
But you had mud under fingernails I would suspect. Korea was always the best kept secret the Army ever had. There was a small gate right behind my BOQ on my compound which led down to the village. I always use to invite the company that pulled guard duty in that area to my parties at my unit. I also finally had to build a small bridge across the ditch outside the wire after my yobo fell in it one night when she was trying to jump across it in a snow storm.
You're right about the mud. My time in Korea was limited to a couple months, for Valiant Blitz and Team Spirit. Fall and spring just outside of Po hang. It would freeze every night, and during the day it would just get warm enough to thaw out about a foot or so of that nasty, baby poop mud. Oh well. At least we had the Drunkin' Donuts at MEC/P to keep us supplied with OB and kimchi bowls.
Anyway, can't quite figure out what your point is / was. Thought it was nice picture but personally would have wanted something little more professional for a school.
I was there during 68 and 69 and had to support the infantry units up in the DMZ. They started giving us combat pay since things really got heated up during this time. I learned there was two types of terrain in Korea which happened to be either straight up or straight down. We had to get a bunch of unexploded rounds off a hill that it took us almost half a day to DRIVE up it. It was taken, lost and retaken four times during the war. I don't see how they did it. There was no Spring or Fall, it was either a very hot and humid summer or a very cold winter. I remember braking through the ice in a river one time so I could swim under an overturned ammo truck one time to retrieve the ammo. I had my men rip everything off that truck that would burn to have a fire waiting on me when I came out of the water. What a year that was but looking back on it, one of the best of my life.
My tours in Korea and Vietnam plus sailing my sailboat across the North Atlantic in the winter have really got to be the high points in my life. You never learn what it is like to really live until you have faced death a few times.
What they show in picture is really how these young Marines live. That is what people really need to see. The first thing I noticed in the picture was the air conditioner, not the guns or guy without the shirt. I guess it is all perspective and what you experience in life.
Oh yeah. I did see the AC as well. And the plywood walls. It made me grin. Hadn't heard the Marines were into such a fine lifestyle.
Yeah, my cousin - he was only seventeen and his mother woudn't let him get ink.
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