I got to meet the Commandant of the Marine Corps (4-Star General, highest ranking person in the USMC) and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps (highest enlisted person) today. Every couple months they come tour around Iraq to talk to the troops and see how everything is. It was definitely interesting. We had a town hall type meeting, where anybody can stand up and ask questions.

Before the Q&A, the Commandant and Sergeant Major presented a Bronze Star (4th highest award for bravery, behind the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and Silver Star) to a Sergeant who was one of the Marines who took the city of Fallujah. According to the citation, his squad was clearing a building. When they got to the second floor, they were shot at with heavy weapons (a machine gun). He was trapped in one room, and one of his Lance Corporals in his squad was trapped in another. The rest of the squad couldn’t get up the stairs. The insurgents, screw that, I mean the terrorists started going room by room shooting automatic weapons fire into each of them, because they didn’t know where the two Marines were. As they came down the hallway, the Sergeant exited his room, and “at point blank range” eliminated the entire enemy force, saving his Marines in the process. Ever hear that story on the news? Why should they tell an inspiring story of heroism?

I hate hearing them called insurgents, by the way. The word insurgent implies they’re fighting for a just cause. These people are terrorists. Remember Nick Berg? If you don’t, Google the name. If you do, then you should understand why they’re terrorists.

Anyway,at the beginning of his speech, the Commandant asked everybody who was on their first tour over here to raise their hands. He asked until he got to the fourth deployment, and two people raised their hands. After he asked who was on their fifth deployment, only one person had their hand up. Here’s a rough transcript of what they said:

Commandant: “You’re on your fifth tour?”
Marine: “Yes, Sir.”
Commandant: “Are you married?”
Marine: “Not anymore, Sir.”

We all had a good laugh at the time, but it’s really not funny. If you’ve got a husband, wife or whatever over here, don’t be like that. Family is the biggest thing everybody here is looking forward to going back to. It’s not like there’s any way in hell to cheat on somebody over here, and we aren’t the ones who started this war so don’t blame us for being here. We signed up to follow the President’s orders, and that’s what we’re doing.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Keep the emails coming, and let me know what you want to hear.