FlaBouy’s BodyBlog

Happy Veterans my fellow brothers and sisters in arms… For those who fell on the field of battle, you are sorely missed and this world is worse off without your presence….

 As I toiled in the gym this morning, I was thinking about the faces of all those I knew who made the great sacrifice for their brothers and sisters…. and it hit me that most civilians would not understand about that comment. Most are vain enough to think the scarifice was for God and Country… You know, the things that read well in the newspapers back home… The things that make civilians sleep better at night because someone is protecting them from all the evil powers in this world… Yes, there is a bit of that, and I dare say most who volunteered thought that way also… but at some point, all warriors come to the same and unwavering conclusion…. We fight for each other… Let’s see if I can explain that and do it justice…

 Things have always came easy to me. Rarely do I ever put forth a fraction of the effort that I am capable of. Most days I go through life bored out of my skull. Even when I am busy during the day, if I became any more bored, I would slip into a coma…. There are sometimes spurts of interest when I try something new, but it always comes back to the same conclusion… mind numbing boredom…

I recall as a kid growing up on our farm, subtle days of warm sunshine laying on a couple tons of 8-8-8 waiting on my dad to make another couple passes on the covington’s so I could recharge the seed and the fertilizer… swimming in cold water springs.. putting up with going to school… school came easy also… rarely did I ever do homework and yet my half hearted efforts at school always landed me on the A-B honor roll, scoring second highest in the state on the state mandated math exam in high school, and a 4 year free ride to Auburn University at the end…. all while fighting extreme boredom… there are days at work, while thinking about a particular control scheme for a new piece of equipment that I swear I can actually see the physics at work in my minds eye…. but I digress…

about six months into college, I had enough…. I was bored stiff and heard the world calling, so in a moment of rash boredom, I wound up in a Marine Corps recruiting station listening to some overzealous Marine Seargent promise an end to all my boredom…. Two months later, January 1980, I was on a bus crossing a bridge in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina heading towards the most meaningful thing I had ever done in my life at that point… Paris Island… the closest thing to hell on earth where people were not firing back at you… as with everything else, the first two weeks were interesting… then the boredom sat back in… it was too easy… and in my mind, ignorant…. I was always up front.. series high marksman.. 5 mile run, number one… inspections.. flawless… I could field strip my M-16 quicker than most people can tie their shoes. My boots could be use as a mirror to shave from…. but I began to notice something… I was starting to be punished… not for my efforts, but for the actions of the platoon **** up…. this guy could screw anything up by the numbers. I began to despise his very existance because you could rest assured, that when the platoon failed, it was because of numb nuts… I used to watch this guy struggle as I easily finished my task ahead of time and stood at attention waiting for my next task.. This guy was mind numbing in his ineffective ways of attacking problems…. The very sight of this guy pissed me off, because invariably I would have to pay for his ignorance.

One day I took matters into my own hands. I finished early getting ready for the next days inspection and I walked down to this guys bunk. I commence to try and explain to him how tired I was paying for his screw ups. He basically told me to **** off that he could do things himself. So I walked off, only to pay the price again for his screw ups. The next day I tried again, but instead of telling him how to do things, I showed him how to field strip his weapon… Again, I got attitude for coming down… but next time we had to field strip, I noticed he used my advice and did not wind up last….  No ****… I found myself going down more often helping him out, giving him pointers… More and more as we were punished for the actions of the weak, it was not his sins we were paying for… as the end of our 13 weeks drew near, I was called into the drill seargents quarters and faced all four of my drill instructers… one I especially hated because this guy was a new instructer and I knew it. He pissed me off everytime he got on my ass about something, because this fat **** could not perform to half of the level I was performing at and I was still a recruit, and he was a DI….

I was informed in that session that I had been selected as series high Honor Man for that graduation period. I was stunned, not because of being selected because I expected that, but because of WHY I was selected and by whom… Seems the Sgt. Dingy (fatso) had taken notice of my efforts to help numb nuts better his skills. He told me that he nominated me not because I was running at half throttle all through boot camp with my efforts, but because of my efforts to assist numb nuts with his skills, he was going to graduate as a Marine, whereas before, he never stood a chance… As I left the quarters in a daze, Numb Nuts was waiting on me to shake my hand… and I realized what I saw in him. Where I had basically skated by with little effort doing everything with ease, he woke up every single morning giving 110% at everything he did, whether he failed or succeeded, his output of effort was far greater than mine, and I realized in that moment, that I was not the one who deserved the honor of representing our platoon, but it was he that better exemplified what it meant to WANT to be a Marine…. I realized also that I had turned an advisary into someone who would fight as hard for my life as he would his own…. I had gained a brother….

I repeat all this with purpose. When men and women of character step into the field of battle, they fight for many things, but there is one common thread that runs through them all. In every single act of courage and in most every act of bravery that is awarded by the Medal of Honor, Bronze and Silver Stars, Navy Cross’s, or any other shiny piece of metal that is given for acts of valor, you will find the same rock solid base. The action was taken in defense and well being of their fellow brothers…. Warriors fight for and beside each other. We train not only to hone our skills but to identify and fortify the weaknesses of our band of brothers. We all have weaknesses. True warriors recognize the weakness within the group and take proactive steps to cover that weakness with strength of their own. That is how we survive. We are closer than blood. We trust. We protect. We fight so everyone can come home and no one is left behind. We know this and respect this. When one of our own falls, it takes something out of each one of us in the group that cannot ever be replaced. That is where Courage, Valor, Commitment, and most of all, Respect lives within a warriors spirit. These are the things that allow mortal humans to approach the gates of hell, stand strong and achieve the victory of their enemies. These are the bonds of the brotherhood that can never be broken….

So next time you meet a veteran and begin to mouth the words of thanks, take a moment to reflect on a simple truth. Their will be men and women of greatness who achieve great and wonderful things for the community at large. They will be rewarded with monies, respect, positions of influence, and be heralded in all manner of print. But know this… it is because they achieved their greatness in the peace and security afforded by great men and women who sacrificed for each other, in relative obscurity, that they were permitted the opportunity to be great. We sometimes get distracted for weeks on end when a celebrity dies and the entire nation mourns his or her loss… but most warriors die out of sight of the media and for far greater purposes… and most times they are brought home in the dark of night, out of the sight of the media, and laid to rest without most in this country even knowing their name or their story. That is sad testament to where our society has moved….

I look through my boredom and realize one honest truth about my life. I am a United States Marine. Many wake up every day and wonder if their life has made any difference in this world we live in. It is not so for a Marine.

 Semper Fi

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 6:31 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.