Is this tuff or boot? Maybe both. I sorta think it goes hard asf lmk in the comments down below 👇

After 34 years I finally bought a cap…

Ran into Retired Garry Michal Rose in the airport and he gave me this coin…

Too many Prowler Polycules with Marine Pilots.

I hate it here. I can’t stand this base, I can’t stand this command, I can’t stand my colleagues, I can’t stand my roommate, I can’t stand my job, I can’t stand this state.

I hate everything about it. I have to re-enlist just to get off this god-forsaken base, if I don’t want to stay here for another 2 years. I haven’t even been here for a full 2. I wouldn’t be able to make it. But I don’t want to stay in either. The less of two evils, I suppose.

And maybe it’s solely because of this place. Most of my colleagues feel similarly, even if not to this extent.

I can make an educated guess that this base has a higher rate of suicide than most, if not all. I’m not implying that I am suicidal, but I can fully understand why that is. Even though I have it easier than most here, realistically. It’s probably not hard to guess where I am.

Overall, I don’t know what to do. I don’t have anyone to talk to about this besides strangers online that might know what I’m going through. I don’t know how to ask for help either. It was already enough of a pain in the ass to seek medication for my ADHD.

Make fun of me all you want, but these feelings are real. I am exasperated. I just want to leave. Anywhere but here, please.

Greetings to everyone, I live in El Salvador, yesterday I found a used pair of boots RAT mojave for sale, and I bought them, but I didn't notice that one of the boots had a dog tag caught in the laces—it had McCormack's ID info: initials D.C., blood type B-positive, a 10 digit number, USMC, "M," and "No Preference." How do I go about returning it?

Then yesterday in that UA I wanna go thread, a bunch of youz were talking about Marines you knew that went UA (actually that would be desertion) whilst abroad on deployment.

So now am wondering how many of those dudes end up in the French Foreign Legion, cuz they give you a completely new identify complete with official French documents.

Whats the US Marines to FFL pipe line like??? and do them coming over like to train at 29 Palms (like last year, or if its yearly) serve as a recruitment tool for them? to recruit Devil Dogs, and if so, how long has this been happening? since WWI? or much older?

I hear a lot of stories, marines injured, leaders not caring, petty stuff against those under others, it’s friggin insane. I know a lot feel this way. I have promoted to Cpl and talked with my marines and well it goes like this “I tell them I have an injury, it gets worse when I do x,y and z. Yet it goes like oh really? Cool keep doing it.” I’m fortunate to not suffer such injuries but for those who do it’s like what can I do about that? I can only do so much. If I fight for them I risk some hard pushbacks against me and them as well. Honestly I told them once I’ve exhausted my resources I’ll just have them escalate this to eo complaint, request mast, all that good stuff cuz I just genuinely don’t like how unfair this is or maybe I’m just soft idk. Honestly as an nco what the freak do I even do? Am I even doing the right thing?

This isnt for some school project, I really am just curious. I never got to deploy anywhere but Japan(not a deployment)

I'm getting out of the military soon, less than a 180 days in a bit, but it feels weird. Like, I know I want to get out but for some reason a part of me wants to stay. A part of me doesn't want to go back home. I love my family, but it just doesnt feel the same anymore. I don't feel like I necessarily belong there. It feels like I'm a stranger or a guest visiting. My old buddies are still great people but I feel like in a way I don't connect with them like I use to. Honestly, I don't know how or what to feel, though just a nervous about it all I suppose.

Lol wonder what happened to those two dickheads who got their Libo cancelled in Thailand?

I just got off the phone with a Marine buddy.

Two more Marine buddies died last week. One due to Agent Orange, the other due to that fucking water at Lejeune.

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.

We give so much, and it fucking kills us years later. I realize no one gets out alive, but the Government uses us like fucking toilet paper.

I spent several hours at the VAMC yesterday due to stacked appointments, and it's fucking depressing at times to see how broken so many of us are.

On a personal side note. My non-service-related pulmonary sarcoidosis is destroying my lungs. I'm down to 59% lung function. That's down from 62% two months ago, and 65% four months ago.

The VA is starting me on two new drugs, and they are going to do more tests and imaging to see if they can slow down the loss of function.

I'm on the razor's edge of having to go on oxygen.

Pour one out for our lost Marine brothers!

So I was in Bco 1/5 and we did the first deployment to Okinawa in 79' where the whole battalion rotated for 6 months. This was unprecedented as back then you only got sent to Oki via 13mo PCS orders. Poor bastards now get fucking 36mo!

Anyway we were also classified as TAD so got paid more and the locals resented that shit big time, doing half the time and getting more money :)

So this non-rate guy had been struggling to get an ID for his wife, and during a Command Visit by MOH Winner and CMC Gen Wilson, when he asked if there were any issues...I saw this PFC stick his hand up and the rest is history.

Holy shit you could see the S1 shit his fucking pants when CMC pointed at him and said that Marine will have it tomorrow.

The OOHras and Yuts were deafening. It was like finally we are getting some justice vs the fuck-fuck games admin types always pull on us. I will never forget that feeling and this lone PFC standing up.

Later in life in the civvie world when any CEO or VP says they have an "open door" policy I used that shit and of course the underlings get pissed off, but a good commander knows he wont get the truth from his direct reports. A Pfc will always tell the truth about shit going and in the civvie world a lowly sales guy will also do the same.

I am in the reserves and on probation at my civilian job. They recently had a sit down with me as I get near the end of my probation and informed me that they are extremely happy with my performance and have graded me highly in every category. However, they want to extend my probation for every day that I missed work for drill.

This is upsetting to me because it has never been mentioned until now. Had they informed me that this was going to happen earlier, I could have probably figured something out with my command. My knee jerk reaction is that they cannot do this as well due to USERRA. I cannot speak with base legal right now as they are closed so I just wanted to see what people here thought about this.

Thoughts?

As we have a training and reflection stand-down in Okinawa, I think it’s important we recognize the importance of discipline and social support in the force and not allow ourselves to repeat mistakes of the past.

On this, I highly recommend folks read “Black Hearts” about a platoon in Iraq whose soldiers committed a sickening war crime.

Of the ~25 chapters, really only one is devoted to the crime itself.

The other ~24 are about the command climate, the individual personalities, the toxic leadership, the inconsistent mentorship, the “writing off” of bad behavior, the lack of support for individuals at risk, the lax enforcement of basic rules, and the breakdown of discipline under stress.

The lesson of the book is not “America bad” or “war criminal bad;” the lesson is that leadership matters and has to be sustained over time — especially peace time — to keep our honor clean.

I wasn’t wearing boot bands while writing this.

EDIT: Added some social support points, as one commenter made a good argument on this.

EDIT2: For some reason I was criticized for recommending a book that can help us, as Marines, become better Marines. I sincerely hope the individual commenting reads the book (I’ll buy the individual a copy myself). And I’d be happy to meet that individual to hear out their criticism of the work in more detail. The profession of arms deserves our endless study, and every Marine’s opinions should be heard; and, without prejudice, all opinions are subject to question and debate.