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| Those Doggone Marines Are Lucky We Were There |
| 2005-10-07 |
| This is a bit of good humor from SPC Phil Van Treuren, Legal Specialist on deployment in the Gulf Coast with the Army National Guard soldiers of Ohio’s 73rd Troop Command. They are helping put the pieces back together after the storms. In spite of a stalemate following a heroic battle to set up a massive mutant tent in the soggy Mississippi gloom on our first night at Stennis International Airport, we Army National Guard soldiers of Ohio’s 73rd Troop Command were confident that, when daylight came, the rest of our shelters would be conquered lickety-split. Unfortunately, we underestimated the immense determination and willpower of the tents. We banged and tugged and sweated and cursed for hours in the humid 100-degree weather, but those suckers were more intent on remaining shapeless masses of canvass than we were on turning them into homes-away-from-home. Not many of us had been deployed before, and no one in our company had ever tangled with one of these newly-issued models. A company of Marines was briefly stationed in a hangar just down the road, and a few of their members out for a walk saw us fumbling with the tents. They asked if we needed any help. We looked at the Marines, then looked back at the tents. Uh, sure, we told them. We’ll let you help, if you don’t have anything else to do. The Marines left for their hangar and returned a few minutes later with dozens of their comrades walking in file behind them. We stepped aside and marveled as they wordlessly took control of the canvasses and mallets and stakes and started raising the shelters like automatons that had been programmed to do just that. Within an hour, they had all of the tents up. The Marines tipped their hats to us and left for their hangar, again in file. We thanked them, reassured each other that we could have put the darned things up ourselves if we had to, and went inside of the shelters to get out of the sun. So they could put up some tents. Big deal. We still had them beat when it came to filing papers and monitoring troop levels in the Tactical Operation Center. And where would they be if we weren’t around to do that? Yup, those doggone Marines are lucky we were there for them. Real lucky. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #2 Wonderful! Perfect balance for the Washington Monument attack on p. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-07 21:00 |
| #1 Really a great story. Wish we had more like this. |
| Posted by: SamL 2005-10-07 20:32 |