One Marine
Greetings, and welcome to One Marine's Perspective on How To Play The Game Of Life.
Many years ago, General James F. Amos, USMC, the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, made this statement:
“A Marine is a Marine. … there is no such thing as a former Marine. You're a Marine, just in a different uniform and you're in a different phase of your life.”
Well, One Marine is now, at age 83, one who is in a different uniform and in a different phase of his life. But as that well known author and humorist, Mark Twain once said, Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. And I can vouch for the fact that One Marine doesn’t mind. So, onward we go!
It would seem reasonable that you, who are visiting this site, would want to know something about One Marine, other than that he is an old geezer. Therefore, I’ll tell you a little bit about One Marine and let you decide if you might be interested in his perspective on how to play the game of life.
Have you ever heard the phrase “seeing the elephant”? Well, the phrase “seeing the elephant” is a so-called “Americanism” which means gaining experience of the world, usually at a significant cost to the gainer of that experience. In other words, Elephant "sightings" are situations from which much useful experience is gained, but situations which the experiencer would prefer to avoid in the future. Few of us would want to see the same elephant more than once, if at all.
Well, One Marine has “seen the elephant”. In fact, One Marine has seen many elephants and feels the wisdom he has gained through these sightings can be of benefit to others. And - although he has been “retired” for some years (yea, some decades) now – he is still a Marine and he is still seeing those elephants.
Now, let me share with you a short glimpse of One Marine’s life. I have separated One Marine’s life, perhaps not extremely cleverly, into three phases: Pre-USMC, Active duty USMC, and USMC retired.
Pre-USMC
Beginning with the pre active-duty years, One Marine suspects that he started life (as we all seem to do) as a baby (although he admits to being hard pressed to conjure up any memories of that time), but at least one enduring photo seems to indicate such was the case. From suspected babyhood, he worked his way through all the common stages of infant, toddler, child (Perhaps his first easily recalled memories lie there.), pre-teen, and teen and is now working his way (with ever increasing rapidity, it seems) through adulthood.
He came from a relatively impoverished background, which he considers fortunate as money never had a great attraction for him and he has been completely satisfied with doing rather than having.
His first paying job was selling newspapers on the street corner when he was in the third grade. If his performance at that job was any indication of what the future could be, he made a wise choice by not going into sales.
Since he was the younger of two boys, if he wanted to wear something other than hand-me-downs, he was encouraged to buy that something himself, which he often did. He would be the first to admit that his fashion sense left much to be desired.
He was fortunate in Grade School to spend some time at the Good Will Boys Farm when his folks faced some fairly daunting financial issues. It was an incredibly positive experience for him and as the song states: “Though the cares of this life deep enburden the heart, we will ever remember Good Will.” And remember he does. There's a lot to be said for living in a cottage with thirteen other boys on a farm with six other cottages with a similar residential makeup, and sharing responsibilities in the cottage and on the farm. Perhaps, the first taste of that "band of brotherhood".
His free time in High School was dominated by harvesting tobacco, pick-and-shovel work for a local contractor, assembling toys and equipment for a local hardware store, cooking at a local restaurant and driving for an elderly lady with personal locomotion challenges. He had little time for sports, however, he did manage to letter in track, though it meant one-on-one sessions with the coach at other than regular practice times.
Despite receiving a partial college scholarship, he wasn’t ready to become a scholar at that point in his life, and removed himself from the academic environment, did some scallop dragging to pay off debts, and signed up for the United States Marines.
Unfortunately, his mother, remembering the life expectancy of Marines during WWII, was quite distressed with his choice of services and, since he had not yet taken the oath, he changed his choice to the United States Navy, which was much more acceptable to his mother.
He quickly came to the realization that he was in a situation in which the fit was somewhat less than ideal. And, in spite of his mother’s misgivings, he took steps to rectify that situation.
His transition from the enlisted ranks of the Navy to the officer ranks of the Marine Corps was accomplished through a competitive Fleet Appointment to, and graduation from, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland as an Officer of Marines. On to phase 2.
Active Duty USMC
His primary occupational specialty, as an Officer of Marines, was single-engine, single-seat, jet-attack aviator, with additional specialties in Aeronautical Engineering, Air Intelligence, Aircraft Maintenance, and Air/Ground Liaison. He served in the classroom and in the field, both at home and abroad, in peacetime and in war.
He has been a patriot as far back as he can remember (You know, “My country - may she always be right, but right or wrong – my country.”) and he had the distinct privilege of shedding his blood in support of his Country’s ideals during two tours and over two years of combat service in Viet Nam.
Those with whom he served in Vietnam, shared his sense of patriotism and he was frankly rather surprised, but undaunted by the lack of support from his fellow Americans back home. One Marine has never regretted his own choice to serve his country, and he does not view negatively those who chose otherwise. As he says, we make our own choices based on our own truths and take the responsibility for our own decisions, and the consequences thereof.
He was wounded twice, once while serving, on the ground, as Air Liaison Officer/Forward Air Controller with "The Magnificent Bastards", the Infantry Battalion that General Westmoreland called the “Fight-ingest Battalion in Viet Nam” (and after serving a tour with them, he considered it a sobriquet well earned). On that occasion, he got himself a wee bit too close to exploding ordnance and experienced the negative consequences of so doing.
He saw the elephant again while flying combat missions in an A-4 Skyhawk with the "Tomcats" of Marine Attack Squadron 311, “The Last of the Best”, in Chu Lai, Vietnam. On that occasion the aircraft, of which he was the sole occupant and, therefore, the pilot in command, succumbed to hostile fire and ceased giving him the performance to which he had become accustomed.
Consequently, he and the aircraft departed company and he found himself in the middle of the “bad guys” in hostile terrain. In other words, gaining experience from another one of those situations one would rather not repeat– seeing the elephant. Fortunately, with considerable friendly assistance he was able to extricate himself from that predicament and continued his combat flying, albeit not in the same aircraft which had been rendered even more unserviceable by ground contact, explosion, and fire.
When his combat duties ended, he had been actively engaged in 13 major ground combat operations with the “grunts” as we lovingly call our ground brethren and flew 360 combat flight missions with the “zoomies” as we lovingly call our fellow jet aviators. Now for the third phase:
USMC Retired
After retirement, One Marine enjoyed a variety of other roles throughout his life, ranging from construction undertakings to flight Instruction to educational pursuits up to and including university professorship. At one point, he was even ordained as a non-denominational minister, focusing more on spirituality than the dogma of a particular religion. As George Carlin once said, “Religion is like a pair of shoes.... Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes.”
He is a firm believer in lifelong learning and has accumulated 4 Master’s degrees (Arts, Science, Engineering, and Education) and a PHD in Holistic Nutrition. It appears that he is still experiencing a little difficulty deciding what he wants to do with his spare time when he grows up. Of course, that would be in addition to his primary purpose as a U.S. Marine.
It appears that everyone has some sort of perspective through which they view life. One Marine’s is that he sees life as a game to be played by God-given rules, hence, One Marine’s Perspective on How to Play the Game of Life.
One Marine believes that each of us is unique with his/her own purpose in life and that many paths can lead “home”. He offers only his perspectives (his truths), and those only on what he considers the most important aspects of life - those that focus on Leading With Character As We Play The Game Of Life By God’s Rules. He expects nothing in return except, perhaps, a thoughtful consideration of the insights he has gained through seeing a myriad of his own individual elephants.
As you may have gathered from this discussion, One Marine’s life from his pre-active-duty years, through his active-duty years, and retired years has been characterized by finding and fulfilling his purpose, which he continues to do – that of being the best Marine that he can be.
If you think that you can benefit from One Marine’s perspective on playing the “game of life”, he invites you to press on through the remainder of his web site. Should you so choose, go back to the top of the page and select the "Home" button. Then, proceed, in order, through the red buttons in the Iwo Jima Memorial window, starting with "The Game of Life".
When you have completed the pages represented by the red buttons on the Home page, you will be directed to select the JJ DID TIE BUCKLE button at the top of the Home page and proceed through the Leadership Trait buttons in the Iwo Jima Memorial window starting with the Wiifm (What's in it for me?) button.
If you do proceed through the various pages in the One Marine's Perspective site, you will find that there are narrated stories interspaced throughout. The windows to access these narrations are all located at the top of the individual pages. The intent is that the audios be accessed at the points designated within the written discussions, as they illustrate points being made at specific locations within each discussion. However, One Marine realizes that we are all different and each has his or her own learning style so, whatever works for you ...
Disclaimer: One Marine certainly does not intend to present himself as anything other than an individual Marine who is a work in progress, striving to be the best he can be while fulfilling his earthly purpose.
Then - 1970
Now - 2021