Updates from drill, and VT stuff
I had drill this weekend. It started Friday night with a "mess night," which evidently is this traditional formal dinner where you wear your senior uniform and everything's very regimented, including a lot of "fines" of a buck or two to raise money for the Ball. The night ends with eleven toasts, to the President, the Continental Marines, Marines of World War I and World War II, etc. Saturday was a lot of running around trying to finish our check-in sheet, a dental exam, HIV blood draw, and a lot of waiting. Since we had the mess night on Friday night, Sunday's drill only went til noon. I found out just before I left Sunday that I don't have to do a new MOS school until the next fiscal year, so it's more likely to be summer of '08 or something. Big relief there. I was also asked and agreed to be a shooting range coach in Quantico from April 28th to May 4th. A number of the unit's Marines have volunteered to be attached to units heading to Iraq, so in preparation they're doing some training in Quantico, and need some accomplished shooters to help teach those Marines.
McBride took me to an Italian restaurant he used to work at yesterday for a never-ending pasta special, and while we were there I caught the news about Virginia Tech. Two of my friends from Iraq, Matt Neely and Kurt Nario, are VT students, so I immediately called Neely to see if he was alright and he didn't answer, which made me nervous. He called back about five minutes later saying he was fine, having been off campus at the time and only hearing about it afterwards. He said when he heard the gunman was described as a man of Asian decent wearing a Marines hat, he called Nario, who's Filipino and a Marine, to make sure he hadn't gone crazy, which of course he hadn't, and he was well too. So that was a bit of relief. Still, it's a massive tragedy, and McBride and I spent most of our dinner in quiet disbelief. I'm not looking forward to the anti-gun outrage that's sure to follow, like it did in Columbine, as though it's related.
Here's a picture of Neely to refresh your memories (he's on the right):
posted by Roger W. at 9:44 PM
3 Comments:
Roger,
I'm glad your friends are safe. I don't mean to confirm for everyone that I'm a moron, but when you say your friend is on the right, do you mean the right side of the picture, or the guy that would be on the right if you were one of those two guys?
What would a Marine's initial reaction be if he/she were confronted with that situation? I realize you aren't supermen, but you have had a certain amount of training and you have been under fire. Are you surprised that it seems like there was little resistance among the students to this shooter? I don't think I would stand idly by while some SOB executed me. Not from bravery, but I've certainly shot enough firearms to realize that it isn't that easy to hit a moving target. Why didn't those students pitch their textbooks, napsacks, cellphones, or anything else at hand at this psycho, and then rush him. I don't get it.
Dad
Hey Rog,
While you are in Virginia, will you be in close proximity to any of the Hotel Battery Marines that you served with in Iraq? Not that you'll have much free time, but just wondered.
Dad,
He's on the right side of the picture. Actually, if you look very closely at the one on the left, you can see part of his nametag...he's Doc Cintron. Also, in Iraq and such we're expecting to be under fire; a situation like this might be too unexpected to really react properly. We're really geared up for something to happen in Iraq, but when we're someplace seemingly so safe as a college campus where these things have only happened a few times over a number of decades, it's not exactly immediate action. That said, I'd think it'd take somebody trained to operate under situations like this only a moment or two to realize he needed to act, but under such circumstances (in close quarters, without a proper weapon or any protective gear), it'd still be a toss-up. Like you said, we're not supermen. Just don't tell anybody.
Mom,
I'm hoping that we might get a little free time off so I can see a couple people, especially Sgt. Nicola (my vehicle commander) who lives in Quantico. But we'll see.
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