Met Commandant and SgtMaj of the USMC

[cincymarsdad]

The girls and I were in DC for the "Day of Remembrance" even on the Mall. The Army Chief of Stafff and General Conway were there and spoke. Afterward, I managed to catch General Conway's attention and introduced him to an out-of-uniform Marine PFC - Sarah. General Conway called the Sergeant major over and I have a photo of the three of them meaning into the camera. One of the smiles seemed a bit nervous.

Conway asked her where she was posted etc. He is a tall man. They were both impeccably attired (heh) with the white pants/dark top uniform which I can never remember the name of 'dress blues whites???' - someone help me out.

Young Sarah probably has met more flag rank officers than the typical E-2. She's off to CORTRAMID in July, if I spelled that right.

On Friday, I attended the Color Parade at Columbus, OH and saw the pass and review for both girls. Sarah is in the color guard and carried the Corps flag. She also is in the exhibition drill team (of 8 members) and was the MS selected to do the "fancy inspection". Her hands were all cut up from tossing the rifles around. They were pretty good - she said they got up at 0430 for 3 weeks practicing this. I wouldn't put them up against the guys at 8th and I quite yet, but pretty good, only one drop in an 8 minute long exhibition. I wish I had taken the video camera now.

[Vulture6]

That's great news John. Glad you were able to catch the commandant and sergeant major.

The uniform is refered to as the blue/white dress uniform and is only authorized on special occasions (it is not a uniform that a Marine is authorized to wear on leave, etc).

[ClutterbusterNY]

I was reading a bit about the "Day of Remembrance" on the mall. It sounds
as though it was a wonderful event.

I never knew that General George W. Casey lost his Dad in Vietnam.
He must have given a powerful message having experienced such great
sacrifice first-hand.

I think can guess who had the nervous smile John:-). If you would like to post the photo of Sarah with the top brass, I'd love to see it.

[Infantrymen]

Nice!

[KARL THE GRUNT]

Did you say that the Commandant's father served in the Nam?

That means that I AM OLDER than the Commandant of the Marine Corps?

That cannot be those Generals are all old guys!!!

I will need a few days to recover.

Karl of "The Old Corps".

[cincymarsdad]

Originally Posted by KARL THE GRUNT

Did you say that the Commandant's father served in the Nam?

That means that I AM OLDER than the Commandant of the Marine Corps?

That cannot be those Generals are all old guys!!!

I will need a few days to recover.

Karl of "The Old Corps".

General Casey is Army Chief of Staff - you are safe. General Conway (USMC) was far younger ... I think ...

THis may come as a complete shock to some of youse guys, but IMHO, the Marine uniform looks a lot better than the Coast Guard Uniform ... heh.

Seriously, though, it really stands out when reps of all the services are standing together. I remember talking to Chris when he was about 10 about joining the service. Of course, at that point, his knowledge was from the movies, and he was all fired up about being a Navy SEAL etc. His "military aspirations" seemed to submerge from about age 13 on, until one day when he had just started his senior year in high school when he came to me out of the blue and said:

"Dad, I want to join the Marines."

I was floored. I muttered something like, "Do you mean you want to do ROTC?" and he said:

"No, I want to enlist, but I have it worked out so I can still go to college."

Looking back at my utter ignorance of all this is weird, but I had only the vaguest idea of what reservists did. I certainly had zero notion that they would be activated short of WW III, which appeared unlikely. Chris was so "undisciplined" at the time, I was intrigued by his idea, and in talking with recruiters, it seemed like an ideal path for him. Basic would give him some focus and he'd just "play soldier" on a few weekends and be a student. [One recruiter toild us he could do a "split" as an 0311, which made me pretty mad when I found out otherwise as this cost him a quarter at college.]

If I sound like an idiot, I freely admit it. I discovered all this Internet stuff rather late in the process. I try not and think about "what if" and all that, because this is how it happened and there is not benefit to anyone in beating myself up about "letting him enlist" etc.

It certainly changed him, and me, and us. Jees, I was proud of him. I still am.

He was a good Marine.

[ClutterbusterNY]

Originally Posted by KARL THE GRUNT

Did you say that the Commandant's father served in the Nam?

That means that I AM OLDER than the Commandant of the Marine Corps?

That cannot be those Generals are all old guys!!!

I will need a few days to recover.

Karl of "The Old Corps".

Karl,
General Casey was 21 when his Dad's helo went down in 1970. George William Casey Sr. was 48 years old at the time.

GEORGE WILLIAM CASEY

MGEN - O7 - Army - Regular
1st Cav Division (AMBL)

His tour began on Jul 30, 1969
Casualty was on Jul 7, 1970
In TUYEN DUC, SOUTH VIETNAM
Non-Hostile, died missing, HELICOPTER - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was recovered

Panel 09W - Line 126
http://www.thewall-usa.com/search.asp

I checked it out because I thought it would make General Casey fairly young too. In every conflict American servicemen and women have demonstrated that valor has no age limit.