Navy Chief
February 23rd, 2011, 13:04
A grizzled old E-9 Navy Chief and an old Marine Master Gunny Sgt. were sitting at the VFW arguing about who had the tougher career.
I did 30 years in the Corps, the Marine declared proudly, and fought in three of my country's wars. Fresh out of boot camp, I hit the beach's from Tarawa to Okinawa, clawed my way up the blood-soaked sands, took out entire enemy machine gun nests, and fought hand to hand. As a sergeant, I fought in Korea under General MacArthur. We pushed the enemy inch by bloody inch all the way up to the Chinese border, always under a barrage of artillery and small arms fire. Finally, as a gunny sergeant, I did three consecutive combat tours in Vietnam. We humped through the mud and elephant grass for 14 hours a day, plagued by rain and mosquitoes, ducking under sniper fire by day and mortar fire all night. In a firefight, we'd fire until our arms ached and our guns were empty, then we charged the enemy with bayonets.
"You lucky SOB!" said the Sailor with envy. "All shore duty, huh?"
I did 30 years in the Corps, the Marine declared proudly, and fought in three of my country's wars. Fresh out of boot camp, I hit the beach's from Tarawa to Okinawa, clawed my way up the blood-soaked sands, took out entire enemy machine gun nests, and fought hand to hand. As a sergeant, I fought in Korea under General MacArthur. We pushed the enemy inch by bloody inch all the way up to the Chinese border, always under a barrage of artillery and small arms fire. Finally, as a gunny sergeant, I did three consecutive combat tours in Vietnam. We humped through the mud and elephant grass for 14 hours a day, plagued by rain and mosquitoes, ducking under sniper fire by day and mortar fire all night. In a firefight, we'd fire until our arms ached and our guns were empty, then we charged the enemy with bayonets.
"You lucky SOB!" said the Sailor with envy. "All shore duty, huh?"