Tuesday 28 April 2009

SAD DAYS ...



Hello all family and friends today is a sad day. Today is the last day that the remaining group of my senior marines are here working with us. I want to dedicate this blog to them because of the time and hardwork and love and hate and blood and sweat and tears they put into me and my fellow generation to train us. All of these guys were there for my first deployment last year in which was their second. Some of which were in my squad/platoon/company. And i have gotten to know them intimately. Its sad to see them go because it will be the last day i will probably see most of them. As i go through i am going to put a picture and a, hopefully short, explanation and maybe storie of them.
So this is Heopasert. He has been in my plt since i got here and is an awesome guy. me and him go to the gym all the time. He is leotion. Infact he is this guy who is never too good or too senior to help out.
Now this is my good buddy Levi Latham. He is also from colorado up by greeley. He used to have really bad drinking problem. One in which he would drink until he passed out and if he didn't drink he would get really really sick. He has SOOOO many tattoos and wants more but at his heart is one of the coolest guys you will ever meet. He lives/lived with his grandma who adopted him and she owns a farm. Every time we get to go home he doesn't do anything but help her fix it up from the problems that came around while he was gone. He loves her soooo much.
Now this is Perez-flores. He is all that is man. He is from texas originally and used to be a really good boxer before he joined. I learned that the hard way by being a smart guy when i was new. But he is very knowledgable and great with tactics. He along with a couple others who have already gotten out taught me a lot about being a marine more specifically an infantry marine. He is hard guy to judge and if you don't know him very well you would think he hates you forever. But its just his stern face that gives that.
OH good old Levi Coleman. Another guy i grew up with being an amzing teacher. Ever since i have gotten to the fleet he has been in my squad. He used to be a taekwondo blackbelt before he joined and i have seen videos from his fights not to mention a few non taekwondo fights and he is a force to be reconed with. He taught me a lot. A quick story about him was on my first deployment we split our patrol into 2, five man groups. we started patroling on a couple adjacent streets when i saw a guy watching our patrol from a roof i told him because it was on his side of the patrol he turned really fast racked his breach for his 203 grenade launcher and pointed it. The guy Ducked really fast almost in a falling fashion and screamed NO in a really girly voice. i neerly pee'd my pants laughing. we still relive that memory. He is from montana and is one of those guys with a golden body that spoons full of crisco could not ruin.
I love this guy. This is Cpl Culver. He was a guy in another platoon, but in another company. Last year he had a squad leader Negligently discharge his M9 pistol and had to pick up the squad because the last guy got fired. He jumped in and led those marines through grenade attacks and efficiently and swiftly got casualty evacuations done and managed to finish his mission. that does not sound like a lot but with only eight guys to be able to coordinate that it is a feat! We have been great friends since that time and i miss times of just hanging out and watching movies with him.
This is Leonard Reynoso (ray ray) This sexy philipino is 27 with 3 kids and a wife in nor cal where he only gets to see them maybe once a month if he is lucky. He has been in my platoon aswell since i got here. He is a little scrapper. when ever we do ground fighting somehow he is one of the hardest guys i grapple. Just recently got his Citizenship through the marine corps and is very happy to be getting out and going to live full time with his wife and kids. This is one guy i hope to stay in touch with because he is hilarious and a great friend.
These last 2 are awesome. The first on the left is Corporal Redman. He is a mortorman and is also built like a rock. He leads an entire squad though of guys who are all ground infantry not mortormen. That is a world of difference but he worked hard and trained hard to learn the roll so that he could be the best leader possible for them. He is married with no kids but a very open loving guy. The second guy is Corporal Bonner. Bonner is a guy who is always open to new ideas and has a good head on him. He loves the guys he works with and their perspective on things. something i learned from him is a good commander trusts the guys he commands to do the things he asks in a way that is right and honorable. I thought about that like every day when i was leading my guys. He told me treat them like men and they will act like men. I tried that approach and i had the best team in the platoon. I will miss his insight and open mindedness in a military world.
This is Lamberg (lambo). A joker. He has the the funniest ways of doing things and doesn't really like to go out and do physical training. My first ball in vegas i ran into him and he was really really drunk but i was lost he helped me somehow find my way back to my hotel so that i could go to sleep. He was team leader during my first deployment and one of my best friends was in his team and also learned a lot from him. I will miss his sarcasm and love for the guys around him. I hope that he will be able to stay in contact because he has a lot of qualities that i envy.
Abrojena (abro) this guy is built like a tank and is from California. He loves his body and so do women. I didn't spend much time around him partially because he scared the crap out of me and partially because he is HUGE AND SCARY, and because he can stare you down like you are nothing.
And last but not least is Nyugen (noodles). Noodles has one of the worst accents i have ever heard. He is impossible to understand on any radio and most of the time when he is speaking. But he is a really good guy who also helped train me. He is also a very good guy with asian ladys, who would have known. I will miss teasing him and getting teased by him. He was an amazing asset to knowledge and tactics and the way a marine is supposed to act. i will miss him.
Well that is all of the guys that are leaving and i will miss them greatly. I truely wish that i could spend a lifetime learning from them and taking the good parts from them and applying them to who i want to be. I will MISS YOU GUYS.




4 comments:

  1. First to comment! I found it by myself. hehe. I loved reading this, keep posting! It's so cool to see what you're doing. : )

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  2. Wow Don what a great tribute to those that you work with and that help you grow and mature. It sounds like a wonderful environment with great guys to teach you. Then you get to pass on that learning on to others who will in turn speak of you with admiration. I see why you like the Marines

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  3. I would be scared of that tank guy too!

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  4. It was good to meet your fam away from home. You are built like a rock now too!

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