TracGunny
Posts: 3
Joined: 4/26/2006 From: Florida Status: offline
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You are not Superman. Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs. No plan survives the first contact intact. In planning, worse case scenarios will be proven to have been optimistic. Nothing predicted to happen – will. Anything predicted not to happen - will. The important things are always simple. The simple things are always hard. The easy way is always mined. If it is stupid but works, it is not stupid. Make it impossible for the enemy to get in and you cannot get out. It is impossible to tell from a distance whether a headquarters staff working on a project is simply sitting on their hands or frantically trying to cover their asses. No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection. Do not look conspicuous; it draws fire. Try to look unimportant, because the bad guys may be low on ammo. Anything you do can get you shot, including doing nothing. Do not draw fire; it irritates the people around you. Never share a fighting hole with anyone braver than you are. Bravery is being the only one who knows you are afraid. When in doubt, empty your magazine. Never forget that the lowest bidder made your weapon. A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what is left of your unit. All five-second grenade fuses burn down in three seconds. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend. Radios will fail as soon as you desperately need fire support. If your attack is going really well, it is an ambush. The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack. If you are short of everything except enemy, then you are in combat. If you have secured an area, do not forget to tell the enemy. Incoming fire has the right of way. Friendly fire - is not. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire. If you are forward of your position, the artillery will fall short. Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate; from 30,000 feet, every single bomb always hits the ground. It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed. When you have the enemy in sight, so does he have you. If the enemy is in range, so are you. Tracers work both ways. Beer math is 2 beers times 37 men equals 49 cases. Body count math is 2 guerrillas plus 1 probable plus two pigs equals 35 enemy KIA. Things that must be together to work usually cannot be shipped together. The more desperate your need for an item from supply, the greater the chance it is not in stock. The odds of a piece of gear failing is proportionately equal to how critical it is that the gear work. The one item that you deemed unnecessary to pack will be the one item that becomes essential to the accomplishment of the mission. If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will have more than your fair share of objectives to take. When both sides are convinced that they are about to lose, they are both right. You will never fight a war in paradise. The word “deficit” describes all things fiscal. When on ship: - You will always travel parallel to the swells
- Storms will always track your course
- The AC that supplies the Marine berthing areas will break
- Flight quarters are never on schedule or predictable
- The only thing more unpredictable then flight quarters is mail call
- GQ sounds when it is most inopportune to you
- There is no such thing as a comfortable rack
- The fresh water supply shuts off only after you have completely lathered up with soap
- The soda machine will always be out of your favorite drink
- Real seasickness is not when you are afraid you will die, but when you are afraid you will live
- Any ship can be a minesweeper - once.
You will always be “boot” to anyone who joined the Corps a day or more before you did. Everyone is “boot” to someone. Military intelligence is a great oxymoron, second only to objective journalism. One thing potentially more dangerous than the enemy is the Press. Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do. Commanders must be kept busy or else everyone else will be. If you see explosive ordnance disposal personnel running, try to keep up with them. The most dangerous thing known to man is an 2nd Lieutenant with a map and compass. The greater the reliance on technology, the greater the potential disaster. War is aided but not won by technology; it is won when the grunt plants the flag at the end of the last battle over the vanquished enemy. Murphy was a grunt.
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