Frankie Zee

1) There are no "Ex-Marines." We're former Marine or Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine. We take that very seriously. Call it brainwashing if you want, I call it being proud of something I've done.

2) I ALMOST understand what he was trying to say here. The Marines put a higher priority on training each and EVERY Marine how to handle a rifle and operate efficiently as infantry personnel. That means that for Marines, your administration MOS's get largely the same training as most actual infantry units. At least at the beginning. Once in the fleet, things change a little as far as the frequency and intensity of the training goes, and you're not learning about small unit tactics and fields of fire, but they try to keep up with the basics. I'm not saying he's right, but I almost understand what he was trying to say. I have known people from the Marines who left because the Army offered them a promotion. One Staff Sergeant I knew left the Marines because the Army was going to make him a Warrant Officer AND let him fly helicopters. The Marines wouldn't do that for him. The Marines also are the only service that requires ALL prior service members to go through Marine Corps boot camp. If a Marine goes to another service, they are not required to do basic training over. Many Marines are extremely egotistical and it's pounded into our heads that we are THE toughest, and best of all the services from before you even sign up. The way he was doing it though, sounds pretty uncalled for.

Back on track: As former military, I still have a certain amount of respect for anyone who puts on a uniform. In the end, most of the people are regular people like anyone else but they're more likely to spend prolonged periods of time putting their life on the line for a war they don't agree with.

True, I've met some real rocks during my time in. I was totally surprised at how many people (guys and girls) slipped through the cracks in boot camp. But the majority of them are just normal people. I fixed infantry weapons so I was never too far from infantry units and the general mentality of those individuals was your stereotypical Type A, egotistical, meathead, jock. But that's not to say these guys weren't smart. I've done enough infantry training to where I can basically call myself infantry, and the amount of training and education these guys go through is staggering. It's not the same sort of education as sitting in a statistics class, but it's no less intensive. And not learning the lessons can mean you don't come home.

Critical thinking is an extremely important part of being a good soldier. Especially in a constantly changing battlefield where the situation changes in literally heartbeats. The problem is the platoon still needs to follow orders as a whole. If you have one person hesitate and say "gee, I'm not sure about this, I mean I didn't vote for the guy, so why should I be here?" that guy has just put the lives of everyone in his platoon at risk. Being able to think critically while still following orders quickly and efficiently are paramount in a firefight. To me, following orders isn't being brainwashed. Neither is a soldier who just spent a year dodging bullets in the Middle-East calling them "Hadji's" brainwashing.

I have actually pulled the "you never picked up a rifle" card on someone before, but it was after a lot of provocation on his part. I'm an extremely laid back individual and it takes a LOT to get me riled up but he called into question and insulted my service in the Marines as to how it related to my current position (he was my boss). I lost my mind on the guy. The gist of my ranting was "you have absolutely no right to insult my service when you never picked up a rifle yourself. You have no clue what it takes, what I've done, or what I'm capable of doing." He never brought it up again...and I still had a job the next day (although I got the position I originally wanted shortly after).

I DON'T agree with someone claiming to be more patriotic just because they served. It's a volunteer force. Plain and simple. I also don't agree with people who demand respect simply because they served. That's just ridiculous.

We're all human, as was stated by Shauk: Some people in the military are douchebags, I will treat them as such, regardless of service or heroism. Some people in the military are awesome, I will treat them as such, regardless if they retreated from combat. My only concern is if the person in question is retreating on orders or he/she just curled up in a ball and dropped his rifle. I don't care how "awesome" that person is, doing that just put everyone else around him/her in danger and is pretty unforgivable.

Sorry for the wall of text, I tend to get wordy and ramble and this got quickly out of hand