POST SOLANT AMITY with Former Members of ―G‖ Company, 2Nd Battalion, 6Th Marine Regiment Volume 8, Issue 4
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POST SOLANT AMITY With Former Members of ―G‖ Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment Volume 8, Issue 4 December 2010 nearly everything on earth. Their and the like. He‟d called his Boy Trivia Question 2: What was the Salty Language speech was flavored with Navy Scout equipment 782 gear, but PRC-6 portable radio nicknamed? words. Words culled from the [These are the space constrained he no longer used those terms as [See page 4, answer 2] folk who live on the seas and in they weren't in use at the Acad- thoughts of author Marine Col. That is why Marine is always writ- James W. Hammond, Jr. (Ret).] ports where our war-ships go.” emy. ten with a capital “M.” In the old Corps, the first time He was describing Marines who, In time, I spent a dozen years in We must be careful not to allow our a boot referred to a vertical like all professionals, have a lan- Annapolis on the Alumni Asso- culture to be corrupted by the words partition as a “wall” or said guage peculiar unto themselves. ciation of my alma mater. I grew of other services. The Army says he‟d spilled something on the appalled at the lubberly-ness of Languages evolve. And, as we go 1600 hours. We say 1600. It is a “floor,” he incurred the wrath the staff, faculty and midship- to still more different and distant small but subtle difference. Years of the drill instructor. The DI men climes, still more words creep in. ago, an over zealous police sergeant would smash his swagger stick Some don't survive. Marines still I am not concerned with Navy painted on the deck in front of a on the top of the boot's helmet go to the head to “pump bilges” though, rather our Corps. And regimental headquarters building: and provide—LOUDLY— but there was a generation who I‟m thinking now of a terse enduring advice, “That is a went to the benjo for the same gunny‟s reply to the lady who “NO PARKING AFTER 1600 HOURS.” bulkhead [or deck.] If you draw reason. Then there‟s the story of upon learning the quatrefoil on The CG came by and, seeing the the pay, you should speak the the Marine in an Athens bar or- Officers‟ covers stems from days offending sign, dashed into head- language!” dering a beer: “Garcon! Iddy-wa, when Marines in the fighting quarters, burst into the office of the As Soldiers of the Sea our con- una botella de cerveza bitte.” tops could identify their officers CO and began holding school-of- on deck by the chalked cross on versation should be sprinkled Over the years, however, I have the-boat—basic seafaring instruc- their caps and did not fire on with nautical expressions. The detected not just a lessening of tion—on the colonel. them. “But what of the Navy late Marine Colonel John the use of nautical terms in the He said, “In the Army, it's 1600 Officers?” she had asked. Thompson Jr., in his introduc- naval services but an almost com- hours; in the Navy, it's 8 bells; in tion to his “Fix Bayonets” arti- plete lack of them. It is more than “Who cared?” snapped the the Air Force, I think it‟s „when cle for The Leatherneck, de- 25 years ago since my son came gunny. Mickey's big hand is on 12 and his scribed the men of the 4th Ma- home from the Naval Academy Language is both spoken and little hand is on 4,‟ but in the Corps, rine Brigade about to see action for Plebe Christmas. He‟d been written. "The Marines' Hymn" in the Corps, it is 1600. Get that at Belleau Wood in June 1918: raised on terms like deck, bulk- says, “We are proud to claim the abomination corrected immedi- “And there were also a number head, overhead, ladder, galley ately!” of diverse people who ran curi- title of United States Marines.” ously to type, with their drilled Trivia Question 1: What was used, There are Army officers and Most Marines knew the motto of shoulders, dark near bone-deep without assurance, to purify water soldiers, Navy officers and sail- our Corps before they went to boot sunburn and intolerant scorn of in the field? [See page 4, answer 1] ors, Air Force officers and air- camp. It likely attracted them. It is men, but WE are ALL Marines. Semper Fidelis—always faithful. Shortened to Semper Fi, it is a bond of respectful recognition between M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S M A R I N E S and among Marines. One Marine greets another with it. When they (Continued page 2, column 2) Strange Secret of Brit’s Secret Intelligence Service [SIS] Professor Keith Jeffery of means for writing secret mes- commonly available and visible smell.” Queen's University, in Belfast, sages. The system used at the only when exposed to ultra- Should you have not already Ireland was given access to time became visible if exposed to violet light. Something that to- guessed it, the ink was semen! forty years of England‟s accu- iodine vapor and was clearly not day we see commonly used on mulated MI6's files. The result: something you want to have hap- television‟s CSI series. However, not explained in the A rather revealing 800 page pen in the midst of all the not so lengthy tome and two things over Stagg noted: “We thought we‟d which you might like to ponder: text entitled MI6: The History secret killing of 1915. solved a great problem.” of the Secret Intelligence Ser- 1. What were female agents to do After some time and a great deal However, it wasn‟t long after the vice 1909-1949. of research at London University, about ensuring an adequate and finding that the agent making the ready source of ink for their “top 1According to a diary written an alternative was eventually discovery became the butt of secret” correspondences? And during the First World War by found that was not discernible by numerous department jokes and Walter Kirke, SIS spooks work- any of the usual methods of de- was soon transferred, while at 2. Was the ironic use of “C,” as in ing under the command of its tection. One staff member close least one agent had to be re- “C-man,” a reference to the first first chief referred to as “C,” to Cumming, Frank Stagg, said minded with tongue-in-cheek to director of SIS, Mansfield CUM- Mansfield Cumming, were in he would never forget his bosses‟ ensure the freshness of the sup- MING, unintentionally yet comi- urgent need of finding an effec- delight at learning the ply as it, according to message cally related to the agency‟s use of ink…unlike its predecessor…was tive and readily available recipients, “acquired an unusual semen as an ink? Copyright Post Solant Amity - December 2010 (Language—continued from page 1) Recognize the product and use? “Who was that Marine?” part company, each says to the Born on October 1, 1921 in White other, "Semper Fi." Informal Plains, New York he was edu- memos or e-mails between Ma- cated in Connecticut. A pre-law rines usually are signed "Semper student at Yale and member of Fi" or just S/F. On the other Skull & Crossbones Club, he hand, used by Marines to mem- graduated with a BA. He joined bers of the other services or civil- the Marines in „44. When dis- ians, “Semper Fi, Mac,” said with charged, he studied acting under a sneer has a less than polite the G.I. bill. 21Dec45 – Sergeant Lena Basilone connotation. Kudos came often and swiftly. By christens the USS Basilone (DD-824 ) Some of our words and phrases „48, his performance as Sgt. Ev- have found their way into com- “Keep marchin,’ Colonel.” ans in Command Decision gar- mon American usage. “Gizmo” nered the stage acting trifecta: Battalion 2-6 had been secretly for example. Some are of foreign Marine Corporal Honored Tony, Donaldson and Theatre designated to be the “Ready Battal- origin. Gung-ho from China. World awards. In „50, he won a ion,” at a time when an attempted Boondocks is Philippine, from A guided missile destroyer was Golden Globe and an Oscar nomi- communist coup in Santo Domingo the Tagalog "bundok," referenc- commissioned on November 13th, nated for his performance as Pla- was anticipated. Unaware of the ing their mountain jungles. Hon- in Port Everglades. It bears the toon Sergeant Kinney in Battle- pending assignment, the Battalion‟s cho is from Korea and Japan. name of a Marine Corporal from ground, a fictional account of the CO had made extensive plans for a Scio, New York. 101st Airborne at Bastogne. 100 plus mile, unit conditioning, Another word that is sacred to On April 14, 2004, the Corporal march from Lejeune to Fort Bragg. our Corps is “Doc.” At one time, His face and style filled theaters I had a battalion surgeon who was manning a checkpoint in and TV screens across America Unable to yet divulge the “Ready expressed a need to have Marines Karabilah, Iraq. An insurgent for six decades: The Asphalt Jun- Battalion” designation, the Divi- address him as “Doctor.” I told leapt from a car and began chok- gle and Them; various episodes of sion CO advised LtCol Bohn that him he was not ready to be ad- ing him.