We all are familiar with the recruiting commercials, but what Marines do during downtime can be pretty entertaining.
Send in what you do (or did) during downtime (even if it's just kicking yourself in the head) - it can be a small essay (100-150 words), photos, and/or a video.
Here's some inspiration to get your creative juices flowing:
Blast From The Past
Leatherneck Magazine, March 1936
"Sgt Shorty"
Sunday Morning Reading
We invite you to click "Comment" after the article summary as we want to hear your opinions on these reports and editorials. (Read our Comment Guidelines.)
REPORT (AUDIO):Adm. Mullen: Iraq War Affects Deployment In Afghanistan (pbs.org) I think it's really important to continue to base our judgments on conditions on the ground. I was just over there two weeks ago myself with all the commanders, and essentially that's a message that they give to me and it allowed me, actually, to assess what's going on....
REPORT:Spending On Vets Exceeds 1947 High (usatoday.com) The federal government is spending more money on veterans than at any time in modern history, surpassing the tidal wave of spending following World War II and the demilitarizing of millions of troops....
"I can't put a number on it, but there are going to be more. We're short of NATO troops. We're short of American troops. We're short 3,000 trainers of the Afghan army," said Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "If we're going to come out of there successful, we've got to have more troops...."
REPORT:After 60 Years, Black Officers Rare (ap.google.com) The dearth of blacks in high-ranking positions gives younger African-American soldiers few mentors of their own race. And as the overall percentage of blacks in the service falls, particularly in combat careers that lead to top posts, the situation seems unlikely to change.
Still, officials this week can point to some historic gains by blacks in the services as the Pentagon commemorates Truman's signing of an executive order on July 26, 1948, mandating the end of segregation in the military....
REPORT:"Changing The Way A Corps Thinks" (jdnews.com) It began as an idea: a place for wounded warriors to heal. It blossomed into a barracks, then grew into a battalion. Now, Wounded Warriors Battalion East has entered its second year, still growing as it offers injured Marines and sailors a place to connect, commiserate and recover...."
REPORT:Living With PTSD: A Wife's Perspective (gjfreepress.com) As a Marine, he started out as a machine gunner and experienced the tense Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. After he re-enlisted, he moved into jet mechanics, maintaining the flight line on aircraft carriers. He witnessed horrific sights, but Carol never heard the details.
“He saw a lot of trauma in his life, but when he would come home, he never carried that home with him. He was stuffing that inside,” Carol said. “When he retired, that’s when it started to come out...."
...The few, for sure! Among my acquaintances anyway, this is a ratio way out of proportion to the ratio of former Marines as a percentage of the general population. This anomaly implies to me that discipline is extremely important. At some point in their lives, these guys volunteered to serve in an organization that requires discipline and stamina. These people knew they were "tough" and wanted the chance to prove it. Being "tough" in this context means having the ability to suppress a host of emotions in order to act in a manner that would cause most people to shrink back in fear....
ART & CULTURE:A Playwright Looking Inside War's Silences (washingtonpost.com) By geography and temperament, she would seem to live a life about as far removed from the war in Iraq as is possible.
But she's also the daughter of a two-star general in the U.S. Marine Corps, born between his stints in Vietnam. She grew up as a military brat, roaming from one base to the next, always mindful of the silence that veterans kept about what transpires in combat....
ETHICS:Conflicting Loyalties And The Marine NCO (mca-marines.org/gazette) After leading guided discussions with numerous classes and more than 100 smart and dedicated noncommissioned officers (NCOs), I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a problem with loyalty in the young leaders of our Corps. No, our Marines are not morally corrupt; they are not selling our Nation’s secrets. The backbone of our Corps is not conspiring to undermine good order and discipline. On the contrary, they are the agents for good order and discipline, but I believe that they are receiving mixed messages. The sergeants I teach come to me teetering on the fence between two ways of thinking....
When the conflict in Iraq was going badly, critics repeatedly suggested parallels with the Vietnam War. None of the comparisons held up. But Afghanistan is different: One tragic parallel makes a decisive success almost impossible to achieve....
OPINION:Former Commandant Hagee: Waning Investments - Reverse The Decline In U.S. Energetics R&D (defensenews.com) Today, our forces need energetic materials tailored to more complex uses than open battlefields. Defense Technology Area plans call for hard-target munitions that can survive Mach 3 impacts and penetrate 20 feet of concrete. War fighters seek focused lethal munitions, limiting blast and collateral damage in urban areas, as well as smaller and more lethal warheads....
Submit To Weekend Extra!
Do you like Weekend Extra but want to see more? Then send us your photos, videos, hotspot reviews, humor, and whatever else you can think of. Read more about what we're looking for and how you can submit.
