Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars Quotes

“An hour before the ceremony, I met up with Russ.  He immediately began trying to talk me out of getting married.  He kept it up all the way to the altar.  We were standing there waiting for Marguerite and her dad to walk down the aisle.  “Come on, Spice, you really don’t want to do this.  There are two exit doors right over there.  We can be out those doors and out of here in just a couple of seconds.  These clods won’t know what hit ‘em.”      “Russ, this is something I really want to do.”      At that very moment, the wedding march started.  I looked down the aisle to see Marguerite.  She was absolutely stunning.  I thought to myself how lucky I was to be here and about to marry someone that beautiful.      Russ said, “Never mind what I said.  I take it all back.  I just hope I can find someone like her someday.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Do one more.  You’re really close.  Just throw caution to the wind and let the weight of your body do the work.  Scare yourself a little bit.  The worst that will happen is you’ll lose your grip, fall on the back of your head, and break your neck.” He was smiling as he said this.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Saturday’s schedule was our first personnel inspection, followed by what was labeled on the training schedule as a “Conditioning Hike”.  Hoffman and I translated that into a “very long run through the woods with all your gear”.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Then Staff Sergeant Alley said, “Are you stupid, candidate? You’ve got five shining examples of how a bunk is supposed to be made and yours looks like some shit ass kid at YMCA camp made it.  You’ve got 3 minutes to make it right.”      Candidate Myers just stood there.  He wasn’t used to being spoken to like this and I’m pretty sure he had no idea what to do.      Staff Sergeant Alley said, “Two minutes and forty-five seconds now, candidate.”      Myers was completely frustrated and couldn’t seem to do a thing.  Finally Staff Sergeant Alley grabbed Myers’ mattress and linen and threw it out into the middle of the squad bay.  He told Myers to start over.  He left the rest of us standing at the position of attention.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“On Sunday afternoon, we all went out and played touch football until it was time for the evening meal.  One of the guys brought a football with him, something I couldn’t even imagine being done at boot camp.  Of course this guy was an All-American football player, so why wouldn’t he bring a football.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“I made a date with her for the following week.  Mid-week, I went for a ride in a T-28.  The engine failed, the pilot slid the plane into the sand of the Mojave out near El Centro, and I slid into a hospital bed for about ten days at North Island Naval Air Station.  While I was in the hospital, the CARDIV left for WestPac.  I called Marguerite and told her what happened and that I wanted to see her again.  I’m not sure she believed me, but agreed to another date.  Unfortunately it had to be a short date because I had to head for Norton Air Force base to catch a flight for Hawaii, to meet up with the CARDIV.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“One of the first things you had to know was the difference between “In Coming” and “Out Going”.  The first loud noises or explosions we heard had everyone jumping and getting ready to run for the bunkers.  A loud voice in the darkness shouted for us to relax, it was “Out Going”.  The voice was referring to artillery fire being shot away from our location and hopefully onto a Viet Cong location.  It was normally referred to as an H&I fire (Harassing and Interdiction).  Another voice in the darkness asked, “What does in coming sound like?” The loud voice in the darkness answered, “There will be no doubt in your mind when you hear it.  If you don’t hear it, you will most likely be dead.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“It was hot, there was no shade, and we were once again waiting on “the word”.  Everyone was bitching about getting water or getting into the shade.  The staff sergeant in charge of this detail was afraid to let anyone wander away in case the plane arrived.  No one was having any luck in trying to get him to understand that if we die of thirst or a burst bladder, there would be no one to catch the damn airplane anyway. ”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“On New Year’s Eve everyone was looking forward to an evening movie.  For a change, I didn’t have duty with the Admiral.  I looked forward to sitting back and just watching.  The movie we selected was “The Days of Wine and Roses”.  It sounded like a good New Year’s Eve flick; wine and roses, how bad could that be? Unfortunately, the movie was about alcoholism and was one of the most depressing flicks I had ever seen.  Our New Year’s Eve turned into a depressing drag and the news about the situation between North and South Vietnam added to the misery.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“I had a little trouble doing an about face on a carpet while wearing tennis shoes, but managed not to fall on my face as I left his office.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“You’d better be a good shipmate or Boats just might throw your ass over the side one night.  NOBODY questioned Boats. ”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“the President asked the Admiral if he could smoke out here.  This was normally never done.  No one would even think to smoke on the flight deck.  Today, the rules were different.  The Admiral said, “Well sir, that’s not normally done, but we aren’t fueling any aircraft and nothing’s going to take place out here while you are on deck.  So yes, I guess you can smoke out here.”      With that answer, the President reached into his jacket pocket and produced a metal tin that held very short little cigars called “Between the Acts”.  He started fumbling through his pockets, obviously looking for a light.  The Admiral began checking his pockets and then gave me a panicked look.  I reached into my pocket and handed the Admiral my prized Zippo lighter, the one with the Marine Corps emblem.  The Admiral immediately gave it to the President, who flicked it open and lighted his little cigar.  When he finished the lighting process he snapped the lid shut, rolled the lighter around in his right hand, paused for a second to notice the emblem, and promptly put the lighter into his right coat pocket.  The Admiral looked at me as if to say, “We will work it out later”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“I had the best view on the whole ship.  Well, maybe not the best view; the Admiral has the unobstructed view from his chair on the port side (left side) of the Admiral’s Bridge, or Flag Bridge.  So, from my position standing behind his chair and looking directly over his shoulder, I figured I had the next best view.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Clark went on to tell us that we would provide a color guard every Friday for the recruit parade.  There would also be color guard details all over the San Diego area.   Any service club, school, ball team of any kind that wanted a color guard at their event could get one just by asking.   “You’re lucky it isn’t football season or we might as well live in our dress blues.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Pax Romanus”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“I looked the Gunny straight in the eye while I was speaking.  When I finished, I was pretty sure the “crock of shit” expression had changed to something I read as “no shit?” ”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Staff Sergeant Fischer hadn’t given me any directions about how to act or present myself at this proceeding.  The others had obviously been coached to answer in extremely loud voices and to “bluster” as much as possible.  I didn’t feel this was the way to behave.  Besides, I felt so bad that I really didn’t give a shit.  I certainly wasn’t going to stand and scream answers at the top of my lungs like some dumbass and my throat was so sore it really hurt to speak.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“By the time Sergeant Yoder told us to clear the head all but two guys were already in formation.  The last two were scrambling out the doors while trying to get their trousers up, trying to run and not trip.  The last guy had about two feet of toilet paper hanging out the back of his trousers.  Sergeant Yoder gave them a few seconds to get buckled up but said nothing to the kid with the dangling toilet paper.  I got the impression that amused him.”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars

“Last, but not least, he told us we damned well better be able to remember the combination.  If he had to cut the lock off because we didn’t remember the combination, he would put the disabled lock into our empty laundry bag, swing it around like a weapon and beat our sorry asses to death with our own broken lock. ”
― W.R. Spicer, Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine, Book 1, Stripes to Bars