I noticed earlier this weak (sic) that the USMC has derated some of its physical fitness measures of young officer effectiveness. They claim they are only acting out of a higher sense of moral purpose and fairness. Heretofore, young Marine Officers were rated on their ability to hike zillions of miles with their normal combat load.
I thought I would share an image of my combat load as I led my shipmates to victory in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. Hold on, it's a brutal image.
Mind you, I did have a .45 hanging in its holster on a hook on the door to my stateroom. Just in case.
7 comments:
Wow. I carried the same load while leading the Military Air Space Management team to glory.
In my flightline days I also had a mechanical pencil with two ends, one black, one red. What we called an "assault pencil."
;)
I had a "Wheel book" to go along with the pencil.
Maybe ballpoints hadn'e been invented yet.
I know we never saw one in basic at NTC.
Skip got it right about adding the wheelbook.
And if memory serves me right, (sometimes it does not) I recall the Skilcraft pens from my active duty time had a series of much smaller shiny rings where the upper and lower pieces joined.
Not shown was my mighty combat grease pencil used to mark damage control plates in DC Central. I used them for other things. I had about 40,000 of them by the time I retired.
I had a wheelbook but it was only for peacetime use. :)
Over the decades the skilcraft pens changed slightly and they did get different silver rings. We figured they got promoted when they got additional rings and didn't use them. Who wants a smart ass pen? :)
i find i still have my assault pen in the desk cup.it is the original and only one i have ever had. don't have much call to use it since i retired. first noted the fineness of the red lead tip for making small red x's on AFTO-781 in 1972. it did that very very well.
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