Happy Veterans Day!

[Aaron&Julie]

Originally Posted by easyday

...I am still a dirty WOG.

Yes, you are!!!

BTW, how did you cross the equator (going South) to board the ship going North to Japan? I'm assuming you flew.

I visited my ship (at 32nd Street) the Belleau Wood, which every Marine should know about, while on leave after my "C" school. Advised by many of my soon-to-be shop buddies, not to check in early from leave.
That's because the very first part of the Westpac was just going to be rough water drills (unreps, GQs, etc) off of the Aleutians. Some of that would have been a once in a lifetime experience, but not so much the "good kind". After I checked in from leave missing their departure by a few days , and a few more in temporary duty, I was flown by commercial flight to L.A. to Korea to the Philippines for cake temporary duty, and 17 glorious days in the Tropical sun, getting "to know" the place, back when the Philippines was still a U.S. homebase. The 2,000 marines and 1,000 sailors on my ship weren't so lucky, no port visit for 30 days, until pulling into Olangapo. I greeted them with a smile.

When we crossed the equator after "Team Spirit", heading to Australia, me and another sailor thought we would outsmart the Marine shellbacks after breakfast (green eggs/purple bacon) by crawling through the less often used back passage way through their berthing. No such luck! A good dozen marines were waiting for us, and they swing a mighty shillelagh. Getting a red ass was probably the easiest part of the day.

While I never regretted missing the Aleutians, I also didn't regret my shellback initiation, hopefully a longstanding tradition that hasn't been too watered down.