Grunt

[eMOM PAO]

The United States Marine Corps lives and dies in places where men wear two titles...

The first one is clean, spit shined and polished, fully decked out in Dress Blues, squared away in every detail, and fit for any parade...

The other title is dirty, smells like the muck and rank conditions it thrives in...

Is earned by duty that would be too severe for the
more "enlightened" and privileged to stomach...And, is a title that is rarely seen on the evening news...

Likewise, this second title won't be seen on any line of the "Guidebook for Marines," but it is there just the same...
The tools of this trade are known by names such as, "Grease Gun," and "Ka-Bar"...The office space is decorated with mud and deep foliage, sand and water, bugs and things that thrive on blood...In the background are the sounds of explosions, rapid fire, cries of agony and desperation, and the deafening silence of the death angel...

His world is not a pretty one...But, strangely, he seems comfortable, almost at home in this environment that cannot be too far removed from hell itself...

The "Grunt" found his popularity during the Vietnam War just as the dictionary says. However, Marines have worn this "second" title of valor and sacrifice long since before Southeast Asia was ever an issue.

The "Grunt" was born the very first day a Marine ever set foot on the battlefield. His legacy has always been, "First To Fight."
The medals and decorations that speak of sacrifice, courage and absolute devotion to duty above and beyond the call are testimony to what it inside of him...And yet, no medal can fully convey to others, nor adequately compensate him for, things only he and his brothers have seen and endured together.

The "Grunt" has always had a Goliath-like foe to stare down and overcome in the performance of his MOS...

He must shoot straighter than his enemy, he must be better at camouflage and tactics, he must know how to disarm and eliminate his enemy with only his bare hands if necessary...He must be able to dismantle his rifle in the pitch of darkness and do whatever is needed to make it operational again, all in the face of taking incoming fire from his perimeter...

Most of all he must watch his brothers die...One by one...Somehow, he must deal with it down deep in his soul...And then go on to fight another day...May God grant him that strength always...Without it our nation would now be flying another flag over its borders...

When the phrase, "Thank God for the Marines," was first uttered there was likely the face of a "Grunt" somewhere in the heart of its author...As the "Stars and Stripes" were lifted on the summit of Mount Suribachi "Grunts" made up the majority of the flag raising detail that has since been immortalized in the annals of America's war history...When the barracks in Beirut, Lebanon were so cowardly attacked, as the bombs ripped through the structure, it was the "Grunt" who breathed his last...

Then too, in a land of jungle heat, political maneuvering, and places with names too hard to pronounce, again it was the "Grunt" who humped the miles, slept in the holes, wearily left the fire base night after night on ambush, and died in numbers larger than many American cities...

Everywhere the Corps has gone, and in every clime and place where she will go in the future, the "Grunt" has had and will have his indispensable place...Nowhere will this ever be the case more so than in the jungles, fighting holes, fire bases, and streets and villages of a land that we wish could be left forever in the past, but likely never will be...
Vietnam.

Many say that Vietnam should have never happened...Others say that Vietnam can never be forgotten...The "Grunt" says that he went and did his job...That's all...

This respectfully salutes the foot soldier, the sea soldier, the backbone of our Corps...
"The Grunt"...