Video from 1 of our unique events

Here in Milwaukee, we're lucky enough to conduct a couple unique pool functions, and one of them is our annual "combat day" at a private paintball park.

More than 100 of our poolees from the Milwaukee, Racine, and Waukesha areas dedicated their Sept. 11 to learning basic squad patrolling techniques and formations, and then they put them into practical use during four scenarios on the paintball fields.

Each pool function I attend I'm reminded of the caliber of young men and women who enlist in our Corps, and this event was no exception.

One of the scenarios required a mock satchel charge to be placed within 1 meter of the other team's home base.

I stood on a ridge overlooking a valley to my left (the "blue" side) and the red team's base on my right. A protracted firefight ensued as blue players made their way through the valley and up the ridge toward the red base.

Once they established a foothold on the ridge, 5 blue players started formulating a plan to deliver the satchel charge to the red base located about 40 meters down a steep hill in front of them. With less than a minute left, the remaining two blue players finalized their plan of one running as fast as he could down the hill to draw fire while the other one ran behind and heaved the satchel charge toward the base.

After a quick count to 3, the pair leaped over the hill with puffs of smoke pouring from their paintball guns, bounded down the hill (ok, so the lead guy actually rolled a couple times down the hill but it still had the effect they were after), and delivered the satchel to the other team's base.

It took us a little bit of "encouragement" to get them going, but once this team put their heads together, they came up with a plan and effectively executed it to win the game. All of us who watched the action were incredibly impressed with their ability to perform under pressure.

Check out the video for some of the action:

Everyone loves bored Marine videos

As my first blog post here (here's a link to my bio), I thought I'd start on the lighter side.

Who hasn’t seen a bored Marine video on YouTube?! It seems like in between saving kitty cats and battling insurgents, junior Marines have a LOT of time on their hands and no better way to use it than making a spoof video or showing their ignorance.

Even the Marine Corps Times has a few blog posts highlighting their picks of bored Marine videos. (Be warned: MCTimes seems to be partial to the young lads dancing around with bare chests exposed doing horrible pop music covers.)

I know these videos cause senior leaders a TON of consternation - one comment on the MCTimes blog mentioned punishing the Marines in a video for not wearing the Marine Corps running suit properly. What those same leaders fail to remember is they most assuredly did the same type of things when they were junior Marines. I know I did some pretty crazy/stupid stuff when I was a junior Marine, and I was considered to be on the conservative end of the spectrum.

These bored Marine videos help show there still is a human side to Marines; in other words, they are NOT brainwashed in boot camp! If they were brainwashed, do you honestly think they would covering a 90’s Backstreet Boys song?!

So while MCTimes brings you examples of the “better” bored Marine videos, I wanted to show you a couple of what I think are some of the WORST bored Marine videos on YouTube. The Marine(s) who made these videos should be ashamed to watch them even if they're alone!

Marines Dance To Backstreet Boys - http://bit.ly/9sWvNa


How to become a Drill Instructo(r) - http://bit.ly/a2brhw


BONUS! #1
Just so people don’t think male Marines are the only ones who create these videos, I’m going to include this video of female Marines made by a female Marine.

Jess and Becca rocking out - http://bit.ly/a0YNR1


BONUS! #2
A lot of Marines have gotten the dreaded “Beretta bite”, but the school-girl scream in this video is priceless!

Bored Marine in Iraq - http://bit.ly/cKbc4r


So those are what I consider to be some of the worst bored Marine videos. Feel free to share yours!

Moving to Blogger

We have moved this blog to our mirror site at http://midwestmarines.blogspot.com. Our podcasts are still available at www.midwestmarineswebcasts.posterous.com. As always, you can follow us at www.twitter.com/midwestmarines.

Posted via email from Midwest Marines

#Chicago #Marine honored 32 years after saving 9 in #Spain

http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/evergreenpark/2630374,082410med...

Posted via email from Midwest Marines

Is the sky falling, or is the ASVAB uproar more about improving communication?

@NPR recently reported that Maryland no longer allows schools to administer the ASVAB to a student without parental approval. This legislation also prevents schools from releasing the test results to military recruiters without parents' or students' permission.  The Maryland Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, meanwhile, is advising groups in Wisconsin, Oregon, New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina and a few other states to require parents' permission before schools give students the ASVAB or release the results.

 

Of course parents absolutely have the right to know when their kids are taking the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery in school! They should also know SAT and ACT testing schedules, as well as the Homecoming Game and Prom dates. If that’s not happening, then we parents need to initiate better communication with our schools (or we need to pay attention to those calendars the schools send us).

Now, is ASVAB testing a threat to privacy, personal safety, or anything else regarding our high schoolers? It does not appear to be.  Does its distribution save tax dollars and facilitate a more efficient recruiting process for an all-volunteer force? Perhaps.

It’s not a secret that ASVAB test scores are used to qualify for military service in general, as well as for specific jobs. However, many people don’t realize that ASVAB scores also provide career information for various civilian occupations and can indicate future success in college and vocational schools.

Yes, scores are provided to recruiters – not kidnappers, terrorists, or telemarketers – who may call your home.  Scores are also provided to the students’ schools. Before deciding that picking up the phone and declining a recruiter’s offer is not worth the hassle, consider that we citizens already pick up the tab for our recruiters to find a few needles in stack of needles:

·         Nearly 75% of the 31.2 million 17-24-year-olds in the U.S. are unqualified for military service due to illegal drug use, mental problems, too many dependents, criminal records, and physical and medical issues.

 

·         35% (about 1/3) of today’s youth ages 17-24 are unfit for military service due to weight and medical issues.

 

·         This leaves only 7.8 million American youth even eligible to serve their country – if they even want to. A majority of these youth grow up not even knowing that the military is an option, much less whether or not they’d qualify.

Even today, with supportive ASVAB testing and score distribution, our tax dollars finance:

·         The thousands of recruiters we Americans pay to scour this nation and its territories for the young men and women capable and willing to defend it (about 550 Marine Corps recruiters in the 13 Midwestern states alone).

 

·         The fuel, airline tickets, per diem, lodging, advertising, entry fees for college and job fair booths, and more used to locate and inform interested young Americans about military service.

The more time recruiters waste trying to locate the small percentage of youth who even qualify for military service, the more we pay. Isn't it easier, cheaper, and more efficient to permit our kids to take the test and our schools to provide these scores to recruiters? This way parents know what options are available to their kids, and they can simply tell recruiters "no thank you" if military service is not the right option?

Regarding privacy, it seems to me that more personal data is being collected each day by leading search engines and social media sites than will ever be collected from ASVAB test scores.  Unfortunately, many of these make it business-as-usual to sell that information to the highest bidder.

There are some great, non-evasive resources for parents to review and make informed decisions before supporting legislation that makes it more costly and time-consuming for their military to connect with those young Americans who, in fact, desire to be well-informed about their career options after both high school and college: Official ASVAB Website, Military.com: About the ASVAB, The ASVAB Exploration Center.

If nothing else, please get the facts before deciding whether or not to support testing and score distribution to recruiters if the issue comes up in your area. Feel free to send us any questions you have, or contact our Midwest Marines recruiting station nearest you.

Posted via email from Midwest Marines

It’s rumored that a platoon of #MidwestMarines may appear (unofficially) in Kansas City Aug 8 at #RacefortheCure. Give ‘em a wave if you see ‘em this #weekend.

(http://www.komenkansascity.org/komen-race-for-the-cure)

Posted via email from Midwest Marines

Quality finish punctuates great week at boot camp with #Iowa, #Neb & #Indy #Educators

The last 2010 Midwest Marines Educators Workshop ended today in an awesome way. The last event for our 74 educators was watching a company of new Marines graduate from boot camp in San Diego where four of the six honor graduates, as well as the best marksman and most physically fit Marine, were all recruited by the Midwest Marines!

Stay tuned here and on our webcast page (www.midwestmarineswebcasts.posterous.com) in the coming weeks to see these educators in action and hear what they had to say about the trip. Educators and members of the media who are interested in attending next year's workshops between January and June 2011 should contact a local recruiter soon for more information, as seats tend to fill up fast. More information is also available at www.marines.mil/midwestmarines. Captain Eric Tausch
Public Affairs Officer
US Marine Corps
816.352.6487
From my mobile device

Posted via email from Midwest Marines