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- August 15, 2013
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Radioactive Stupid #1

My wife was recently regaling me with the antics of the Apocalypse Kitty. At one point she said: “He’s just dumb, kind of like a young unseasoned Marine.”
As the senior enlisted advisor to company and battalion commanders I am well acquainted with dumb, young Marines. Salty or unseasoned, the inventory of Marines who do stupid things is long and disastrous. Many Marines get together and tell stories which famously begin with: “This is a no-$#!#er!” Company 1stSgts and Sgts Major get together and tell stories which begin: “We had this one &#$%ing idiot…”
There’s the run of the mill stupidity which causes young jarheads to marry a local stripper. You know her, the one all the Marines in the barracks know by the stage name “Buttons.”
There are the brain surgeons who have never managed money in their lives. In modern times this takes the form of Marines who have new car payments nearly equal to their monthly pay. In my day it was Marines who repeatedly bounced checks. When you tried to explain to them they didn’t have any more money to spend they’d looked perplexed, hold up their check book and exclaimed: “But I’ve still got checks!” Terminal Lance has the all time best comic on this very subject.
In honor of acts particularly asinine, I will begin a new feature titled Radioactive Stupid. You may recall a similarly titled post from way back in 2009 Safely Handling Radioactive Stupid. Much like nuclear waste, stupidity lingers, impacting all with in its radius. These are the stories which can’t be made up.
Semper Fidelis!
America’s SgtMaj
Stupid is not confined to young Marines….we have lots of it at work and none of my co-workers are Marines, former or current….
Yeah, but one presumes your co-workers aren’t expected to operate automatic weapons, grenades, rocket launchers and other shooty stuff.
Heh.
It ain’t, or at least wasn’t, just young Marines either.
I knew NCOs and at least one SNCO who fell in love, and just had to marry or they’d die!, the first prostitute they found on their first libo on a deployment.
– Grimmy
Well, God bless them for wanting to get married ….
Is there a Marine anywhere that hasn’t fallen in “love” with a stripper or hooker? I was smitten that way once, I got over it.
Grimmy, indeed like I said in the post, salty or unseasoned, Marines of all stripes do stupid things.
Robert, that’s the difference, getting over it.
Aye, SgtMaj, you did say salted or unsalted.
I added in my bit as illustration to the salty side for the civilian element of your fanbase.
-Grimmy
…but then again who in their right mind would volunteer to face the horrors of war and other sacrifices our servicemen make. Sometimes they just need a little encouragement from their leadership. I’m thankful to all who were at least willing to sign the dotted line.