GI Jane
Not long after I went back to sleep after my unpleasant dream, I was woken up by my friend Jocelynn. I haven't talked to her since I went back home for Christmas and found out that she joined the Marines after going to the "U". When I think of the Marines, I imagine tough, brawny manly men being dropped off in some god forsakened jungle and slaughtering hapless enemies. I remembered her, however, as this short (but tough), sweet, occasionally excitable Philipino girl at Washburn. Therefore, I was totally shocked.
Anyways, she transferred to a base in Jacksonville, North Carolina for infantry training. Highlights: running with a pouch of grenades, tripping and falling and finally throwing the "motherfucking" things one by one over a wall (apparently, they are pretty heavy); firing .50 cal machine guns into the sea since the bullets are so big and fast that they don't have enough space on the base to actually shoot at an actual target on land; firing M16's and grenade launchers; putting on a full biochemical suit in under 8 minutes.
"No one will actually have time to put this fucking thing on if we really got attacked by WMD's," She said. Apparently, it's called NCB in military jargon, or nuclear, biological, chemical attack. For the soldiers it also stands for NoBodyCares, since you will be dead anyways. She asked her sergeant why they have to get into the fetal position when there is a nuclear attack and was told that they have to save their M16's and gears because those are quite expensive and need to be reused after they are dead. I guess the government knows how to save money.
When I told her that I am anti-war and asked her whether she really does want to go to war, she told me that she is a Marine and has to do what she is told. Her opinions are secondary. "I'm actually really excited to go overseas and be in a real war or else I would be just another weekend warrior in the reserve," she said, "I want to come back with some decorations!!" Even though she is not supposed to be in combat because of her gender, she is in charge of distributing supplies and depending on her unit's needs she may have to be on the battlefield.
Then she told me how weird it was being one of two women in a training class of 30 or 40 people. She gets a lot of cat calls from the guys, which is not surprising since she is pretty damn cute. She said she feels like she's "hot shit" because there are so few women in the Marines and she gets so much attention from the brutes. She doesn't hesitate to be nasty, either. It's really funny how much she's changed since high shcool. Now she swears like a sailor!
Jocelynn will finish her training in 3 weeks and fly back to Minnesota to get her gear, which include her helmet, boots, vest, etc.. Then she will fly to a military base overseas to get ready for the unnecessary but inevitable war. I just hope she won't come back with a Purple Heart.
Not long after I went back to sleep after my unpleasant dream, I was woken up by my friend Jocelynn. I haven't talked to her since I went back home for Christmas and found out that she joined the Marines after going to the "U". When I think of the Marines, I imagine tough, brawny manly men being dropped off in some god forsakened jungle and slaughtering hapless enemies. I remembered her, however, as this short (but tough), sweet, occasionally excitable Philipino girl at Washburn. Therefore, I was totally shocked.
Anyways, she transferred to a base in Jacksonville, North Carolina for infantry training. Highlights: running with a pouch of grenades, tripping and falling and finally throwing the "motherfucking" things one by one over a wall (apparently, they are pretty heavy); firing .50 cal machine guns into the sea since the bullets are so big and fast that they don't have enough space on the base to actually shoot at an actual target on land; firing M16's and grenade launchers; putting on a full biochemical suit in under 8 minutes.
"No one will actually have time to put this fucking thing on if we really got attacked by WMD's," She said. Apparently, it's called NCB in military jargon, or nuclear, biological, chemical attack. For the soldiers it also stands for NoBodyCares, since you will be dead anyways. She asked her sergeant why they have to get into the fetal position when there is a nuclear attack and was told that they have to save their M16's and gears because those are quite expensive and need to be reused after they are dead. I guess the government knows how to save money.
When I told her that I am anti-war and asked her whether she really does want to go to war, she told me that she is a Marine and has to do what she is told. Her opinions are secondary. "I'm actually really excited to go overseas and be in a real war or else I would be just another weekend warrior in the reserve," she said, "I want to come back with some decorations!!" Even though she is not supposed to be in combat because of her gender, she is in charge of distributing supplies and depending on her unit's needs she may have to be on the battlefield.
Then she told me how weird it was being one of two women in a training class of 30 or 40 people. She gets a lot of cat calls from the guys, which is not surprising since she is pretty damn cute. She said she feels like she's "hot shit" because there are so few women in the Marines and she gets so much attention from the brutes. She doesn't hesitate to be nasty, either. It's really funny how much she's changed since high shcool. Now she swears like a sailor!
Jocelynn will finish her training in 3 weeks and fly back to Minnesota to get her gear, which include her helmet, boots, vest, etc.. Then she will fly to a military base overseas to get ready for the unnecessary but inevitable war. I just hope she won't come back with a Purple Heart.
posted by Gary at
9:33 PM
