Awesome Howard. I'm watching that show "surviving the cut" tonight on discovery. Hardcore stuff.
The mentle endurance and fatigue is what gets to ya. It is all about discipline and not waivering from the mission, etc.
Discipline is about doing what needs to be done, NOT what you want to do.
If anyone thinks making it in the marines ( or millitary ops ) is about being a "cocky bad ass" ...good luck, you wouldn't last an hr with that attitude. It is about taking an objective , a target or gathering intelligence on one. It is about the mission and NOT some killing spree,like you see in some movie. LOL, anyone who has ever fired a 60 calliber machine gun on full auto knows the scenes in Rambo are pure fiction hehehe.
Out in the field, you spend a lot of time being hungry, dirty and really tired. The good thing I can keep my head, not panic and think under stress, BETTER than a lot of guys who don't have the self control/self discipline. It isn't all the fun, or glamorous, trust me.
I also served as an ASP ( ammunition supply pt) security guard ( where all the ammo , rifles, RPG, etc are stored in huge bunkers on the base).
This was back in the early 80's, but I am pretty sure things are similar today.
To do that you had to qualify for a deadly force card. It is an actual laminated card you carried, with the 10 reasons to allow deadly force to be used. The last thing the millitary wants is some hot head, ready to shoot anyone just for the hell of it.
The ammo point was out in the middle of nowhere and you checked things by riding around in this little, yellow shuttle cart.
The cool thing was you had a direct radio line to the Provost Marshall ( Head MP officer) and the Officer of the Day.
We carried a shot gun with 1 slug in the chamber and 5 in the clip. We also had a 45 with 1 round in the chamber and 9 in the clip ready to go.
Overall it was the most low key, easy duty I ever had while in the Marines. The once monthly unloading of ammo into the bunkers was a hell of a workout however.
LOL< I never even fired my weopon on duty, except in pracitice and drill when on the ASO guard.
