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Gunny D's Retirement
By Maj P
As John is executing a PCS and Charlie appears in a mountain time zone city known as a fun destination (!), I'll be your weekend host. (Charlie: pics can be sent to vmijpp@hotmail.com. They'll be safe with me.)
I grabbed some extra time at chow yesterday and attended the retirement ceremony for a great friend and old comrade in arms, Gunnery Sergeant D. Gunny D was in my old reserve unit, a Marine artillery battery. I was there for about seven years; he was there for his entire career. As we all wax nostalgic at events like that, I started thinking about some things.
Gunny D's retirement was the end of an era for that unit. He was the only Marine still there who had been there when they were mobilized and sent to the Gulf War. They had their share of excitement in that 100-hour war; a full-on fight with Iraqi armor (with small arms and their M198s in direct fire), several Marines wounded, one killed. That was before my time, but apparently Gunny D was one of the star performers even as a junior NCO.
Fast-forward to February 1995. 1stLt P steps aboard, eager to restart his artillery career after a rocky active duty tour. SSgt D, no longer a junior Marine in any sense, is a platoon sergeant and his particular stamp can be seen all across the gunline. As well as training his section chiefs and his cannoneers, Gunny D also trained a 1stLt! Later when I rose through the officer ranks and eventually became CO, Gunny D was the rock on which we founded and re-founded the battery.
Most people think of the reserve side as being the easier of the two components. Not true. To be a good reservist, you need to build your life around the drill schedule. You miss opening days of deer season, you reschedule exams, you miss NASCAR races (a big deal in certain parts of the nation!), and your family life and employment take a lot of hits. To do this well for four or six years takes commitment. Do to it for twenty years takes extraordinary commitment.
So, as the ceremony was wrapping up, Gunny D was thanking a pair of 1stSgts who had formed him and trained him, and who were both in the audience. I couldn't help but think that, maybe, fifteen years from now, there will be a retirement ceremony on the same spot (hell, with a lot of the same people), and that Marine will go on about how Gunny D taught him, trained him, kept him in line, and how he used those lessons when he trained his Marines. That's how traditions and discipline are handed down, folks. And that's the essence of being a Marine.
Maj P
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Comments
Congrats on the retirement Gunny!
I just executed a painful PCS myself and then right on deployment. Left my wife and 7-weeks-old son with stacks of boxes in the garage and a broken garage door opener :( Luckily she's gotten unpacked and the garage door fixed. She's a resourceful Navy wife!
Me, I'm steaming through the southeast Pacific and just got done bilge diving. Looking forward to a sucessful cruise!
Congrats, Gunny, on a fine career and well-earned retirement from service.
For what it's worth, as a Marine who regularly (and immaturely) berated the 'Weekend Warriors' over the course of eight years of active duty, I agree with Maj. P's assessment of the commitment required.
Maturity. Hmmf...Who'da thunk it, Mom?
Cheers to both of you!
Tell your story to another reservist, Jack Murtha. He apparently didn't get the word.
Tell your story to another reservist, Jack Murtha. He apparently didn't get the word.
Congrats to Gunny D. and his/our peers.
Thanks!
Maj. C., FA.
(ret) ARNG
Just wanted to say HOOAH!
Op-For rocks! I can't get enough of the place and thanks for everything!
Former 14R20
BRAVO ZULU Gunny
One of the proudest possessions this old Mustang has is my copy of Burke Davis' book "Marine" which was autographed for me by Lew Puller with the inscription "You (Staff) Noncommissioned Officers are the backbone of our Corps." You could always count on Chesty to hit the nail right on the head.
Every unit I served with had a Gunny that was the glue that held the unit together. The rest of us just come and go, the Gunnys are the heart, and the soul, and the backbone of our beloved Corps.
Semper Fi, Marine
Marine6 - Out
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Maj. Piedmont, "Evil CLown", CO, Friend,
You do me great honors,and I am very flattered. It was a pleasure to serve with you and the Marines you commanded at Hotel BTRY. Training Marines,...That is what it is all about and passing on traditions. If we slip and forget the past, then we forget ourselves. I encourage anyone who reads this to remember the lessons, and traditions, But embrace the future and find the fine line between them to motivate and lead our future Marines. Marines are a true breed of their own and leadership is one of our hallmark cornerstones that makes us Marines. GYSGT. Wilson, (retired) and I were talking the other day about his son and how Corps values will carry you through your life in or out of the Marines. It is just solid structure you can always count on. Thank you Maj. Piedmont for attending my retirement ceremony, it meant the world to me. The "Holy Roman Empire" will live on forever. I learned great things from you and your leadership.
I want to be there when you pin on LTCOL.
Semper Fi,
Gunny D