willshak wrote:

Marines are among the best in the world at breaking things and
killing people. But for things that require finesse (such as keeping
their skinny little butts alive) they call on the Navy.


The US Navy, the first line of America's defense.
The US Marine Corps, the first line of America's offense.

Marines ARE different. For example, they don't wear nametags under the
theory that all anyone needs to know is that they are talking to a Marine.
And there's no such thing as an "ex" Marine.

I love telling the following story:

In February 2002, right after 9-11 when the National Guard was patrolling
the airports, an elderly gentleman was pulled out of the security line at
the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix*. It seems as if he was trying to board
the aircraft with a destructive device, to wit: a Ninja Star. Further
investigation revealed that this fellow was single-handedly responsible for
downing some 34 aircraft with the loss of life of all aboard.

The gentleman in the middle was 79-year old Joe Foss. Foss was the former
governor of South Dakota, Brigadier General in the National Guard, former
president of the American Football League, and for 24 years, the host of the
TV program "The American Sportsman." He had just left a meeting of the Board
of Directors of the National Rifle Association and was enroute to the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point to deliver a guest lecture on patriotism.

The "Ninja Star" business? It was the Medal of Honor given him by Franklin
Delano Roosevelt for downing 24 Japanese aircraft during the battle for
Guadalcanal.

When told he could board the aircraft if he tossed his potential weapon in
the trash bin, Foss is reported to have said: "You've done ****ed with the
wrong Marine, sonny."

The only thing that could have been more bizarre would have been if this
whole unseemly episode had taken place at Joe's hometown airport in Sioux
Falls. The name of the airport is Joe Foss Field.

-------
* I was waiting to board an airplane at that same airport last February when
a diminutive TSA agentette tapped me on the shoulder and said: "Excuse me
sir, can I get you to do me a big favor?"

"I can't. I'm married," I said.

Turns out, she selected me for "additional random screening." But I'm
telling you, those TSA types DO NOT have a sense of humor!