GySgt (Ret) Spencer

All Personnel, Part 2 of FTX 04-17. As always, watch in High Definition and click "Like" on Youtube to help build our channel rating. Thanks.

All Personnel, A little behind on these videos, but hey, real life important stuff going on here. This is part 1. Part 2 to follow. Even with a crazy amount of editing, I couldn't realistically cut this up much more, and I attempt to keep the videos from being too big. As always, watch in HD. Please go to our YouTube channel and click, "Like", and if you haven't already, please subscribe. Thanks (virtual) Marines.

All Personnel, Part 2 of FTX 03-17. At this end of this FTX. we cleared woods where we eventually held up for the night. FTX 04-17 picked up where FTX 03-17 ended. That video will be coming next.

Story filed on CNN during advance on Baghdad. Where do they get young men like this? Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marines, was talking with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN. He had been telling the story of how well the Marines had been looking out for and taking care of him since the war started. He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines had endured since the war began and how they all look after one another. He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders and they could use his video phone to call home. The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his Platoon Sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home whom he had not been able to talk to in three months. A stunned Savidge who was visibly moved by the request shook his head and the young Marine ran off to get the sergeant. Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three young Marines still sitting with him and asked which one of them would like to call home first. The Marine closest to him responded without a moments hesitation, " Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call the parents of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are doing". At that Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak. All he could get out before signing off was "Where do they get young men like this?" We don’t just get men like this. They are the product of the training and esprit de corps of our nations most elite fighting force, and typical of most U.S. Marines.

All Personnel, Part 1 of FTX 03-17. Not much combat but good comms and team coordination and movements.

All Personnel, Training Exercise. Much of it in the fog! Sgt Meek took lead of Valkyrie and did a very good job.

"DO OR DIE MEN" by George Smith For those who don't know, my wife and I are getting our house ready to sell. Part of the process includes packing away most of our books. (My wife and I are readers). I have a large number of books about Marines and the Marine Corps. I decided it has been too long since I've given a history lesson about my beloved Corps and my Marine brothers, so I'm going to share some short stories taken from some of my books. It seems only appropriate that I should start with a story about the original Marine Raiders of WWII. People today just can't conceive the intensity of the battles and horrific conditions the Marines fought under back then. It's also hard to describe those men; how hard they were; how intensely proud and committed they were; and, how much they loved their Corps. THE SCENE October 1942, the First Marine Division and some attached units, on Guadalcanal. One of those attached units was the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. General Vandegrift believed fresh Japanese troops would attack over the ridge of hills south of the airfield, Henderson Field. The Marines lines were already stretched thin because they had to cover such a large perimeter. Vandegrift ordered Col Merritt "Red Mike" Edson, to take his Raiders to the ridges and help defend that approach with elements from two other units, including the 7th Marines. As expected, crack Japanese troops attacked over the ridge of hills that night and kept attacking until near sunrise. Pg 119 "Another Navy Cross winner that night was little Edward Ahrens of Alpha Company. Only five foot seven, and 130 pounds, PFC Ahrens was a whiz with a BAR. At about 0300, Ahrens spotted a group of men, led by what appeared to be an officer, approaching his foxhole. He couldn't tell they were Japanese until they were almost on top of him. Although shot twice and bayoneted several times, Ahrens managed to kill the Japanese lieutenant, a sergeant and several others with his BAR before he fell seriously wounded back into his foxhole. He was found the next morning by Major Walt, who was inspecting his lines. "As I came upon his position that morning he was slumped down in one corner of the foxhole covered with blood from head to foot," Walt said. "In the foxhole with him were two dead Japs, one a lieutenant and the other a sergeant. There were eleven more dead Japs on the ground in front of his position." "As the corpsman was administering morphine, Ahrens held a Jap sword up to me and said, "Major, here's a souvenir for you. Those yellow bastards tried to come over me last night. I guess they didn't know I was a Marine." That thin line of Marines held that night, and again one of the best infantry units in the Japanese army was decimated.

Off hand, this description sounds like the story of when the Marines were moving up to stop the German advance 30 miles from Paris in 1918. The biggest problem their little trucks had was fighting against the human wave of civilians and French soldiers clogging the roads as they were fleeing toward Paris. No one thought the Germans could be stopped, including the French High Command, who ordered the US Marines up to the front. They frankly hoped at best, the Marines would slow the Germans down, but certainly did not believe anyone could stop them. The French and Allied HQ was already making plans for losing the war and trying to figure out what their best options would be. When the Marines got to the front near Chatteau Thierry, they looked across 800 yards of open wheat fields at a heavily wooded forest; an old hunting preserve called "Belleau Wood". The rest as they say, is History.

All Personnel, Part 2, FTX 02-17. As you who were there know, Arma stopped working on me so much of the exciting conclusion wasn't recorded.

All Personnel, Part 1 of 2 parts, FTX 02-17. Part 2 will follow in a day or two. Excellent movement to objective by our personnel.

Ghost, Have you been on our TeamSpeak Channel? If so, Please look for SSgt Stone, 1lt Creech, CWO ingram, or any senior NCO and we'll show you how to find your ID. If you would like to look for it yourself, you can find it on your Arma 3 profile in Steam. Good luck Ghost. Looking forward to working with you.

All Personnel, Training Mission Video. Daniel gets too close to a burning chopper at the end. Watch what happens! As always, watch in High Definition.

Nice Shirt!!

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All, Training Exercise, Convoy Ambush. Decided to do a few different things just to change it up and give video a different look. Just trying to make it interesting. The mission didn't go real well and I cut off video before the lag really kicked in and we had to stop. As always, watch in High Definition. Music piped into intercom by Chopper pilot on way to AO. Those darn pilots!! And here is a video of the convoy that got through!!!

All, First Mission related video of this year. (Darn computer problems limited recent video productions). Hopefully, that is all behind me. Look for two short videos soon about our training programs. PS Green did a video for this already and frankly, his is better.

HALO? How come you let Warren, Leahy and Reed go with you?? I wanted to go! (Kidding) Is the cockpit any different? Did the bird fly any different?

Ramadi, Iraq, approx 2004. The Marine on the ground was unconscious but alive. One Marine ran out into the street to drag him off the bullet swept street and another Marine ran out to help. The Marine shown in the photo dragging the wounded Marine, was badly wounded and couldn't carry on. He had to let go and tried to get to cover. He fell approximately ten feet away. The third Marine was wounded but made it to cover. The first Marine and the second Marine were shot several more times as they lay on the street and died.

Green, I'm sad to see you go but very proud of you. The 4th MRB was better whenever you were with us. I will greatly miss your videos and your great style and sense of humor. Your Friend,

All Personnel, I'm sure many of you are aware of my recent computer issues. I didn't produce videos during that time because I couldn't show an entire mission or operation. But I'm back so I'll be getting the videos out when I have time. The following is a training video to show people that we have a structured training program, which I believe speaks highly for our organization and quality of personnel. Please remember to "Like" the videos in YouTube as it helps improve the rating of our channel. As always, Watch in High Definition.

A funny poster, but from my experience, it is so typical of the attitude of real life Marines.

Green, I envy your skills. You have a unique style that makes watching your videos much more entertaining than 95% of the Arma 3 videos out there. Great work.

Yup

I love your stuff as always. I'm gonna miss seeing your perspective.

This incident actually occurred prior to 9/11 while we were enforcing no fly zones over Iraq.