GySgt (Ret) Spencer

4th MRB Memorial Ceremony for 1st Lt Francis Velten of the 15th MEU Realism Unit. Corrected 5/16.

First Combat Patrol of Op Sledgehammer. Part 1

The Greatest Play in Baseball History Watch the video to see the play that has been called, "The Greatest Play in Baseball History". This happened 43 years ago this past Thursday. Now you are wondering, what is Spencer doing putting this in the Marine History thread. Well, here is the rest of the story. Rick Monday was a Marine. This incident occurred just a few years after Monday was released from the Marine Corps Reserves. During an interview Monday said this: Monday said of his legacy: "It's a good thing I did get it, because I did not want any of my former drill instructors from the Marine Corps to come and say, ‘Hey Marine! Why did you stand there and watch when they ignited the American flag?’" Now you know why I posted this story. Semper Fi Rick Monday.

Op Sledgehammer, "Looking For a Base Location". First patrol in our new AO. Be sure to select the High Definition setting when viewing. For some reason, these last few videos, the settings keep changing to a low resolution. Be sure to "LIKE" for our YouTube Channel, and feel free to comment about the mission.

"The Beginning" Part 2. Operation Sledgehammer, 01-19 Part 2 of initial mission. Watch in High Definition and "Like" please. Thanks ATTENTION: I noticed the resolution of this vid at times is terrible when I watched it on YouTube. I checked my video and it's gorgeous. I suspect something happened in the upload of the video to Youtube, although I'm not sure. My production of this video is 4K type qualilty. At this point, I'm debating whether I should take the time to pull this down and try another upload.

Operation Sledgehammer, 01-19 "The Beginning" First Mission of Op Sledgehammer (excluding patrol to find COP). Watch in High Definition and Like please.

Final Predeployment training video before Operation vids start. Watch in High Definition, and as always, please "Like" for our Youtube rating. It's our unit Youtube channel, not mine. Thanks men.

PENTAGON FLAG RAISING, 911 The Full Story Since Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of a person accidentally while sitting at a Paris cafe, it has become so that an event, no matter how significant, does not seem to be reality unless a camera makes it so. A little known event that occurred at the Pentagon on that horrific day of September 11, 2001, proved this idea to be true. A young Marine Lance Corporal raised the first battle flag on the still very unstable section of the building that was hit. I had the honor of helping the young man get to his objective. I was now officially out of the Corps and was a member of 20th Special Forces Group. Of course, my heart still belonged to my beloved Marine Corps. In fact, one of the SSG chevrons I wore had the crossed rifles I had earned as a Marine. As it goes, in the midst of the chaos of the surreal scene on September 11th, a Special Forces General approached me and ordered me to accompany a young Marine who had appeared on the scene with a small US flag to the roof of the Pentagon. To defiantly hoist our Colors for the world to see?!? I eagerly agreed. What an honor! It was reminiscent of the flag raising on Iwo that had become our symbol of courage and honor. I had the gear to facilitate the posting of the Colors (duct tape, 550 cord, etc). He had the flag. We were supposed to represent the Army and the Marine Corps but above all our Nations spirit. We climbed into a cart suspended by a cable with the operator. The cart began to sway erratically. It was clear that only two could ascend. That meant either the Marine would have to leave or I would. The general ordered me to tell the Marine to get out of the cart. “...if anyone was going to raise that flag, it would be a Marine in uniform.” Every part of me recognized how wrong that was. Every part of me recognized that if anyone was going to raise that flag, it would be a Marine in uniform. I approached the Marine and told him what happened. At the point of seeing his shock and disappointment I informed him that I served in the Corps for nine and a half years. I went on to further explain that the general had picked the wrong soldier for this mission. With a "Semper Fi", a wink, and a smile, I handed him my gear and tearfully walked away from the now ascending cart. In the darkness, the general watched as the cart climbed higher and higher. Then, at the moment it was near the top, he realized what had transpired. The Army did not get theirs that day. He angrily turned toward me, trying to make out my name, while scolding me at the same time. I told him that I apologize but I was a Marine at heart. He furiously walked away from me. I only saw the Lance Corporal when he returned. He too had tears of pride in his eyes. I shook his hand and asked him if he was now a "lifer". He smiled and answered in the affirmative. I can not find the words to describe how blessed I feel that I was in that spot that day and at that time where I could help my Marine Corps one more time. So, to all my brothers and sisters in and out of uniform...Semper Fidelis! Know that that day, when the firemen were immortalized in New York raising our Flag, a young anonymous Marine had done the same in Washington D.C. in the spirit of our great Nation and United States Marine Corps. The cameras were not there. All that remains are the image in our hearts and minds of the Marine pridefully planting our Colors and saluting while a crowd stopped watched, saluted, and fought back tears and were newly inspired to dig through the still smoldering debris. Semper Fi!

Marines are famous for their courage and efficiency in winning battles. They nearly always do more with less and have a world wide reputation for toughness and discipline. While I have numerous stories I could tell about Marines in battle, I am going to deviate and tell a few stories about the character of Marines. This side of the US Marine story is well known to many, but possibly not you guys. These stories, while different, are great examples of the kind of young men the US Marine Corps tends to attract. AFTER FLIGHT 77 HIT THE PENTAGON ON 9/11, THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED. A daycare facility inside the Pentagon had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do. There were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers. Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed. After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought, "Well, here we are, on our own." About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow. Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers. The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac . Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the Old West. Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions. There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children. The chaplain then said, "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories of the day. It was an incredible story of our men there.” There wasn't a dry eye in the room. The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted; could we expect any less from them? It was one of the most touching stories from the Pentagon.

Sgt Reckless: "She wasn't a horse. She was a Marine" PFC Reckless was purchased by a Marine Lieutenant who was the platoon commander of a 106 recoilless rifle platoon in Korea in 1953. The Lieutenant purchased the mare using $250 of his own money, to use as a pack horse to haul the heavy ammunition for the recoilless rifles up the large steep hills his Marines had to climb. This horse was so loved by her Marines she even slept with them in their tents on cold nights, ate with them, drank beer with them after battles, loved eating eggs and pancakes when it was available and had a voracious appetite. Reckless was trained to avoid barbed wire and dangerous obstacles, crawl under obstacles, go to a bunker during shelling, lay down and take cover on battlefields, and after being shown a route to hilltops where her Marines were fighting, could and often did, make the trips unescorted. During one day of a three day battle at Outpost Vegas, she made 51 trips up the hills to her Marines, unescorted, carrying over 9000 pounds of recoilless rifle ammunition, often carrying a wounded or dead Marine back down the hill on the return trip. She was wounded twice and always continued on her mission. She received two battlefield promotions, first to Corporal, then to Sergeant. She retired as a SSgt at Camp Pendleton, CA, where she was stationed after the war. There are literally dozens of stories about her and now a bronze statue of her is on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, VA. Watch the following short video for more information and photo's of this heroic Marine, who is listed as one of the top 100 military heroes of the 20th Century.

Russian Weapons Briefing #2 Intended for training of MSOT 8410 personnel and not entertainment purposes.

Training session following predeployment brief and training. Watch in High Definition.

Short Training Video, primarily intended for reference by Raiders and personnel of the 4th MRB. Practical training exercise from this training will follow on next vid. Basic briefing about weapons and munitions for upcoming eastern European deployment.

Part 2 of "Pre-deployment Brief and Training". Note: I will be adding an information text message at the beginning of videos during our next Operation to inform viewers why we are not using USA or Raider equipment, weapons, etc.

Pre-Deployment Briefing and Training. This is a shortened version of the briefing about our next Op in eastern Europe. The details are classified. Watch in High Definition and please "LIKE" our vids. Our vids are one of the techniques we use to promote our unit to people we don't know.

Part 2 of the Rescue Asset mission. This was the final mission of Operation Arch Stand. Watch in HD, please hit LIKE in YouTube and help promote the unit.

Operation Arch Stand. Rescue Asset This is Part 1 of the final mission of Operation Arch Stand. This part is a little slow as it shows the briefing, insert, maneuvering and getting into position, but don't be fooled, Part 2 is wild. WATCH IN HIGH DEFINITION

Moved to message

Op Arch Stand, "Check on Well Being" Part 2. Watch in High Definition and please click "LIKE" and subscribe in Youtube. All this increases the rating of our channel, making it possible for more people to find us and view our videos. Thanks men.

Op Arch Stand, "Check on Well Being of Asset" Part 1. Watch in High definition and please "LIKE" in YouTube. If you haven't subscribed to our YouTube Channel, please do so. You don't have to watch the videos, but subscribing increases our YouTube rating which increases the number of people who will find out channel. Thanks.

Happy New Year 2019 message to all you members of 4th MRB and viewers of our YouTube Channel videos. Just a silly, short little message to show everyone we are still here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS you Virtual Marines!! It was a fun year and looks even better next year.

Op Arch Stand. Mission to stop Syndikat members from driving out of our AO. Possibly last chance to hit their members and destroy their stuff. Please "Like" in Youtube to promote our channel, and unit. Note: Sometimes when I first upload and publish a video, the video is very choppy on playback. That was the case with this vid. It usually settles down in a couple hours and plays just fine.

Operation Arch Stand. Last or next to last mission. (Don't remember) Watch in HD and please "LIKE" on Youtube. (Note: There was a mission previous to this one. We went via helo insert to check out construction of new airfield. For some reason, sound effects from the game did not record. I've never had that happen before but it ruined the video so I will not be publishing it.)