# What I've learned about Marines.



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I have done a smidgen of selling to Marines, and I find that they all share a gift. They have a "best friend" that is more like a brother than just a guy they take to ball games. There's a bond there I understand, and now sadly have lost.

So, a about a week ago a former member of the military wanted a folding knife that not only did chores but was a tacit reminder of the places and people he knew defending idiots like me. I showed him a picture of the folder, and got a "return address" double quick.

Well, in digging around in the knife closet yesterday, I found a duplicate knife, it is now being polished. Now, I do not have a crystal ball, but in the next few months I'm going to get this telephone call:

_"Hey, Chico, I need a favor. My best friend in the world--we called him "French Kiss Willie--is coming into town and I want to paint the world! What a crazy Semper Gumby that freak was! Oy, saved my life--he pulled a 300 pound drunken hooker off me in this dump in Saigon. I still get letters from her! Anyway, he's going to see my folder, and we do everything together. Can you get another folder, and the exact copy, of the one I have? We'll probably both be hung-over and in jail by that time, so just get the money from my wife..."_

I'm laughing and jealous at the same time. And yes, that duplicate knife will be toasty. I do not want an angry E5 jar-head ripping my door off...


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

There is a Brotherhood formed in combat that civilians would never understand.
Nor, for that matter, would veterans of the peacetime military.

I can, and do, say to my 5th Infantry “Red Diamond “ Brothers that I love them. And mean it. 
This is why I think nothing of dropping $1500 to $2000 to attend our annual reunions. And to do this in retirement I work part time at minimum wage, just so I can attend. That is how much the Brotherhood means to me.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

You're a lucky man, RPD. Most of my true brothers died years ago. The gym crew is now at "acquaintance level," and one or two are becoming friends. But it's hard to make 'life time friends' when you near your 70th birthday.


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