“The commonest mistake in history is underestimating your opponent; it happens at the poker table all the time.” - David Shoup
What went unmentioned here is that Gen. Shoup was Commandant of the USMC when he said this. Alan25main (once a Marine…)
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Also unmentioned was that in 1956 after the Ribbon Creek incident, in which six Marine Corps recruits were marched into the Parris Island swamps by their Drill Instructor and drowned. Assigned to investigate the incident, Inspector General George M. Shoup was given the job. Shoup advised that the event should not be covered up and upon his recommendations of an overhaul of the Recruit Training Program won him favorable recognition and thereafter led to a series of promotions that landed him the Commandant’s position, nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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Thanks! Didn’t know he had done the investigating. I was told of the incident while in boot camp in 1964, but no mention was made of who had done it. Ron P. (Alan25main)
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I arrived at Parris Island from Beaufort at about 4:30AM and went into another world. I was in the 2nd Battalion (wooden barracks, as was the 1st battalion) as opposed to the 3rd battalion, which was brick and we called it Disneyland. Aside from Ribbon Creek the other big story was in the rotation before mine (January 1964) Private Eanie burned down the chapel. Ron S
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LOL, burned down the chapel?!?! I hadn’t heard of that one. I was in those same wooden barracks. Reporting in on 15 July 1964, I was in Plt. 263, Sgt. John J. McGinty III was our Senior DI (later, he won the MOH in RVN), Sgt. Arthur Cowan, Sgt. Smith, and Cpl. Darden were the Junior DIs. Hot as the hinges of Hell, the whole summer. Graduated off the Island in October, off to ITR at Camp Geiger, then Electronics School at MCRD San Diego for nearly a year. Another year at the Supply Center in Albany, GA, then to Sub-Unit 1, 1st ANGLICo in Vietnam for 16 months, discharged at Treasure Island Naval Station (San Francisco) in December, 1968. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I’d hate to have to do it again (though I tried to rejoin the Reserves in November, 1979 when the Iranian “students” seized our embassy; I was told I was too old). Good luck at the tables and Semper Fi. Ron P.
Sgt. Caldwell Senior Drill Instructor, Sgt Everley, came to the USMC from the Turkish Army, and can’t remember the third. Everley was fine but Caldwell hated NYers so made Parris Island very hard. Plus of the 72 recruits, 71 were from South of the Mason Dixon line. At the time, you may recall, the gangs of NYC made national news, hence guess who did the most push-ups, sit-ups, and was on the trade ground the longest. I also wouldn’t trade the experience but also wouldn’t do it again. Semper Fi. Ron S
“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” - General “Mad Dog” Mattis
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If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
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If you can get to be half as good as you think you are you will be twice as good as you are now
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Glitches
The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.
_______Sydney J. Harris
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
_______Emo Philips
Dr. Peter Venkman: Egon, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. Remember that?
Dr. Egon Spengler: That would have worked if you hadn’t stopped me.
_______Ghostbusters 1984
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“When you come to a fork in the road, take it” - Yogi Berra
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If your family tree does not fork, you could be a redneck- Jeff Foxworthy
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Be silly
Be honest
Be kind
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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It aint no fun when the rabbits got the gun
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A #Hashtag a day, keeps Facebook away !!
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“Invincibility depends on one’s self; The enemy’s vulnerability on him.” - Sun Tzu
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Here’s a quotation which might be suitable, I’ve seen this attributed to both ancient Arabic and red Indian cultures on my travels.
Do not criticise a man until you have walked a mile wearing his shoes.
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be adaptable like water, be strong like earth, be aggressive like fire, and be untouchable like air.
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“When you are dead, you do not know you are dead.
It is only hard for others.
It is the same when you are stupid” - some clever cat
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Positive thoughts bring positive results.
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