The Marine Corps Today

March 1, 2010
Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan
09:44

Today I was waiting in line to do another weigh-in. I weighed 164 lbs this time, by the way. I guess I gained ten pounds last month? Okay...

Anyway, while I was walking back after finishing, I started thinking about how the military is changing and how it used to be. A few things came to mind. There's this new tattoo policy. Apparently, no one is allowed to have tattoos that show while in PT clothing (shorts/t-shirt, etc.). If you already have them, they're "grandfathered" so they're ok, but a Sgt. today had to sign a page 11 because of his tattoos. A page 11 is a record of some type of counseling that goes in your service record book. Everyone had to get checked with their tattoos last month to make sure of...something...I'm not really sure. To see if they need counseling for the new policy I guess.

Hmm...the Marine Corps is now only accepting the good looking people. If they go back to taking people with high school diplomas then they'll be accepting only the good looking and the "smart" people. I guess it doesn't matter how badly you want to serve your country. If you're really a fascist, then you'll sacrifice your desire to get tattoos to join the USMC. That's what I thought about today. If you find that offensive, sorry, but every time I see a Marine now I get this image of a Nazi. Not to mention the people who are weak/short/ugly are constantly berated by others, no matter how proficient they are at their job. The fact remains: they just don't look perfect, so why let them forget it? That's our new mindset, and I guess it travelled all the way up the chain of command.

If you're only taking this with a grain of salt, then hear this:

I was watching AFN (Armed Forces Network, the most obnoxiously annoying TV channel I've ever had the displeasure of watching) and this commercial popped up. I didn't really catch the message, because I couldn't hear anything. All my senses gave way to sight when I saw that in the commercial, there were young children prancing around in Army digital camouflage uniforms.

My jaw dropped, and the only two words that came to mind?

Hitler Youth