22 years in our Corps and C 1/9 is the proudest and most cherished time I served. Every Marine there took pride in the history of 9th Marines and everyone was dedicated to maintaining the proud history passed to us. Too bad our Commandants have gutted our Corps.
in the spring of 1969 as part of the Dewy canyon operation out of Vandegrift combat base with
Since Compass Point is referring to the history of the 9th Marines, below is a small part of that history.
As part of the Dewy Canyon operation in the spring of 1969 working out of Vandegrift combat base with the 9th Marines in I corps Vietnam, one of the many events was a 350 troop insertion with 4 CH-53s and 12 CH-46s into Laos for the 9th Marines to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
As part of this troop insertion with 40 combat 9th Marines aboard our CH53. We were about 40 miles northwest of Khe Sanh when the aircraft lost the #2 engine and we were unable to maintain altitude at max power on the #1 engine. The main flight continued on as we left the flight an turned the aircraft around and headed back to Khe Sanh. We were 1500 feet above the valley floor and descending at 500 feet/minute. I ordered the crew chief to crank open the automatic fuel control above the 643-degree topping power to generate more power. At center cabin the crew chief threw a 9th marine off the seat to reach the screw driver engine slot to begin opening the fuel control. It takes 3 turns for each degree raised. As the crew chief increased the temp the sink rate started back up. At 50 feet off the valley floor, we finally reached level flight at 750 degrees engine temperature. This stopped our crash decent but we were now burning up the #1 engine and we had 10 miles back to Khe Sanh with another 40 miles back to Quang Tri. At that moment emergency #2 occurred when we lost the larger #2 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos, the automatic flight control servos and half the tail rotor servo. We still had flight control with the smaller #1 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos and half of the tail rotor servo. With just the small #1 hydraulic pump running the primary servos we experienced hydraulic lock up in the flight controls if they were moved too quickly because the pump can’t move the fluid volume fast enough. The pucker factor was peeking with these 2 emergencies and 46 lives at steak. Below 120 knots the aircraft would start to settle so when we reached Khe Sanh the runway was too short to do a 120-knot run on landing. The 53 has parking brakes, not stopping brakes and we would have run off the end of the runway and crashed in a big ball of fire so we proceeded on to Quang Tri which had a 3000-foot runway. Somehow the #1 engine did not fail running it over 20+ minutes. These engines are only to be run at topping power (643 degrees) for 1 minute and we ran this one for 20+ minutes at 750 degrees.
We felt good that all 40 9th Marines were safe and could be taken back to Vandegrift later.
Piddling, small unit actions, which is apparently all these people understand. It’s like returning from the Banana Wars, except that those leaders knew that they needed to upgrade and expand. For the life of me, I can’t understand how these people got into leadership positions. Their briefings and explanations are interminable, without saying anything. Maybe that’s the secret today. Semper Fi
They are the product two very badly managed wars, politics, and the resulting myopic, wishful thinking war planning. The unwillingness to expose FD2030 to public or even internal critical review and the promotion of pro-FD2030 people in charge (can't really call them leaders) has created an officer corps that is divorced from strategic thought. FD 2030 has left the Marine Corps unable to fulfil its legally mandated charter. Sad.
As a former commander of the "Oldest and Proudest" Regiment in our Corps, the 4th Marines, I take great exception to the cavalier manner in which the 38th and 39th CMCs have discarded the long-standing names of three regiments, the 3rd, 4th, and 12th. Their actions are indicative of officers who do not value history and traditions. Our leaders need to do better.
Such as Regiments Hand Down is the perfect film because it does not dwell on technology, equipment, the particular enemy or geography. It is about the things that are intangible and ethereal. The spirit and the ethos. The Band of Brothers. The things that mattered 2000 years ago and still matter today. “ From the outside looking in you cannot understand it. From the inside looking out you cannot explain it.” Love and War are the two human activities that are like no others.
When you disband units you rip a piece of the heart out of those who served. It is one reason that I believe the names of ships should recycle endlessly. Old JFK to scrap, new JFK launched. Who wants to serve on the Harvey Milk or the Cesar Chavez? Squadrons change planes but should remain. The F-35 B should be called the Corsair not the Lightning after the USAAF P-38. Maybe the Phantom….
Traditions feed Esprit de Corps. We have had too many historically ignorant misanthropes for leaders who do not grasp the leadership magic. They are automatons and empty grey suits with bleach in their veins vice red, white and blue. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor on their chest is nothing more than a corporate logo like PanAm or TWA. They are the college football mercenary who could not care less about the team or team uniform and whose primary concern is his name on the back of the jersey and his NIL money.
The Marine ethos is not sustainable as a third rate coastal defense short range missile battery. Better decide if we are Tigers or Sea Urchins.
As Teddy Roosevelt in a famous speech once said it is not the critics who count but it’s “The man in the Arena “ that is tested and standing strong. The credit goes to the one in the dust with sweat and blood who strives valiantly. I think these are the ethos you are referring to.
“Traditions feed Esprit de Corps” sums it up perfectly. Look at the Brits, though smaller than in the past, the regimental culture still burns bright.
The difference is the Brits give their regiments a mission, and arm them appropriately. And they perform as expected, given the mission and the arms provided.
Not so the Corps of today. We’ve destroyed our regimental culture and thereby our ethos and shortly our esprit de corps. We have organized and provided weapons ill suited for the situation. If the Corps is employed as currently planned by those idiots at HQMC it will be a defeat bigger than Corregidor, the troops will be blamed as they always are, and shortly thereafter the only Marines you’ll see will be holding doors at the White House or saluting at the foot of Marine One.
22 years in our Corps and C 1/9 is the proudest and most cherished time I served. Every Marine there took pride in the history of 9th Marines and everyone was dedicated to maintaining the proud history passed to us. Too bad our Commandants have gutted our Corps.
in the spring of 1969 as part of the Dewy canyon operation out of Vandegrift combat base with
Since Compass Point is referring to the history of the 9th Marines, below is a small part of that history.
As part of the Dewy Canyon operation in the spring of 1969 working out of Vandegrift combat base with the 9th Marines in I corps Vietnam, one of the many events was a 350 troop insertion with 4 CH-53s and 12 CH-46s into Laos for the 9th Marines to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
As part of this troop insertion with 40 combat 9th Marines aboard our CH53. We were about 40 miles northwest of Khe Sanh when the aircraft lost the #2 engine and we were unable to maintain altitude at max power on the #1 engine. The main flight continued on as we left the flight an turned the aircraft around and headed back to Khe Sanh. We were 1500 feet above the valley floor and descending at 500 feet/minute. I ordered the crew chief to crank open the automatic fuel control above the 643-degree topping power to generate more power. At center cabin the crew chief threw a 9th marine off the seat to reach the screw driver engine slot to begin opening the fuel control. It takes 3 turns for each degree raised. As the crew chief increased the temp the sink rate started back up. At 50 feet off the valley floor, we finally reached level flight at 750 degrees engine temperature. This stopped our crash decent but we were now burning up the #1 engine and we had 10 miles back to Khe Sanh with another 40 miles back to Quang Tri. At that moment emergency #2 occurred when we lost the larger #2 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos, the automatic flight control servos and half the tail rotor servo. We still had flight control with the smaller #1 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos and half of the tail rotor servo. With just the small #1 hydraulic pump running the primary servos we experienced hydraulic lock up in the flight controls if they were moved too quickly because the pump can’t move the fluid volume fast enough. The pucker factor was peeking with these 2 emergencies and 46 lives at steak. Below 120 knots the aircraft would start to settle so when we reached Khe Sanh the runway was too short to do a 120-knot run on landing. The 53 has parking brakes, not stopping brakes and we would have run off the end of the runway and crashed in a big ball of fire so we proceeded on to Quang Tri which had a 3000-foot runway. Somehow the #1 engine did not fail running it over 20+ minutes. These engines are only to be run at topping power (643 degrees) for 1 minute and we ran this one for 20+ minutes at 750 degrees.
We felt good that all 40 9th Marines were safe and could be taken back to Vandegrift later.
Piddling, small unit actions, which is apparently all these people understand. It’s like returning from the Banana Wars, except that those leaders knew that they needed to upgrade and expand. For the life of me, I can’t understand how these people got into leadership positions. Their briefings and explanations are interminable, without saying anything. Maybe that’s the secret today. Semper Fi
They are the product two very badly managed wars, politics, and the resulting myopic, wishful thinking war planning. The unwillingness to expose FD2030 to public or even internal critical review and the promotion of pro-FD2030 people in charge (can't really call them leaders) has created an officer corps that is divorced from strategic thought. FD 2030 has left the Marine Corps unable to fulfil its legally mandated charter. Sad.
As a former commander of the "Oldest and Proudest" Regiment in our Corps, the 4th Marines, I take great exception to the cavalier manner in which the 38th and 39th CMCs have discarded the long-standing names of three regiments, the 3rd, 4th, and 12th. Their actions are indicative of officers who do not value history and traditions. Our leaders need to do better.
Such as Regiments Hand Down is the perfect film because it does not dwell on technology, equipment, the particular enemy or geography. It is about the things that are intangible and ethereal. The spirit and the ethos. The Band of Brothers. The things that mattered 2000 years ago and still matter today. “ From the outside looking in you cannot understand it. From the inside looking out you cannot explain it.” Love and War are the two human activities that are like no others.
When you disband units you rip a piece of the heart out of those who served. It is one reason that I believe the names of ships should recycle endlessly. Old JFK to scrap, new JFK launched. Who wants to serve on the Harvey Milk or the Cesar Chavez? Squadrons change planes but should remain. The F-35 B should be called the Corsair not the Lightning after the USAAF P-38. Maybe the Phantom….
Traditions feed Esprit de Corps. We have had too many historically ignorant misanthropes for leaders who do not grasp the leadership magic. They are automatons and empty grey suits with bleach in their veins vice red, white and blue. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor on their chest is nothing more than a corporate logo like PanAm or TWA. They are the college football mercenary who could not care less about the team or team uniform and whose primary concern is his name on the back of the jersey and his NIL money.
The Marine ethos is not sustainable as a third rate coastal defense short range missile battery. Better decide if we are Tigers or Sea Urchins.
As Teddy Roosevelt in a famous speech once said it is not the critics who count but it’s “The man in the Arena “ that is tested and standing strong. The credit goes to the one in the dust with sweat and blood who strives valiantly. I think these are the ethos you are referring to.
Doug:
“Traditions feed Esprit de Corps” sums it up perfectly. Look at the Brits, though smaller than in the past, the regimental culture still burns bright.
The difference is the Brits give their regiments a mission, and arm them appropriately. And they perform as expected, given the mission and the arms provided.
Not so the Corps of today. We’ve destroyed our regimental culture and thereby our ethos and shortly our esprit de corps. We have organized and provided weapons ill suited for the situation. If the Corps is employed as currently planned by those idiots at HQMC it will be a defeat bigger than Corregidor, the troops will be blamed as they always are, and shortly thereafter the only Marines you’ll see will be holding doors at the White House or saluting at the foot of Marine One.
1/9...The Walking Dead. My friends that served in that battalion were damn proud of being members.