The Glass Marines
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Ortho the Frank
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The Glass Marines
Thumbs-up? Thumbs-down? Questions? Comments? Critiques? Put it here!
Re: The Glass Marines
Sounds all too realistic.
Re: The Glass Marines
I really would like to buy the book!
Re: The Glass Marines
Hey, KF6, I spent more than 2 years with Marine Recruiters, I really hope you weren't kidding! Despite the sci-fi outer web, the rest came out of 9 overfiled 3-ring note books and 4 generations of guests at the Hotel Parris Island. As far as buying the book, Prince Edward S is working O/T to that end. He's a chip off his dad's block- Chris is the same way!
Really glad you enjoyed it! Pete D
PS It'll be a while, but wait'll you read the next GM story, Valley of the Four Moons. It is based on the Korean Conflict.
Really glad you enjoyed it! Pete D
PS It'll be a while, but wait'll you read the next GM story, Valley of the Four Moons. It is based on the Korean Conflict.
Re: The Glass Marines
I wasn't kidding at all.
The mind-numbing emphasis on physical exercise, the clueless bureaucrats (officers) and the supply people who hoard their supplies and guard them jealously against any kind of use - to the point where you have to take them by force or guile...
I have seen it all.
The mind-numbing emphasis on physical exercise, the clueless bureaucrats (officers) and the supply people who hoard their supplies and guard them jealously against any kind of use - to the point where you have to take them by force or guile...
I have seen it all.
Re: The Glass Marines
KF6-
You've got to be a ground pounder or a combat officer! Been there, done that? Good for you! Thanks for my freedom.
Pete
You've got to be a ground pounder or a combat officer! Been there, done that? Good for you! Thanks for my freedom.
Pete
Re: The Glass Marines
Aviation mechanic. I deal with officers all day, every day.
You should see what we have to go through now just to dispose of oily rags. It's actually illegal to carry a bag of them from our office area to the hangar for disposal, because that journey of 50 feet (into another AO) is considered "transporting hazardous waste," and neither our unit nor anyone in it are licensed to do that.
I asked whether stuffing them in our pockets one at a time and walking over there was "transporting hazardous waste," and I was told that it was, if we disposed of them there. It was not if we carried them back to our area and disposed of them there.
Bureaucrats have only gotten worse, if that's even possible.
Also, our supply people tend to be a little more strict than most. Aviation parts are pretty expensive; In my stock, I have washers the size of a nickel that cost almost fifty dollars apiece. (Teflon material on one side and chemically treated on the other.) I also have transducers about the size of a pencil that cost more than I paid for my Mercedes.
You should see what we have to go through now just to dispose of oily rags. It's actually illegal to carry a bag of them from our office area to the hangar for disposal, because that journey of 50 feet (into another AO) is considered "transporting hazardous waste," and neither our unit nor anyone in it are licensed to do that.
I asked whether stuffing them in our pockets one at a time and walking over there was "transporting hazardous waste," and I was told that it was, if we disposed of them there. It was not if we carried them back to our area and disposed of them there.
Bureaucrats have only gotten worse, if that's even possible.
Also, our supply people tend to be a little more strict than most. Aviation parts are pretty expensive; In my stock, I have washers the size of a nickel that cost almost fifty dollars apiece. (Teflon material on one side and chemically treated on the other.) I also have transducers about the size of a pencil that cost more than I paid for my Mercedes.
Re: The Glass Marines
Yeah, Kf6, I figured you'd dealt with the non-sense in real time. What branch of the service are you in? When I was researching GM, the guys in the Corps flew me up to the Island and then, when no one was watching, got me into the Air Station at Cherry Point- and other places not usually on the tour. You, my friend, have a tough MOS. The fliers were telling me that during Desert Storm the Corps had all the fliers and crafts they needed...and Avionics teams that had to work round the clock keeping every thing in the air because they were spread so thin. The fellows in the choppers let me watch some search & rescues and broke their machines down and let me take a good look at things...Avionics is a real no non-sense deal! Flight line operation? Exciting enough for me to start the next GM story there!
Re: The Glass Marines
I work on the Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warriors. Reasonably reliable little things with nice big teeth 
I have worked in hangar and on flight line. I prefer hangar, because I hate pushing them around (ours don't have integral wheels, so we have to install them every time we move them, and they are small enough that pushing them by hand is practical. Ugh. No tractors for us.) and I like doing heavy work on them, and not just washing windows and checking the oil.
It can be mind-numbingly repetitive and thankless, but sometimes the pilots come in and talk about the people they killed and the things they broke, and somehow, that makes it all worthwhile.
I have worked in hangar and on flight line. I prefer hangar, because I hate pushing them around (ours don't have integral wheels, so we have to install them every time we move them, and they are small enough that pushing them by hand is practical. Ugh. No tractors for us.) and I like doing heavy work on them, and not just washing windows and checking the oil.
It can be mind-numbingly repetitive and thankless, but sometimes the pilots come in and talk about the people they killed and the things they broke, and somehow, that makes it all worthwhile.
Re: The Glass Marines
Yeah, K (K? Hey aren't you one on the men in Black?) that sounds right about right. Most civilian have no real ideas of what it takes to keep the military going. That was one of the reasons for writing GM. The story was actually researched in the late 80s early 90s, and that stuff goes out of code fast. If I get to far out to have a modicum of truth, don't be afraid to let me know. By the way, if you like really far-out military fiction, the Barry Stadler (The guy that wrote & performed 'Ballad of the GreenBerets') has an entire series of books which circles arounf Casca, the Immortal Warrior. Simple premise, great reading!
Pete
Pete