Early on in my Marine Corps training, we learned the basics on field etiquette: how to maintain and fire your weapon, how to land navigate, how to cook your Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE), how to patrol the woods in a stealthy manner, leaving no traces for the enemy to discover, as you move from place to place. This last point is the subject of our story on discipline, as where a unit lacks sufficient discipline in policing up their area-of-operations, intel can be gathered by the enemy and ultimately this can lead to your demise.
Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland Australia - 1997
We were conducting live-fire attacks on a hilltop objective, in order to hone our squad and platoon-level techniques. This was peace-time, mind you, but the danger level was still extreme, as we were using real bullets, it was hot as hell and we were dog-tired. The Company Commander was not happy with our performance, so we did the attack again and again, until which time we got it right, which we never did. Then, at dusk, we policed up all our brass, wearily trudging up the hill with our helmets full of 5.56 casings, shooting the shit and rousing one another all the time.
Satisfied with having worked us sufficiently to death, that evening the C.O. made us non-tactical, no more war games...all we were charged with was to post a watch (each man an hour throughout the night) to ensure the Company area was secure. PFC Bnotz (USMC-speak, for the lay-Marine) had fire watch at midnight, and by that time, the entirety of Charlie Company was fast asleep in their hooches (tents). Bnotz put in a fat dip of Copenhagen and sat on a box of MRE's, rifle in hand. It was a warm night, a gentle wind coming across the countryside. Firewatch sucked..."why do they always put me on at midnight...why even bother hit the rack if I got to wake up in a couple hours? Can't wait to get home to Suzy...thirty days and a wake up, man, then I'm on two weeks of block leave. Shit...they'll be lucky if I come back from that!"
The nicotine and other horrific chemicals in the Copenhagen got to stimulating PFC Bnotz' bowels..."man, gotta take a hearty dump now, but I ain't going in that straddle trench...THAT'S ABOUT NASTY!" (a straddle trench is 6" long, 1" wide and 1-2" deep...think about it). So Bnotz decided that he was going to go off into the bush where he could find some privacy. Without getting into the details, as I wasn't present, he wearily trudged off into the woods, leaned his weapon against a tree, did his business and came back to the Company area -WITHOUT HIS WEAPON!
0330: "OK, Charlie Company...wake the (expletive) up! PFC Bnotz has decided to go out into the bush, abandoning his post, took a dump and left his weapon out there. Who's his Squad Leader? Sgt. Oberst, huh...you'll pay me later, Marine. GET ON LINE! " We proceeded to get shoulder to shoulder, in the same way we had earlier that day, picking up our brass. Only now, we were looking for Bnotz's dump, as next to it should be his weapon. You see, Bnotz was what we termed a "ground shitter"...a lazy, undisciplined Marine who does his business on the ground's surface, instead of following proper procedures and digging a "cat hole": 1" X 1" X 1". This is a cardinal sin, but still a far cry from losing one's weapon, which was the equivalent of certain death. On top of all of this, Bnotz had also given away the security of our perimeter and dealt the rest of the unit a premature wake up and corresponding hard time. Bnotz didn't get much respect after he positively identified his dump and the adjacent weapon - because his discipline was out. Everyone paid for that, but in time of war, everyone might have died for that.
So each time you decide to sleep in without a valid excuse, give up or get nasty, know that I consider you a ground-shitter.
We all know what the right thing to do is. The difference between a disciplined person and a non-hacker is that the former does that thing and the latter can't be counted on. Look at the below definition of DISCIPLINE, our week two theme. It's important to note that the same people who glance at the weather forecast and skip Monday's workout - these folks are often repeat offenders, who behave this way not only in DDIP, but in the rest of their life. Life is a balance and none of us are perfect, but on each morning that we wake, we have a fresh opportunity to do the right thing...discipline gets us there. Show up and do the work and you will see results in DDIP, and in life.
