Museum Marines Featured in Washington Post

Remember my post a week ago about the Marines attached to the museum sharing their experience (Suicid Bombers, D-Ring Bling and Hospitality)? The Washington Post picked up on them and did a story. That I will post below.

I read through the comments - - of course the first person to comment on this story at 6 a.m. posted this:

thopaine wrote:

I would like to know why they are not dressed in battle fatigues like all other DOD public appearances, including civilian television ?

Given the severe shortage of combat experienced troops in this war on terror,couldn't these marines be put to better use than museum docents?
I am sure more than a few retired marines would be proud to serve as docents.

9/23/2008 6:09:08 AM

Well, as you, my blog readers know, we have a huge contingent of retired Marines, as well as a few Army and Navy veterans that ARE proud volunteers. In addition to that, there are folks such as myself who are not Marines who have been taken into the fold and proudly serve as docents. In fact, the National Museum of the Marine Corps has probably the best volunteer core of any museum in the nation when you look at the total number of hours that are volunteered. Many museums have to rely on paid staff to do what we do.

My next comment to this person regarding the shortage of combat experienced troops - - hmm, well, gee why don't more people volunteer to go into the military? And with this rationale, should we pull everyone with combat experience ouf of schools and other training billets? Let these guys have a break. My gosh, they all did two tours.

Helping to Bring the War Home
Veterans Portray Realities of Combat in Marine Museum Tours

By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 23, 2008; B01

They answer visitors' questions as any docent would, everything from the location of the nearest restroom to casualty totals at the Battle of Belleau Wood. But fresh off the front lines, the Marines also depict war as they lived it, mostly as on-the-ground grunts: dirty, frustrating, harrowing, triumphant, with personal details that make war come alive in ways no artifact or display ever could.

Just ask Sgt. Richard Tack, 22, the barrel-chested infantryman welcoming visitors at the front door. His uniform is adorned with a Purple Heart, and fresh in his memory are the roadside bomb that blew up his Humvee during his first Iraq tour and the bullet that went clear through his calf in the second.

He's one of 11 active duty Marine veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan on staff at the National Museum of the Marine Corps who serve not only as greeters and guides but also as living reminders that war is an ever-present reality. In the almost two years since the $90 million museum opened outside Quantico in Prince William County, they have become exhibits themselves, providing glimpses of war for a public that has been largely unaffected by it.

From the design of the building, which evokes the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, to the Korean War exhibit, where the temperature is kept in the 50s to mimic the harsh winter of 1950, the museum strives to make its depiction of nearly 250 years of history as authentic as possible. But to the surprise of some officials, one of the biggest attractions has become the Marines who lived through the nation's current conflicts and are taking a breather before returning to the front.

"Who better to represent that history than the Marines who were there?" said Maj. Sean Stewart, the museum's operations officer.

When talking to a visitor about the day he was shot, Tack was quick to point out that one of the first people on the scene was "this gentleman right here," his buddy, Cpl. Mark Wangler, who works at the museum, too.

They were manning a remote outpost near Habbaniyah, about to go out on patrol to root out insurgents, when the insurgents attacked first. Tack went down, and as Wangler sprang to his aid, a dump truck laden with explosives blew up in front of the gate of their base. Wangler was knocked to the ground but got up, his ears ringing, and ran to his friend.

Tack was lying face down, unconscious, but he came to when Wangler rolled him over. "They shot me!" Tack groused, more angry than scared.

He spent a month recuperating, then went back to the base.

"I thought they were going to send him to Germany and then home," Wangler told the visitor, Russell Tuck, a retired college president who lives in Gainesville.

But Tack had to get back to his fellow Marines. "We were a pretty tight group," he explained. "In my mind, I was hanging them out to dry while I was in the rear."

Tuck said his chat with the Marines was the best part of his visit. "I'm just fascinated with these guys," he said. "I'd rather talk to them than anything else."

Many of the museum's visitors are veterans, too, from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and see in the tour guides younger versions of themselves. During one of Wangler's tours, there was the elderly man in a wheelchair who, when entering the World War II exhibit of the Battle of Iwo Jima, informed Wangler that he had been there as a young corporal.

"Seeing him as a fragile old man, it was hard to imagine him hiking up Iwo Jima," Wangler said. "And he said to me, 'You're so young I can't believe you've been to Iraq twice.' "

They expected to be ambassadors for the corps, the public face of a war few understand like they do. But they didn't expect visitors to open up the way they sometimes do.

One Vietnam veteran told Cpl. Michael Bustamante, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, that he doesn't talk about Vietnam with anyone, not even his family. But it haunts him every day, he confided, Marine to Marine, vet to vet. How, he wanted to know, was Bustamante doing? How was he handling the stress of combat now that he was home?

Bustamante told him that he had been in combat and had seen some pretty awful stuff. No need to get into detail. But he was doing all right. The key, he said, was communication.

"You've got to talk about it," Bustamante recalled telling him. "Talk about it with everybody. Let it out."

At the "Making Marines" exhibit, where visitors can try on a backpack that weighs up to 120 pounds to get a sense of what recruits have to endure, Bustamante sometimes offers his own experience of what boot camp was like: "I was so traumatized I didn't talk to anyone but my drill instructor for the first month." And nearby, in the Global War on Terrorism exhibit, he and his fellow Marines were able to spot something that wasn't quite right.

"That photo had to be staged," Wangler said while looking a photograph of a Marine sniper aiming at a building. A sniper would never have allowed so much light to shine in on him, easily giving away his position, he said.

Every Marine working at the museum does so by choice. Tack said it was a chance to indulge his interest in history and to explore something other than "the grunt life." But it is a temporary post, three years tops, and the Marines know they could be deployed overseas at a moment's notice.

The museum is filled with history they try to make come alive, and they could even donate some of their equipment for the terrorism exhibit. But not yet. They are not ready for their uniforms and guns to be sealed behind a glass partition, relegated to the annals of history.

Their war is not over yet.

Suicide Bombers, D-ring Bling and Hospitality

St. Patrick's Day 2006 was anything but lucky for 5 Marines now part of the Marine detachment at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. On March 17, 2007, insurgents drove an explosive laden dump truck through the front gate of the Marine's Battle Post (BP).

On second thought, maybe the luck of the Irish was with them, a Humvee they had parked across the final entry point to the post ultimately stopped the dump truck, preventing it from being able to drive in through the front door of the post. When all the shooting stopped, dust settled and ear ringing ended, an Iraqi and an Marine were wounded. If you could have seen the photos of the crater (large enough for a Humvee) and the pieces of the dump truck scattered around/embedded in the compound, its safe to say that had that truck hit its target, three of the five Marines would not be here today.

From left to right, Cpl Wangler, LCpl Daily and Sgt Maldonado shared their experiences from one of their Iraqi deployments (They have been to Iraq together twice) with the museum docents.

The Marines, working as MIT advisers to the Iraqi Army had been tipped off moments before the attack began. A townsman had approached an Iraqi Army check point and told them there were many out-of-towners with weapons. The patrol radioed the BP. The Marines and their Iraqi counter parts started to head upstairs to the roof of their building when they started taking heavy small arms fire. They were so pre-occupied with the small arms fire they didn't notice the dump truck rumbling down the road at them, until it hit the humvee blocking the final entry way and exploded.

Cpl Tack was shot in the leg just before the explosion. Cpl Wangler was running up the stairs to assist when the bomb went off.

The explosion was so strong that the Marines outside the building said it looked like a giant wave picked the building up and slammed it back to the ground. Cpl Wangler was thrown back down the stairs.

The Humvee, manned by an Iraqi had been tossed into the air and rolled three times. The steel plates that had been put over the windows of the building were blown completely off the building. Huge, jagged, chunks of steel from the dump truck and humvee came raining down, spearing the cement roof and anything else that unluckily got in the way.

Docents gasped at the scene the Marines were painting. Maybe, based upon the expressions of their audience, they quickly said, "No was killed. An Iraqi lost his leg and Tack was wounded."

The insurgents had planned the attack well, to the point they even put bullet proof glass into the windshield on the truck to protect the driver from getting shot. Their goal was to destroy the entire BP and everyone in it.

Four miles away, Marines at another BP, felt the explosion and were summoned to assist the Marines and Iraqis. En-route, they encountered a mini dump truck called a bongo truck, parked and blocking the road. Cautiously they pushed it with their Humvee and cleared enough room to get by and nothing blew up! As soon as they passed the bongo truck, they encountered small arms fire and fought their way to the stricken BP.

After the fight was over, the Marines were returning to their BP. The bongo truck exploded as the second Humvee passed. Luckily, the engine block absorbed the blast. The Marine and Corpsman only suffered concussions. The Humvee wasn't as lucky, it looked like something had just bit off the front of the vehicle.

D-Ring Bling

MIT teams (military transition teams) consist of 10-12 Iraqis and 2 Marine advisers, a Cpl or LCpl.

The Marines expressed feeling a bit cautious at first when they started their second deployment as MIT advisers. However, they said, you have to be willing to trust people. They found the Iraqis to be eager and quick learners. They also recognized that the Iraqis had taken great personal risk to volunteer to be soldiers.

Some of the problems they initially had were with cell phones. The Iraqis all had them and loved talking on them. Wangler spoke of going on patrols and he'd turn around and see a soldier walking, looking at the ground, talking on his cell phone. The Marines were advisers so they weren't to discipline men but point out to the Iraqi LT, what his men were doing incorrectly and the Iraqi platoon leader took it from there. After that, the Iraqis would try to hide their cell phones by using ear pieces and having the phone down their shirt.

"But the talking to themselves is what gave them away", Wangler said.

The Marines all said the Iraqis wanted to be like Americans.

"Everything was questions with the Iraqis. They wanted to touch everything and try on all our gear. They were like little kids on Christmas."

One piece of American equipment the Iraqis were especially fond of were D-rings - - aka carabiners. Marines use them to attach equipment to their vests. Iraqis would attach anything that they thought would look good hanging from a D-ring.

A docent asked what the funniest thing they'd seen an Iraqi hang from a D-ring.

"A rifle"

Yes, he said a rifle. A rifle being carried on a d-ring during a patrol.

When they ended their deployment, Daily said he felt "I have hope for Iraq because they have progressed so much."

The Iraqis he said were not tactically proficient but they were running toward gun fire. He could tell the Iraqis had heart to fight and stand up for their country.

Wangler said when he left, he was very impressed with the Iraqis. They knew what they were doing and were doing what the Marines had taught them.

Hospitality

Maldonado said one thing that he was impressed with was the hospitality of the Iraqi people. He found the people to be very friendly.

"The hospitality of the Iraqis is something Americans could learn from."

They talked of times going to a home while they were on patrol to ask for water and being invited in for a meal.

Post deployment

Maldonado said the Iraqis that had worked with the Americans for 3 years could be granted a visa to the US. The interpreter that he worked with came to the US a year ago. Maldonado picked him up at the air port and invited him to stay at his parents house.

"My mom was terrified."

His interpreter has a green card and is now at Paris Island going through boot camp to become a Marine.

At the conclusion of their presentation, the Marines received a standing ovation.

Following their presentation, the Marines showed off some of the current equipment that Marines carry/wear into battle.

Here Daily helps my friend M (and a new docent) with the 'old' style bullet proof vest.

Maldonado and Wangler describe the new vests, equipped with a quick release emergency pull cord. By the way, the quick release cord should only be pulled if you can't get out of a burning vehicle or are drowning. Once pulled the vest has to be sent out to be re-strung.

Daily explains the new Molle (pronounced molly) packs.

Included in the MOLLE pack is an air mattress. The Marine's were really interested in this. All commented "Wait, they get air mattresses now?"

Too Look Good, Make Sure Your Enemy Is As Dumb As Bricks

That was some advise that General Mattis gave junior officers at the Distinguished Marine speakers' series at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

First of all, let me just say that this event was unlike previous Speakers' Series events.  I was expecting 100 or so people, cocktails up at Tun Tavern, move into the Mess Hall for dinner and then file down to the Scuttlebutt Theater for the speaking.  Tonight - - it was a grand event.  Many in attendance were Marines and foreign officers attending one of the professional schools at Quantico, corporate VIPs, and a smattering of civilians such as myself.

When I got there, I was informed that I was to cover General Mattis.  How the heck did I draw that?  Holy Cow!  I will admit I was shaking a bit on my first few shots.  I will include some of my favorite shots of him working the crowd. (Below, gee I think he knows I'm following him).

One thing I regretted not taking with me was my notebook.  He gave a great, down to earth talk about the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.  As I listened I kept thinking - - 'Oh, remember that.' and then he'd say something else and I would be thinking "Remember that too!"  I was kicking myself for not bringing my little point and shoot digital that I can take video.  His speech was peppered with his signature humor that the Marines just loved.  The title comment is case in point.  It was made in reference to the Taliban Generals.

The key word that he stressed and I took away as the theme for his speech was "Trust" and how that played an important roll with our allies in gearing up for the invasion of Afghanistan.  He spoke about how it can take a long time to build that trust and how it can quickly be compromised.  He used the example of intelligence and how for the first 30 days of the invasion, we were sharing with all the allies involved and then all of a sudden orders were given that intel was to only be shared with the British, Canadians and Australians.  This of course angered the other countries involved in the fight.

My impressions of General Mattis are that he is a down to earth guy, very personable.  He worked the crowd before dinner and after he spoke.  He made time to shake hands and have a photo taken with everyone who wanted to meet him.  Yes, I got my photo taken with him and I'll share as soon as my fellow volunteer sends me what he took.

Below, General Mattis speaks with some students at EWS (Expeditionary Warfare School). 

Greeting some foreign military officers who were in attendance.

Speaking with an NCO and Col Dick Camp (ret).

Rubbing elbows with the VIP guests.

At the end of the evening, posing with the gentlemen that were at my dinner table.

Largest OCS Class Since Vietnam, Visiting Museum

The largest Officer Candidate School (OCS) class since the Vietnam war is visiting the museum, in shifts, over the next couple weeks.



Thanks to an 8 hour floating holiday that I had to use or lose, I was able to help out with Friday night's visit. We had about 400 candidates come through. The first group, got quick overview tours. We, the docents, made our plans on the fly. There were three of us and four platoons of them. We each took a platoon and the fourth was spilt up by squad to the other platoons. The plan, one docent would take his group in the galleries from the beginning of Marine Corps History, the other would start in Leatherneck and I would start at the end (Vietnam) and then come out to Leatherneck.

Best laid plans did not work.

When I finished, the group in Leatherneck was still in Leatherneck. So I took everyone into Korea. Amazingly, I timed it just right and when we were done in Korea, the first group going through Legacy just passed us and the other group was coming up the hall, so I had my group pile on in to WW2 where I quickly walked them through. When we came out, the second group was just walking by. So I took my guys down to WW1 and out to Leatherneck Gallery. Whew! It was a bit of scrambling.

One thing that I found kind of cool, here was little old me, non-Marine, standing in the middle of a circle of an entire, all-male, platoon of 20-somethings, future Marine Corps officers, in utilities, all of them listening to me educate THEM on Marine Corps history. Kind of wild. Oh, and forgive me for that run-on sentence.



Today, an additional 250 came through and next week we'll have two groups of 400-plus each.

Yes, that's around 1600 Marine Corps Officers in the making. Not all of them will be graduating from OCS this summer, some are part of the Platoon Leadership Class (PLC). These are college students who go through 6 weeks of training in the summer between their junior and senior years of college and then finish up with the final six weeks the summer after they graduate from college.



The fun thing about giving these young men tours, they knew some stuff and they asked me questions - - some got longer answers than they wanted - -because I just got so excited about what they were asking me. History excites me. Being able to weave general world history into the Marine Corps story makes it come a live.

On that line, one of the Drill Instructors (and they don't call them drill instructors at OCS, however, I forgot the new title) asked me if I enjoyed working at the museum.

I told him I loved volunteering. He was surprised that we are volunteers, not paid staff. He was even more surprised to learn that I was not a Marine. I asked him what he did in the Marine Corps. Infantry. I asked him if he had been to Iraq, he had, the first battle for Fallujah. I mentioned I had read the book No True Glory. He said, he is in that book. I asked him where and what he did. He told me he is in the middle of the book, that he had won a pretty big award for his action. Of course, I go and ask, "What did you do." To that he replied he didn't like talking about it because he felt like he was bragging.

"I'll just have to look you up in the book." I said, "What is your name?"

"Sagredo."

I told him I actually liked listening to veterans stories because it made things seem more real for me, especially if I was meeting a real person I had read about. There is something personal about meeting the flesh and blood person. I mean words are so two dimensional. When you meet the PERSON, you've got a face, if you shook hands, you've actually touched them.

Now, I know I've mentioned this before. Sometimes I feel guilty after talking to a family member or a veteran - - because at the museum, I am just beaming. I love it here. I love telling the stories about the "things" and about the people I've learned about and met. However, often times, the stories and people they remember, are associated with probably the worst experience of their lives. I've had WW2, Korean and Vietnam veterans break down in tears in my arms because they remember the friends they lost and how they lost them; amputees and severally injured marines solemnly tell me about how they got blown up and the corpsman who saved their lives; family members who tell me of the loss of their child. It can be very emotionally draining at times.

I felt a little bad, because as Sagredo began telling me his story, I felt like I should be remembering it from having read it. I have found that so many of the stories start to melt together and I have a hard time remembering names and situations. I did go home and look up Sagredo's story, pages 148 through 154 of No True Glory. As soon as I started reading it again, I remembered it because what had stood out to me was the death of the Amtrac's crew chief, CPL Kevin Kolm. An RPG had penetrated the vehicle from one of the rear tracs, severely wounding the platoon commander and lodging into the engine, which burst into flame, trapping Kolm. They were deep in enemy territory, had to evacuate the vehicle and take cover in a home. 16 Marines, half of them wounded, had to fend off over 100 insurgents, for several hours. When help finally arrived, the Marines in the house were literally down to their last bullets.

I felt more guilty today after finding additional news articles about that day and how emotional it was for him to receive the Silver Star (third highest award for valor). He didn't want the award because according to one of the articles, it would remind him of that day. It was a day he thought it was going to come down to hand-to-hand combat, they might not survive it, he may never see his wife and children again. I don't want people to be thinking about the worst day of their life.

However, I will fall back to what Norm Hatch told his fellow Iwo Jima veterans, "You are doing your service and disservice if you don't tell your children and grandchildren your story."

I think it is very important for combat tested Marines to share their experiences with new recruits and officer candidates. Some of the officer candidates have seen combat, and they are a wealth of information for the "green" guys who haven't. You can go around being all macho, but when reality hits, you are, in the words of an Iwo Jima veteran, "So scared I didn't go to the bathroom for three days," and you do what you have to do. In some cases, some people perform beyond what anyone could have expected, while others, not so much.

It is the Sargredos in this world that I am grateful for, and others like him who haven't been recognized. They and their families make great sacrifices daily to provide folks like me with the freedoms we take for granted. I can also say, I won't forget his story.

Tribute Bikes Honor Fallen Marines at Museum

Beautiful.

That describes it all, beautiful bikes, beautiful day, beautiful visit at the Museum. I played guest on Saturday, one of my rare chances to roam the museum and not feel like a slacker.

The bike I'd like to tell you about first was designed by Lawrence Tremblay in honor of his son Joey and three other Marines from 3/25, 4th Battalion who lost their lives in Iraq. I talked to Mr. Tremblay briefly. I wish I had read the information on this bike prior to my visit because I would have paid more attention to the details that have been lovingly put into this machine.

I caught the general designs such as the eagle clutching the banner in its claws and the images of the four fallen Marines.

But I missed the details, such as the challenge coins placed in the foot rest, the Marine Corps buttons from a dress uniform going up the tube (located under the gas tanks for all us non-biking readers) and the non-commissioned officer's sword acting as the suicide shifter. If you click on the first photo of this bike, you will be taken to my flickr account where you can choose the size of the photo. If you choose original, you will notice these details. You can read more about the making of this piece of roaring art work (yes, Mr. Tremblay rides the bike in rides) at Marine Tribute Bike.

While this bike honors all 48 Marines lost during 4th Battalion's deployment in 2005, the featured Marines are Corporal Joseph Tremblay, Corporal Bryan J. Richardson, Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich and Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek.

Now, take a look at the some of the details on this Monster of a Bike It has a doubel gas tank and boy does its engine roar. When it was started up, it brought back childhood memories of my grandpa's boat, which sounded much the same.

Take a look at the 50 cal trim and the ammo box mounted on front - - and the hand grenade foot rests. This bike that just screams "Go ahead, make my day!", honors Sgt. Joshua Frazier.

More bikes in the morning! Its been an incredible weekend!

Mommy, can I meet a Marine?

A lady and her daughter came to the front desk of the museum this morning. The Marine politely asked how he could help them.

"We were looking at the pictures back there, and my daughter asked me, 'Mommy, can I meet a Marine?' so I brought her up here so she could meet a Marine."



Cpl Seymore knelt down and told her he had a son about her age and he asked her if she wanted to be a Marine when she grew up?

"No, I want to be a mommy."

We all got a good chuckle. Then she gave Seymore a big hug.

Celebrating Memorial Day the NMMC Way

Can I just tell you how excited I am about all the cool things going on at the museum this weekend!

Nothing special was planned in 2007, our "Shake Down Cruise", and our first Memorial Day. Memorial Day 2008 is a different story!

Docent Dave says "Visit the Museum You Magots!"

Saturday, the doors to the museum will open an hour early, yep at 0800 (8 a.m.) to welcome 500 plus bikers participating in Rolling Thunder on their way to DC. In addition to that, outside the museum entrance will be a display of custom-designed Marine Corps motorcycles. The bikes and the men who built these mechanical memorials honoring Marines will be on hand Saturday and Sunday.



This weekend also marks the opening of artist Tom Hubbard's traveling exhibit, "SEMPER FIDELIS: How I Met My Father". This exhibit will be located on the second deck of the musuem and is a multi-media show featuring 20 works of orginal art inspired by the artist's personal journey to learn about his father, a U.S. Marine killed in Vietnam. Hubbard traveled to Vietnam in 200 to trace his father's footsteps and documented the journey. His show will be on display at the Museum through July 7th.



In addition to these two special exhibits, take some time to visit the Global War on Terrorism gallery, the museum recently installed cases to include micro artifacts as well as an unmanned aerial vehicle. I've already shared with you, in an earlier post, these new additions to the GWOT gallery. I wonder if they have any new photographs? Throughout the year, the museum has rotated in "fresh" combat camera photos of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I think its going to be an amazing weekend full of photo opportunities and hearing new stories, all of which I'll share with you here.