Really? Seriously?

[BlueCollarMama]

So I have this friend whose husband's a Helo Mech (I can't remember which one he works on though) and his squadron's about to start work ups they just don't know where they're going yet. Well she was going on and on this weekend about how worried she was, which is a typical wife reaction, and in another typical wife reaction I tried to calm her down by saying 'don't worry he'll be fine' (exact words, no lie!).

Well for some reason she decides that Im downplaying the amount of danger her husband was going to be in just because my husband is a Grunt and procedes to give me a lecture about it. Im not going to go into her exact words because it'll make my blood boil again and that's not really in anyone's interest that has to interact with me today LOL. The jist of it was she doesn't understand why Grunts get special treatment just because they were too stupid to get a real job in the Corps and have to be the ones kicking in the doors and getting shot at. Likewise she didn't understand where these bullet sponges (exact words) got off being 'glory hounds' and deciding that because they have to be target practice that they're better then everyone else!

The first thing I told her was that my husband's GT score on his ASVAB was better then her husbands and that meant My Gunner could've gotten any job in the Marine Corps that he wanted it just so happened that he chose to be Infantry, and the same is true for alot of Grunts. To which she responded with since they chose to be Grunts then they deserved whatever they got and their family members just needed to suck it up and deal with the fact that they're in more danger then everyone else and hung up in my ear.

Well excuse me but where does she get off telling me that my husband deserves to die just because he's Infantry? And he deserves to relive every single minute of combat he's been in for the rest of his life and he deserves to watch his buddies get ripped apart, and the wives of those buddies need to suck up the fact that their kids have to grow up without their daddy just because he was a Grunt.

Well screw that! Ok she should be damn glad that those men CHOOSE to be the ones doing those things for jerks like her that they'll never meet in their lives. She should be glad that those men volunteer for such jobs because if they didn't then there would be a draft still in effect which means that her sons and mine would be volun-told (yes that's an offical Marine Corps term LOL) to do those jobs. Maybe she should just be happy the grunts are on our side, being the first hand accountants of the unspeakables of war on our behalf!

As far as the superiority complex EVERY MARINE HAS ONE! There's not a Marine in this Corps that doesn't say 'my job's the best' and then goes onto whatever reasons he has to think that way (except maybe bulk fuelers, Trever says he's never met a bulk fueler who didn't talk about switching jobs). It just so happens that Grunts make up the majority of the Marine Corps and that means you're more apt to hear Grunts going on about how awesome they are!

And wives are the same way! We all want to believe that our Marine is the best professional ass kicker the Corps has EVER had! No matter if all he does is push a pencil in an Admin office for 4 years, but the fact is we can't wear their titles anymore then we can wear their ranks and wives that do it (like the friend Im venting about here) are the ones that push their husbands way too hard. They lose sight of everything there is about their husband but the uniform.

And maybe she should be happy that her husband is behind the wire and doesn't have to deal with things mine does on a daily basis, in a theater of operations or here at home. I wouldn't wish the things my husband has to deal with on my worse enemy, or his, but in the words of my husband 'It's who we are, it's what we do'.

Anyway, my last words to her (if she reads this) is sit down and shut the hell up because the grunts are on call and the situation's well in hand! OOH-RAH!

[Darlinree]

Jun. 15, 2009 at 10:32 AM

Beautifully put, dear!  She's prob just under a lot of stress and decided to take it out on her friend but nonetheless she is wrong.  All of our men are important and at some point in time their life will not be safe.  We need to uphold one another as military wives.  Not stress each other out!