The Adventures of Specops

Posted by specopssv44

What up VGC! Im back, well back in Japan at least until january when this deployment gets wrapped up and we go back to Pendelton to prep for our next excursion into various armpits of the world.
THIRD WORLD NATIONS (in general): The first thing youll notice is theres trash, stary dogs and cats everywhere, and houses built out of usually absurd (but often creative) combinations of manmade and natural materials. Alot of people, seem to have nothing to really do all day. They sit around, and sleep. Other people, however, sell stuff on the street or in large, outdoor ****ed up versions of malls. There is usually a few people you can spot who are obviously well off, but everyone else is poverty stricken. The standard of living in these places is shoking at best...... that being said...
LIFE IN THE PI: The philipines. A nation locked in civil war, poverty stricken, and completley covered in the crappyness that is the jungle. We operated with filipino Marines (PI Marines, BTW are some tough mother****ers). We lived with them in a jungle and they taught us how to survive. The most usefull thing we learned from them was how to keep the ******* mosquitoes away by using the smoke from certain palms and dried up co-conut shells. In exchange we showed them the most effective ways to engage an enemy force, set up ambushes, patrol, and secure an objective. We also conducted littoral (waterways) Patrolling on our CRRCs with the PI Marines.
Once our operations were complete we went north to a More secure Island and got a day and a half off in Subic bay. The people are very friendly, many of them speak english, and everything is rediculously cheap. A steak and 5 beers cost me about 4 dollars.
MARINES BACK IN CHINA: After we finished up with operation talon vision in the PI we made a PR Trip to JahnJing, Peoples Republic of China. We were the first American Marines to set foot in communist china seince WWII. We had a formal reception with the chinese Marines, and were allowed 3 days of liberty in their city. Ive partied in Japan, and The Phillipines, but honestly china was the most fun. Its strange because there were parts of the city that reminded me of America, they even had a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut(both were swarmed by Marines). THere was a huge mall (and again everything was dirt cheap) and vendors everywhere trying to sell everything from dog meat, to DVDs, to pet rabbits. But there were parts of the city that were absolutly trashed. And as far as I can tell there are apparently no traffic laws or crosswalks whatsoever.
There was a serious language barrier, hardly anyone spoke english at all. And we were the center of everyones attention when we walked around because most of these people had never before seen an American in real life.
Like I said **** was cheap so we all bought like brad pitt status, 3 peice suits. It was pretty funny and all these people wanted to take pictures with us.
Chinas culture is very different from ours. Dancing, apparently is semi-forbidden, drinking is frowned upon, and tattoos are more taboo than they are in America (to my surprise)
LIFE ON SHIP: Sucks. Image being stuck in a hallway with 25 other people, roughly 90 degrees with no AC staked 5 high in "coffin Racks" (our beds) for weeks on end with nothing to do except realize how much this sucks.....
Overall had some good times, some bad times, some scary times and some boring times. I learned alot and saw more of the world than many people I know back home ever will. Im a stronger person and a Better Marine for it.... but Im tired and ready to go home in January... Spec-out!!

Some of the houses in the PI
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/phill091.jpg[/IMG]

Us on a littoral Patrol in a CRRC in the PI
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/phill157.jpg[/IMG]

My platoon getting ready to Boardship in September
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki158.jpg[/IMG]

Home sweet home... USS JUNEAU
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki163.jpg[/IMG]
Alot of the time we slept on the floor cause for some reason it was cooler down there
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki217.jpg[/IMG]

On our way to a raid on a small Island off the coast of Palawan, PI.
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/phill176.jpg[/IMG]

Me in Subic bay on libo, with roughly the equivilant to $40 in my hands haha
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/chinajahnxing019.jpg[/IMG]

Sunset off the coast of South China
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki258.jpg[/IMG]

Me, with the suit and some random people that worked at the mall (yes, semi drunk)
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/chinajahnxing002.jpg[/IMG]

Me on our way back to the peir after our last patrol
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/phill159.jpg[/IMG]

Me and the USS JUNEAU, Whilte Beach, Okinawa Japan
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki162.jpg[/IMG]

....So yeah im back. If you got questions lemme know. Hope you enjoy some of the pics!

Posted by Stalolin

How'd you manage communication in China with very few of the population speaking English?

Or did you just barter/ignore those that didn't speak English?

Posted by specopssv44

Quoting Stalolin: How'd you manage communication in China with very few of the population speaking English?

Or did you just barter/ignore those that didn't speak English?


We learned how to say some basic things Like "hello", "Yes/no", and "go away". Some of the more well off appearing people usually know a little broken english because they can afford to go to schools where it is taught, but they are very shy about it and will usually only try and speak english to you after you try and speak cantonese to them, alot of times wed say "how are you" to people (in what must have seemed to them very poor and broken cantonese), and I think once they saw us butchering a language they didnt feel so bad about giving it a try themselves. The few people that I was able to talk to were very friendly for the most part.... but otherwise the best way to overcome the language barrier was gestures or pointing to something... it was a pain in the *** but a good experience.
Posted by higbvuyb

So, what did you spend your time doing on the ship, to counter the boredom?
Do you actually smoke? If so, quit, like now, because lung cancer isn't very nice.
What are those pod things on the side of the ship?
Did you get into any sort of combat?
Do you like your haircut?
What was the best thing you did there?
What facilities are there on board your ship?
What type of ship is it?

Posted by specopssv44

Quoted post:
Quoted post: So, what did you spend your time doing on the ship, to counter the boredom?

A few things 1) Listen to all 3549 songs on my ipod. 2) Read, and re-read the october issue of maxim magazine 3) Harass the navy 4) Think about every single thing that ever happened to you in the past, and then plan the rest of your life down to the day and way oneself is most likely to die. 5) Discuss every sexual encounter in excruciating detail with every other Marine trapt in the belly of the beast with you. 6) Try and figure out WTF you ate for lunch REALLY was. 7) try and figure out what that ****ing smell is and who/where it came from... 8)Go to the o-2 deck and smoke your precious few cigarettes away

Quoted post: Do you actually smoke? If so, quit, like now, because lung cancer isn't very nice

Yes, a pack a day time permitting... not gonna happen dude, we all smoke, its the only thing that keeps us semi-sane.

Quoted post: What are those pod things on the side of the ship?

When the ship sinks, and were all like "wtf mate jump overboard!", those things fall off the side, and theres like a little sting sticking out of it, you pull the string and bam, a 25-person raft equipped with survival gear pops out and automatically inflats so we can climb inside and hope a plane finds us and picks us up before we start to starve and have to start eating navy dudes to survive...


Quoted post: Did you get into any sort of combat?

Its hairy. we had a couple situations on an island, but we were there as advisors to the PI marines. I destroyed a little hut, that was cool.

Quoted post: Do you like your haircut?

Yes, but not the one in the picture, I usually have a really short flat top, but onship we dont have barber shops, we cut our hair every week in the bathroom with a ****ty pair of rusty clippers, so I usually just left the **** ontop to avoid additional pain/to save time

Quoted post: What was the best thing you did there?

Help the PI Marines become better warriors, theyre some tough dudes and theyve got their hands full with this civil war. Id go to battle with them anyday, their Corps is modled after ourown.

Quoted post: What facilities are there on board your ship?

Messdeck (Big room where everyone eats. A small library room (doubles as a church and breifing room), a small room with some handweigts in it (gym).

Quoted post: What type of ship is it?

Its called an "LPD", dont ask me what that stands for. Its designed to carry a force of Marines to a given place, and launch an amphibious assult force. The ship basically has a big tailgate in the back that opens up and lets some water in this big *** room in the middle of the ship called the well deck, inside sits a smaller ship that can carry anything from a ****load of marines, to humvees to artillery, to tanks ashore.... Think of the well deck as a bigass garage with a door that opens up to the ocean. Uptop they have a small flight deck that can support helo, and harrier operations, at any given time we had between 2 and 6 CH-46 Helicopters onboard the ship.
Posted by Bebop

That sunset is crap. That is all.

Posted by specopssv44

Quoting Bebop: That sunset is crap. That is all.

well its the best I could do with my cheap digital camera I bought at the PX... sorry im not a photographer.
Posted by Bebop

I don't blame you. I blame the universe. And China.

Posted by KoH

I think the sunset's pretty **** cool. Although, yeah, not the best picture I've seen.

Btw, specops is now THE most savage member here at VGC.

Posted by specopssv44

haha thanks.... yeah im no photographer. I saw alot of **** I wish I couldve taken pictures of, but pictures wouldnt really do half of it any justice anyways.

Posted by specopssv44

time for another pic!... This is me in a patrol base in the freakin jungle rougly 4 hours before we left to attempt an L-Shaped Ambush (which we butchered badly because its dark as **** in the jungle at night and NVGs are about useless.... anyways yeah...
[IMG]http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m311/specopssv44/oki035.jpg[/IMG]

Posted by Captain Cleanoff

Nice. When you get back, hit up San Diego so you can chill with me and Corrupt, since those Simi losers forgot to wake me up for your graduation from basic.

Posted by specopssv44

Ill take you up on that, and likewise I insist that you come to my welcome home mandatory crunk-fest. yes, thats right I said it.... "CRUNK-FEST"... Our going away "crunk-fest" was pretty badass, there was like 150 people crammed into my backyard, and we had construced a beer bong that was so big we hung it from my little brothers window on the second story and moved one of the kegs up into his room to keep the beer bong of doom flowing haha

Posted by Captain Cleanoff

Haha, now that my truck is getting its problems fixed, I might take you up on that if I can get time off work. My truck has more issues than most women.

Posted by specopssv44

Quoted post: My truck has more issues than most women.

Haha, not possible my friend, *****es are indeed the shadiest of creatures.
Posted by Captain Cleanoff

My truck is a Ford, therefore for a chick to have more issues than my truck, she would have to have been raped 15 times, and never been to therapy, and then gotten divorced from abusive men 4 times on top of that :P

Posted by Omni

Quoting Captain Cleanoff: My truck is a Ford, therefore for a chick to have more issues than my truck, she would have to have been raped 15 times


I don't wanna know, and yet I kinda do wanna know...
Posted by Captain Cleanoff

Quoting Stone Cold Crazy: I don't wanna know, and yet I kinda do wanna know...

Like I said, it's a Ford... that's pretty much all you need to know.

At least it's not a Dodge, though. No woman could top that one.