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Usmc Personal Narrative

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I was in the Marine Corps serving under Third battalion Eleventh marines Mike Battery in Twenty-Nine Palms California from 2009-2013. What our unit did was put rounds down range, oorah. We were an artillery battery, think modern day cannons. As far as twenty-nine palms all you have to imagine is sand in a five hundred square foot mile area. My job as Ammo chief was to insure the safe handling and transportation of hundred pound high explosive bombs. On one partially long training exercise I was instructed to take my marines and four ‘7-ton’ trucks and go to the rear to load up with more ammo. No problem, I’ve done this before but on this occasion when I was going to return the battery would have moved positions. So they gave me the grid number …show more content…

It is important to say that the HUMVEE had its own agenda and was not part of the resupply of ammo and it is also more important to the story to say that it had the map and radio. Getting to the FASP was easy, I’ve been there hundreds of times and after a certain amount of driving the closer you get to “home” the more terrain you recognize. Once at the FASP I do what I get paid to do, load up and strap down High Explosives. This is where the plot thickens. The Driver of the HUMVEE having his own agenda took one of my marines because he needed him and goes away to do whatever mission he had to do. So including myself I’m down to seven marines. After we finished loading up we stage the trucks getting ready to head out. So after a quick SITREP (review our gear and situation.) We realize that we are an A-driver down, we have no radio or map, its hours away from being dark, and the best part is we don’t even have close to enough gas to get there. These are 7-ton trucks strapped with about 16,000 …show more content…

is “mission accomplishment.” Above anything else accomplish the mission. Seeing how I’m in charge it lies with me to get the Ammo to the Battery tonight. Knowing I can’t sit around and twiddle my thumbs it’s time to move but first thing is first, I bow my head on the spot and say a very popular prayer I say, “Lord see me through this, amen.” Huddled up with my marines they ask me “what is the plan Mangan?” I say to them “well first thing is first, we a’int going anywhere without fuel.” On que like a scene out of a movie a gas tanker comes rolling into the FASP and with the voice of an angel he says, “Does anyone need Gas?” The irony of it is that Gas Tanker comes once a month to fill up a couple of generators. I tell him our conundrum that we’re in and he hooks it up with enough gas to at least have a dreamer’s chance of wondering through the desert at night in hopes of finding our battery. Fortune has it that my sergeant was big on making me learn the map of 29 Palms so I at least knew what direction to aim for. I confidently tell my Marines that I know the general direction and we’re going to go find the highest ground and survey the area with hopes of seeing our battery (and also hope we don’t accidently drive through a live fire Range and blow up and die, that was somewhat on our

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