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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
GySgt David Long US Marine Corps (1986-2000)
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MILITARY?
I've always been a military-enthusiast. As a young boy I'd look out for the "Army trucks" around the base as we drove past Dover, DE, hoping to get a glimpse of the green, tough-looking 5-tons. I loved the military equipment strewn about the bases. It all looked like it could  survive a war or something! I grew into a WWII enthusiast as a teen. I read every book I could get my hands on. I especially loved the weapons, guns, MGs, cannons, tanks, oh I loved tanks. I could ID a WWII era tank with just a glimpse, then tell you about its main gun, range, ammo types, armor thicknesses, etc. I played a lot of war games, board games back then. Avalon Hill's Panzer Leader/Blitz and Squad Leader. Now everything is electronic.
I come from a family of hunters and shooters. My brother and I had a BB gun range set up in our family basement. We'd shoot the hell out of everything we could and then take a big magnet and collect up all the "spent" BB's to re-shoot. Later, my brother reloaded shotgun ammo and I reloaded ammo for the many rifles and pistols we all fired. We were only allowed to have "sporting arms" back then. No semi-autos even. Dad stressed one-shot, one kill. I'd get bored with loading a particular cartridge and try to convince Dad to buy something different. We fired weapons ALL THE TIME. We hunted everything one could hunt. I just couldn't get enough.
I was a straight-A student all through school but Dad told me to forget about "going to college" and that I should "get a TRADE". I studied electronics in vo-tech school, graduated #1 but just wasn't into it.
WHAT WAS YOUR SERVICE CAREER PATH?
I knew better than to get inside one of those awesome tanks I loved so much. I knew that everything on the battlefield would have to try and take me out in a tank. So, the next best thing for me was to be a machine gunner (0331). I researched  data on the current MG in service, the M60 pig. I then gathered up 23 lbs of pipes and my barbells, taped them all together and kept them in my car. Most days after school I'd hump that "M60" on my shoulders all around the woods where I grew up hunting deer in PA. I was trying to toughen up for the service. Alas, when I reported to Infantry Training School after a lot of recruiter's assistance TDY, the 0331's were already filled for that class. I settled for 0311, basic rifleman, but always had an empty pit in my heart that could only be filled with cyclic rates of fire and belts of ammo.
I graduated ITS on Camp Gieger, dragged my seabags a few hundred yards down the road to report in to 2nd Bn, 8th Marines. I quickly worked my way up to fire-team leader then squad leader. Then we switched colors with 2/6 and soon after we got disbanded during the '89 draw-downs. I never understood the mentality behind disbanding a grunt unit but it worked out OK for me.
Most of us got sent to 2nd Light Armored Infantry Bn as "Scouts". So, I went back to fire-team leader again, but now riding around in the back of an LAV-25 and now I'm called a "Scout Team Leader". That was cool. Got sent to Panama in '89 on air alert. My unit wasn't on alert but I got volunteered to fill in for someone that was away on leave. My bride of 3 months hadn't even been on base yet and I had to call her to tell her where to pick up our car. I arrived in country as a scout where I was allowed to carry the M60 pig we had on board. I finally became a belt-fed warrior. I humped that pig in the Panama jungle, only not on my shoulder like I saw in the Vietnam film clips and how I practised in the hills of PA, but slung over my shoulder and ready to squeeze into something. That hunk of metal is MUCH heavier that way!
Halfway through the deployment my Lt went home on leave and I was 'promoted' to command his LAV-25 while he was gone. I liked being a crewman. The M242 Bushmaster is one helluva belt-fed beautiful 25 mm cannon. If you're into these kind of things I want to tell you that this gun is a sweet piece of technology. We didn't get to exchange rounds with the PDF but I did have a great time messing with them and measuring their responses. It was great just to ride around in an armored vehicle at free will in a foreign country with armed folks that didn't want us there. We contributed to the reconnaissance for the take-down of Noriega in "Just Cause" and later returned to Lejeune.
Upon return, I once again became a Scout Team Leader, riding around in the back. I got deployed right away on a Med float on the USS Saipan. We helped to secure the embassy in Liberia, where I landed with an ALICE pack full of M60 ammo for our machine-gunner and a couple of LAAWS. I also carried an M203 with the vest full of grenades. It was so hot the 46's couldn't carry but 8-10 of us. We secured the embassy and dug in outside the compound, ducking to avoid the AK fire between the warring tribes. I placed my M60 gunner in a hole covering the main dirt road leading up to the embassy and we prepared for the worse. Well, the ambassador saw that we had a rather nice perimeter but it was outside the compound, which we learned was a no-go. We were pulled back inside and later evacuated some 1600 folks out of that war-torn country.
 No sooner got back from that float and away we went to the Gulf in late '90. During our progress north toward the Kuwait/Saudi border, before the ground war started, I was bumped back up to 'Vehicle Commander' of another LAV-25. I was still amazingly inexperienced as a VC. I had never taken an LAV down range with MY crew and worked the firing tables together, ever. This is an important training ritual that hones the crew in fire commands and gunnery skills. I had only snuck along to the LAV range as a scout earlier and my crewman friend allowed me to palm the switch and fire a few 25 mm down range. We somehow managed to survive that war, after being shot at with everything from AKs to FROG-7 missiles. Yes! FROG-7's.
I moved up to Platoon Sergeant in 2nd LAI Bn but the corps 'needed' me to be a 'Platoon Guide' in a straight leg unit--1st Bn, 2nd Marines. I really was just an extra Sergeant, sort of like an Assistant Platoon Sergeant. I was once again just another trigger puller, carrying an M16. While on ship, I volunteered for duty as gunner on a Bushmaster mount. I regretted this every time the Navy rang a GQ drill, but I was loving the action on the finest of belt-feds.
After that tour of duty I hit the Drill Field and then Marine Combat Training Bn as a Platoon Commander and later as an Instructor. I ran the machine-gun and grenade ranges every day down at the K-ranges. I supervised thousands of rounds down range every day without incident. To this day, I can't look out over a field without seeing red tracers screaming down range. I loved every minute of it.
That's about it for my "path" as a rifleman/LAV crewman/ wantabe machine gunner.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT OPERATIONS? IF SO, COULD YOU DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH WERE SIGNIFICANT TO YOU?
I participated in many deployments and "real-world" operations in hot spots around the world. Panama in '89, Liberia in '90, the Gulf War in '91, and Somalia in '93. As infantrymen, that's what we all wanted to do, shoot the enemy and get our Combat Action Ribbons. So many ops  and somehow the "enemies" never met our rules-of-engagement criteria. The only place that I was allowed to fire back at the enemy was during the Gulf War. However, each one of those operations was instrumental in teaching me the experience and discipline I would later draw upon.
I was a vehicle commander (VC) of an LAV-25 during the Gulf War in '91, and the 3rd Platoon sergeant's wingman with Charlie Company, 2nd LAI Bn when we were given the pre-ground war mission to draw fire and deceive the Iraqi's. It worked. We were the Michaelangelo of Drawing Fire. Our little company of LAV's drew the attention of Saddam himself, who broadcast on Baghdad radio that the 2nd Marine Division was attacking in the vicinity of the dogleg in the Kuwait border. We were shelled mercilessly for three days (mortars, rockets, arty), trading fire with dug-in infantry and tanks at the edge of a thick minefield. A few of us VC's tried to blast our way through the minefield with our M240 pintle mount MG's but this doesn't work so well. Saddam sent everything he could at us but thanks to CAS, CIFS, a little Army arty and our own weapons, we held off the counter attacks until we were pulled off that mission to spearhead the actual breach in the minefield, many miles to the east. Then onward we went to help secure Kuwaiti International Airport along with the Army's Tiger Brigade.
We were told that the vicinity of our company's deception attack was an area where three different Iraqi brigades met. So, roughly, 144 of us men fought some 10,000 dug-in Iraqis. We incurred 14 WIA's from shrapnel (VT arty attacks), no KIA's, no lost LAV's (we did lose a LAAD team hummer to a direct hit from an enemy mortar round) and the Iraqi's lost some several thousand to our guns and coordinated fire. By the time the ground war started, our company was already battle-hardened.
The war continued and we moved on, but that deception operation was the most significant thing I'd ever been part of. I am immensely proud of those few days of hell and the fine Marines that fought there with me. We traded rounds with T-55's, T-62's and a slew of anti-aircraft guns from DshKs and KPV's and quad-ZPU's and even S60's (57 mm). We narrowly avoided SAGGER ATGM missiles and a continuous barrage of enemy mortar, rocket, and artillery shells but we succeeded in deceiving the enemy.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
During that deception operation I witnessed the obliteration of my best friend's LAV-25 while I re-armed and refueled behind the FEBA. I had just left him and the LT on the ridge, trading rounds with dug-in T-55's when an enormous blast and mushroom cloud filled the ridge. I saw a  huge, car- sized hunk of twisted metal get launched from the point where I last saw my friend. I called frantically on the company net, trying to reach him but heard nothing. Well, it wasn't him. It wasn't his LAV flying through the air. It was the huge shrapnel from a damn FROG-7 missile that struck my last position. No bull. When I got back up on the ridge, I followed my tracks in the sand back to my old spot and there's my buddy, in the bottom of a big-assed crater, with his tape measure out and measuring the remnants of a 6 foot circumference rocket sticking out of the hole, doing a shell report. That is one memory that plays again and again in my head, day and night. It was so surreal. It was absolutely unbelievable. Really, a FROG-7? I even hate to repeat this story because of that. But its all true and documented. It's not like the Iraqi's fired the missile at me or that they're even that accurate, but man that was unnerving. We all thought "what else are they willing to send at us?" I often wonder what those bulk fuel guys in the LVS behind the ridge thought about the whole ordeal. I was so glad to see that my friend and his crew did not get blown up like I thought I saw. I'd be willing to bet this is the only time US forces were fired at by the Russian made missiles (just a bit smaller than SCUDS). We were so damned lucky to survive.
WERE ANY OF THE MEDALS OR AWARDS YOU RECEIVED FOR VALOR? IF YES, COULD YOU DESCRIBE HOW THIS WAS EARNED?
A lot of us LAV folks received awards for valor during that op. Most were Navy Achievements and Navy Commendations with "V"s. My platoon commander won the Bronze Star right next to me, lazing those dug-in T-55's on the ridge for Cobra gunships that came to play, and our company  commander earned a Silver Star for his heroic "antics" on the battlefield. He was deep in the mix, all the time. Hell, at one point, my CO was out in front of me blasting Iraqi's and I was at the edge of their minefield!! It was inspiring to see one's commander get'n some too.
I was awarded a Navy Commendation for that mission but my driver, LCpl Jefferey Jones and gunner, Cpl Wood, did the dirty work. I was just trying to keep us all from getting blown up by tanks rounds. During that war we were shot at by nearly everything in the Threat arsenal and somehow we managed to not get dead. I remember kicking the DOWN lever on my turret seat that I was standing on, trying to get lower in the turret to avoid the VT artillery and rocket attacks and still be able to command my crew around the sandbox. Only, it was already all the way down!! Those were some scary times. In the movies, artillery rounds blow up and sound like a slowly developing "booooom" and heave dirt into the air. I found that in reality they sound more like a gigantic "CRACK", short and vicious-like. An old Camp Lejeune "Globe" article quotes our average incoming arty rounds as "every 6 seconds" but I don't remember any break in the action that long! We just had to keep moving to avoid the Fire For Effect. Nowadays we call it "shoot, move, and communicate", only back then it was more like "get shot at, defecate".
OF THE MEDALS, AWARDS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICES YOU RECEIVED, WHAT IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
Combat Action Ribbon.
When I reported into my first unit, 2/8, they had all been Beirut veterans. I lived in an open squad bay with "America's Battalion". My bunkee was a private with three rows of ribbons and a perpetual case of warm beer in his wall locker. It was  a tough crowd and those without a CAR were "Boots", no matter what the pay grade or the character. So, there was a lot of pressure to get some trigger time in. Remember, we were all volunteers who signed up for this sort of thing. We weren't drafted out of our civilian factory jobs. We wanted to be in combat (at least, until we WERE in combat).
I survived many operations before and after the Gulf, in foreign countries with a Condition One weapon and never got to fire any rounds because of ROE restrictions. Combat action was what we were in the Grunts for and I didn't join to get a nice uniform or college money. Hell, I didn't even sign up for the GI bill because I knew I'd probably die in combat.
When we finally got to heat up our guns in the Gulf, the cherry was broken, so to speak, and I was no longer a combat virgin. No, the Gulf war doesn't compare to WW2 or 'Nam but getting shot at and shelled is the same, no matter what country the bullets were made in.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL PERSON FROM YOUR SERVICE STANDS OUT AS THE ONE WHO HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
So many Marines have influenced my career and my life. From my DI's to my first fire-team leader and squad leader, and on. I had many outstanding leaders who impacted me greatly. Of them, the many company 1st Sergeants I had were all influential leaders. Each one was a pillar of stellar leadership that all could emulate. Each one taught me something about being a real Marine.
The Corps really does a good job in selecting the best folks to fill these important leadership positions. Why, because even guys like me need a good role model and an occasional ass-chewing.
CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE THAT WAS FUNNY AT THE TIME AND STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
One morning in the open squadbays of Gieger in 2/8, my company Gunny comes in as usual to roust the late risers and cause general mayhem among the hungover. He was a big man, Vietnam veteran, but a little dull around the edges. He came in the squadbay and says his usual "reveille, reveille, get up, get up! Is every one up?" some muffled voice pipes in "No Gunny, Morale ain't up". My company Gunny responds "Where Morale at, I'll get his ass up!"
No one ever explained it to the Gunny.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER THE SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT JOB?
When I got out I was in bad, bad shape. I got put out early with bad knees and a few other ailments. I went back to PA to work in a factory for a year but returned to Lejeune area for surgery. While healing up and needing some therapy  I decided to get involved with commercial crabbing on the local river, the New River. My wife and I crabbed and fished all around Camp Lejeune waters for seven long years. We did it all. We made our own crab pots, shed soft-shell crabs in a backyard aquaculture system I built, and we delivered seafood up and down the East coast.
It was a never-ending job. I sometimes made three different trips on the river, flounder fishing, crabbing, and running on mullet at night. But it was great to be around the base and to hear all the "training" that goes on there. I knew that job would not take me into retirement so I decided to get some school in me.
I went to school (Community College) thanks to the VA and got a little degree. While in class one day, one of my instructors announces a job opening on Camp Lejeune. I snatched it up with a quickness and even got my wife hired on as well. I managed a fleet of weather instruments spread out all over Camp Lejeune from stem to stern to support a large research project. That job is over now and I've moved on to yet another profession. I am now working as the assistant farm manager of a large tilapia production facility--raising tilapia for the Philly and NYC markets.
WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
I won a lifetime membership to the 2nd Mar Div Association for being Service Man of the Quarter back in the days. I've always been with units in the 2nd Marine Division and I love their motto "Lead, follow, or get out of the way".
I'm also a Life Member of the local DAV and a Member At Large of the VFW.
I don't attend any meetings and rarely even visit the cantina so I shouldn't even worry about deriving any benefits. You get what you put into these things. I haven't been able to put into much except making my own ends meet. Its selfish, I know, but out here in the world it's tough. There isn't anyone covering you while you reload.
HOW HAS MILITARY SERVICE INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND CAREER?
Well, hell, its the very fiber of my soul. Every single day I draw upon my discipline reserves to get through the next crisis. Civilians don't understand. I put 14 years of life into the infantry profession. I've led Marines in combat, I've made Marines in boot camp, but out  here it doesn't matter. I even got turned down for a job as security guard at the local college. Me. I've secured the shit out of many things in many climes and places but all that doesn't matter to a 23 year old civilian boss. Had I spent 14 years in academia I'd have at least a Masters Degree or PHD in SOMETHING. Instead I can run a company sized anti-armor ambush and set the head space and timing of a 50 cal MG in my sleep. I guess I just haven't been challenged like I was in the Corps.
Every single day I draw upon the discipline level that I achieved in places like Panama, Liberia, on Med Floats, in Okinawa, in combat, and on the Drill Field to get me through to the next pay day. I don't mean to sound like Rambo at the end of his movie but I'd like the new guys to understand that all that ooh-RAH stuff doesn't add up out here. You need skills.
That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Or, at least, that's what I keep telling myself. I have on tough occasions scribbled down notes to myself like "144 vs 10,000" reminding me that I made it through that hell, so I could make it through anything.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THOSE THAT ARE STILL SERVING?
 Our current Marines are being asked to sacrifice so much more than what I had to in my day. Every operation is different and every new enemy is a new challenge to our warriors. If I were allowed to give them advice it would be this:
Be strong. When you're called upon to lead, lead well. Live by the leadership traits and principles. Respect yourself and your fellow Marines and never, never, forget why you do the job you do. The Marine Corps' history is chock full of warriors who managed to rise to the occassion. Don't rely on their reputation to get you through your crisis. Make your OWN history!
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU MAINTAIN A BOND WITH YOUR SERVICE AND THOSE YOU SERVED WITH?
 When I got out of the Corps I went from a band of brothers to just ME. I had no contact with any former comrades for years and years. I stumbled upon TWS and made contact with the only real friends I've ever had. I've also learned that I am NOT alone and there are thousands of folks, you're one of them, who have been through tough times too.
It was one helluva ride and I'm immensely proud to have served. I'm hoping to attend some reunions here soon!
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survive a war or something! I grew into a WWII enthusiast as a teen. I read every book I could get my hands on. I especially loved the weapons, guns, MGs, cannons, tanks, oh I loved tanks. I could ID a WWII era tank with just a glimpse, then tell you about its main gun, range, ammo types, armor thicknesses, etc. I played a lot of war games, board games back then. Avalon Hill's Panzer Leader/Blitz and Squad Leader. Now everything is electronic.
data on the current MG in service, the M60 pig. I then gathered up 23 lbs of pipes and my barbells, taped them all together and kept them in my car. Most days after school I'd hump that "M60" on my shoulders all around the woods where I grew up hunting deer in PA. I was trying to toughen up for the service. Alas, when I reported to Infantry Training School after a lot of recruiter's assistance TDY, the 0331's were already filled for that class. I settled for 0311, basic rifleman, but always had an empty pit in my heart that could only be filled with cyclic rates of fire and belts of ammo.
No sooner got back from that float and away we went to the Gulf in late '90. During our progress north toward the Kuwait/Saudi border, before the ground war started, I was bumped back up to 'Vehicle Commander' of another LAV-25. I was still amazingly inexperienced as a VC. I had never taken an LAV down range with MY crew and worked the firing tables together, ever. This is an important training ritual that hones the crew in fire commands and gunnery skills. I had only snuck along to the LAV range as a scout earlier and my crewman friend allowed me to palm the switch and fire a few 25 mm down range. We somehow managed to survive that war, after being shot at with everything from AKs to FROG-7 missiles. Yes! FROG-7's. 
and somehow the "enemies" never met our rules-of-engagement criteria. The only place that I was allowed to fire back at the enemy was during the Gulf War. However, each one of those operations was instrumental in teaching me the experience and discipline I would later draw upon.
huge, car- sized hunk of twisted metal get launched from the point where I last saw my friend. I called frantically on the company net, trying to reach him but heard nothing. Well, it wasn't him. It wasn't his LAV flying through the air. It was the huge shrapnel from a damn FROG-7 missile that struck my last position. No bull. When I got back up on the ridge, I followed my tracks in the sand back to my old spot and there's my buddy, in the bottom of a big-assed crater, with his tape measure out and measuring the remnants of a 6 foot circumference rocket sticking out of the hole, doing a shell report. That is one memory that plays again and again in my head, day and night. It was so surreal. It was absolutely unbelievable. Really, a FROG-7? I even hate to repeat this story because of that. But its all true and documented. It's not like the Iraqi's fired the missile at me or that they're even that accurate, but man that was unnerving. We all thought "what else are they willing to send at us?" I often wonder what those bulk fuel guys in the LVS behind the ridge thought about the whole ordeal. I was so glad to see that my friend and his crew did not get blown up like I thought I saw. I'd be willing to bet this is the only time US forces were fired at by the Russian made missiles (just a bit smaller than SCUDS). We were so damned lucky to survive. 
commander earned a Silver Star for his heroic "antics" on the battlefield. He was deep in the mix, all the time. Hell, at one point, my CO was out in front of me blasting Iraqi's and I was at the edge of their minefield!! It was inspiring to see one's commander get'n some too.
I decided to get involved with commercial crabbing on the local river, the New River. My wife and I crabbed and fished all around Camp Lejeune waters for seven long years. We did it all. We made our own crab pots, shed soft-shell crabs in a backyard aquaculture system I built, and we delivered seafood up and down the East coast. 
here it doesn't matter. I even got turned down for a job as security guard at the local college. Me. I've secured the shit out of many things in many climes and places but all that doesn't matter to a 23 year old civilian boss. Had I spent 14 years in academia I'd have at least a Masters Degree or PHD in SOMETHING. Instead I can run a company sized anti-armor ambush and set the head space and timing of a 50 cal MG in my sleep. I guess I just haven't been challenged like I was in the Corps. 
