My Marine son Matt has just been selected for Gunnery Sergeant!

[GoneBallistic]

Senior NCO ranks start at SSgt. in the Marine Corps

[Guest TankerHC]

Senior NCO ranks start at SSgt. in the Marine Corps

 

Sure do. I had to check that, reason being Marine Corps and Army Tankers all attend the same schools. Have served with (And trained) plenty of Marine Tankers. For some reason, MC Tankers fall under the same (or did) regulations as Army in the Armor Branch. In order to attend ANCOC you have (Or had) to be either in a Promotable Status or already wearing SFC or Gunnery Sergeant Rank. DoD states the reason for SSG in the Staff NCO Ranks is because of the size of the branch. Either way they also do dilineate the maor difference in responsibility in the MC when moving into the Gunnery Sergeant rank.

 

The most famous Drill to ever pass through Knox (The Armor Schoolhouse before it was moved to Benning last year) is not an Army Drill, but Gunny LaRue. He was assigned there in the late 70's and into the early 80's and was there when I went through. I dont know any Tankers pre 78 or so up to today who had not had the "pleasure" of running into him, or had heard of him. He was a VN Vet and the only Drill I saw at Knox who carried a 1911 on his belt everywhere he went. LaRue turned himself into a Fort Knox legend.  When we first got to Knox and marched up to Disney Barracks, had our in briefing the Drills told us they would not be yelling and screaming at us, (A lie) and told us they would not be laying a finger on us because the rules had changed (Another lie). We were told about Gunny LaRue, Stay the F___ away from him and if you do run into him, it's yes Gunny and No Gunny and thats it. We weren't allowed to have alcohol (Only Milk and Water) for the first 8 weeks, or cigarettes. After 4 weeks we got our first one day on post pass. Bunch of us decided to go up to the Shopette and sit outside, smoke and drink pitchers of beer. We were still required to always wear our helmet liners, which indicated we had not yet reached phase 3. That day was the single worst day of my military career and the first time I ever met a Gunnery Sergeant. Got up from the picnic table, put on my helmet liner and headed back inside the shopette to get more beer and ran dead into Gunny Larue. He stepped in front of me and asked me if I was with "those guys over there drinking beer". When I said "Yea" he asked "Where's your soft cap?" and I said we were in Phase 1 and had to wear the liner, he then said something about not drinking beer in Phase 1 when I said, in all of my Trainee Dumbazzery "I didnt join the Marines" and started to walk around him. Just "I didnt join the Marines", no "Yes Gunny, no Gunny" no nothing. Apparently Gunny Larue had not got the memo about not kicking a trainees ass, he had also "apparently" not got the memo that said if your going to do it, dont do it in a public place, in the wide open where everyone and God can see you doing it, and he didnt get that other memo that said someone might give a s__t if he did, because apparently no one in the Chain of Command gave a s___t based on the end result.  That first open handed slap across the side of my head with those meathooks is probably what caused my current short term memory loss, the remainder was similar to the Terrence Hill bar scene in the Western "My name is Nobody". Im sure after he "Put my d___ in the dirt" and spent the next 20 minutes standing on my back while attempting to make me do 4 count pushups (I didnt do any), is partially responsible for my back pain 32 years later. And the half hour azz chewing that followed wasnt all that fun either, because Larue also didnt get the "no cussing and screaming at the trainees" memo either. And of course that only led up to stepping out in formation on Monday morning to see LaRue standing there talking to my Drills (Thiede and Brandt) which of course led to more yelling and screaming and cursing (My Drills read the memo, but apparently felt no need to follow it).

 

That was the first AND LAST time I ever outright disrespected a Gunnery Sergeant or any SNCO for that matter, or ANY NCO as far as that goes. I have met a lot of Army E-7's who didnt deserve to be called Sergeant First Class and some Navy E-7's who didnt deserve the title "Chief", but I know and have worked with quite a few Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeants (My ANCOC Senior instructor was a Gunny) and can honestly say few of those guys did not deserve that title. (Of course there were a few, but few).

 

Congratulations again.

[QuietDan]

Thanks to all for the kind remarks. As a retiree, I'd like to think the services have been left in capable hands. God Bless you all for serving and continuing to serve.

[tnhawk]

Congrats!

[GoneBallistic]

Hahaha good story Tanker! :up: