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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| USS John Murtha, LPD-26 - A Jonah Ship |
| 2010-04-14 |
| The Navy's 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock will be named for Rep. John Murtha, the long-serving Pennsylvania Democrat who chaired the powerful House appropriations defense subcommittee before he died in February. According to a Navy memorandum obtained by Navy Times, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus notified Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead that he had selected “John P. Murtha' for the previously unnamed LPD 26. It's the latest example of the Navy breaking a convention for naming its warships; the previous ships in the San Antonio class have been named for American cities. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #14 SS Mutha could be crewed by the navigator & helmsman from the USS Hartford... Eh, a joke's a joke. We don't really want the Marines & sailors to incur injury to more than their pride that will serve on board, do we? I think an appropriate persistent protest & insult to the man's name & legacy would be to never refer to her other than by her designation: LPD26. |
| Posted by: logi_cal 2010-04-14 23:32 |
| #13 Bart's amphibious experience was swimming in a Coachella Valley irrigation canal in his underwear. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-04-14 22:56 |
| #12 Bart, killing in combat isn't what you think it is. At least not in my experience. You do get visits from ghosts later in life. You also adjust. Rambo was just a movie. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-04-14 20:35 |
| #11 If she lives |
| Posted by: Mike 2010-04-14 14:34 |
| #10 I have a suggestion for the perfect Captain for the S.S. Mutha, Joseph Hazelwood. |
| Posted by: Flaper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 2010-04-14 14:19 |
| #9 As to Basilone being anything but a Marine, I recommend reading "Hero of the Pacific - The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone" written by Jim Brady. FYI Jim Brady died, suddenly and unexpectedly, the day after completing that book |
| Posted by: ~dnt 2010-04-14 13:44 |
| #8 There's the minor problem that doing that increases the chance of infection; humans typically have a lot of oral bacteria. We do it because we're too stupid not to. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-04-14 11:21 |
| #7 There's a big difference between being trained to kill -- and doing so when ordered -- and being a murderer. Choirboy or not choirboy doesn't enter into it. Any soldier who becomes a murderer, killing innocents for fun or impulse instead of killing enemy bad guys in order to win the engagement/battle/war, needs to be locked up, same as we would a civilian with like drives. It doesn't matter whether the soldier likes killing or has simply become hardened to the work, it's only when he/she deliberately kills innocent civilians that it is a concern. Surely you don't think all Marines are rabid killers barely leashed by their officers, BlackBart, unfit for the company of humans... or even just a significant number of them? If so, how did you dare go to sleep, knowing that any one of your mates might decide the annoyance of your snores merited a garrote in the middle of the night -- the actuality, not the mere impulse that even I have felt? As for why we put a cut finger in our mouth, that is instinct left over from before soap and antiseptics were invented... the same reason whelping dogs lick their newborn pups clean: to reduce the chance of infection. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-14 10:33 |
| #6 "USS Mutha"? Done! one vote from 1st Battalion, 7th, Alpha Company. 1st MARDIV We had an Officer who drove a Cadillac. We stripped it and put it up on bricks. You cant lead if the men wont follow you. And we wouldnt have followed that pogue across the street and into a whorehouse. I still remember his name...we called him Capt. Mutha. How many of you know where "Skid Row" is at Quantico? Its the place even the Ice Cream truck didnt go. How would you like to be the Captain of Skid Row? What would you have to do to become Captain there? We had four murders there that year. They teach you to kill and then get upset when you do. And if you want killers sometimes you get them. And in wartime they come home and then where do you put them? Murtha called ALL Marines "cold blooded killers"...and we Americans resented that, even some Marines resented that. Its was unfair to Marines and unfair to America. And , quite rightly, Murtha was a piece of sh*t. That being said: What do you think Basilone really was, a choirboy? And after you begin killing there ARE a percentage of men who develope a taste for it. Impossible, right? And something unique about killing...you get in and then you cant get out. Try it sometime and see if its easy to wash it off..and eventually you just have to live with the taste of it when you lick your lips. The sweet iron taste, salty and you move your tongue around inside your mouth and then pick some up with your hand and taste that too. Human blood. Never happens, right? Impossible, yeah? What if you were a bigger perve than Murtha? And he was what he was. And some are worse. A smart sleazy politician who wouldnt stop at anything and was cunning enough to succeed at it and climb as high as he did. Not a smiling smart deceptive old thug who hides it well...and sits in the park eating a peanut butter&jelly sandwich and apple slices. Human blood, you never forget the taste. Ever cut your finger and immediately ( without thinking) put your finger into your mouth and suck at the blood? WHY do you do that? |
| Posted by: BlackBart 2010-04-14 08:42 |
| #5 I view it another way. The proposed naming of LPD-26 is simply a long awaited and visible reminder of Murtha's departure. In twenty or thirty years, it will be gone as well. I hope this helps others. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-14 08:29 |
| #4 Disgusting. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2010-04-14 08:19 |
| #3 I predict an affectionate moniker by the Marines for the ship: "SS Mutha" |
| Posted by: logi_cal 2010-04-14 07:11 |
| #2 Wonder how the contingent of Marines will like serving on that ship. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-04-14 04:11 |
| #1 Well, moose, it always taste better going back down the second time. What a sorry man to name any vessel after. |
| Posted by: newc 2010-04-14 02:12 |