Page 11 - Aerotech News and Review, April 20 2018

GUNNY, from 10
ing it again, I quickly understood its appeal to generations of Marines. It was the stuff of the Grail Legend.
The interview captured a golden moment. In that narrow sliver of time in 2000, we were not really at war anywhere, except for a low-intensity air campaign we waged to keep Saddam Hus- sein in his box. That would change with 9/11, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, the 3,000 dead.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, my son shouted for me to come downstairs. Still in bath- robe, I spotted the smoke coming out of Tower One, and the second jetliner descending purpose- fully to hit Tower Two. That act changed life in- alterably, for so many of us.
not too old.”
I agreed with him about that, and said I thought
one, or both, of us would wangle a way to get there.
For me, it was not so much that I wanted to go to war, or wage war. I did want to follow the flag and be with the troops. I did want to tell the story of this war because we had a National Guard unit with many of its soldiers from the Antelope Val- ley, along with Riverside and Sacramento. They would be the first California National Guard unit deployed to the Iraq War. The name “Operation Iraqi Freedom” was not even announced until
these citizen soldiers were half-way through de- ployment training.
I was their embedded reporter, and as prior ser- vice, Army paratrooper, it was like going home after a quarter century. And home would be in the cab of a 90-ton truck designed to carry M-1A Abrams tanks. The training, the Guard doggies and me, went on for more than a month. On a pit stop home I asked “Gunny” if he would visit these soldiers — about 190 men, and 30-plus women — before they flew to Kuwait en route to Iraq where statues of Saddam Hussein were being pulled down.
“Let’s go,” Ermey said. And off we went in a rented Mustang.
did everyone else.
The hell of it was that after we landed in Ku-
wait, with its gray fog of sand storming through waves of 120-degree heat, the Gunny caught up with us about a week later. He showed up to en- tertain the troops. When a couple of MPs in the headquarters tent heard about his pending visit, they shouted “The Gunny’s coming! The Gunny’s coming!”
They gushed this while they locked arms in an Irish jig, and danced while reciting the “Full Metal Jacket” D.I. harangue word for word. Yes, they did that.
For Ermey, by then even more famous with his “Mail Call” cable TV show, it was the first of a number of trips he made out to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifteen years later, I can actually say the Gunny and me were war buddies. What a fortunate association.
That’s what I remember. I remember a man who was fortunate in securing a career as a real- life “Hollywood Marine,” but who was gener- ous with that good fortune, and who would hitch a ride — because he could — half-way around the world to mingle with the troops. It is what Marines, and all their brothers and sisters in the other services, refer to as “having heart.” He was Gunny Hartman. He was “The Gunny,” and we all feel a loss where that hard-charging presence used to be.
So far as I could see, anyone who ever received a handshake, a selfie, a signed hat or book, or ac- tion figure thought they were his best friend. And that was an unselfish gift that he gave in return for his good fortune.
As Gunny Hartman said, “You may die, but the Corps will live on forever.” That’s a Gunny legacy for you. “Semper Fi. Do, or Die!”
Ermey was my first phone call, while I was still in my bathrobe, reaching for note pad and pen. His response was Marine Corps simple, and direct.
“We’re at war,” he told me. “We’re going to have to go and get those sonsabitches, no ifs, ands, or buts.” That was one of our front- page columns in the Valley Press that fated day.
My son, following his own true North compass, decided to join the Marine Corps, influenced princi- pally by Ermey.
After 9/11, our paths would cross, at a chili cook off, a veterans’ event, a Toys for Tots promotion.
When the Iraq War launched, with the Afghanistan campaign al- ready in its second year, Ermey said to me in a disconsolate tone, “They don’t want us to go, Andy. They say we’re too old. Hell’s bells, we are
Courtesy photograph
Officers in command at Camp Roberts were, if anything, more starstruck than the troops. A con- summate diplomat, the gunny gifted them with some of his Full Metal Jacket action figures — the G.I. Joe-sized “mini me” of the gunny that would spout his salty drill field sayings at the push of a button (numb nuts!).
Ermey spent the bet- ter part of a day with the Guard soldiers of the 1498th Transportation Co. He signed every au- tograph, raffled action fig- ures, shot t-shirts out of a launcher, and any Marine who had joined the Guard just got misty posing for photographs with him. So
Pastor Paul Chappell
Call us today at (760) 955-8200
Sales • Service • Parts • Detail • Body Shop
Sales: Mo-Sa 9a-9p, Su 10a-7p Service/Parts: Mo-Fr 7a-7p, Sa 8a-4p
Body Shop: Free Estimates. We Come to you
Dennis Anderson and the Gunny.
Lancaster Baptist is an independent, Baptist church with a friendly, family atmosphere; compassionate vision; and strong commitment to Bible truth. We offer classes specifically designed for military families and singles, Join us this Sunday at 0830 or 1100
10173 South Loop California City
Ron Smith, Pastor
• Sunday School 10:00 am • Morning 11:00 am • Sunday Evening 6:00 pm • Wednesday 7:00 pm
For transportation from Edwards AFB call
(760) 373-7314
Independent - Fundamental
www.victory-baptist.org
Church of Christ
Eph 4:4-6
Sunday Morning Bible Study
9:45 am
Sunday Morning Service
10:45 am
Sunday Evening Service
6:00 pm
Wednesday Evening Service
6:00 pm
1389 Rosamond Blvd Rosamond CA, 93560
(661) 256-3245
www.RanchoMotorCo.com
Only 15 minutes from Edwards South Gate: exit South Gate and turn right on Ave. E, left on 90th St. E, right on Ave. I and left on 40th E.
661.946.4663 4020 E. Lancaster Blvd. Lancaster, CA 93535 lancasterbaptist.org
April 20, 2018
Aerotech News and Review 11 www.aerotechnews.com ........ facebook.com/aerotechnewsandreview
Victory
Celebrate the new year in a Chevrolet.
Baptist Church