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flamethrowers, etc. The Marine Rifle Company consisting of three rifle platoons and a weapons platoon fully supported by Battalion artillery and close air support is a formidable force and is the basic combat unit of the USMC. This is why Marines never feel ‘outnumbered’—the cohesive infantry unit coupled with tenacious, well trained Marines and supported with artillery and air resources is a battle tested combination that has proven time and again to be invincible on the battle field.
Chapter 9
United Way
Sometime during Sept. as I recall we were told that a ‘pay officer’ would be coming to our ‘hill’ to pay the troops. Sure enough a helicopter brought a Lt. I didn’t know up to our position —He was dressed in his khaki uniform with short sleeves—he found a place to set up and asked that we have the troops stand by —in alphabetic order to get paid. I approached the Lt. and asked ‘what’s this all about’? These Marines have no place to spend the money—it may get lost while they’re stumbling around in the surrounding terrain—why can’t this wait until we get back to the Battalion bivouac area?
I knew that many of these Marines had made arrangements for their paychecks to be sent to family members at home—keeping a few dollars for themselves each month for bare essentials—other Marines would receive their full paycheck
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