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days and nights—on one such routine patrol I was with one of our squads when we stopped to check out a potential ambush site up ahead—the point fire team had moved ahead while the remainder of our patrol remained behind in routine patrol security position—the column facing outward, alternating every other Marine facing the opposite directions—I was leaning against a tree with branches —had my right arm hooked in a fork on one of the branches while I waited for the FT to report back—the next thing I knew—the squad leader was shaking me saying , “ Lt. , wake up”—startled, I ‘woke up’—realized I had fallen asleep on my feet and was hanging by my arm which was wedged in that fork in the branch. This, unfortunately, was not unique or unusual. Anytime the troops had just a few minutes to ‘rest’ they would fall into a deep sleep. All Marines experience tough, demanding physical training from the very first day in boot camp—the idea is to build toughness, strength and stamina. We found that we were calling on that ‘stamina’ every moment of every day—not just physical stamina but emotional and mental stamina as well. The day to day wear and tear on these Marines was evident as we slogged thru the rice paddies, the heat, the hills , the jungle, the mud, the rain and the endless miles of patrols and sleepless nights on perimeter security. Individual Marines lost weight and showed the visible signs of exhaustion as time passed. All Marines from boot camp on—officers and enlisted pride themselves on their physical fitness—we worked at it—running, calisthenics, obstacle courses and then the physical fitness tests and physical readiness tests were administered to all Marines in all Units each year. Yet, here we found ourselves going weeks—even months without the level of fitness
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