A Little Taste of the Marines' Culture

While I was visiting the base in Beaufort, I did manage to see a few unique things that illustrate the experience of being assigned there, working there, or living there.  It is one of those things I try to do whenever I get out on one of these trips - as I learned during my own time in the service, these units have a culture that is forged by their shared experience...whether they are under fire and in harm's way, as the Marines often are, or whether they were "chairborne" and enjoyed "cuisine" in the "dining facility," as we zoomies did.

You do get a sense that something special goes on here from the first time you come on base.  You might hear a pair of jets on a training exercise screaming overhead as you pass the aircraft on display near the gate and read the welcome sign that says, "That noise you hear is the sound of freedom."  So it was a treat to get a look inside a room that is used to celebrate the departure on deployments, and more importantly, to celebrate the return from them.

I took a couple of photos of the trophies in this room - some were murals, as in the photo of the F-4 and Mig-21 with the fighter pilot - and some were artifacts, as the metal plaque with Saddam's image was (note the exceptional marksmanship of the Marines when you get a closer look at the plaque).

Then there are some elaborate commemorations of deployments.  The more recent ones are Persian Gulf missions, of course.  I have two examples of many that were on display here.

And the last item I had time to take note of were some artifacts from the movie "The Great Santini" which starred Robert Duvall and was filmed here in the late '70's.  I remember the movie as being popular about the time that I arrived in Berlin. 

The story is a father and son tale about a fighter pilot and his family here, and the challenges of the lifestyle.  There was a poster and the actual baskeball backboard and goal that figured prominently in the family's history, but was also a prop in the movie.

So I promised and delivered a cultural post about that most recent business trip.  Not quite as much material to work with as I had in Japan and Yosemite last year...but there you go.  Next trip, already on the calendar, will be equally as interesting; looking forward to Barstow in early May.