volume 3 posting 17 May - 03 AUG 09 SEA STORIES
 
VOLUME 3 CONTRIBUTING COMPILER’S NOTE: SEA STORIES For centuries most of the humans on this planet relied on passing minstrels for entertainment, town criers for news, and pure imagination for tall tales and folk lore. There were always stories about princes and princesses overcoming difficulty and living happily ever after. These came to be known as “Fairy Tales”. There were also stories of epic adventure and heroic sacrifice, folk lore or folk tales that gradually became included within a base of standard Fairy Tales. While most of these stories were finally written down as entertainment for children, such as the Tales of The Brothers Grimm, some survived as separate classics in the form of ballads. While most Fairy Tales were pure fantasy, many were based on true historic events and real people, highly embellished for the most part, but based on a grain of truth, not many people read Fairy Tales to their children anymore, and the stories read to our children in Kindergartens these days are cleansed to be politically correct and free of hidden horrors. We don’t want our toddlers to be traumatized by the Big Bad Wolf dismembering and devouring Little Red Riding Hood’s granny. Tall Tales have always been a part of the gathering of men. Ladies do it too of course, but the tales I’m thinking about arise when the loggers all get back to camp and relax after dinner, when the trail crew puts the herd to bed at night, or when a group of military sit around swapping stories over beers. Those military stories have become known as Sea Stories. It may be due to sailors drinking more beer, talking a lot more, or, adhering to the old saw that the first liar doesn’t stand a chance, that they came to be called Sea Stories. It’s been said that a Fairy Tale starts off with, “Once upon a time,’ and a Sea Story starts off with “This is no shit!”. The Folk Lore Tale/ Sea Story is always based on a true person or actual event. The Pied Piper is based on an actual event that occurred in Hamelin, Germany in the 13th century. Hamelin city records that start in 1284 state, “It’s been 10 years since our children left.” On a lighter note, the more modern Folk Lore of John Henry and Casey Jones survive as stories and ballads about real people and incidents. Sea Stories usually are embellished as much as Fairy Tales. All our military heroes have stories about them floating around as there are stories about heroics performed by units unnamed and ships and aircraft surviving the most horrendous damage and bringing their crews back home. In the case of unit Sea Stories, the exploits of several units are likely rolled into one story over time, with the unit name or type changing. If sufficient research was done, and the different stories put together, they’d be similar enough to be the same. The equipment survival stories are usually true; B-29’s limping home to English bases so shot up it would be impossible to believe they could still fly. Ships so damaged that whatever kept them afloat must be faith are well documented and photographed. But the Sea Stories about the Legends of the Service are best of all. First you need a Character. Someone who stands out and makes you remember just by their everyday activity. Then that Character needs to do something heroic, bizarre, offbeat, or outlandish. A Sea Story will begin to circulate, embellished of course to make the story more interesting, but still true to the facts. After a while there will be more stories passed around about lesser exploits and newer ones of less importance. Whoever can come up with another story can hold the rest of the drinkers in thrall and perhaps get a free drink for his efforts. Most of the follow-on Sea Stories aren’t totally true, but once a Legend has been established a Sea Story that fits the Character’s persona…anything that also seems to fit will be accepted. After all, how can you not believe a buddy who swears, “This is no shit!” Yours truly (Hmmmm.....), Bat Rastard COMPILER’S NOTE Now that you’ve had the definition of Sea Stories from the mouth of that war dog, Bat Rastard, consider yourself forewarned. Hey! Did Bat Rastard really say only men tell sea stories? That blows! What you’ll find in the posts to come may not be politically correct, but you can bet your last dollar each post will be loaded with anecdotes, clips, war stories (true and false), and ballads (old and new; drinking songs welcomed!). The challenge is on - RIBALD, BAUDY, ROWDY, RAMBOMAZON - whose sea story will carry the day? Got one? Send it on! Want to remain anonymous? Fine with us! Civilians and members of the military family are challenged to meet the call to tell the best Sea Story of all time. Now that’s a sea story in and of itself! Write On! Only requirements for submissions are: a) the material must be military life themed, and, b) it must be suitable for a general adult readership. When the posting period concludes, our panel of judges will determine the winner. The judges? Who knows? The prize? You’ll earn the title, Sea Story Sensei. Hey, what can you expect from a little journal that’s always a day late and a dollar... Sincerely (maybe not so....) Pirate, Controller Number 375 Compiler in Chief Contributing Compilers Bat Rastard AKA F.P. SIEDENTOPF Vlad AKA DENNIS ADAMS Mustang AKA HARRY P. PARMER send submissions to postmaster@milspeak.org POSTED 19 MAY 2009 V3.05-19-09 “politically incorrect” CHARACTERS, THE LYIN’ KING, SARAHCUDA, A BULLY GETS BULLIED, THE SGTMAJ/MGYSGT RIVALRY LIVES ON, AND IT’S BONUS TIME! PLUS “MONKEY BALLS” POSTED 25 MAY 2009 MEMORIAL DAY THE HOUSE NO ONE LIVES IN, THE JOYS & PRICES OF SERVICE, A HYMN, A BIRD-DOG, AND AN OLD WARRIOR’S LAMENT POSTED 06 JUNE 2009 “ALL THINGS SIED” A TRIBUTE TO BAT RASTARD F. P. SIEDENTOPF MASTER GUNNERY SERGEANT UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS (RET) MILSPEAK MEMO CO-FOUNDER & CONTRIBUTING COMPILER FEBRUARY 5, 1942 - MAY 25, 2009 POSTED 21 JUNE 2009 FATHER’S DAY a seasoned warrior remembers what makes today special, a warrior welcomes his son home from combat, vlad on sadsack, george nehls on horseplay a new military novel from robert clark and a special message from pirate plus army monkey POSTED 04 JULY 2009 INDEPENDENCE DAY BLAST OF A LIFETIME, WOMEN IN COMBAT, VIET NAM TROOPSHIP GRAFFITI, INDEPENDENCE DAY, AND “YOU MAKE ME PROUD” PLUS MAGIC MONKEY POSTED 12 JULY 2009 A JOURNEY, HONEYSUCKLE WEEKS, A MISSING TOWEL, A ROOT, SKIVVIES AND SHOWER SHOES, SIMPLY PUT...A WHOLE LOT MORE PLUS MONKEY MANIAC VS. INDIANA JONES POSTED 19 JULY 2009 TUNNEL RATS, FRENCH POSTCARDS, A JAIL RAID, AND BILL NEWS PLUS THE FUGITIVE DIRECTED BY TIM STERN POSTED 02 AUGUST 2009 a final beat and a soldier lost. there’s a wall, the honor run, scars on my heart, humor, women, and a marine plus a gorilla moment VOLUME 3: POST COMPLETE THE MILSPEAK ANTHOLOGY! NOW AVAILABLE BARNES & NOBLE!  join the conversation at the mcws blog SUBMISSIONS Contact: memo@milspeak.org Purchasing a MilSpeak Books title supports MilSpeak Foundation. Milspeak Books are available at MilSpeak Books on Smashwords! Enter coupon code CC74X at checkout to receive a free copy of the MilSpeak anthology. Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks or logos does not constitute endorsement of Milspeak, Milspeak Memo, or linked sites, or the information (written and graphic), products, or services contained therein, by the Department of Defense, any other government agency or office. 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To Fill-Up an Empty Page

There will be times when
you must lose your mind
forget all you have learned
to fill-up an empty page.
 
There will be gross stops
and sudden tugs along the way,
places where the words snag
 
like, in Block-City, where you 
have to stop and reflect upon
what your writing teacher
 
said at the roundtable when
he frowned at you like a worn-
out, hag-ridden cop, angry
 
because an accident occurred
when you stopped before an
onslaught of tough language
that growled and lurched like
 
a lion in a hive of hyenas.
You confused being a poet
with being a preacher. In
writing, you only save your-
 
self, maybe one, or more
onlookers, if you are lucky.
Write! as if you are the last
 
human left in this broken
world, one, in which you
couldn't allow another to
further wreck, nor to fix.

—Willie James King, Member of the Military family

Willie James King is a widely published poet. He resides in Montgomery, AL.

His latest book, The House in the Heart, is available at http://www.williejamesking.com  or amazon.com 

a day late and a dollar...