Iraq bound
There is no more. There is no “continued”. These few words which you’re reading are all that exists. I’m close enough to leaving I can taste it. I can taste the sand. I can taste the air. I can taste the adrenaline.
Today I leave with but a few words dredged from a drunken mind of departure and longing. I chase the glory that is war and remembrance. I chase recognition and acknowledgment. I can say this because I’ve got seven Killian’s Irish Red in me and I’m tired of playing center field. Maybe it’s time to offend someone? Maybe it’s time to not give a shit and write everything on my mind?
Regardless, it’s time I say I love being a Marine, and I need mission accomplishment. I need the pat on the back from an “A” in 8th grade Advanced Placement Social Studies that my mother never gave me. I need a knowing eye that sees the good I’ve done. I need.
Justin once remarked that I’m a medal chaser. My sister remarked I’m an overachiever. I agree, and I think they’re somehow related.
Tonight I pack my things to Black Sabbath’s “We Sold Our Soul for Rock and Roll” album given originally to me on a cassette tape by one of my sister’s defunct boyfriends in 1989. If nothing else good came out of that relationship, my rendezvous with Black Sabbath was more than worth the experience.
I bid you a temporary farewell, loyal jaymekohler.com reader, and apologize in advance for my lack of updates. But the day you start paying to read is the day I allow you to bitch about it.
Look for me on the cover of Marines magazine and the Marine Corps Times. I’m in it for the glory.
J-
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7 Responses to “Iraq bound”
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Born in the year of the Dragon, the author grudgingly accepts the fact he has too many interests and not enough time. A cyclist as long as he can remember, an avid yet inconsistent writer since age eleven, and a U.S. Marine since age twenty-one, the author also adds computers, snowboarding, and motorcycles to his list of interests. Incidentally, he is aware of his inability to make a living from any but the Corps. The author accepts this as fact and remains optimistic. Feel free to drop him a line.
good luck over there… and come home safe. i think it’s probably a gross understatement to say i’m so very proud of you…. having watched you go from a kid with not much sense of direction in his life, to this incredible, mature, driven man who knows exactly where he’s going and what he’s doing has really been a wonder to behold. frickin’ over-achievers anyway. i’ll miss you, jaymers.
Hey Jayme-
I’m not going to get all teary on you, suffice it to say I hope you get the Iraqis trained up and get your ass back to civilization. Hopefully you’ve got internet access out there and you get to read this before May. If not, just know that I was thinking about you while you were gone.
Hello,
I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I was given a link to your website from cougfan.com, and I wanted to drop a note saying that I hold the highest respect for men like you, and even though I don’t know you I am proud of you for what you have sacrificed for this nation. Please make it back safe. God Bless you and this country.
Good luck, Man
Jodi and I are proud of you and you better bring you ass back here in one piece.
We will keep the light on for you and chow in the fridge.
Later,
Dale
Jayme, you will go. But you wont find what you’re looking for. You might get medals, but in the end you’ll feel empty…You will always want more, and will never be satisfied. It is one thing to want to serve you’re country because you love it and want to protect it, or be cause you want to help Iraq. It is not honoring or amazing and not even mature to want to go to war just because you want recognition to feel better about yourself…
Jayme,
I met you on your Lewis and Clark Adventure. You stayed at a campground on the Columbia river just east of The Dalles, OR. My family is all ex-military and we all hope you return safe and sound! Remember to keep you head down! Good luck!
I read this post again, just for the hell of it. This time I noticed the comments that were under it. I am sure that Jayme is heartened to know that his friends wish him well. There was a comment that disturbed me though. I am not sure why it is there. My first instinct is that Kohler left it because he welcomes all takes. This commenter might indeed be a friend, so when I responded directly to the comment I made it clear I meant no disrespect. It was after commenting, that I decided to post MY comment to the comment that made me uneasy:
I cannot speak to what it feels like to be in the Army or the Navy or Air Force. I can only tell you what it is like to be a Marine. The journey a man makes, the price he pays to simply EARN the title is something that only those who do it can understand. I am not going to presume that you are some bleeding heart, ultra-leftist who spends time hugging tree’s, but I will suggest that perhaps you have some misconceptions as to exactly what purpose a Marine has in this world.
There are those that believe that the Marine Corps is full of mind-numbed, brainwashed fools who have this “macho” thing working twenty-four seven. There are others who believe that the Corps is full of arrogant sons of bitches who cuss like ‘sailors’ and live for their off-duty time so that they might down more beer than they should and chase skirts until the sun rises. And then there are more still who believe that the Corps is made up of blood-thirsty killers who lust for war on a constant basis, and are only happy when they are killing something.
While I disagree with the brainwashed, knuckle-draggin, war mongering visage that those comments conjure; I can attest to the arrogance, the hard drinking, hard playing, and the rather ‘salty’ nature of a Marines vernacular. Being the best does carry with it a certain ‘mystique’, it’s a cross we must bear, Mea Culpa.
The Marine Corps is NOT the Army, it is NOT the Navy and most certainly NOT the Air Force. The Corps is a brotherhood. It is a brotherhood whose legacy in toto will always superceed any one man’s contribution to it. In boot camp, we learn one thing above all: HISTORY. We learn and we love OUR history. It is one of pride, honor, and yes…war. Lot’s of war. But it is also one of Glory and tradition. You can’t just waltz into Parris Island, do a few sit-ups and leave 8 weeks later with a uniform on. In the Corps, you have to earn every stitch of that uniform, you have to earn every lace in those boots. You EARN that Eagle, Globe and Anchor. And you earn it by putting out 110 percent of your heart and soul. You earn it by paying homage to, and holding close to your heart the deeds of every single Marine that has gone before you. You wake up each and every day of that 13 weeks wishing you were anywhere but there…but you suck it up and you do it, and you do it right. Why? For the Glory. For the Pride. For the Honor. But most of all, for the privilege of being a Marine. Not a ‘soldier’ or a ‘sailor’ but a MARINE. It is worth it. It is worth every blister, every cramp, every bruise, scrape or cut that you will receive during your training. When you leave THAT Island with THAT uniform on…you are from that day forward part of something that will always burn within your heart and soul. You are a Marine Once, always, and forever.
Will Kohler find what he is looking for? Will he find ‘glory’ and the satisfaction he seeks? You say no. You say that he will return empty handed. Your words seem to allude to some impending emptiness that awaits him.This man is deployed, with his men,upon the field of battle where he will assist your Nations finest military force secure freedom for MILLIONS of complete, and total strangers. Is there truly a greater gift that a man can give this world? To stand and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves? To dare to stand in the breach for the benefit of a child who is far too young to understand what is at stake? To give of himself, on behalf of this Country so that countless millions might live one day to take part in steering their own destiny? And all this he does willingly, on a volunteer basis. I ask you to reconsider if he will find what he is looking for.
Jayme Kohler is with his comrades, with his Marine Corps. He takes with him over 200 years of honor, pride, and dedication to God, Corps and Country. And with that he carries the heart and soul of every one of us that share, or have shared the title MARINE.
Will Jayme find what he is looking for?
I submit to you that Jayme Kohler has ALREADY found what he is looking for. I submit to you that merely by existing and being part of this great moment of our history; he has indeed found what he has looked for his entire life. I for one wish him god speed and upon his return, I only hope that I am somewhere within his area of operation, so that I might shake his hand and engage in what Marines have engaged in for generations:
Hoist a few beers in his honor and our Corps honor…and chase some women.
But that is just how I see it.