I'm not sure if I have permission to post this here, I just wanted to share with you all, an excerpt from the book that my bro from the corps Jason Raab is writing.  Jason and I were roomates upon my arrival to the fleet, and he's always had a keen ability of perception, sense of humor.  It's really amazing that he can remember the details the way he did, and it brings back a lot of good memories.  I did mention this forum to John and Jason, and hopefully they will be able to come here.  If I can get them to install teamspeak, and arrange to "meet" on comms for long overdue catch-up on things.  It's been since '99 since I got to talk with the fellas.  I wonder all the time what they are all up to ~ it's been long enough, ill see who I can find, and see if they are interested to come here, tell all the embarassing stories, and catch up on things. 


Mister Plastic

On our second deployment to the Far East, we found ourselves in Korea traveling back to base after a short weekend of liberty. On the train with me were John, Paul, and our friends Casey, and Andy. Casey was my roommate for a few years, but now he roomed with Andy. Andy was short, scrawny, a good runner, and a good sniper. Casey must have thought Andy was a blessing compared to me, because he didn’t pester him as much as I did.
John was smiling, as usual, about his abilities to attract women that couldn’t even speak the English language. However, the rest of us were feeling self conscious about ourselves, because not a single Korean girl tried to speak to us during our break. Andy was the quietest out of the group, and didn’t look like he was having a good time. I tried to cheer him up by talking about how he sniped my ass on the last training exercise as I assaulted a hill, but he was more interested in watching the countryside sweep by than talking about work.
I stood up and moved away from him, and then sat down next to Casey to ask him what was up with Andy.
“Dude, is he alright?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. He gets like that sometimes.” Casey said. “He just wants to be left alone.”
As our train pulled away from another station a young, pretty Korean girl sat down in the seat in front of Andy. It didn’t take long after the train started moving for the young girl to pop her head over the seat and start talking to him.
“I’m lonely.” She said to him in a very young naïve voice.
“Huh?” Andy was confused. He wasn’t sure what this girl was talking about. She didn’t like old enough to be allowed to talk to boys, let alone Marines, and just as Andy was about to call for help she spoke again.
“I like to practice my English, you help me?” the girl asked him.
His eyes lit up and it was like he had just been reborn. He wasn’t thinking that he could get in the girls pants, not all Marines are scumbags, instead he was excited that he finally had something interesting to do. We sat by watching Andy talk to the girl, and when he started to run out of things to say we moved in to help. Joining the conversation we started talking to the girl, and eventually a few more Koreans started to talk to us. Asking her as many questions as we could, Casey worked up the courage to ask the young girl what kind of boys she liked.
“I like boys like him.” She said and pointed to Andy.
All of us were dumbfounded. We couldn’t believe that she didn’t pick John.
“You mean you don’t like big guys, like him?” Casey pointed to John.
“Aw, no, no. He look like plastic!” the girl said with a disgusted look on her face.
All of us started laughing hysterically, and John looked embarrassed.
“Ha, ha. Very funny.” John tried to play off that his muscular build had just lost to Andy’s smaller runner’s body.
John was called Mister plastic for a short time after that, and Andy had his victory of the almighty Chief Scout. Andy would be discharged from the Marine Corps a few months after us, only to return a few years later for the war in Iraq. Like so many of us that were Marines, he felt obligated to serve a country that he loved so much. John wrote the recommendation for Andy to return, and talked to the Company Commander for which Andy would eventually deploy with. He ensure the CO knew that Andy was a stellar Marine, and fully capable of being a quality leader.
In December of 2005 Andy was killed by a roadside bomb in Al Anbar province, doing what he loved. The love of being a United States Marine.

I know I don't really fit into the reunion group but wanted you to know I still check in once in a while. Of course, reading the story posted here brought tears to my eyes, but it also brought a profound sense of pride. Yes, Andy was just as described.

To Jason - the story like you've written here is invaluable to my family. Andy's Marine family has many stories that have yet to be shared with his other family (namely: me-his sister and my parents). Keep writing, and let me know if there's anything I can do to support your writing project. (At the very least: I'm a high school English teacher on summer vacation. I guess I'd do ok if you needed an extra set of editing eyes.)

Anyway, thanks for letting me still be a part of these forums and chime in once in a while.

If others of you have stories, please continue to share.
Take care,
Andy's Sis (Amy)

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