Posted on Jan 3, 2023
Yank: Marine Corps to IRA, this book recounts an action-filled life
341
14
3
5
5
0
"He became a Marine and served in an amphibious reconnaissance unit before ending his enlistment in 1979 and returning to Ireland six hours later. There he became the de facto expert in small arms, small unit tactics and other combat techniques for his largely untrained and poorly coordinated fellow fighters."
Yank: Marine Corps to IRA, this book recounts an action-filled life
Posted from armytimes.com
Marines
Belfast
Terrorism
World History
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
Interesting article LTC Chu. I wasn't aware of this individual before, but it almost seems like the plot out of a Clancy novel.
(4)
(0)
3
3
0
2
2
0
LTC Eugene Chu
..."Q: There have been some high-profile incidents of Marine veterans seeking out important, and sometimes dangerous, causes post-service, for example, Austin Tice, a former Marine officer turned journalist taken hostage in Syria in 2012; Paul Whelan, a Marine veteran who’s been held in Russia since 2018. What do you think it is about Marines in these instances?
A: I have a sense that a lot of Marines are more idealistic. Let’s face it, a lot of other people join the other services to get technical training, to get a job in civilian life. I think very few people join the Corps to do anything but be a warrior. There’s this misconception that Marines are sort of just thick jarheads. It was a very intelligent organization. The offers were very highly trained, and I met some of the smartest guys I’ve ever met in the Marines. Really well-read guys with a high level of idealism. Maybe there’s an element of that, why maybe people go on to fight for other things they believe in.
Q: Is there an alternate reality where you stayed in the Corps?
A: I honestly believe that if I hadn’t gone back to Ireland that I would have taken the offer they gave me to go to the Naval Academy. I believe I would have stayed in and probably gone to the academy. I mean, it’s not every day you get an offer like that."
..."Q: There have been some high-profile incidents of Marine veterans seeking out important, and sometimes dangerous, causes post-service, for example, Austin Tice, a former Marine officer turned journalist taken hostage in Syria in 2012; Paul Whelan, a Marine veteran who’s been held in Russia since 2018. What do you think it is about Marines in these instances?
A: I have a sense that a lot of Marines are more idealistic. Let’s face it, a lot of other people join the other services to get technical training, to get a job in civilian life. I think very few people join the Corps to do anything but be a warrior. There’s this misconception that Marines are sort of just thick jarheads. It was a very intelligent organization. The offers were very highly trained, and I met some of the smartest guys I’ve ever met in the Marines. Really well-read guys with a high level of idealism. Maybe there’s an element of that, why maybe people go on to fight for other things they believe in.
Q: Is there an alternate reality where you stayed in the Corps?
A: I honestly believe that if I hadn’t gone back to Ireland that I would have taken the offer they gave me to go to the Naval Academy. I believe I would have stayed in and probably gone to the academy. I mean, it’s not every day you get an offer like that."
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google