M14 Forum

Ionian · February 19th, 2010, 12:59 PM

A guy that works with my wife claims to have survived the "83" bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut and later took a round to the shoulder during the Libyan invasion in "86".

I don't know about the Marine barracks, but I was in the Army in 86 stationed in W. Germany. We were put on high alert but that was it. I don't remember of any invasion on Libya. Is this guy full of crap?
He also claims to have sustained 3rd. degree burns to over 70% of his body during the Beirut incident, but has no visible scaring.

mjconnau · February 19th, 2010, 01:15 PM

Third degree burns leave scars that don't go away. So do bullets in the shoulder.

RAMMAC · February 19th, 2010, 01:24 PM

Third degree burns always leave scars, I'm no burn expert but the few people that I have known that got 3rd degree burns lost the hair from the area of the burn and they had to have skin grafts.

The only action that happened in Libya in 1986 was the bombing of Gaddafi. Marine, Navy, and Air Force aircraft were used but no ground action occurred so I don't know how he could have been shot in the shoulder.

CAVman · February 19th, 2010, 01:31 PM

Quote:

The only action that happened in Libya in 1986 was the bombing of Gaddafi. Marine, Navy, and Air Force aircraft were used but no ground action occurred so I don't know how he could have been shot in the shoulder.

That's My Understanding, Also!!!

CAVman in WYoming

m1a shooter · February 19th, 2010, 01:53 PM

I don't know of a Libyan invasion either unless it was a special ops team spotting targets.

Ask your wife to ask him what unit he was assigned to and see if he has at least his facts straight.

stickboy · February 19th, 2010, 01:57 PM

Does it count if he shot himself?

May want to see if he was a pilot, best of my knowledge it was only a Navy/Airforce air show. I have never seen anything about ground action in Libya written or otherwise. But to give him the benifit of the doubt perhaps he was wounded by ground fire while flying during one of the air raids.

However I too doubt his story due to the lack of visable scaring. Unless this guy wears only long sleeve shirts and pants with 70% coverage your going to see something I would think. Like the others said, there is no missing scars from 3rd degree burns.

RAMMAC · February 19th, 2010, 02:11 PM

I wonder how old this guy is, he would have to be at least 43 to have been at the Beirut bombing. Also, it's my understanding that in addition to the scars, people with 3rd degree burns usually have immune system problems and get colds and other illnesses more often than is normal.

Hey, maybe the guy was one of those special JAG/ EOD guys that can fly airplanes, run special ops, drive tanks, fire mortars, serve as enlisted and officer, and all in less than 4 years in service

4570govt · February 19th, 2010, 04:33 PM

I remember the night the Airforce dropped a bomb on ol' Qaddafi's tent, that was in 1986, I was serving at Fort Leonard Wood at the time....we never sent troops to Libya in 1986...that feller is lying his tail off.

Ionian · February 19th, 2010, 06:03 PM

A co-worker gave my wife what appears to be a newspaper article. Funny thing is it has no date or any other information where it came from. This is what was passed out.

Hawk · February 19th, 2010, 06:03 PM

Have your wife ask him to show her the two purple heart citations.

Ionian · February 19th, 2010, 06:10 PM

Funny you mention two of them Hawk. The article says he got one.

It also states he went through "Special Forces" training in San Diego.

I always thought Marines were "Marine Recon".

RAMMAC · February 19th, 2010, 06:17 PM

My alarm bells are going off guys. The article says that he he "preregistered" for the Marine Corps at 15 with his parents permission, I was a Marine recruiter and NOBODY can join at 15 years old. You could sign up at 16 with parents permission but you could not ship to boot camp until you were 17.

The article also says that his first assignment was for basic training in San Diego for "special forces"...that ain't how it works gents. You go to boot camp in San Diego for basic training. The Marine Corps has no "special forces" but there are some specially trained units that are usually associated with either forward observer duty or reconnaissance.