Veteran Shares History of the Marine Corps

Iraq War veteran Lance Cpl. Karl Braid's presentation to the Mayfield Township Historical Society was a mixture of history, trivia and tales of his experience in the Marines.

The Marine Corps was founded on Nov. 10, 1775, in a Philadelphia tavern and is under the Department of the Navy, he said.

"The Marines are really known for their pride and tradition," said Braid, adding that he chose the Marines because they impressed him the most, particularly the enthusiasm of the recruiter who contacted him regularly.

"I know now that was him being a salesman. That is what the recruiter really was, a salesman," Braid said.

Braid also gave insight into the nicknames Marines are known by – leathernecks and jarheads.

"We really don't hear that much anymore," he said of leathernecks, which goes back to the days when swords were used in combat. Uniforms included a protective collar that came up high on the neck.

Similarly, jarheads is a reference to the high collars on current Marine uniforms.

"It looks a little like your head's popping out of a Mason jar," Braid said.

His preferred nickname is Devil Dogs, which was given following a battle at Belleau Wood, France, in 1918.

"They fought so ferociously that the Germans called them the 'Hounds of Hell.' That (Devil Dogs) is what we call each other internally," Braid said.

Braid, a rifleman who carried an M-16, served four years, three months of active duty starting in 2005 and received the Purple Heart after being wounded during the first of two tours in Iraq.

"I had a roadside bomb detonate within a few feet of me," Braid said. "I survived largely because of my flak jacket."

He pulled a ballistic plate out of the jacket and showed were there was a gash from a piece of metal that hit him when the bomb exploded.

While in Iraq, he served on a duty rotation that would take him from the main base into smaller field operations for months at a time.

"We would spend one to three months out before going back to the main base, where they have showers and hot food," Braid said.

In the field, they ate MREs – Meals Ready to Eat, which weren't very tasty, according to Braid.

"MREs were actually deemed unfit to give to prisoner inmates," he added.

Braid said soldiers are given foreign language lessons before being deployed overseas, however, the formal training often differs from what is heard in the real world. He compared it to someone learning formal English and trying to understand  regional dialects of the South or other parts of the U.S.

"You have to relearn everywhere you go. They probably don't have formal Arabic," he said.

There are also cultural differences to learn. He said it was important to not put your feet up on a table.

"Showing the soles of your feet to someone is considered an insult," Braid said.

Historical Society member Don Thorpe, a Marine veteran, introduced Braid.

"We had walked in the same sands at Parris Island. I was there 60 years prior," Thorpe said. "We found that we had a lot in common."