Thursday, September 27, 2007

'Are You Goiiiiing, to San Fran-cicso?' Hell No!

A couple of thoughts.

Marines, more specifically Marines of the Silent Drill Team, were denied from performing in the streets of San Francisco recently. To be fair, the camera crew got authorization to work, just as long as no scary Marines were actually in the shoot (get it? Har!).

"traffic control was an issue"


Right.

Not going to go too much into the subject due to the high levels of disgust, but I cant help but thinking, maybe perhaps if the Marines were decked out in leathers and issued dildos, then maybe they would have a little more support there.

*shudder*

For the record, I have nothing against leathers, dildos, and pride in whatever culture/minority/pastime/etc that one might partake in. I am not even what I would consider a great fan of church in general, but was that sort of depiction of the last supper really necessary? At least it won't result in real pain, I suppose, like from a few members of another religion that incidentally, the Marines are currently engaged with. (Holy shit, concept!)

Perhaps I lied a little bit. I suppose that I can see why traffic control might have been an issue, cause (I know I am just a wee bit biased here) anytime I see something this cool, I can't help but take some pride that I, lil' old me, might have had some small part to play in my beloved Corps.




Now that. Is. Awesome.








9 comments:

Ambulance Driver said...

"For the record, I have nothing against leathers, dildos, and pride in whatever culture/minority/pastime/etc that one might partake in."

If The Corps had wanted you to have leathers and a dildo, Marine, they would have issued you some.

Old NFO said...

Excellent Post! One of my neigbors is the First Sgt. for the MCSD. These folks are AWESOME!!! IF you ever get the chance, go see them perform.

Anonymous said...

I saw them at Old Ft. Henry by Kingston years ago. They completely upstaged the recreationists who had gunpowder and a volley-fire demonstration. What amazed me was the single bang of all their feet/hands/rifle butts hitting simulataneously. Even the stone walls seemed afraid to echo the sound back.

Anonymous said...

Weird priorities by the city officials there(and hey, I bet the performers from last year would've loved seeing the men in uniform perform too). ;)

I can't get quite as enthusiastic about the performance as you(not my cup of tea I guess), but I will give you that it was extremely well performed, so in that sense, they are awesome.

Murphy said...

AD: Bwaha!

OLD NFO & Mike: I've only seen them in passing, once, and even not doing much, they were good to go. I am definitely going to check 'em out if I ever get the chance.

kaerius: Bet they would have, blues make even me look half-way good... er... for the ladies (snort!)

I guess I can forgive those who don't think their performances are the shiznit, just this once. Like many other things, appreciation comes from a basic background in the subject matter, and some knowledge of the difficulty in polishing & syncing up individual performance with the group, maintaining tempo, and not catching a bayonet to the noggin' (generally, some good advice.)

aonian said...

Cool video, but I think a lot of the effect must be lost through the screen.

Incidentally, the story that ran has been shown to be inaccurate (an inaccurate news story -- No!). The city gave them a permit to film, on a Sunday, before the Marines arrived. They probably would have gotten a permit to shoot when the Marines were there (a Tuesday), but "the director didn't choose the locations until a few days before they were scheduled to film. The company didn't have time to get the required approvals from local residents who would have been inconvenienced during the filming."

Sounds more like poor planning from the production company, who also said, "We didn't leave there feeling the least bit singled out."

Dan O. said...

If it weren't pointed out, I don't think I would have even related that pic to The Last Supper. Looks like either a Village People album cover or a Tupperware...er, Rubberware party.

About 10 years ago the Silent Drill Team performed at a local high school stadium sponsored by the AmVets or other veteran group. I was given tickets for my family from a Marine I worked with at the time. Because my son is in a wheelchair, him and I were placed right down in front of the grandstand at ground level. We were about 20-30 feet from the team as they performed. AWESOME doesn't begin to cover it. Their timing is incredible and I can't imagine how difficult all their training must be.

I would love to experience that again.

Simeron Steelhammer said...

Long ago now, in my younger days of Navy ROTC (high school and college) I got to go to San Diego and see this group (not this group exactly but the Drill Team) in person on several occasions.

Folks, let me tell you something, you think the video is impressive, get to see them in person.

Someone (or a group of someones) should be taken out and beat in a not pleasurable way in Frisco because not only did they disrespect the Marines and the Team but they did a HUGE dis-service to anyone that could have seen them in person.

They are TOTALLY silent, the bayonets are RAZOR sharp and they are pin point accurate with thier rifles. I watched them toss these things within INCHES of thier comrades, who didn't even blink when they whizzed past.

There are very few things that impress me, that's my nature.

I sat there and realized sometime after the start my mouth was hanging open...I only wish *I* could be that good..hehe.

Brandon said...

I've never had the chance to see the Silent Drill Team in person, but I'd love to. I've seen video after video, and I'm never left unimpressed. That's 10 pounds of freakin' Garand and bayonet they're tossing around like matchsticks!

San Francisco isn't somewhere that I'm ever likely to grace with my tourism dollars. I'm pretty much a live-and-let-live kind of guy, but those folks out there seem to get off on offending people.