Why is the Silent Movie Era so much more popular than the Silent Radio Era? Grrrrrrr.

 

  Wait, which war?  What is the connection?
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I've heard the phrase radio silence used many times in war movies.  You can't sneak around the skies if you are shooting the breeze with the guy in the plane behind you.  Can you?  I've heard the pilots say they were going silent.  You have to remember my answers come from me.  Thrifty.  The gal who moves to the beat of her own drum.  

 

  Ok, now I see what you meant, thanks. 

(Did you know that as a Marine, I was in radio communications?)
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Cool..........................

When you retire do you get to keep all of your Marine clothes?  Can you wear them at will?

 

  (Uniforms.)

Each Marine buys his or her uniforms that are required for everyday use or for the majority of general events and functions.

*

There are other uniform items and pieces of equipment that fall under the auspices known as “Unit Property”.  Those items are issued to a Marine by the Supply (S-4 Logistics) entity of the unit for mission-specific purposes, and must be turned back in to Supply, either when that mission is over or when the Marine leaves the unit. Many Unit Property items are issued when the Marine joins the unit, such as helmet, flak jacket, field jacket, web gear, etc. Other Unit Property items are issued for a few hours, days, weeks, etc., depending on what they are or how they’re used. All Unit Property items are considered “controlled items”, meaning that if they don’t get returned to Supply, the Marine is held accountable for them financially. Certain items can lead to disciplinary action if lost, missing or stolen. See the two pictures below for some examples of Init Property.  For instance, the Marine in the white snow camouflage uniform in the second picture below, standing to the far right is going to an Arctic climate. He will be required to turn in that portion of his gear when leaving that location or when he returns to his home base. 

 

Other examples of Unit Property are flight suits for aviation personnel, dive gear for scuba units, western wear for horse units, etc. The lists are potentially endless. 

To answer your question, only that gear which a Marine purchases can be kept when separating from the Corps. Furthermore, the Manual for the Proper Wear and Caring for Uniforms still applies even when a Marine is off duty or has left active duty, so not all can be worn at will. There are certain uniform items that can or cannot be worn in those circumstances, but I won’t lie and say that all heed those restrictions. I am loyal to the Corps (pun and innuendo fully intended), and I do not violate those regulations even though it’s been decades since I left active duty. He was really a source of pride for us: out of the 186,000 Marines at that time, one of our own was selected.

 

*These “plates”, the ones showing drawings of Marines in various types of uniforms, were produced in the 1980s when I was on active duty. There are far more plates than the ones I’ve posted here. A point of trivia is that each person shown was a Marine, not models nor actors.  They were randomly selected and came from various units throughout the Marine Corps worldwide. They were first photographed and then artists created the drawings. More trivia, of all the Marines who posed for the plates, one of the ones shown here was in my battalion, and in fact in my company but in a different platoon.

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