Marine General caught in photo
A Marine snapped the above shocking photo the other day of the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, General John Paxton shoveling his own sidewalk on 8th Street in DC, according to Task and Purpose. Of course, he was an infantry officer early in his career, and he’s Airborne qualified. I’m sure there were privates down the street shoveling someone else’s sidewalk.
Thanks to Mary for the photo and link.
Category: Marine Corps
No reflective belt? Did he conduct ORM beforehand? Rock drill? Briefback to the CMC on CONOPS?
Way to set the standard, General.
So the first thing I thought of when I read the title of this one was that I was about to see a picture of a general with his hands in his pockets lol.
NO Private available to shovel his sidewalk, cutbacks, ya’know!!
@1 xbradtc I thought those things. But I do give a Hand Salute to General John Paxton, for taking care of his own shit!
Way to keep in shape General and an odd concept here for your fellow, too good to do their own crap, General Officers, “Be An Example To Your Men”!!!
Where the hell did that idea ever go?
I bet he holds his own umbrella too.
Thank God. When I saw the headline, I thought it was another Generals Gone Wild article.
*Hand Salute* Good on you, sir.
Geez, don’t scare me like that! I thought it was going to be some HMFIC caught with his pants down or something.
But no! It’s a Big Mahoff shoveling his own sidewalk. Way to go, GENERAL.
Conduct unbecoming…he will be involved in a scandal soon.
#1, xbradtc, I bet he didn’t even fill out a Risk Assessment Form before doing that, let alone conduct an AAR afterward!!
/sarc, of course!
A fine show of Leadership By Example, General!!
NOW WHAT will lifers say when they’re “gathering volunteers” for Snow Shoveling Details once that pic makes its rounds among the Enlisted when they reply “AAWW, C’MON, Sergeant, look, see? There’s a General shoveling his own sidewalk!”
In case anyone’s wondering about Ex-PH2’s somewhat obscure acronym above:
HMFIC: Honcho, Male or Female, In Charge
There are, of course, variations. (smile)
@11 Hondo and Ex Thanks for that. It threw me for a loop until you explained. Again, well done General!
Then there is MMFIC
One word comes to mind: LEADER
@13 SJ Now you did it. My curiosity is at a high state of alert now.
Such a small thing. Integrity speaks louder than words. You rock sir.
I bet he did it without even posting Road Guards!!
Sparks: Main Mother #**X%&^ In Charge. And, PS, I wasn’t referring to the GEN…I was responding to Hondo’s “variation comment.
I will say that I have had an O-6 on the line during a sand bag filling for a major hurricane. Not just a photo op. All the Os below him were aghast. They worked as long as he did. Lol.
Leadership by example. Would that more examples inside DC existed.
And if there was snow atop Iwo Jima … They would have shoveled their way …
Any questions?
Then carry the fu@k on …
The general screws up…his aide took leave and there was nobody to call? I remember a 2 star at Meade…his aide was raking leaves in front of his quarters.
SJ: I’ve also run across a reference to “NOMFWIC” – Number One Male or Female What’s In Charge”.
As with the other acronym, there is also a somewhat “earthier” alternative translation. (smile)
It’s an interesting counterpoint to the CMC effort to adopt the trappings of aristocracy. A prime example being the creation of the term “First Lady of the Marine Corps” for Mrs.-CMC. It was never used before the current reign, yet now is used as if that has been the convention all along. The idea of a spouse being “first” among spouses is repulsive as it implies some other spouses must be “last”. To be identified as such because of her husband’s rank goes against everything Marines are taught about rank and responsibility. Mrs. Amos should be sufficiently proud to be able to identify herself as a Marine Spouse without this contrived FLOT-MC crap. Now that Bonnie Amos has broken the seal and established that just maybe there actually is a rank system among spouses, we should start hearing about the “First Lady of the Division”, “First Lady of the Regiment”, “First Lady of the Platoon”, etc. soon.
Not sure if this is a good thing or not. Last thing senior lance coolies need is a safety stand down because some general fell and broke his hip working!
@18 SJ and @23 Hondo, Thanks for that help out.
@24… Yes. I can see that as a problem. Some day, I’ll talk about being the enlisted spouse of an officer. The things I witnessed. I need a medal or two.
@24, it’s common among Military Wives for them to use their Husband’s rank to elevate themselves in the pecking order, and as I see it, he condones it with that bucket of politics!
Lest we forget today is the 69th anniversary of the Battle for Iwo Jima and the raising of the flag.
Here’s to all those Marines and all you Marines today. Here-Here!
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/Camp-Pendleton-Honors-Iwo-Jima-Anniversary-246617341.html
There are some officers like that out there. As a SF I was on a MITT team and I remember while mopping our latrine floor and seeing my LTD scrubbing the shitter.
As a SSG I meant to say. My tablet auto corrected it.
And I also meant LTC.
#1 If I remember the list of regulations at KAF correctly (I was extremely bored and waiting for a flight) Marines don’t have to wear the belt but they do need to carry a flashlight :).
@34 When I went through Manas in 2010 the Air Force NCO giving the briefing said “Army and Air Force, it is mandatory that you wear a reflective belt on the airfield. Marines, your regulations explicitly prohibit you from wearing a reflective belt.”
It was a similar situation on KAF too.
Anonymous is incorrect in the First Lady of the Marine Corps claim. It has been used by others, to include Gen. Mundy.
For the record, my husband worked for Gen. Paxton until he retired in July. The general is a decent human being.
That’s not a shovel…. It’s a knife hand.
It’ll be a looong time before another Aviator is CMC, IMO.
Twist,
I feel your pain.
The Kindle Sype word suggestions are whack.
I have to triple check before posting.
I dunno. Seems like a nice enough — TURD!!!
I don’t know about the Marine Corps but I’m related to a retired Army BG and he had someone go to the commissary for him and drive him around, so I wouldn’t put it past him to also shovel the snow. It just shows you that a Marine General doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty I guess.