Um...

Kilt-Wearing Marine Plays Bagpipes on Battlefield in Iraq During Siege in Fallujah

Gotta love it!

(Thanks to Lucianne)

Comments

[toddk]

First some of the funny comments by them around
Fallujah...now this...aren't Marines the coolest?

[StinKerr]

Let's hope it works for them the same as it did for the Scottish regiments in WWII. The Germans called them the "Ladies From Hell".

The Marines may have a new weapon.

[Dave]

The Scots Regiments wore the kilt into battle up until the first world war.

This reminds me of one of the McAuslan stories by George MacDonald Fraser. I think "Johnny Cope in the Morning" in "MacAuslan in the Rough." It's worth a read. For that matter, the whole book is.

[Mucky]

Sam Jackson, in the movie Formula 51, was the first person I thought of when I began reading that ABC article.

[Fausta]

In the article Sgt Farr says he's looking for a desert camouflage kilt he can wear in operations like these. I say, Utilikilts http://www.utilikilts.com/shopping-index.htm would be the place to start!

[jmarsh]

I asked Blackfive this earlier and got a "Negative." Rather than annoy you personally with an email, I'll annoy *everyone* in the comments!

Here's my sit:
I gave a CPT (doc) an old 1.3mp digital camera in August of last year just after he shipped to Iraq. The pictures were slow at first, but
now I've gotten about 700 megs of pics from him, 3rd ID and 1st Armored. Iraqi kids cheering, destroyed vehicles, murals with Sadaam's face wiped out, etc. The latest batch has about 60 pics of the suicide car bombing with gruesome bits all around.

I've been keeping them on a RAID array for safekeeping, and sending them via FTP
to those that ask.

There must be thousands of soldiers, contractors, etc., out there with cheapo digital cameras too. I'd hate to see all the pics end up as casualties come Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc.

Do you (or anyone else) know of an effort to centralize and store (maybe even make available
for viewing!) these images?

[Jim]

Beat me to it, Dave. I'm not sure whether the story about the black soldier joining the pipers is in "MacAuslan in the Rough" or "The General Danced at Dawn", but it's wonderful, as are all the other stories in both books. There's a third volume of stories, as well, which I haven't found yet.

I'm going to play "Scotland the Brave" on my clawhammer banjo as soon as I get home in honor of this - in honor of my country, where black and Hispanic soldiers and marines play Scots bagpipes.

[liz]

Pipe music is some of the most stirring martial music ever. Those Celts were tough.

Have you all seen the post from a former Special Forces now contractor in Iraq. It is a must read.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/001373.php

[Eric]

...Juliette... that is a friggin' AWESOME picture and story.. thanks for posting it!

[Eric]

..oh, and as a Marine stationed in Scotland, I got MARRIED in a kilt.. Holyrood tartan, to be exact.. and, yes... I can add... they are quite comfy...

[baldilocks]

Eric,

I should have sent this one to you immediately. :-)

[Eric]

oohhhh, no, Juliette... you did a FINE job.... our piper actually played the Skye Boat Song as we walked out into the crowd.... but, the Organ plaed Sousa's "Semper Fidelis" as we walked out through the Church to the door... heh... wow.. maybe I should blog about that sometime.. ;)

[Tony]

Well, I heard that the Marines are playing AC/DC full blast in Falluja. Sounds like he'd be perfect as an accompaniment to It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll).

Just a thought...

[John]

Very cool!

Btw, I forget the post that pointed me to this, but there was a March article on the Mad Piper of Sword Beach in the Scotsman:
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=370352004

Also, if I remember the post correctly the Brits piped their way into Basra last March.

[steve h]

Cheers! Not only do the Marines do their job well in Fallujah, but they manage to have fun while they're at it!

And a black-skinned soldier playing bagpipes--the picture is worth a thousand words, and then some.

[David Blue]

Hi.

Another proud chapter opens in the glorious history of bagpipes! Yayy! I love the U.S. Marine Corps. :)

[McGehee]

I find myself wondering what tartan his kilt bears? A single quick Google search suggests that the surame Farr is likely to be associated with Clan MacKay.

The idea of a desert-camo kilt to wear on the front lines is just too cool for words.

[Jeffersonian]

Now that's what I call multiculturalism.

[Mrs. du Toit]

I suspect the U.N. will be called in on that one--for the military using cruel and unusual punishment. Aren't bagpipes banned by the Geneva Convention?

(That's a JOKE! I love bagpipe music. Really. No foolin'.)

[SteveH]

It's not just the Celts with the bagpipes; Romans, Swedes, Italians, Galicians, French, Germans, Poles, North Africans and Chinese all played them at one time or another.

And Pakistan has Highland pipe bands, dating from their association with the British Raj. They still make pipes and chanters in Sialkot city.

But the Celts do it best. Including the ones in our Marine Corps with the better tans.

[baldilocks]

You all are cracking me up.

[Mark]

I sent to Utilikilts to see if they can provide what he needs. They replied that they'd had 200+ contacts about getting him a kilt. They provided a link to a yahoo contact www.utlikilt@yahoogroups.co.uk for people working out details. I couldn't get the link to work, maybe you can.

[McGehee]

Ooh-rah!

[Brent]

Piping isn't restricted to Scots. The pipe band I belong to, Galloway Highlanders (Clearfield, Utah), has a very talented Drum Sergeant who happens to be black. (Yeah, that is not piping, but he does play in a Pipe and Drum band.)

[Jimmy C]

The kilt is already LONG on its way to Fallujah from USAKilts. Thanks to CBS for their assistance in getting the sizing and the shipping done!

Here's the video of the kilt:

http://kywimg.dayport.com/htm/kyw3player.htm?Art_ID=9039