I was there and saw it happen from a couple miles away.  Lots of shooting in those days, et the every day life kept on. Fighting in the hills and down in town people walking along going to cafes.

Man oh man do I have a story to tell involving this incident.

I used to work at a gun store/range in NOVA.  I knew the regulars, and one day one of them (we'll call him "Dave") shows up for a lane on the range.  Dave's somewhere in his mid/late 40's, and has some military background that I'm not entirely sure what it is.  We chat for a quick bit, I give him his lane, and he moves to a table to the side so he can begin loading up his mags.

A couple minutes later, another considerably younger guy (we'll call him "Arash") shows up for a lane.  We chat a bit, and somehow the subject of Beirut comes up.

Arash starts talking about how it's the pearl of the middle east, that it's beautiful, you'd love going there to check it out, etc. etc. etc.

Suddenly, in a pause between exchanges, we hear from the side "Beirut is a mother fucking shit hole."  We both look, and see that the comment came from Dave - who never seemed to break his focus away from loading his mags.

Sensing that something was up, I backed out of the conversation, but Arash went full in.

"What did you say?"

(Dave turns around, looks him dead in the eyes, and continues loading his mags)

"I said Beirut is a mother fucking shit hole."

"Have you ever been there?"

"Oh, I've been there."

"When's the last time you were there?"

"The last time I was there was in 1983 when some camel-fister bombed the building I was on the roof of, and killed 220 of my brothers.  So if you'll pardon me kindly, it's a bit difficult for me to hear about how Beirut is this beautiful fucking pearl."



Man, I swear, that showroom grew so quiet, you could hear a pin drop on the carpet.  It's like the guys on the range heard him, too, because the shooting also stopped.

Arash, realizing he wasn't going to win this one, just said "Well, that's your opinion" and went in to shoot.

"Hey, I'm nowhere near that cock-sucker on the range, am I?" Dave asked me.

"Not anymore.  I don't need anyone dying on my range today."

"Good.  Thanks."

After that, Dave continued to show up like clock work.  Arash was never seen around our parts again.  To the degree that I almost wonder if he was never seen around anywhere again.

Semper Fi, Marines.  Semper Fi

_MaH

I was a sophomore in HS when it happened. Is it true that the Marine sentries were required to keep their weapons unloaded per ROE?

Semper Fi.