Oh, Christina. I am not going to make anyone sit back and speculate over this. You know I am up front and own up to everything.

I sent the email to his Gunny about the nipple ring. I want to say something to you, and then (because I know Jeremy does read this) I am going to explain why.

First of all, Christina, I am so sorry to have caused trouble between you and your ex husband. I know things were going amicably (well, sort of) and it looks like I fucked up that balance. I am so sorry to have done that to you. I also want you to know, while a very small part of me may have done it to get back at how he treats you, it was not the major part whatsoever. You know how much I love you, and you also know how much I treasure your friendship. I have never met anyone who I can relate to on so many levels like I do with you. I have never been so happy to have an internet connection—you’re the friend I wanted to have when I still wore the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. I am just happy to have found that friend at all.

Now, for Jeremy, I have some things to say to you. I am sorry that you felt the need to blame Christina for my actions. You need to know that she had nothing to do with what I did, because she does not deserve to be treated as such. You know very well she has those pictures on her Flickr account, and that is where I took the picture from. I never even knew it existed until I decided to look through other pictures while searching for new Vulgarthon pictures.

But, I am not sorry for my actions, Jeremy. You do know I am a former United States Marine. I do not think you know what kind of pride I have of being one. My family has a long line of life time Marines, and to me it is a strong heritage. You have no idea how personally I take someone who disrespects the uniform. For you to blatantly disgrace that uniform and break Marine Corps Order…it insulted me and every other Marine in my family.

As for how I found out who was who? I know what your last name is, when I met Christina you both were still married—so of course we spoke of your career, and it’s not like it is hard to find out who someone’s Gunny is. Not when I only have to make a phone call to a family member who knows everyone in the Marine Corps. Let me reiterate: Christina had nothing to do with my choice. The major reason I did it was because I felt you were disgracing the Marine Corps, and I do not take that lightly.

I hope you take this as a constructive criticism. I remember Christina mentioning your time with the United States Marines is coming to an end, but that does not mean you have free reign to do whatever you feel. You look like you have lost the pride of who you are, of what you fought to be, and of the heritage you are carrying on to others. Jeremy, you are a Corporal of Marines. Having a nipple ring does not give those under you a good example of leadership. That is something that is detrimental to your job; leading by example. It looks to me like you have forgotten that.

Do not take that out on Christina. She does not deserve it. She has stood up for you too many times for you to even begin to do so. I have spent too much time talking to her about you, and she has defended everything I have ever said against you.

You want to hate and blame someone? Blame me. But, you should damn well blame yourself. You should be blaming yourself for forgetting your pride; and for me to call you on that is not something I will ever be sorry for.

Actually, Jeremy isn’t the only member of the family that reads this blog. As a matter of fact, Jeremy’s mother and father also read it on a daily basis because we care about Christina as does he. She has been our daughter, and our family, and her family is our family as well. They are all good people.

If you ask Christina, she’ll tell you that I’m always the person “least likely to respond” to any of the general chit-chat or postings about who likes chocolate vs vanilla or what your favorite movie is. I generally prefer to avoid participating in that type of thing, but I still care, which is why I keep up with things via reading the blogs and listening to the conversations around me.

However, I will respond to this post because you have directly attacked my son. Not in a general, harmless flame war or namecalling, etc, but you went to his place of employment and tried to get him in trouble. As a matter of fact, since the military does things somewhat differently than civilians do, you basically attempted to get him charged with the heinous, disgraceful crime of having a body piercing, fully knowing that his punishment for that type of thing (unlike a normal writeup in civilian life) can result in loss of rank, loss of pay, fine, restriction to barracks, or even confinement.

Your excuses for this action are pathetically transparent lies, that I’m sure are visible to even the dullest of visitors here. You say you’re “up front”, but you don’t mention your “problem” to Jeremy and ask him to resolve it (even via Christina), you go behind everyone’s back and tattletale to his boss. Most of us learned that was unacceptable behavior somewhere around Kindergarten or 1st grade if not before.

You say you offer it as “constructive criticism”, but there is nothing constructive about your actions. You have attempted to injure Jeremy specifically, and you have caused injury to their friendship. You offer the slightest possible apology (to Christina only) for your destructive act after they have BOTH worked very hard to maintain a friendship during the most difficult of times. Then you negate the apology by saying you’re not sorry for your actions.

The “constructive criticism” you offer contains images of ‘disrespect’ and ‘disgrace’. And you mention how your family “heritage” has been insulted by a body piercing. Be very sure Cori, if you are insulted by that (the equivalent of going 70 in a 65 zone), you’re sure to feel that way often.

There’s no way in hell you were ever a Marine in heart even if you may have been one in name. The core values of the Marine Corps are Honor, Courage, and Committment. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You believe you showed your Committment to duty by Courageously sending an email to Jeremy’s Gunny rather than face him directly? And obviously this act was the most Honorable way of dealing with the deadly insult of a body piercing that’s covered by the uniform and out of sight.

Honor? Courage? Committment? You have the fucking nerve to tell Jeremy he has insulted you? He’s been back from Iraq less than 90 days, after spending the bulk of his time over there in Ramadi (there’s a little town we never hear about in the news, eh?). What does he come home to? His wife asks him for a divorce. The two of them hash that out, and still remain friends (yes they do occasionally give each other reality checks). He hasn’t even been able to take leave and make it home yet you see his parents until this coming weekend.

And then you pull this shit.

You know what, Cori? He doesn’t blame you. He doesn’t hate you. I spoke with him on the phone a few hours ago and he’s aware of your actions, and of your post. Has he written a scathing reply here and called you a “bitch” as he has every right to do? Nope. What did he do? Took off the nipple rings.

That man has more Honor in his pinkie than you will ever be able to understand. Look at his blog. Does he whine and cry and blame Christina? He tries to be as decent and fair as he can be, especially under the circumstances. Have you seen him dishonor Christina here in print? Yes, they have their little comments now and then, but he makes a distinct effort to avoid airing their dirty laundry.

He has the Courage to take the abuse from Christina’s friends, as long as it’s not injuring him. He doesn’t mind, and he understands that they may not have all the details, as I’m sure NONE of us do, and he doesn’t volunteer more than he needs to. That is his Committment to her as a friend.

Jeremy is a United States Marine. And he acts like one. As a matter of fact, he acts like one of the best of them, truly devoted to the core values of the Corps. He has put his life on the line, and has seen combat action. You called him the “equivalent of a snotty high school girl”.

He won’t tell you what he thinks of you, at least not in a public forum, because it would not be what he considers the right thing to do.

I on the other hand am not under such a restraint, but I’ve never been a fan of attempting to teach pigs to sing. You are what you are and as the above post said, you’ve given your first warning already as to what you are on the inside. It isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice. It lies and does bad things. It has no Honor, Courage, or Committment. It NEVER was a Marine, at least not on the inside.

Christina knows that Jeremy and his family still care for her (she may not know that I do, but I’ve never been overly vocal anyway). She’s been welcome in our house as a daughter, and always will be. She and Jeremy have had their difficulties, and are getting a divorce. It doesn’t mean that they hate each other, or want to cause injury. They’ve been doing pretty well at maintaining a pretty decent friendship through one of the toughest times they can have, and they’ve been through some tough ones.

And here comes Cori to make things as difficult as humanly possible for them. Listen carefully Cori. You ever hear the phrase, “with friends like you, who needs enemies”? That’s you.

Wanna debate me and tell me I’m wrong? Won’t happen. I couldn’t care less about your opinion, and I’m least likely to respond anyway. Wanna apologize? I don’t care for that either. I won’t forgive you, and neither will I forget the harm you tried to do. You could do me a big favor though. STFU. I’m sure it’s a stretch for you, but at least it wouldn’t hurt your friends as much.

For the amusement of those who have made it this far, I present the below, from the USMC page. For those of you who know Jeremy personally, please feel free to compare him against these, and then think of some other person ‘here in the room’ who you think is better suited. If that person is Cori… it must be really close to closing time. Take a cab home.

From Marines.com:
Three things matter.
From its beginning in 1775, the Corps has strived to produce not only the best warriors, but the best people. They are men and women who live by a code which form the bedrock of good character. These values guide the Corps, as well as its individual Marines.

Honor
Marines are held to a high standard of the utmost ethical and moral behavior. Honesty and honor are held in great regard. Respect for others is essential. You are expected to act responsibly in a mature and dependable manner. Every Marine is accountable for his or her actions and meeting the highest standard of the Corps.

Courage
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to face fear and overcome it. It is the mental, moral, and physical strength ingrained in Marines. It steadies them in times of stress, carries them through every challenge and aids them in facing new and unknown confrontations.

Commitment
Commitment is the spirit of determination and dedication found in Marines. It is what impels Marines to serve our country and the Corps. Every aspect of life in the Corps shows commitment, from the high standard of excellence to the vigilance the Marines show for training.

Made it this far? A gift for those who can appreciate the dedication of a Marine:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0604/finalsalute01.html

I just met you, but I can tell you are a strong person. No matter what happens, keep your chin up and hang in there. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, as long as you can be happy with yourself. Screw everyone else!
Take care of your self hun!

“However, I will respond to this post because you have directly attacked my son. Not in a general, harmless flame war or name-calling, etc, but you went to his place of employment and tried to get him in trouble. As a matter of fact, since the military does things somewhat differently than civilians do, you basically attempted to get him charged with the heinous, disgraceful crime of having a body piercing, fully knowing that his punishment for that type of thing (unlike a normal write-up in civilian life) can result in loss of rank, loss of pay, fine, restriction to barracks, or even confinement.”

You are correct, this is the equivalent of a direct attack on your son, and if it were my child, I would be doing the same thing. I am not one to jump to name calling, I feel it extreme. Although I am guilty of the action, I try my best not to do that. It is not worth it. Name calling never is.

“Your excuses for this action are pathetically transparent lies, that I’m sure are visible to even the dullest of visitors here. You say you’re “up front”, but you don’t mention your “problem” to Jeremy and ask him to resolve it (even via Christina), you go behind everyone’s back and tattletale to his boss. Most of us learned that was unacceptable behavior somewhere around Kindergarten or 1st grade if not before.”

In all reality, this is not something I felt I could go to Jeremy about. From what I have read and seen of him, I honestly felt I could not go to him about this whatsoever. I also do not speak to Christina about Jeremy enough to take this issue to her. In many of our discussions about our lives, we have tried to keep away from negativity the best we can. Also, I am not sure she realizes the severity of this infraction; her rules and regulations are quite different. I have also come to find out this matter has been brought to Jeremy’s attention, and he did not resolve it. This was something mentioned in passing, and it stuck with me when I decided to go the route I went.

“You say you offer it as “constructive criticism”, but there is nothing constructive about your actions. You have attempted to injure Jeremy specifically, and you have caused injury to their friendship. You offer the slightest possible apology (to Christina only) for your destructive act after they have BOTH worked very hard to maintain a friendship during the most difficult of times. Then you negate the apology by saying you’re not sorry for your actions.
The “constructive criticism” you offer contains images of ‘disrespect’ and ‘disgrace’. And you mention how your family “heritage” has been insulted by a body piercing. Be very sure Cori, if you are insulted by that (the equivalent of going 70 in a 65 zone), you’re sure to feel that way often.”

As a matter of fact, my apologies were not within this blog. I have sent Jeremy a personal email, and have discussed this with Christina herself. The only reason I put anything in this blog at all was to stop any open forum speculation that would have inevitably happened. My apologies here were slight because I felt the need to attack that personally, with both people. I did not feel my words to them had any place here. But, do not think there was not a written apology to your son, because there was one sent to him directly. I also feel that he should not blame Christina in any way, shape, or form. Yes, I will admit I should have thought harder as to how it would affect the two of them, but never in a million years would I have thought this incident would have come between them; especially because it had nothing to do with Christina.
And this situation is not the equivalent of someone going “70 in a 65 zone.” You have said yourself what this infraction’s consequences are, and they are way more serious than that of a minor traffic violation. I feel insulted when someone chooses to blatantly disregard the uniform they wear, and yes, a piercing is that severe. And I have not taken to this type of situation with Jeremy only; I have done this same type of thing with many Marines. I believe that carrying yourself as a Marine starts with the uniform, and I am not sure how you can disagree with that. Disrespecting the uniform takes away any Honor, Courage, and Commitment you may have.

“There’s no way in hell you were ever a Marine in heart even if you may have been one in name. The core values of the Marine Corps are Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You believe you showed your Commitment to duty by courageously sending an email to Jeremy’s Gunny rather than face him directly? And obviously this act was the most Honorable way of dealing with the deadly insult of a body piercing that’s covered by the uniform and out of sight.
Honor? Courage? Commitment? You have the fucking nerve to tell Jeremy he has insulted you? He’s been back from Iraq less than 90 days, after spending the bulk of his time over there in Ramadi (there’s a little town we never hear about in the news, eh?). What does he come home to? His wife asks him for a divorce. The two of them hash that out, and still remain friends (yes they do occasionally give each other reality checks). He hasn’t even been able to take leave and make it home yet you see his parents until this coming weekend.

And then you pull this shit.”

Most of this is just a personal attack out of love for a son. I will not argue it, because I myself have a child. If I felt he was wronged, I would act the same way.
But, you have no idea what my career was, what I fought to be what I was, and what I had to handle as a female Marine who entered into a shop where no female had ever been stationed. I am also not going to say I agree that the divorce was only Christina’s fault-things like this are a two way street. I know they both had issues with each other that they believe were beyond reconciling. And I have been witness to how they spoke to each other during their marriage; so again, I do not feel something like this has any weight in this conversation.

“You know what, Cori? He doesn’t blame you. He doesn’t hate you. I spoke with him on the phone a few hours ago and he’s aware of your actions, and of your post. Has he written a scathing reply here and called you a “bitch” as he has every right to do? Nope. What did he do? Took off the nipple rings.”

Well, I believe he should blame me, because he is placing the blame in the wrong place. If he were to do that, he and Christina should have no problems continuing the relationship they have. This, again, is something we should not hash out right here.
I do not believe he would have simply removed the nipple rings had I come to him with it. No, I did not give him the chance to prove me wrong, and I am in the wrong for that.

“That man has more Honor in his pinkie than you will ever be able to understand. Look at his blog. Does he whine and cry and blame Christina? He tries to be as decent and fair as he can be, especially under the circumstances. Have you seen him dishonor Christina here in print? Yes, they have their little comments now and then, but he makes a distinct effort to avoid airing their dirty laundry.”

Actually, I have read his blog, and there were nasty things said about her. They, of course, have since been removed, but he is no saint. He has done his fair share of name calling and other things. And while Christina is trying to make herself a better person, your son has given her some of the snidest comments I have ever seen. She is updating those of us who can not see her daily, and he is using those updates to say horrible things. Especially because of how hard she has worked to become a better person.

“He has the Courage to take the abuse from Christina’s friends, as long as it’s not injuring him. He doesn’t mind, and he understands that they may not have all the details, as I’m sure NONE of us do, and he doesn’t volunteer more than he needs to. That is his Commitment to her as a friend.”

I have never abused him. Until he openly ridiculed her in public forum I have publicly kept my mouth shut about him. And still, that had nothing to do with why I went with what I did. Although, I am seeing a theme here when it comes to how you speak of him. I really cannot blame you for that, because I believe you are doing what any good parent would do.

“Jeremy is a United States Marine. And he acts like one. As a matter of fact, he acts like one of the best of them, truly devoted to the core values of the Corps. He has put his life on the line, and has seen combat action. You called him the “equivalent of a snotty high school girl”.
He won’t tell you what he thinks of you, at least not in a public forum, because it would not be what he considers the right thing to do.”

Well, the very presence of that nipple ring goes against what you just said. You do not get to bend the rules or follow only some of them. You have to live and breathe by ALL of them. And you sat back a few paragraphs ago stating how he does not “blame” or “hate” me and here we are with threats of him telling me what he thinks of me. (Please note that I do not mean threats in a physical or dangerous way.)

“I on the other hand am not under such a restraint, but I’ve never been a fan of attempting to teach pigs to sing. You are what you are and as the above post said, you’ve given your first warning already as to what you are on the inside. It isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice. It lies and does bad things. It has no Honor, Courage, or Commitment. It NEVER was a Marine, at least not on the inside.”

Again, I see no reason why you would not. You are defending your son, and that is the right thing to do. I am not going to argue that fact. But you think you can judge me based on this while sitting back and telling I cannot judge Jeremy based on the few things I saw in him. In all reality, I can say these things about Jeremy, although I will not. And again you are attacking my former career knowing nothing about it. I have agreed with some things you have said here, but you are going against your own words while doing that.

“Christina knows that Jeremy and his family still care for her (she may not know that I do, but I’ve never been overly vocal anyway). She’s been welcome in our house as a daughter, and always will be. She and Jeremy have had their difficulties, and are getting a divorce. It doesn’t mean that they hate each other, or want to cause injury. They’ve been doing pretty well at maintaining a pretty decent friendship through one of the toughest times they can have, and they’ve been through some tough ones.”

And I do not feel I need to discuss what that is in public forum, because it is not my marriage to discuss.

“And here comes Cori to make things as difficult as humanly possible for them. Listen carefully Cori. You ever hear the phrase, “with friends like you, who needs enemies”? That’s you.
Want to debate me and tell me I’m wrong? Won’t happen. I couldn’t care less about your opinion, and I’m least likely to respond anyway. Want to apologize? I don’t care for that either. I won’t forgive you, and neither will I forget the harm you tried to do. You could do me a big favor though. STFU. I’m sure it’s a stretch for you, but at least it wouldn’t hurt your friends as much.”

Here is my point: It should have never, ever caused anything between them. I acted of my own volition, and I am the one to blame here, not Christina. I also have not called you wrong on too many things. I want to say again, I feel what you are doing is here is what any good parent would have done.
I do not feel there is anything you and I need to “debate” although I felt I should at least address what you have to say. I also do not feel the need to apologize to you. I said my apologies personally to the two people involved. This should have never hurt my friend, because it was not something she was apart of.

I will reiterate the fact I think you were just in your actions here. Although I do not feel some of the things you said were correct, I do think some were. And I also know you will not respond, which is fine, but I know you read this. At least I know you will see this. And you are more than welcome to read the apology I sent to your son.

“Wow, Cori. Kinda creepy snooping around like that to cause trouble for someone, you think? You really do like to fuck up other people’s relationships, don’t you?

Christina, watch out for this one. She’s given you your first warning. ”

The picture was posted on an internet web site that is open to the public. I was searching for pictures from a recent event we have attended, and came across that picture. That is in no way snooping.

I did nothing that should have caused an issue between the two of them. If anything, it should have affected the way Jeremy felt about me. NOT Christina.

Don’t lie, you dumb twat. You know you get a kick out of it.