I can speak directly to the title of this thread. One of my more interesting evenings was spent in a hotel bar with a Marine Corps Sergeant. I walked in looking for some friends I was to meet, but they were not there yet. A very fit looking man, in uniform, saw me looking lost and confused and he asked if he could buy me a drink. I like to meet new people and said sure. This was in October 2003 and he had just returned from the first Iraq war. He was highly stressed, and a fair bit drunk already. We wound up buying each other a few rounds and talking for about 2 1/2 hours. When he found out I was a photographer, he repeatedly urged me to go to Iraq to photograph and that he and his buddies would take good care of me. Judging purely on personal appearance he would have been the one for the job, being probably the strongest looking person I've ever met. I assured him I was too chicken do go there, which I occasionally regret until reality thinking sets in. He was full of war stories and really wanted/needed to talk. He said that the thing he was proudest of was that he didn't lose anyone he was responsible for—they all came home together. Turned out that when he wasn't fighting wars, he and his wife collected blue and white antique china. I used to own an antiques business so we had that in common. I finally had to leave when my friends who were by this time waiting patiently dragged me out so we could go to dinner as planned, and I staggered off with them. The sergeant declined to join us.
Richard - great story. Sometimes, just talking to a vet will help them get through a rough patch.
Good for you, Richard.
I was in-service long ago, and was not in the NCOIC's list of top contenders. When I was close to rotating to the US he said, "Stafford, I'll bet that when I die you will piss on my grave." I replied, "Never, sergeant. You know how I hate to wait in line."
It's poor moderation then in this case.
The OP made no reference to the Ebay sale except a quote. It wasn't a fraudulent sale on this Forum so there was no reason to put it in the Buyer-Seller Advisories sub-forum.
Sometimes common sense is sadly missing here on this Forum. As Ebay themselves had acted before the thread was pulled first by suspending the sale then deleting it that should have been the end of it but, pulling the thread here means those that didn't see the blatant Ebay fraud don't know what to spot in the future, and we all know he will do it again and again. His account wasn't new he'd made a purchase 2 or 3 years earlier and had other Ebay accounts in between, how many other ebay accounts does he have, he's had multiple on the Forums including here. We are talking about someone extremely devious who has already set up new aliases across the Internet.
Many of us remember the notorious Australian Ebay seller, mis-representing/describing lenses and his many multiple Ebay accounts, no posts were deleted when he was mentioned in similar posts.
It needs a re-think. Or moderators to read threads fully and make more informed judgements based on what's actually been posted rather than hard and fast rules which may be quite irrelevant in hindsight.
The reality is the Little Man's Polaroid conversion ebay sale breached all Ebay guidelines and Moderators here should have left it like that, instead they seem to support his fraudulent sales by deleting a thread about it, quite ironic really.
Ian
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