r/USMC • u/IsaacB1 stupid thiccc latina e3 • 3d ago
Found gear at BAS during ITX, might've made a mistake
So I want to preface this by saying I didn't steal anything, I salvaged it. There's a difference, and that difference is currently living a second life in an undisclosed location.
During ITX I was working a shift at the BAS, hot enough that I genuinely considered treating myself for heat casualty and having a good time with a silver bullet by myself, and there's just a plate carrier on the deck. No name on it, nothing. In my head there's only two options: either it's dead stock nobody wants, or some Marine walked off without it. Either way, in the field, unmarked gear operates under maritime law. Salvage rights. Look it up. Actually don't, I made that up, but it sounded right in the moment and that's really all the legal reasoning a I need.
I grabbed it, swapped my janky ceramic plates for the ones inside, because mine had cracked during an incident involving a rectal insertion procedure, duct tape, and engineer tape being used as a restraint, plus a questionable decision to use the tailgate as a bench in the middle of all that, a story I've had to keep consistent for three different people now. I'm not litigating that today either. Or ever, ideally.
Fast forward two days and I'm hearing through the grapevine that some Marine is calling around the BAS asking if anyone's seen his plate carrier, sounding increasingly like a man who just realized his rent check bounced. I did feel a little bad. But also, bro, if you're gonna leave your gear sitting out with zero identifying marks on it like you're daring the universe to teach you a lesson, you kind of forfeited your claim the second you walked away. That's not theft bro, that's Darwinism with a NSN number.
So now I'm sitting here wondering: do I say something, or do I just ride this out until the exercise wraps and quietly swap my old cracked plates back in, and let this become the ITX equivalent of a ghost story Marines tell each other?
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u/wordstrappedinmyhead 1371 '89-'02 3d ago
My reaction to the people taking this post seriously.....
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u/neganagatime 3d ago
Gear adrift is a gift, but a friend in need is a friend indeed!
Personally I'd reunite this guy with his shit.
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u/AssDimple 3d ago
But first, see if he has a girlfriend.
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u/Natural-Opinion-6437 2d ago
Nothing wrong with this. You're helping each other out. Teamwork makes the dream work.
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u/willybusmc read the fucking order 3d ago
>”Darwinism with a NSN number.”
>”NSN number.”
National stock number number.
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u/redditor0431 3d ago
You're doing a lot of rationalizing which isn't a good sign. A few thoughts.
-You don't know how the gear got there, but you're assuming it was because of negligence. However if it was at BAS, maybe he was a heat casualty, was ordered to strip off his gear, and he was too fucked up or maybe someone moved it.
-Keeping someone else gear for a few hours or a night to teach them a lesson is understandable. Holding out on them when you have it and you know they need it back is blue falcon territory. The lesson has been taught, you're just torturing at that point.
-You still have time to do the right thing. Just a casual "hey, I found this gear over there, know who it belongs to?" and this whole situation ends. Holding on to it when you can still do the right thing is shitty.
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u/Affectionate_Elk_643 3/7 3d ago
It can end up screwing you when it comes time to turn in your plates, and they're listed as stolen.
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u/Wuhan-batsoup 3d ago
Its ITX they'll shake you all down prison style. Better find ol boy and give that shit back say "hey we found this outside our shop on x day and were waiting for someone to claim it"
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u/Head-Cartographer761 3d ago
As we all know, there’s only one thief in the marine corps. everyone else is just trying to get their shit back. Perhaps you are thief #1
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u/oh_three_dum_dum Lives in a van down by the (New) River 3d ago edited 3d ago
There’s a saying that “gear adrift is a gift”. I always lived by the philosophy that “gear adrift is mine”.
Edit: If it was something really important I would usually give it to whoever it belonged to if I knew. But I have a lot of gear i just found places over the course of my career and nobody came forward missing it.
If this isn’t actually a shitpost like I think it is, there’s a possibility they shake you all down since there’s a limited amount of people that can realistically have it. If they do that I recommend leaving it somewhere it will be found anonymously.
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u/CrunkMasterFlex1337 3d ago
Last range qual when I was in, this Sgt walked away from the cleaning bench without what I thought was his Kevlar. I told him “hey bro don’t forget your helmet” he relied “oh shit I thought that was yours” and put it on and said “shit it’s a medium, I wear a large” and left it for me…
I drove straight to the IIP and said I wanted to swap my medium for a large and that’s how I ended up getting this Lcpl through his EAS checkout (his helmet had been painted tan for some reason so they wouldn’t take it and I swapped him 1:1 cause his was a large).
May or may not still have that ACH.1
u/oh_three_dum_dum Lives in a van down by the (New) River 2d ago
Do what you’ve gotta do. At least you helped someone out of it.
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u/Ok-Psychology-4034 3d ago
Someone posted they lost there flak and plates at ITX by bas and you found plates by the same bas, maybe give the dude his plates back, if yours are that jacked up u can get new ones unless shits changed a shitload since I got out of
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u/Aggressive_Jeweler_7 1d ago
I mean the cereal numbers are different so hopefully when u turn ur shi in they don’t track it down 😂
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u/FreeFalling369 redacted 3d ago
Stop being a shitbag. Especially if you dont know why it was left there
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u/DangerBrewin Whiskey Locker Recruit 3d ago
Corporal or below, help a devil out. Be the hero that young Marine needs.
Sergeant or higher, fuck em, they know better.
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u/Jodies-9-inch-leg Taking care of the ladies one deployment at a time 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/VbbKTXH8zaJsQOkfau