I have a copy and read it from cover to cover several times.
Just about all the information you could want on the USCM- from history to tactics to weapons.
It has realistic sounding quotes from fictional grunts:
"There's scuttlebutt goin' around about some new alien species nobody's ever encountered before. Great big predatory aliens that grab you and cocoon you and lay their eggs inside. I heard they come from some place beyond the frontier- some chickenshit colony barely in the Network. They grabbed two hundred colonists and bred hundreds more before Space Command sent the Marines in. I heard they sent a platoon in to recon the LZ; they had their butts kicked by some big mother queen bug who trapped them in her hive an' tried to use 'em to breed more bugs. They say that only a couple got away, and one of the Marines left behind hadda take out the bug hive by squatting at ground zero and pulling th' pin on a nuke... That's hardcore. Semper Fi, man. Semper Fi." - PFC Jim Meehan, USCM
Lots of information on weapons not seen in the film, including tanks, mines, and anti-armour.
Quote:
Quote:seeing the standard Marines Handgun shown as a Browning 1911 was a surprise
I think this was extrapolated from Vasquez's sidearm (which we now know is a S&W 39 (or 59) not a Government Colt .45).
They did mention that it has "older variants", and it's a little more up to date being 9mm and having twelve rounds (probably because that's how many rounds Vasquez fired in the air duct scene).
Get the book Joe, it's worth every penny. Just don't pay more than umm... $50.00 for it (it has a MSRP of $17.00US on the back cover).
Kevin
The Sarge's Site[url=http://ca.photos.yahoo.com/bc/ssgtburton/lst?.dir=/Sarge%27s+Pics&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t
&.done=http%3a//ca.photos.yahoo.com/]Sarge's Pics[/url]
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Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat."