db: ‘Washed off the sands of war’

A column about crisis of the heart, the soul, the inner core of what makes us human out here, and out where you live as well.

“I would come back in from a patrol and read Bassmaster on the internet and I could feel human again.”
Sergeant Major Roger Griffith
United States Marines

Dateline: Truth

I don’t know if Bassmaster-dot-com will print this column or not, it is of course their dime, their space, their cred.

But it is a column about truth.

A column about hurt.

A column about crisis of the heart, the soul, the inner core of what makes us human out here, and out where you live as well.

It is an Open Letter to all 107 Elite Anglers.

It is an Open Letter to all those who work for B.A.S.S.

It is an Open Letter to all our vendors, sponsors, and the service crews.

It is an Open Letter, to myself.

It is truth laid bare.

Here goes.

I am writing this in Word Docx.2

Word Docx.1, the document right before this, is my Resignation Letter To B.A.S.S.

Done after this upcoming AOY tournament.

It has not been a good month for me.

My wife is working in brutal conditions at her job, and it hurts her not physically, but in her soul.

On the road I spend most of my time in bed, I’m sick, possibly getting sicker, doc’s are concerned that another tumor is growing in my brain.

My two best friends on the tour, Kevin and Kerry Short are leaving it, they have been there since day one for me, they are my safe haven from the chaos out here, and now that is gone.

Comments in stories say I write “garbage,” I’m “unreadable,” there are whole topics on fishing boards about “how much I suck.” Wake up to that every morning.

And this is the time in the Elite season when the anglers see the writing on the wall, some know they won’t be back, some fold inward, a crisis of whether they even belong on the tour, sponsor worries, credit card bills come in whether you make the Classic or not, these guys out here, all of them are my friends, and some of them hurt, and that means I hurt as well.

You say they are living the dream, and they are, but they also live the nightmare as well.

Let me make this perfectly clear, you say they are great at what they do, and they are, but they are guys just like you, a stage is nothing more than just a stage, 30 seconds, a minute or two of fame, the rest of the time they grind it out just like you.

We have traveled thousands of miles this year, hundreds of days on the road, dealt with all sorts of weather, hotels, questionable foods, missed birthdays, anniversaries, and yeah WE CHOOSE TO DO THIS, so bash me on this as well because this isn’t an open letter to you, this is an open letter to all out here on the tour who like me wonder if it all is possibly worth it.

I didn’t think so.

Didn’t think so until a man with a chiseled face and a brush cut, a Marshal here this week came up to me and put a large strong hand on my shoulder and said exactly this: “Thank you for washing off the sands of war.”

Sergeant Major Roger Griffith, 23 years in the Marines, still on active duty, Special Ops Battalion, 2nd Intel Battalion, 10 deployments, eight in combat: Afghanistan and Iraq (Sniper), Haiti in 1994 (Machine Gunner), Liberia in 1996 (Sniper).

Sergeant Major Roger Griffith currently the Senior Listed Leader of a regiment of 1,140 soldiers who report to him.

Sergeant Major Roger Griffith: Marine Drill Instructor trained 15 platoons of Marine and Navy recruits, Marine Martial Arts Instructor, Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device, Meritorious Service Medal (2nd Award), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device (3rd Award), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3rd Award), Combat Action Ribbon (2nd Award), Good Conduct Medal (7th Award) and the Navy/ Marine Corps Parachutist Insignia.

Sergeant Major Roger Griffith: “Brother Don, you brought peace to a war zone, peace for me, made me feel calm again.”

“In the war zone desert I would read about fishing, and dream of being an Elite, and it made me feel calm again.”
SgtMaj Roger Griffith

To all the Elite anglers, all who work the tour out here, the sponsors, the guys who fix the stuff that breaks, the people back in HQ in Birmingham, you need to know what this man deals with:

“Chris Kyle (American Sniper movie) and I talked some, I was shocked to hear how he was killed, he deserved a warriors death when death came, and he didn’t get it.”

SgtMaj Roger Griffith told me he has made a “1,340 yard successful sniper shot.”

“Yes I have lost many friends in the 23 years, but it isn’t that loss that hurts, but it hurts me that I can’t help the family who has lost a son or daughter, they all hurt, and when you lose a friend in battle you realize that it won’t be okay tomorrow, your buddy won’t be there next to you, will never again be next to you, I dedicate my life to honor them.”

There was silence at our table for a minute, then: “db, I talk to some of the family members, I keep in touch with some, I call the mother of one of my soldiers who died out here, I call her to tell her that I’m thinking of her son, thinking of her…”

Then he says something, that I have no answer for, can’t even respond to, “I owe that mother a son, and I tell her I will be her son until the day I die.”

“A Chaplin once told me that Birth was the #1 cause of death, all things that are born will die one day, it helps me handle death on the battlefield, some just go sooner than others, just sooner.”

“I was a Sarge in a boat today.”
SgtMaj Roger Griffith

In one of his days on the water the angler he was a Marshal for was not having a good day, back on the dock…

“I told the young man, told him I failed Algebra in the ninth grade but have since then came up with an Algebraic formula that may help him in the future.”

SgtMaj Roger Griffith’s Algebra: P2 + F2 x H = S

“P is for passion, have passion for what you do, P is also for Persistence, weather the highs and lows and move on, F is for Family and Friends, family gets you going with values, friends good friends tell you when you are right, tell you when you are wrong and help you through obstacles. H is for Hardwork, there are no shortcuts, no substitutes, work hard, harder than the next guy and that leads you to S…success.”

And then he became a Sarge to B.A.S.S.: “The Elites, they bring a slice of American Life to the desert, tell them please they bring happiness to a whole bunch of soldiers out there in an area not known for happiness.”

And then he became a Sarge to me: “I would come back to base after a long dusty, dirty, dangerous patrol, and I would take off all my gear, and in the dark I would turn on a small light and read your stories of the Elites, of working stiffs, that was my time away from all that out there on the battlefield, and your stories would erase the moments of the day and the emotions that came over me would let the horrors of the day go away, if even just temporary.”

“You guys made some of my men, smile. Thank You.”
SgtMaj Roger Griffith

I don’t for a moment believe this Marshal, this Marine, this Sergeant Major came into my life, our lives, at this time, by luck.

Not for a moment.

To my friends the Elites, to their families, to all of the people that put and keep this show on the road, sponsors, bosses, owners, service crews…

To my family, to my doctors, to my friends…

IF ALL WE EVER DO IS WASH OFF THE SANDS OF WAR FROM ONE SOLDIER…what we do matters, what all we go through, matters.

You, the family of B.A.S.S., are making a difference.

And you, the fans of B.A.S.S. are also making a difference, and we here thank you for that, and your support.

SgtMaj Roger Griffith had no idea I was about to quit all this, “Brother Don, don’t you be a stranger, you keep on keeping on, we need you out there.”

It was the last thing he shouted to me as I dropped him off at his hotel so he could get back to base and active duty come this Saturday morning.

In the end, he was a Sarge to me as well.

To Sergeant Major Roger Griffith, I will “keep on keeping on” and the haters will hate, and the mean comments will come, but so will: P2 + F2 x H = S.

And FOR Sergeant Major Roger Griffith, here’s this…my best friend in the world was killed in a Vietnam rice field, many folks my age have lost friends and family members in that war, and in their names, in the names of the 50,000+ on the Vietnam Wall, in YOUR name I am going to do this:

I will personally pay the Marshal fee for one active duty service member at every B.A.S.S. Elite Tournament for as long as I am here.

One Armed Forces young man or woman will get a free ride with the Elites.

SgtMaj Roger Griffith, thank you for picking me up and dusting me off, all of us out here are in your debt, in the debt of all of you over there who do what you do so we over here can do what we do.

We Salute you Sir.

db

“Please give my gratitude to the Elite anglers for doing what they do. May God watch over each of you throughout this tournament year.”
Email from: SgtMaj Roger Griffith

 

A final note from db: My meeting with SgtMjr Roger Griffith taught me that I’m not going anywhere. Thank you to everyone who emailed and texted. I’m here for the long run.