Comments by "Evan" (@MrEvanfriend) on "Tootsie Roll Saviors: Military Candy" video.

As a former member of the First Marine Division (2003-2007), I hadn't heard this story. Though in my day, Tootsie rolls were still in MREs. They weren't as popular as M&Ms and Skittles, but more so than Charms. M&Ms were a prized MRE component, but the bags had a a tendency to break, and M&Ms don't do well in the desert heat, so sometimes you'd open an MRE and just have melted chocolate all over everything inside, but if you found an intact bag, that was always good. We also suspected that when M&Ms comes out with those contests - "find whatever and win a massive prize" - those bags go into MREs, where they'll sit on a shelf until well after the contest expires. As far as Charms being a trail of proverbial breadcrumbs tracing Marines' movements, this is true....but the Charms are mixed in with all the other MRE garbage that just gets thrown off the trucks. Littering is pretty much universal in a war zone. And there's always that one guy who eats Charms, either because he's a boot who doesn't know better, or he's trying to tempt fate. Don't be that guy. By the way, "1st Marines" refers to the 1st Marine Regiment, an infantry regiment that belongs to 1st MarDiv.
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@gus473 I got one on my truck. It says IRAQ instead of GUADALCANAL.
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When I was in the Marine Corps, I had a regular dental appointment once. I was told I needed a filling and to come back at a later date. It wasn't until after they'd drilled the tooth that they bothered to mention that I didn't actually have a cavity, but my teeth have grooves in them so it was possible that I might get one later. As you can imagine, I wasn't thrilled to hear this. This is far from the worst thing I've seen Navy Dental do. A guy I went to boot camp with went in to get "a tooth" pulled....and woke up with all of his front teeth gone. They didn't bother giving him dentures until just before graduation. Yes, military dentists are busy...but they should NEVER be trusted.
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