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September
07
2017

A Word To The Wise
Geoffrey B. Higginbotham Major General, USMC (Ret.)

“If you are paid $25.00 an hour to show up to a rally to “counter” the other party using physical force and violence, you are not a “counter protestor.” You are a mercenary.

There is no need for further debate on this. You were paid to attack someone you don’t know for reasons that you couldn’t care enough about to go there for free. You did your “job” and collected your check and your reimbursement of expenses. You’re a mercenary.

Not a Patriot. Not a Social Justice Warrior. Not a Defender of Freedom or Liberty. Not an upholder of Truth or Justice. None of those things you claim to be. You are a mercenary.

And mercenaries are not lawful combatants and deserve whatever comes their way at the hands of the people they are attacking.

You have no 1st Amendment rights when you’re a mercenary.

Doesn’t matter what side you’re on. Doesn’t matter what cause you’re showing up to disrupt. If you can’t express yourself peacefully through diplomatic means, then you better be prepared to meet your maker at the hands of someone who is only barely keeping their own violent tendencies at bay through a massive exercise of self-control.

I know it sounds romantic to attend these rallies and get crap started with the other side. And when you’re young and passionate, it’s really easy to get whipped up into a frenzy of raw emotions. There is a reason why young people are preferred when it comes to warfare. They are easy to manipulate and control and set off.

But I’m telling you all this right now. You’ve got no idea what road you are starting down. Romance and idealism wears off really fast when you’re laying in a pool of your own blood trying to stuff your intestines back into your torn abdomen.

I’ve been lucky enough to go forty-two years without having to put the skills I learned in the Marines to use. I continue to train and keep those skills up to date because I see the madness that is happening all across this country. I don’t train to attack others like you do. I train to defend others FROM you. I’m not alone either.

There are thousands of men and women in this country who have seen war and death and don’t want any more to do with it. They want to live in peace. They want to forget the things they’ve had to do in the service of their country. They want to raise their kids and have family BBQs and build tree houses and soap box derby cars and have tea parties.

They don’t want this crap that you’re selling.

You have the extremist left and the extremist right that are doing their best to get something started. To force us into a Civil War. Even in the 1860’s, the violence between the North and South was nowhere near what we see today. Nowhere. Even. Close.

And yet we still had a war of ideology that consumed hundreds of thousands of lives.

All you young and naive kids on both sides of this equation who think that having a Civil War will advance your agenda or restore your vision of what you think is America, just remember this… Those of us older generations aren’t having any of this crap. And if you jump off, you better be prepared to deal with US. We don’t care what color you’re wearing or what sign you’re holding if you come after us, our friends, our family, our co-workers, our neighbors, etc., WE will kill you.

So remember that when you’re thinking that it’s just Left vs Right, or Liberal vs Conservative, or Commie vs. Fascist. We are the variable you’re not considering.

That “Silent Majority” that you pretend does not exist is getting really sick and tired of your bullshit.

— Geoffrey B. Higginbotham Major General, USMC (Ret.)

Major General Geoffrey B. Higginbotham, USMC, was Commanding General of the Defense Industrial Supply Center (DISC), Defense Logistics Agency, in Philadelphia.

His prior assignment was Commanding General of the 1st Force Service Support Group, Camp Pendleton, California.

General Higginbotham was born on December 14, 1944 in Jackson, Ohio. He graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1967 with a bachelor's degree, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps in November 1967 after completing Officer Candidates School at Quantico, Virginia. Upon completing The Basic School, he was initially assigned to Company A and then Transport Company, 7th Motor Transport Battalion, in Vietnam, where he served as a Platoon Leader and Company Commander from July 1968 until July 1969. While overseas, he was promoted to First Lieutenant in February 1969.

Returning to the United States in July 1969, General Higginbotham was assigned to I&I Staff, 4th Military Police Battalion, 4th Marine Division, New Orleans, Louisiana, where he served as the Assistant I&I and Casualty Assistance Officer. From March 1970 until June 1971, he served as the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of Motor Transport Company, H&S Battalion, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was promoted to Captain in March 1971.

In July 1971, General Higginbotham attended the U.S. Army Armor School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, and upon completing school, was assigned as the Commanding Officer, Company A, and then as Commanding Officer, Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California, from October 1971 until December 1972.

The following month he transferred to Quantico to attend the Amphibious Warfare School. Following graduation in September 1973, he reported to the 1st Amphibious Tractor Battalion, 3d Marine Division, on Okinawa, for duty as the S-4 Logistics Officer and then as Commanding Officer, Company B.

Rotating to the United States in August 1974, General Higginbotham was assigned as the I&I, Transport Company, 6th Motor Transport Battalion, and subsequently as I&I of Company B, 4th Tank Battalion, Amarillo, Texas, where he was promoted to Major in July 1978. During September 1978, he returned to Camp Lejeune where he served as the Commanding Officer, Company B, 2d Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2d Marine Division, and then as the battalion S-4 Logistics Officer and Executive Officer, until his departure for the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia, in January 1982. After completing school in June 1982, he reported to the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade as the G-4 Operations Officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1983.

From July 1984 until May 1986, General Higginbotham served as the G-4 Plans Officer, II Marine Amphibious Force (Nucleus), then transferred to the U.S. Army Armor School in Fort Knox, Kentucky, for duty as the Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment. From 1987 until 1988, he was a student at the National War College, Washington, DC. He was then assigned to the U.S. Central Command, MacDill AFB, Florida, for duty as the Branch Chief, J-4 Exercises. He was promoted to Colonel in August 1989.

During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, he served as the Division Chief, Logistics Plans and Operations, and then Division Chief, Strategic Mobility (USCENTCOM REAR), and Logistics Director, Headquarters Staff Element, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

During July 1991, General Higginbotham was assigned as the Commanding Officer, Brigade Service Support Group 4, U.S. Marine Forces, Atlantic, until the unit's deactivation in September 1992. He was subsequently reassigned as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 Operations Officer, 2d Force Service Support Group. While serving in this capacity, he was selected in March 1993 for promotion to Brigadier General. He was advanced to his present grade on May 20, 1993, and assumed Command of the Defense Industrial Supply Center on July 27, 1995. Brigadier General Higginbotham was selected for promotion to Major General in January of 1996.

His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V," Navy Achievement Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon.

General Higginbotham is married to the former Carol Lee Conover of Tampa, Florida.

 

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