Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1396232
I 've spent the majority of my life working in the motorcycle industry, but I did enlist in the United States Marine Corps when I was 24 years old. I needed a short break to give the struggling motorcycle dealership where I was working a chance to recover from the economic downturn in 1986, and I had always wanted to be a Marine, so I raised my right hand and signed up. Shortly after completing boot camp and the basic schools, I was serving in the Philippines with an infantry unit, known as grunts in the Marine Corps, and I was loving it. Every day was a new adventure, and I truly enjoyed being a grunt. Swinging through the jungle with my M16— all of that oorah fun stuff. But one afternoon my com- manding officer, the CO, called me into his office and told me that I'd be on the next plane back to Camp Pendleton and report to First Marine Division Combat Motorcycles. As it turned out, an old high school friend of mine was commissioned as a Marine Corps officer a few years before I joined. He was now a captain and was working with the CO of First Marine Division Schools, who was looking for a qualified Marine with experience with off- road motorcycles to take over the Combat Motorcycle Operators Course. My name rose to the top of their list of candidates, and I would soon be entrusted with a completely new job teaching Marines how to operate a motor- cycle for tactical reconnaissance. For the next two years, I rode a motorcycle every day, taught Marines how to ride dirt bikes, and had the absolute best job anyone could ever dream of hav- ing. My CO gave me autonomy and authority, and I pretty much ran my own program. All of the fun and games ended on August 1, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I was ordered to report for duty under the Com- manding General (CG) of the First Marine Division in Saudi Arabia. I arrived there in mid- August, and along with a few thousand other Marines, I waited by the dock at a large shipping port for the maritime preposition- ing ships (MPS) to arrive. These MPS ships are positioned all over the world and are stocked full of everything the Marine Corps needs to quickly get into the fight. To my surprise, when the ships arrived, sure enough, there was a fleet of combat motor- cycles at my disposal. The bikes that we were using at the time were Kawasaki KLR250s slightly modified for military operations, basically just a green paint job, some extra crash protection, and blackout lights for nighttime operations. Once the bikes were off the ship, I was told to set up a training course and to expect my first group of trainees to arrive within a few days. Now remember, we're in the middle of the Arabian Desert—not exactly the best place to teach someone how to ride a motor- P134 CN III WHEELSPIN BY KEITH DOWDLE USMC COMBAT MOTORCYCLES The author and his Kawasaki KLX250 in Saudi Arabia circa 1990.