A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending
An email apocalypse that swept across the Marine Corps earlier this year now has a legendary ending, cementing its place in Corps lore.
It all began in April, innocently enough, when Marine Cpl. Andrew Hundley, a cyberspace warfare operator, completed his corporal's course, an important but routine series of classes that Marines must take as they move up in rank.
But then someone tasked with the incredibly ordinary and minor office chore of emailing a copy of Hundley's training certificate made a big boo boo.
You see where this is going.
In addressing the email, the sender picked a Marine Corps-wide distribution list, sending Hundley's paperwork to hundreds and perhaps thousands of inboxes across the globe. The countless subsequent responses of recipients asking to be taken off the list created a legendary email storm that clogged inboxes across the Corps for days, including, apparently, the one belonging to Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos A. Ruiz.
So epic was the SNAFU that a petition was posted online in an attempt to have Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith to attend Hundley's graduation.
Alas, the petition was quickly shut down – after garnering close to 1,700 signatures – but the spirit of Chesty Puller was likely smiling on Thursday when Ruiz showed up for Hundley's graduation ceremony from 8th Communication Battalion's Corporals Course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
'The Marine Corps gods have called upon me,' Ruiz told those in attendance, recounting the Reply-All-pocolypse that had engulfed them all. 'All of them assembled at Marine Corps Barracks, Washington, D.C., they were pulling toes in the middle of the night. They were doing crazy stuff. They were setting up a schedule, and the schedule somehow ended up with – where you at, Hundley, raise your hand.'
With that, the famous Cpl. Hundley put his hand into the air, earning knowing laughs and applause from the other Marines.
Ruiz described the spark that lit the explosion as 'an unintentional, so innocent email that went to everyone.'
When Ruiz asked the audience, 'All of you got it,' they replied with affirmative Marine noises.
'And then the beautiful people who Replied-All,' Ruiz continued. 'And then the people who said 'stop Replying-All' to Reply-All.'
As the email storm raged, Ruiz said, he was traveling to various Marine bases, where he found that Marines did not want to talk about their barracks or other quality of life issues. There was just one topic on their minds.
'It's 'Cpl. Hundley!'' Ruiz exclaimed. 'That's all I could hear about for two days, and that's why the gods have called me to see you graduate.'
Speaking to Task & Purpose after the ceremony, Hundley said that Ruiz's visit was 'an amazing surprise,' adding that although he had heard rumors that Ruiz may attend, he assumed the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps was far too busy to fit the graduation in his schedule.
Hundley laughed when asked what he felt like when Ruiz asked him to raise his hand in front of the rest of the Marines.
'It was a huge mix of emotions there,' Hundley said. 'I was shocked, to say the least, and in the best way possible to say I was a little embarrassed, I guess. But also it was a pretty amazing feeling just to get recognized by him.'
Although the email storm was initially very stressful for him, Hundley said he has come to enjoy the many memes that have been posted about it. He also wants people to know that his staff sergeant, whom some people have claimed on social media sent the errant email, is blameless in the matter.
Bravo Zulu Cpl. Hundley! May your inbox always be free of spam.
UPDATE: 06/05/2025; this story was updated with comments from Marine Cpl. Andrew Hundley.
Navy SEAL Team 6 operator will be the military's new top enlisted leader
Veterans receiving disability payments might have been underpaid, IG finds
Guam barracks conditions are 'baffling,' Navy admiral says in email
Navy fires admiral in charge of unmanned systems office after investigation
The Pentagon wants troops to change duty stations less often
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
This corporal's 'reply all' email debacle went viral. When the memes blew up, a top Marine took notice.
A young Marine's course certificate accidentally made it into thousands of government inboxes. The "reply allpocalypse" spurred a barrage of memes, making the corporal famous. The saga came to an end Thursday with an unexpected surprise. The Marine Corps is going wild after an email accidentally sent to the entire service resulted in the top enlisted Marine surprising his troops and the young corporal at the center of all of it. The latest development is the culmination of a story that started in April, when Cpl. Andrew Hundley's boss routed his online course certificate up to colleagues for record-keeping. The message went well beyond the intended recipients. With the online training out of the way, Hundley, a 24-year-old cyberspace defense operator, could apply for a spot at the follow-on in-person course required for promotion. That course tackles topics like public speaking and military tactics. But when the staff sergeant hit "send," the senior Marine accidentally unleashed a "reply allpocalyspe," emailing the entire service and more. Reply-alls began flooding inboxes. Almost just as quickly came the memes, which would last for weeks. Alarmed, his boss called Hundley to explain his certificate had gone to untold corners of the government. "There's been this problem," Hundley recalled her saying to Business Insider. At first he was worried about either of them getting in trouble— the email had made it outside the Corps too, fielding quizzical responses from the Army, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, FBI, and even the White House, Hundley said. "A lot of them were kind of confused why they were getting the email," he said. Some thought it was a phishing attempt. Despite the initial stress, Hundley noted that his leaders were quick to assuage his concerns during his rocket to Marine Corps fame and kept tabs on him as the memes kept coming. A petition to have the service's chief officer, Commandant Eric Smith, attend Hundley's in-person course graduation took off, picking up over 1,600 signatures. It would be highly unusual for a Beltway-based top leader who oversees around 170,000 troops to attend the graduation for a routine enlisted course. The commandant didn't show up, but on Thursday, Smith's partner, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz, appeared unannounced, amid both applause and laughter, to present Hundley and his classmates with their graduation certificates. Marine Corps spokesperson Gunnery Sgt. Jordan Gilbert said the petition gave Ruiz a chuckle. "The Marine Corps gods have called upon me," Ruiz said as he entered the event Thursday. "They were setting up a schedule, and the schedule somehow ended up with — where you at, Hundley? Raise your hand." A sergeant major serves as a unit's senior enlisted advisor and is the right-hand to the unit's commanding officer— in Ruiz's case, that's Gen. Smith. An enlisted leader may be subordinate in rank to an officer, but they bring decades of experience and function as a team. Among other things, sergeants major are focused on unit welfare and troop morale — topics on which Ruiz has previously testified before Congress. That may well be why he decided to surprise Hundley and others, undoubtably a morale boost for the Marines. The email that went out about the corporal was "an unintentional, so innocent email that went to everyone," Ruiz said. But then it went rogue. What triggered the email storm were all the people who replied all, followed by more who replied all asking the first group of people to stop. "For three or four days, as I traveled the Corps, the question was not about barracks or quality of life," Ruiz said, referring to the service's $11 billion effort to overhaul shoddy barracks. "It's 'Corporal Hundley!'" he exclaimed. "And that's why the gods have called me to see you graduate." In an institution that reveres authentic leadership, Ruiz holds a high standing among many, including Hundley, who said that he was at once "amazed, shocked, and terrified" to see Ruiz walk in — he hadn't expected such a senior leader to actually show up. Ruiz presented the class with their graduation certificates and spoke briefly with Hundley afterward. "That the Sergeant Major is taking time out of his day, and out of his schedule just to come and see us," Hundley said. "It was an amazing feeling because it shows how much he cares." "He most definitely fosters this idea of care for everyone in the Marine Corps," regardless of rank Hundley said of Ruiz. "And I think that's an amazing leadership trait that anyone can have, having the humility to realize that we're all people and that we all have our own important things that we can offer up." Having received an overwhelming amount of congratulatory messages from around the world, Hundley said the entire experience has left him feeling humbled and eager to give back to his community. A handful of classmates asked him to sign their course certificates. Email storms happen every now and then within the US government. In 2007, a Homeland Security Department-based email chain ended up flooding over 2 million inboxes, including those of a nuclear power station in Illinois. More recently, in 2023, the Senate's email system tanked after thousands of staffers replied all to a security drill. The Hundley email debacle, however, might be the military's most amusing one. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
This corporal's 'reply all' email debacle went viral. When the memes blew up, a top Marine took notice.
The Marine Corps is going wild after an email accidentally sent to the entire service resulted in the top enlisted Marine surprising his troops and the young corporal at the center of all of it. The latest development is the culmination of a story that started in April, when Cpl. Andrew Hundley's boss routed his online course certificate up to colleagues for record-keeping. The message went well beyond the intended recipients. With the online training out of the way, Hundley, a 24-year-old cyberspace defense operator, could apply for a spot at the follow-on in-person course required for promotion. That course tackles topics like public speaking and military tactics. But when the staff sergeant hit "send," the senior Marine accidentally unleashed a " reply allpocalyspe," emailing the entire service and more. Reply-alls began flooding inboxes. Almost just as quickly came the memes, which would last for weeks. Alarmed, his boss called Hundley to explain his certificate had gone to untold corners of the government. "There's been this problem," Hundley recalled her saying to Business Insider. At first he was worried about either of them getting in trouble— the email had made it outside the Corps too, fielding quizzical responses from the Army, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, FBI, and even the White House, Hundley said. "A lot of them were kind of confused why they were getting the email," he said. Some thought it was a phishing attempt. Despite the initial stress, Hundley noted that his leaders were quick to assuage his concerns during his rocket to Marine Corps fame and kept tabs on him as the memes kept coming. A petition to have the service's chief officer, Commandant Eric Smith, attend Hundley's in-person course graduation took off, picking up over 1,600 signatures. It would be highly unusual for a Beltway-based top leader who oversees around 170,000 troops to attend the graduation for a routine enlisted course. The commandant didn't show up, but on Thursday, Smith's partner, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz, appeared unannounced, amid both applause and laughter, to present Hundley and his classmates with their graduation certificates. Marine Corps spokesperson Gunnery Sgt. Jordan Gilbert said the petition gave Ruiz a chuckle. "The Marine Corps gods have called upon me," Ruiz said as he entered the event Thursday. "They were setting up a schedule, and the schedule somehow ended up with — where you at, Hundley? Raise your hand." View this post on Instagram A post shared by SgtMaj of the Marine Corps (@usmcsgtmaj) A sergeant major serves as a unit's senior enlisted advisor and is the right-hand to the unit's commanding officer— in Ruiz's case, that's Gen. Smith. An enlisted leader may be subordinate in rank to an officer, but they bring decades of experience and function as a team. Among other things, sergeants major are focused on unit welfare and troop morale — topics on which Ruiz has previously testified before Congress. That may well be why he decided to surprise Hundley and others, undoubtably a morale boost for the Marines. The email that went out about the corporal was "an unintentional, so innocent email that went to everyone," Ruiz said. But then it went rogue. What triggered the email storm were all the people who replied all, followed by more who replied all asking the first group of people to stop. "For three or four days, as I traveled the Corps, the question was not about barracks or quality of life," Ruiz said, referring to the service's $11 billion effort to overhaul shoddy barracks. "It's 'Corporal Hundley!'" he exclaimed. "And that's why the gods have called me to see you graduate." In an institution that reveres authentic leadership, Ruiz holds a high standing among many, including Hundley, who said that he was at once "amazed, shocked, and terrified" to see Ruiz walk in — he hadn't expected such a senior leader to actually show up. Ruiz presented the class with their graduation certificates and spoke briefly with Hundley afterward. "That the Sergeant Major is taking time out of his day, and out of his schedule just to come and see us," Hundley said. "It was an amazing feeling because it shows how much he cares." "He most definitely fosters this idea of care for everyone in the Marine Corps," regardless of rank Hundley said of Ruiz. "And I think that's an amazing leadership trait that anyone can have, having the humility to realize that we're all people and that we all have our own important things that we can offer up." Having received an overwhelming amount of congratulatory messages from around the world, Hundley said the entire experience has left him feeling humbled and eager to give back to his community. A handful of classmates asked him to sign their course certificates. Email storms happen every now and then within the US government. In 2007, a Homeland Security Department-based email chain ended up flooding over 2 million inboxes, including those of a nuclear power station in Illinois. More recently, in 2023, the Senate's email system tanked after thousands of staffers replied all to a security drill. The Hundley email debacle, however, might be the military's most amusing one.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
USMC Silent Drill Platoon performs at LHS
Lebanon High School hosted the United States Marine Corps' Silent Drill Platoon in a special performance as part of the USMC's 250th anniversary. The platoon, known for choreographed marching and percussive rhythm using specialized M1 rifles, made a special trip to Lebanon as part of Marine Week Nashville. Nashville was one of six cities the USMC visited as part of the military branch's 250th birthday. Staff Sergeant Anthony Havens said hours upon hours of training, repetition and preparation go into each performance the Silent Drill Platoon holds across the country. 'The hardest thing to overcome is yourself,' Sgt. Havens said. 'You have 39 other individuals who are all on the same page. Driven, focused, tenacious, it makes it a lot easier. I would say to those who are thinking about joining, it's a challenge. If you're up for it, I encourage you to accept it. It's like the cliche goes, nothing worth having comes easy.' Veterans sat in attendance to watch as the Marines, using ceremonial rifles designed specifically for performances like the Silent Drill Platoon's, spun them around, passed them back and forth and used the butt of the stock as a loud 'thud' to accent certain beats of the performance, which is not unlike a drum line. Lance Corporal Jalen Jones, a Tennessee native, joined the Marine Corps to look for a purpose, to keep from 'just sitting around.' 'For the Wilson County community to experience the Silent Drill Platoon, it gives an opportunity for them to see the magic of what the Marines do,' Joseph Padilla, Wilson County Schools board member and veteran, said.
