Happy Birthday Jarheads

Today the USMC is 234 years old. The Marine Corps predates the Declaration of Independence for goodness sake. The Continental Congress passed a resolution to create the Corps on November 10, 1775 to fight for independence.

We have a long affiliation with the Marines in our family, even though CoolGuy is a Navy veteran. (Don't tell this to a Marine, but they are really a division of the Navy.) Rivalry is rampant between these two parts of the military. Here's a good bumper sticker you'll find in the parking lot of a Naval Hospital: The Marines have found their good men: Navy Corpsmen

Here's a good joke: (and you can adjust it depending on who is telling it...)
A sailor is standing at a urinal next to a Marine. They finish at the same time and the sailor starts to walk out the door, while the Marine steps up to the sink. The Marine says, "In the Corps, they taught us to wash our hands after we use the bathroom." The sailor replies, "In the Navy, they showed you how to pee without getting it on your hands."

And on and on...that is a joke I can actually post on this blog. There are some I can't. But...the Marines are not a joke. In fact, I'm very, very glad they are the United States Marines, as opposed to some other country's Marines. They are the best. They are the top of the heap. Anything you hear about them is true. They have a lot of tradition, valor, honor, and skill. Semper Fi is not just a motto.

When CoolGuy went to the Big Sandbox about twenty years ago as a civilian supporting a company of Marines, who were up at the front doing surveillence, I fretted that he would be unarmed. He assured me by saying he had something better than a weapon: he had a Marine whose job it was to protect him. If anything were to have happened to CoolGuy, this dude would have hoisted him over a brawny shoulder, along with the pack he was obligated to haul around, and would have brought CoolGuy out with him. Yes, it sounds corny. But it's true. They do that.

So, raise a fist and shout "Oooh-rah!" and then sing Happy Birthday. And someday, go to Washington DC and see the Marine Corps Memorial. You can read all the years and campaigns around the base. It is very sobering and inspiring.