Happy Birthday Marines!

November 10 marks the birthday of the US Marine Corps  

As a Marine, I am required to be aware of such dates. :-D

I have also never been relieved of my oath to "... support and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic."  And neither have my fellow Marines.  It is an oath I take very seriously and is one of the reasons I write this blog.

The graphic above is slightly out of date, although the sentiment is spot-on.  Today begins the 240th year for the Corps.  It was founded in Tun's Tavern in Philadelphia in 1775.  Captain Samuel Nicholas, acting on the orders of the Second Continental Congress began recruiting for Marines to serve in the Continental Navy.

For those who don't understand the difference between Marines and Soldiers (Army), here is a little primer.  Marines serve to provide a force in readiness aboard naval vessels.  They have always been the shock troops that naval commanders put ashore, to lead the way in projecting force from the sea.  Often their mission (then and now) was to secure a port where the Army can be landed in force.  Now, that mission is expanded to include both airfields and ports.

On board ship, the Marines served to both defend the ship and lead boarding parties in combat.  And, unlike the sailors, Marines were typically armed.  So, they were one of the defenses captains had against mutineers.

No slight intended here to sailors.  In those distant days many sailors were forcibly enlisted into the service and were treated only slightly better than a press gang.  Conditions and treatment accorded the common sailor were not likely to produce warriors or even loyal seamen.

The US Marines have a long and storied history in the story of our nation.  One of the truly unique aspects of the Marines is that they are designed to be able to operate independent of supply lines for extended periods of time.

A Marine Division, about 50,000 warriors, can typically operate and move without resupply for up to 30 days.  In case you aren't clear on that point, take my word for it, keeping that many warriors fighting with no "rear area" for a month without resupply is a pretty extraordinary achievement.

Not everyone can be a Marine.

During the Vietnam era, the Marines did not want to accept draftees.  Their ranks were already filled with volunteers.  And prior to accepting draftees, the Marines did not suffer the widespread discipline problems that typified the US Army during that same era.

Of the approximately 100 young men who comprised my platoon at the start of training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, only about 50 actually graduated from Boot Camp.

In contrast with the millions that serve in the US Army today, there are only three active divisions of Marines and one reserve division.

And, unlike the US Army, the Marines have their own aviators who are trained to provide close air support of their fellow Marines on the ground.  In addition, they train and work closely with US Navy aviators so that when it all hits the fan, the Navy and Marines can bring it on in any corner of the world, and they can do it in short order and with a fighting elan that puts the rest of the world's military to shame.

Happy Birthday Marines, and Semper Fidelis from one Marine to all.

Top Amazon USMC-related search results:

1. Greatest U.S. Marine Corps Stories Ever Told: Unforgettable Stories Of Courage, Honor, And Sacrifice
2. TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE DIVINE - However Neither is Marine Corps Policy
3. The Marines  I actually own this one. It is a pretty good overview and has some great illustrations and paintings.
4. Welcome to Hell: Three and a Half Months of Marine Corps Boot Camp
5. Marine Corps Boot Camp Survival Guide: Everything You Need To Know To Prepare For (And Live Through) Marine Corps Boot Camp
6. Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) with extra illustrations
7. The Marine Corps: Three Centuries of Glory

If you want some good fiction on Marines, I personally like the books by W.E.B. Griffin: The Corps

And, if you want the low down on combat in the Corps, these two are among the best I have ever read:

Lastly, here is a great show by the US Marine Corps Silent Drill Team

Tom Sheppard served in the USMC on active duty from 1983 to 1987.  He attained the rank of Sergeant.  Now, he is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). 

 The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

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Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

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Life is a big PRAC

When I was on active duty in the US Marine Corps, both in boot camp and afterward we underwent continual training.  With training came tests, to ensure that we actually learned what we were supposed to know.  While some exams were completed with pencil and paper, some of the most important were what they called PRACS, or practical exams.

Most PRACS were for essential, life and death topics, such as donning and clearing a gas mask within a set time, or clearing a jammed round from a rifle.

This Sunday, as I sat in church listening to the speakers, I realized that life is one big PRAC, from end to end.

Every day we are tested to see if we will demonstrate the correct answers to life's most challenging exam questions.  Questions like, "how will I treat some one else when I am having a bad day?", and "will I use my material goods in a way that simply serves myself, or that accomplishes some greater good?"

In the Bible, the prophet Joshua challenges the Israelites, and by extension anyone who claims to serve the God of Abraham, to let their daily choices demonstrate who they really serve.  "...choose you this day whom ye will serve. ... But as for me and my house, we will serve The Lord." (Joshua 24:25).

While we can apply this perspective of looking at life as an extended PRAC to almost any topic, these days it seems one of the exam questions that lots of folks are failing is, "how will I treat people who have an opinion that is at odds with mine?"  This question is especially relevant as political campaigns pick up momentum and candidates espouse their positions in the media on various issues.  And, of course their adherents and opponents, post those views along with their own comments on FaceBook, Twitter and other social media.

Unfortunately, many of those responses that disagree will be laced with profanity, vulgarity, and personal attacks (ad hominem is the latin term for personally insulting verbal attacks).  That kind of approach begs the question, "how does that response align with what you say you believe about the teachings of the God of Abraham, as explained by his prophets and the Christ?" 

I suggest that anytime we resort to profanity and personal insults (or even violence) while disagreeing with someone, we are failing this PRAC.  This is true whether the dialog is online, or face to face.

Some would have us remain silent rather than voicing an opinion that is at odds with theirs.  Many of those same people who decry that we "should shut the f*** up" are the same people who demand that we be tolerant of their views and respectful of their opinions and persons.  Although this sort of double standard (aka hypocrisy) is despicable, and, as all double standards, deserves to be disregarded, still, we who claim to be worshippers of God cannot allow ourselves that full indulgence.

While we can utterly disregard the demand for our silence, be it made with vulgarity and personal insults or not, we must ensure our responses and statements are made in a manner consistent with our beliefs about the worth of each of God's children and our commitment to serve God.

We must not lose our temper.  We must not resort to vulgarity or profanity.  And, regardless of how utterly devoid of intellectual content or sincerity another's argument may appear to us we owe it to ourselves and to our God to respond calmly and speak to the facts, rather than getting caught up in the emotion of the argument and getting swept away into waters where we no longer represent the best in us.

In this blog, as in all my blogs, I welcome differing opinions.

I look at a different opinion as a learning opportunity.  Sometimes I come to see things from a different view and I modify my opinion because of new and compelling facts that had previously escaped me.  Other times, I learn how old arguments are being reframed to appear new, without actually adding any substantive weight to the primary point.

Regardless, I always require, both of myself and others, that disagreements be conducted in a manner that is not disagreeable.  Because, right or wrong, incivility decreases the level of our civilization, regardless of the original issue.

If you doubt this, consider the inanity of a crowd of people who are protesting war to engage in mob violence, as happened many times during the Vietnam War era.  Or, more recently, consider the protests in Ferguson Missouri, where the marchers were calling attention to what they believed to be unlawful behavior by the police toward a member of the community, trampling on his rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And then those protesters engaged in a campaign of unlawfully destroying and looting businesses and trampling on the rights of those business owners to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The unlawful, uncivil actions of the mob destroyed any credibility they had that they might actually be pursuing justice and respect for human rights.

Note: At the risk of offending some readers, I want to make clear that as far as Michael Brown is concerned, regardless of what kind of person he was or was not in the years and months leading up to his deadly confrontation with the Police, his actions that day were those of a criminal who displayed a reckless disregard for the rights of others, and for his own safety.  The moment he chose to engage in a fight with a cop, he put himself on the wrong side of the rule of law, and he is responsible for his own death.

My point in all of this is simply this.  For anyone who accepts the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and even for those who don't, each day is a practical exam where we have to demonstrate by our words, deeds, and even by our thoughts whether or not we have learned how to apply those teachings in our lives.

And, the day will come for each of us, and for all of us, when we will stand before The Great Teacher.  At that time, we will review all our exam results and He will determine, along with us, whether or not our test results demonstrate sufficient mastery to justify him making us master over many things, or taking away the things he has already given us - just as was foreshadowed when Jesus taught the parable of the talents.

When that day comes, I believe that race-baiters, racists and hate-mongers of all stripes will find that they have flunked the PRAC.