It's a Marine Thing!
November 12, 2003

I awoke this morning with a smile on my face! Today is the 228th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

I'm aware that this may not mean much to anyone else, but to Marines, their birthday, which is 10 November 1775, and its celebration every year, is a BIG deal. You see, with Marines there is a certain ethos, a commonality, an esprit de corps that is perhaps summed up in the Latin phrase Marines for generations have used — Semper Fidelis. This term means "Always Faithful," and is often shortened to Semper Fi.

Being a former enlisted Marine, and coming from a Marine family, the pride and honor of being a Marine never leaves you. Another phrase often used is, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine."

So I was in the gym early this morning abusing myself with weights and various other contraptions designed to inflict pain, when I found myself chatting with a Marine. I wished him a happy birthday, and he in turn wished me the same. He knows that I'm a former Marine. I then told him about my first Marine Corps birthday. It was in 1969. I had arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, October 27, 1969, to begin my travails in earning the title Marine. Our training for that day did not change just because it was the 194th birthday of the Corps. But at evening chow we were served steak! I'll never forget that experience. I don't remember much else from that day, but I will always remember that Marines regard their birthday as something special.

I remember another special Marine Corps birthday. There are two reasons why this one was special. First, it was the 200th Birthday of the Corps (1975), a time when I was serving with VMA 133 at Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA. Second, it was the first time for my fiancée, Isaura, to attend so august a ceremony and celebration. Traditionally, Marine commands all over the world will host a birthday ball, to include a full-course dinner, a guest-of-honor/speaker, much pomp and ceremony with bagpipe players, a birthday cake befitting the occasion, followed by dancing into the wee hours of the morning. Everyone dresses up to the nines. The ladies wear gowns and the Marines wear their dress blues. In my quite biased opinion, there is no finer looking uniform in the world.

The last birthday ball I attended while still in the Marine Corps was the 208th while I was with the 4th LAAM Bn (Light Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion) in Fresno, CA. This was my last as a Marine because the next month, in December of 1983, I would be commissioned as a chaplain in the United States Navy. It was also the first and only time my mother and stepfather would attend a ball with us. My stepfather, whom I have always regarded as my father, was a Marine in WWII, a.k.a., "The Big One." He was so proud to be attending this birthday ball with his youngest son, an experience he also had with my brother, John, in Virginia. John is a retired Marine colonel.

Perhaps the birthday ball that carried the greatest honor for me was during the time I was stationed at a Navy base in Central California. I met some Marines from a reserve command in the area, who decided in 1989 to invite me to be their guest-of-honor for the 214th Marine Corps Birthday Ball. For my wife and me, it was an incredible experience! You are treated like royalty. You have the seat of honor. You get to cut the cake. And you get to give a speech to the finest group of men and women in the world.

This year is the first time in quite a number of years that I've been present for a Marine Corps Birthday. Why? Because I was with Navy commands through 1992, and then my girls, Laura and Jenny, were old enough to attend the annual father/daughter retreat at Hume Lake Christian Camp. This event has usually been on the same weekend as the ball. This weekend with my daughters takes priority over the ball. In fact, this is the first time in eleven years that my girls and I have not been able to attend the retreat. As the command chaplain of a Marine unit, you're expected to be at the ball to give the invocation. Over the last eleven years I have simply told my commanding officers that my daughters come before the Marine Corps. They have always understood this, and most have enthusiastically encouraged me to spend this special weekend with them.

Yet, there I was this morning attending a formation to celebrate the Marine Corps' 228th Birthday in the tiny African country of Djibouti. I thought, Here I am, far away from my family and my church, because once again I'm privileged to serve with the finest military organization in the world — the United States Marines. With men and women like this, how could we not win this War on Terrorism?

And as the ceremony ended this morning with the playing of the Marine's Hymn, I felt a tear working its way down my cheek. I'll always be a Marine at heart, I guess. It's a Marine thing!