Happy 241st birthday to my beloved Marine Corps.

So grateful to you and your fellow servicemembers for all that you do.  Here's today's birthday greeting.

Happy 240th birthday, Marines!

See here.

Wishing my beloved Marine Corps a very happy birthday today.

Happy 239th birthday, Marines!

Rats. I hate reading about stupid Marines.

I love my Marine Corps.  (And I love my hubby, brother-in-law, father-in-law, and friends who have served.)  So it bothers me when I read op-ed pieces, like this one in today's Wall Street Journal written by a former Marine, that argue that women shouldn't be in combat.  According to the author, the reason that women shouldn't be in combat is ... well ... poo:

Yes, a woman is as capable as a man of pulling a trigger. But the goal of our nation's military is to fight and win wars. Before taking the drastic step of allowing women to serve in combat units, has the government considered whether introducing women into the above-described situation would have made my unit more or less combat effective?

Societal norms are a reality, and their maintenance is important to most members of a society. It is humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades; one can only imagine the humiliation of being forced to relieve yourself in front of the opposite sex.

OK, Mr. Smith:  POO is your concern?   The fact that those who serve our country are willing to do so, knowing that many of them (1) won't come back alive or (2) will come back with severe injuries, is what makes me so proud of our troops.  My guess is that the more serious risks are what our people think about before they go into battle.  Not about poo.  My hubby has not even once listed "poo" among the serious risks that he and his colleagues faced.

Women really are as capable as men when it comes to being willing to defend our country, and it irks me no end when folks ignore one of the benefits of letting women serve alongside men.  Those combat experiences that make people eligible for promotion and more responsibility need to be open to everyone willing to serve.

So, Mr. Smith:  maybe it's time to rethink your priorities.

Happy 237th birthday to the Marine Corps!

Happy birthday to my beloved Corps.  Semper fidelis.

Got to love an essay called "Happy Hanukkah, Marines!"

It's in the Wall Street Journal (here).  Semper Fi and gut yontiff!

Why military veterans make great students.

See today's New York Times story here.

GoDaddy's 236th birthday tribute to the Marines, and a list of a few of my favorite former Marines.

GoDaddy (which I use) has just impressed me even more (here).  And here's a listing of some of my favorite former Marines (in addition to Jeff Van Niel, Jon Van Niel, and George Van Niel):

• Racehorse Haynes
• Joe Reynolds
• Harold Hyman
• David Polyansky
• Joe Jamail

Thank you all for your amazing service to our country, and for all the ways that you bring honor to everything that you do.

Happy birthday to my beloved Marine Corps!

What can I say?  I have friends in pretty much every branch of the service (although I have no Coast Guard friends yet), and I'm in awe of how they put themselves on the line every single day, without even asking us for simple thanks.

And I love, absolutely love, the Marine Corps.  The Corps was founded on 10 November 1775.  My husband's a former Marine.  My father-in-law is a former Marine.  My brother-in-law is a former Marine.*

Every single day, I read about someone who's fairly young and who has stepped up to the plate, either on foreign soil or here at home.  I marvel at their ability to lead by example.  So:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINES! 


* My sister-in-law retired not terribly long ago from the Air Force, and Jeff's late mother was in the Army.  I married into a wonderful military family.

Good job, Marines!

Today's New York Times reports that the Marines are now actively recruiting gays and lesbians (here).  My favorite paragraph of the story:

The Marines were the service most opposed to ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but they were the only one of five invited branches of the military to turn up with their recruiting table and chin-up bar at the center Tuesday morning. Although Marines pride themselves on being the most testosterone-fueled of the services, they also ferociously promote their view of themselves as the best. With the law now changed, the Marines appear determined to prove that they will be better than the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard in recruiting gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. 

Way to go, USMC!

Thank you, Cpl. Meyer.

See here.  Thanks, to, go to Sgt. Rodriguez-Chavez and Capt. Swenson, among many others.

In memoriam: two of our favorite people.

Both served our country with honor:  Ron Bliss and Joe Reynolds.  Always in our hearts.

A very happy mention of my buddy David Polyansky in the L.A. Times

See here, especially the last few lines.

Putting the news in perspective.

My hubby passed this along to me, and I'm passing it along to you.

This message is sent with the deepest respect.  This just made perfect sense to be shared.

Lindsay Lohan is 24 and her story is all over the news because she's a celebrity and a drug addict.  Charlie Sheen is all over the news because he is a celebrity and has multiple issues.

        While...
                      Justin Allen, 23;
                      Brett Linley, 29;
                      Matthew Weikert, 29;
                      Justus Bartett, 27;
                      Dave Santos, 21;
                      Jesse Reed, 26;
                      Matthew Johnson, 21;
                      Zachary Fisher, 24;
                      Brandon King, 23;
                      Christopher Goeke, 23; and
                      Sheldon Tate, 27.

These are all Marines that gave their lives this week for us.  There is no media for them. Not even a mention of their names.

In humble gratitude for their sacrifice, and with the deepest condolences to their loved ones, I'm passing this along.

[UPDATE]  My friend George pointed out that, every Sunday, ABC lists all of the Marines and soldiers who were killed that week.  Good point, George, and thanks for reminding me!

Shame on you, Pat Buchanan.

I always hesitate to read Pat Buchanan's columns, because I know that I'll end up with a eye-twitch from his invective.  On the other hand, I skim them because I want to know what people whose views differ from mine are thinking.  (Sometimes, their points can change my mind; sometimes, they can't.  But I like to keep an open mind.)

But today's column, "The Marines: Sacrificed for San Francisco values," took the cake, and not in a good "I-like-cake" way.  You can read this claptrap here.

First off, Mr. Buchanan, don't use my beloved Marines for your own nefarious purposes.  Sure, there were some Marines who opposed "don't ask, don't tell," and sure, people can disagree about DADT.  Other people, though, think that a person's sexuality has no bearing on his or her ability to serve.  Remember the high-profile change of heart that Colin Powell had about DADT (here)?

Here's the line in your op-ed that drove me nuts:  "Can anyone believe that mixing small-town and rural 18-, 19- and 20-year-old Christian kids, aspiring Marines, in with men sexually attracted to them is not going to cause hellish problems?"  Seriously????

If you really believe that homosexuality is a sin, that's your right.  But, then, be consistent.  Condemn all of the other sins that can occur in the military, too.  What about military personnel having affairs?  If adultery is a sin, where's your outrage about that behavior among opposite-sex military personnel?  And if you're upset about the potential sexual harassment, where's your indignation about opposite-sex harassment--or haven't you been paying attention to those reports over the years?  

To me, many of the arguments that people made about DADT smacked of the same logic that opposed integration in the military:  "It's too much."  "The nation's values disagree."  "Soldiers and Marines shouldn't be distracted by having to share quarters with people of other races."  Integration worked out pretty well, didn't it?

Oh, and don't assume that only the liberals rejoiced when DADT was repealed.  I support a strong military.  I think that this nation would be better off if we had some sort of compulsory service (military or public works) after high school--in part because I believe that we owe our country some payback for the benefits that we get and in part because I think that we're better off when we mix together people who might not normally meet each other.  (And I feel ashamed that I didn't serve.)  I think that the military can provide a wonderful career--and I'm delighted that, now, schools should be able to let the military recruit on campus because the recruiters can sign the anti-discrimination pledge.  

And I worry about the deficit.  I like the free-market (although, to be fair, I don't always trust that it works), and I don't think that "more regulation" is necessarily the best answer to our problems.  I don't think that everyone belongs in college.  I worry about too-high taxes.  So, no, I'm not a knee-jerk liberal.

What I am is a person who loves her same-sex friends, who has worked with gay and lesbian colleagues for her entire life, and who fears that the military was irretrievably weakened by jettisoning talented people because of their sexuality.

Shame on you, Mr. Buchanan, for assuming that homosexuals in the military will be some sort of bad influence on those small-town kids.  Some people in the military will be bad influences, but most won't be.  Blind prejudice, on the other hand, doesn't help our country at all.

Happy 235th birthday, Marines!

How many organizations do you know where you can count on the steadfastness of an entire group?  Where every member is trained to think of the honor of the members who came before him?  Where every member is trained to roll up his sleeves, "embrace the suck," and get the work done?

I know of one.

Happy birthday, Marines!

"In" isn't a synonym for "during."

Today's New York Times has a story (here) about Richard Blumenthal's exaggerations about his military service.  He apparently didn't serve "in" Vietnam; he served "during" Vietnam.  The Times reports:

In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive. 

 There's nothing wrong with serving in a military reserve unit; what's wrong is misstating what one's service record was, especially for personal gain. 

Words matter.

Schadenfreude.

Schadenfreude is, by definition, rather satisfying.  See this Above the Law post (here), which also contains a nifty Marine Corps reference ("Welcome to the suck.")

R.I.P., Joe Hunter Reynolds

The world lost a truly great human this week: Joe Hunter Reynolds (see obituary here). Even this obituary doesn't do Joe justice. His word was gold--no one ever needed a "this is to confirm" letter from him, because once he said something, he followed through. His Marine career was outstanding: he survived both Iwo Jima and the frozen Chosin. He served the state of Texas with all of his heart, and he was the quintessential family man.

Susie and their family have our deepest sympathies. Jeff & I loved Joe, and we will always be grateful that we knew him. The world is worse off with his passing. The last time we grieved this deeply was when we lost Ron Bliss, whose passing we still mourn.

Happy birthday, Marine Corps!

10 November 1775-10 November 2009 (so far). I'm so proud of the Marines I know, from Joe Reynolds, Racehorse Haynes, and Harold Hyman, all the way to John Ames, David Polyansky and the three Van Niels (my hubby, my bro-in-law, and my father-in-law). I'm also proud of the Marines I haven't even met yet. What an amazing organization! Some of the best lessons on leadership and character come from the Marine Corps.

Semper fi, and happy 234th birthday, Marines!

Click here for a YouTube video of the Silent Drill Team. Click here for another Marine Corps video. Click here for this year's birthday message. For the Marine Corps Hymn, click here and here.