"Yes, Sergeant Major!"
Back when I was just beginning to research the first Valor book, VALOR'S CHOICE, I'd intended to use the Royal Marines as the basis for my military -- given that Canada doesn't have a Marine Corps. It didn't take long, however, to realize that, as far as research material goes, the United States Marine Corps provides a much greater depth of information. Not only books about the Corps, but books by serving Marines. Not only official websites, but blogs by Marines both retired and currently deployed. It wasn't the vast amount of detailed information (and when I say detailed, I'm talking about you, Tom Clancy) that was important -- any decent writer can extrapolate from a remarkably scant amount of data -- it was the ability to touch the heart of the Corps. To be privy to the thoughts and feelings of the men and women who serve.
VALOR'S CHOICE received the absolute best fan response I've ever gotten in 25 years of published writing. It was an email to my publisher (easier to reach them than me) from a USMC Staff Sergeant serving in the Green Zone in Iraq. The entire message: "Dear Ms. Huff: Thank you. You got it right."
That said...
Nathon Hodge, a blogger for the Washington Wire, recently posted a short piece on Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the service’s top non-commissioned officer, Straight Talk from Top Enlisted Marine on "Don't Ask" Repeal.
This is the pertinent bit for those who don't want to click through:
“Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution is pretty simple,” he told a group of Marines at a base in South Korea. “It says, ‘Raise an army.’ It says absolutely nothing about race, color, creed, sexual orientation.
“You all joined for a reason: to serve,” he continued. “To protect our nation, right?”
“Yes, sergeant major,” Marines replied.
“How dare we, then, exclude a group of people who want to do the same thing you do right now, something that is honorable and noble?” Sgt. Maj. Barrett continued, raising his voice just a notch. “Right?”
Sgt. Maj. Barrett then described conversations with U.K. troops, who saw a similar ban lifted a decade ago, with little disruption. And to drive the point home, he produced a pocket copy of the Constitution.
“Get over it,” he said. “We’re magnificent, we’re going to continue to be. … Let’s just move on, treat everybody with firmness, fairness, dignity, compassion and respect. Let’s be Marines.”
And to that, Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr says, "Oorah!"
ETA: It occurs to me that there's no way this is accurate: “Yes, sergeant major,” Marines replied. Ignoring for the moment that sergeant major should be capitalized, you don't reply to this kind of a question from your sergeant major with a comma. If there was ever a place to use an exclamation mark, this is it.