Reasons to love the Marine Corps
Pulled from www.richmondmarines.org
Best haircut. Hands down. You can't have a bad hair day with a high and tight. And you spend less on shampoo.
Dress blues. They're the coolest uniforms in any military worldwide.
The rest of the Marine sea bag. From the Alphas to the camouflage utilities, uniforms just look better on a Marine than any other service member.
Marines don't wear dungarees.
Most respect I. When the Marines pulled out of Haiti and Somalia, the media reported the U.S. military was pulling out -- as if tens of thousands of Army troops weren't still in the country. Now that's respect.
Most respect II. When the Corps came back to Haiti after 60 years, an old man on the Cap-Haitien beach said ``Welcome back!''
Toughest mascot. The Marine Corps' is a bull dog. The Navy's: a goat.
The Marines invade, then go home. The Army has to do the occupying.
The silent drill platoon. Just watching them ply their trade makes you want to wear dress blues.
Status. Sailors live and work on ships. Marines go for cruises -- then hit the shore.
Best duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea.
Worst duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea
Most exotic duty assignments: Kuala Lumpur, The White House.
Best phone number. Call 1-800-MARINES and you've got the Corps. And if you're a civilian with the mettle to be a Marine, a recruiter there will be happy to sign you up.
Toughest DIs. They're so tough that when the Navy wants to train its officers, who do they call? 1-800-MARINES.
Best motivational cry: Ooh-rah!
Separate heads for enlisted and officers. Everywhere else, officers and enlisted use the same pot.
Best slogan I: ``Once a Marine, always a Marine''
Best slogan II: ``Tell that to the Marines''
Best slogan III: ``Send in the Marines.''
Best nicknames I: Jarhead
Best nicknames II: Leatherneck
Best nicknames III: Devil Dog. Trivia question: Where did this term come from? Answer: The German Army in World War I, whose soldiers' greatest fear was running up against the toughest American fighting men, the Marines. They called them ``teufelhunden,'' or Devil Dog.
That's Marines, with a capital M.
Tradition! The Corps is older than the republic itself!
Best recruiting gimmick I: Those darn Knights-in-Shining-Armor commercials.
The Commandant's House. It's the oldest occupied residence in Washington, D.C.
Chesty Puller. You gotta love a service that has heroes with names like that.
Former Commandant and Mud Marine Al Gray :His official portrait, in cammies.
Mud. You wanna see pure joy? Look at a group of Marines after a mud fight.
Starch. Clean 'em up, put 'em in starched cammies, and they look sharp. (I can vouch for this one!)
Marine spouses. God love 'em. They have it then worst of any of the service spouses. They endure six-month deployments and one- and two-year unaccompanied tours. The ones who survive a career are as tough as the Marines they married.
The Air Force. Aren't you glad you're not an airman? They're pampered, yet they still find time to whine.
The Army. They get all the best equipment first and Marines still do it better.
The Navy. Give them credit. They have it almost as tough as Marines. But who wants to be a limo service?
The Coast Guard. Tell the truth: If you couldn't be a Marine, would you be a Coastie? In those powder blue uniforms? Not on your life!
Combat correspondents. They're journalists in the Navy, but in the Corps, the job is combat correspondent, thank you very much.
Marines do more with less, and they like it that way.
Style. Nothing beats the canopy of sabres during a full dress Marine wedding. (This is what I want!)
Mess etiquette. Enter covered and drinks are on you.
Fighting style. When the Air Force deploys, they carry their Samsonite bags on luggage carriers and stay in hotels. When Marines deploy, it's two seabags and your weapons. And a tent in the bush.
Fighting style. Marines know how to use their bayonets. Army bayonets may as well be paper weights.
No smiling in official portraits. All business.
When the President cares enough to order in the very best, who's he gonna call? Not ghostbusters -- but Marines.
First in, first out. Marines bust in first so the Army can do its job.
When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight, the number may as well be 9-1-1. Send in the Marines!
Physical fitness. You've seen portly chiefs, but there are no fat Marines.
Actor who should have been a Marine: John Wayne
Former Marine who shouldn't be an actor: John Wayne Bobbitt
Best motto, Semper Fidelis, always faithful. That's Latin, by the way.
Best recruiting station: Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, 1775. It's a bar, no less.
Scarlet stripe on NCO and officer trousers. They're not just sharp, they serve a point: The stripes represent blood shed in battle.
Notable quotable. When the Marines found themselves surrounded by Chinese troops near the ``Frozen Chosin'' during the K orean War, a Marine officer summed it up for his men. ``Good. Now I can shoot in all directions.''
Despite their service to U.S. presidents, no Marine has ever been a president. Now that's smart!
MREs. You hate to love 'em, but when you're hot and sweaty and in the field, nothing satisfies like the beef frankfurters and beans.
Ooh-rah!
Best haircut. Hands down. You can't have a bad hair day with a high and tight. And you spend less on shampoo.
Dress blues. They're the coolest uniforms in any military worldwide.
The rest of the Marine sea bag. From the Alphas to the camouflage utilities, uniforms just look better on a Marine than any other service member.
Marines don't wear dungarees.
Most respect I. When the Marines pulled out of Haiti and Somalia, the media reported the U.S. military was pulling out -- as if tens of thousands of Army troops weren't still in the country. Now that's respect.
Most respect II. When the Corps came back to Haiti after 60 years, an old man on the Cap-Haitien beach said ``Welcome back!''
Toughest mascot. The Marine Corps' is a bull dog. The Navy's: a goat.
The Marines invade, then go home. The Army has to do the occupying.
The silent drill platoon. Just watching them ply their trade makes you want to wear dress blues.
Status. Sailors live and work on ships. Marines go for cruises -- then hit the shore.
Best duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea.
Worst duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea
Most exotic duty assignments: Kuala Lumpur, The White House.
Best phone number. Call 1-800-MARINES and you've got the Corps. And if you're a civilian with the mettle to be a Marine, a recruiter there will be happy to sign you up.
Toughest DIs. They're so tough that when the Navy wants to train its officers, who do they call? 1-800-MARINES.
Best motivational cry: Ooh-rah!
Separate heads for enlisted and officers. Everywhere else, officers and enlisted use the same pot.
Best slogan I: ``Once a Marine, always a Marine''
Best slogan II: ``Tell that to the Marines''
Best slogan III: ``Send in the Marines.''
Best nicknames I: Jarhead
Best nicknames II: Leatherneck
Best nicknames III: Devil Dog. Trivia question: Where did this term come from? Answer: The German Army in World War I, whose soldiers' greatest fear was running up against the toughest American fighting men, the Marines. They called them ``teufelhunden,'' or Devil Dog.
That's Marines, with a capital M.
Tradition! The Corps is older than the republic itself!
Best recruiting gimmick I: Those darn Knights-in-Shining-Armor commercials.
The Commandant's House. It's the oldest occupied residence in Washington, D.C.
Chesty Puller. You gotta love a service that has heroes with names like that.
Former Commandant and Mud Marine Al Gray :His official portrait, in cammies.
Mud. You wanna see pure joy? Look at a group of Marines after a mud fight.
Starch. Clean 'em up, put 'em in starched cammies, and they look sharp. (I can vouch for this one!)
Marine spouses. God love 'em. They have it then worst of any of the service spouses. They endure six-month deployments and one- and two-year unaccompanied tours. The ones who survive a career are as tough as the Marines they married.
The Air Force. Aren't you glad you're not an airman? They're pampered, yet they still find time to whine.
The Army. They get all the best equipment first and Marines still do it better.
The Navy. Give them credit. They have it almost as tough as Marines. But who wants to be a limo service?
The Coast Guard. Tell the truth: If you couldn't be a Marine, would you be a Coastie? In those powder blue uniforms? Not on your life!
Combat correspondents. They're journalists in the Navy, but in the Corps, the job is combat correspondent, thank you very much.
Marines do more with less, and they like it that way.
Style. Nothing beats the canopy of sabres during a full dress Marine wedding. (This is what I want!)
Mess etiquette. Enter covered and drinks are on you.
Fighting style. When the Air Force deploys, they carry their Samsonite bags on luggage carriers and stay in hotels. When Marines deploy, it's two seabags and your weapons. And a tent in the bush.
Fighting style. Marines know how to use their bayonets. Army bayonets may as well be paper weights.
No smiling in official portraits. All business.
When the President cares enough to order in the very best, who's he gonna call? Not ghostbusters -- but Marines.
First in, first out. Marines bust in first so the Army can do its job.
When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight, the number may as well be 9-1-1. Send in the Marines!
Physical fitness. You've seen portly chiefs, but there are no fat Marines.
Actor who should have been a Marine: John Wayne
Former Marine who shouldn't be an actor: John Wayne Bobbitt
Best motto, Semper Fidelis, always faithful. That's Latin, by the way.
Best recruiting station: Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, 1775. It's a bar, no less.
Scarlet stripe on NCO and officer trousers. They're not just sharp, they serve a point: The stripes represent blood shed in battle.
Notable quotable. When the Marines found themselves surrounded by Chinese troops near the ``Frozen Chosin'' during the K orean War, a Marine officer summed it up for his men. ``Good. Now I can shoot in all directions.''
Despite their service to U.S. presidents, no Marine has ever been a president. Now that's smart!
MREs. You hate to love 'em, but when you're hot and sweaty and in the field, nothing satisfies like the beef frankfurters and beans.
Ooh-rah!