To celebrate the 228th birthday of the Corps, I want to share why I love being a Marine:
During the late ‘90s I was stationed on recruiting duty in Olympia, WA. On one rainy October day my partner and I decided to take a trip out to Evergreen State College, a school that, to our knowledge, no one from our office had visited in the past ten years. Evergreen, considered one of the most liberal schools in the country, prided itself on being one of the first schools to hold protest against the first Gulf War so as we stepped on campus in our Dress Blue uniforms we prepared ourselves for what was sure to be an interesting visit.
When we arrived, though, we were disappointed by our reception. No spontaneous protests broke out, no one called us names, no confrontations with patchouli wearing hippie chicks. Instead, we received a cool reception. Stares and smirks and polite bemusement, but no one went out of their way to be rude or unkind. They simply ignored us, figuring that we would soon just go away without a fuss.
We walked over to the student union, ordered some lunch and sat at a corner table by ourselves. Most of the students did their best to avoid making eye contact but one young girl, dressed in Birkenstocks and sporting white-girl dreadlocks, walked up to us and smiled.
"Are you two Canadian Mounties?" she asked. I smiled, thinking that she was making fun of our uniforms. Then I realized she was serious. "Um no," I said, "We're U.S. Marines."
"Oh," she said, looking puzzled. "So what do Marines do?”
I invited her to join us and we talked for several minutes. She was a junior who grew up in Aberdeen, the hometown of Kurt Cobain. Her lack of understanding about the military turned out to be genuine; she had truly never been exposed to Marines before.
As we returned to the office, my buddy was fuming. He couldn't believe that anyone could make it to college without having even the most basic knowledge of the military. While I agreed that it reflected poorly on the educational system, it had a surprisingly different affect on me: I couldn't remember ever being more proud to be a Marine.
I serve because I love freedom. I love it so much that I will sacrifice some of my own freedom, or even my life if necessary, to secure it for myself and my nation. The young girl had the luxury of being uninformed about the military because my fellow Marines had bought that liberty for her. For 228 years, Marines had paid the cost to allow her to have the freedom to think - or not think - as she chooses.
We often say that freedom can only truly be appreciated when it's taken away. While that may be true, I believe that it can only be enjoyed when it can be taken for granted. When we have to concentrate on each breath, we cannot enjoy our health. When a country's citizens have to remain constantly vigilant, they cannot enjoy liberty.
After 9-11, we lost much of our innocence and it's unlikely you'll find college students, even at Evergreen, who are unaware of the Marines. But it has been 790 days since the terrorists attacks of 9/11. A two year period has passed without a similar attack on our own soil, allowing us to relax our guard, if only slightly. We haven't won the war on terrorism yet, and we have many battles ahead, but we can take pride in knowing that the men and women of our military are pushing the threat outside our gates.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Veteran's Day. On their way to the lake and the cookouts a few of our fellow countrymen will remember to shake our hands and thank us for our service. I'll appreciate the attention, the kind words, and the prayers. But what I really want is to see the day when they can take us for granted again.
Because there are Marines, I know that day will come.
Semper Fi and Happy Birthday, Marines.
Fantastic commentary! I'm sending it to a Marine reservist at work (the only reserve unit to be attached to the front lines in Iraq).
"editor's" note: Nov. 11th is Veteran's Day
Semper Fi!