I'm a United States Marine even though I no longer draw a paycheck. The oath I swore has no expiration date. My oath is to the Constitution of the United States of America and its people, to stand against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic. Sadly, it sure seems like we have a lot of domestic enemies of the American people now days.
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I'm proud and humbled by the title that was earned on a small sandy island 13 years ago.
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The title Marine makes me brothers with some of the finest men that ever lived. Men like John Basilone, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, Chesty Puller, Ira Hayes, and countless others.
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I'm proud of being an infantrymen; the title "grunt" means about as much to me as Marine. However, although the Infantry has changed me in ways that I don't think I would've been changed otherwise, being a Marine is not who I am.
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The man I am today came from the countless hours of training, praying, and discipline that my father and mother poured into me and my siblings. I'm proud of being a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Infantry, don't get me wrong.
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However, the Corps doesn't define who I am, or who I was. Who I am is so much deeper than a man made organization. I thank the Lord for my parents and their faithfulness to raise me "in the way I should go" and how their training set me up to excel in the Marine Corps and everything I have done since.
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"'And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim 2:2
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#afghanistan
#Marines
#USMC