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Tribute to the Marines
A tribute to the United States Marine Corps and the reasons why they are superior to the many organizations of the world . . .
* United States Marine Corps Birthday: 10 NOVEMBER 1775 *
1) Best haircut. Hands down. You can't have a bad hair day with a high and tight. And you spend less on shampoo.
2) Dress blues. They're the coolest uniforms in any military worldwide.
3) Bloused trousers. Another distinctive Marine look that sets the proudest service members apart.
4) 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.
5) Marines don't wear dungarees.
6) 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.
7) Most respect II. When the Corps came back to Haiti after 60 years, an old man on the Cap-Haitien beach said ``Welcome back!''
8) Toughest mascot. The Marine Corps' is a bulldog. The Navy's: a goat.
9) Esprit de Corps. Even if you can't spell it or pronounce it, the Marine Corps has it in spades. One example: When sailors get tattoos, they do it to express their individuality, and their choices range from Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse to raging sea serpents. When Marines get tattoos, they do it to express their solidarity, and choose bull dogs, ``death before dishonor,'' and ``USMC.''
10) Best war monument: Iwo Jima
11) The Marines invade, then go home. The Army has to do the occupying.
12) The silent drill team. Just watching them ply their trade makes you want to wear dress blues.
13) Status. Sailors live and work on ships. Marines go for cruises -- then hit the shore.
14) Best fast attack vehicles: LAVs.
15) Best fighting knife: Ka-Bar.
16) Best duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea.
17) Worst duty assignments: Okinawa, Kaneohe Bay, Camp Pendleton, Diego Garcia, Moscow, North Carolina. Plus any ship at sea.
18) Most exotic duty assignments: Kuala Lumpur, The White House.
19) Best phone number. Call 1-800-MARINES and you've got the Corps. And if you're a civilian with the character to be a Marine, a recruiter there will be happy to sign you up.
20) Toughest DI's. (Drill Instructors). They're so tough that when the Navy wants to train its officers, who do they call? 1-800-MARINES.
21) Toughest boot camp. When San Diego was still training Navy recruits, legend has it that recruits occasionally would jump the fence and accidentally land in Marine boot camp. The Marines would keep them a couple of days, and when the recruits were sent back, they were ready to be sailors!
22) Best motivational cries: Ooh-rah! - Attack! - Kill!
23) Best emblem: Eagle, Globe and Anchor. (Air, Land and Sea)
24) Best campaign covers: The Smokey Bear hat.
25) Separate heads for enlisted and officers. Everywhere else, officers and enlisted use the same pot.
26) The only official, congressionally sanctioned hymn for any of the services: ``The Marines' Hymn.''
Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.
--Will Rogers--
Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.
--Thucydides--
In war there is no substitute for victory.
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MPC
Military Payment Certificates
Military Payment Certificates, or MPC, were used from the end of World War II until the end of the Vietnam War, between the years 1946 and 1973. MPC's utilized layers of line lithography to create colorful banknotes that could be produced cheaply. Fifteen series of MPC's were created but only 13 series were issued.
Military Payment Certificates (MPC) evolved from Allied Military Currency as a response to the large amounts of US Dollars circulating in post-World War II Europe due to American servicemen. The local citizens did not trust local currencies as the fate of their governments was unclear. Therefore preferring a stable currency, dollars, they often accepted payment in dollars for less than the accepted conversion rates. Obviously dollars became more favorable, inflating the local currencies and thwarting plans to stabilize the economies. Contributing to this problem was the fact that though troops were being paid in the local currency they could convert an unlimited amount to dollars at the government set conversion rate, which was much more favorable to the GIs than the market rate. From this a black market developed where the servicemen could utilize the favorable exchange rate.
To combat this the US military devised the MPC program. MPC's were paper money denominated in US Dollars in amounts of 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, 5 dollars, 10 dollars, and starting in 1968 20 dollars. MPC's were fully convertible to US dollars upon leaving the combat zone ( a designated MPC zone) and convertible to local currencies when going on leave (but not vice-versa), and were illegal for unauthorized personnel to possess, thus, in theory, eliminating US dollars from local economies. Although actual greenbacks were not circulating, many local merchants accepted MPC on par with US dollars, as they knew they could use them on the black market. This was especially evident during the Vietnam War when the MPC program was at its zenith. To prevent MPC from being used as a primary currency in the host country, thereby destroying the local currency value and economy, MPC banknote style would change. Many veterans can recount a conversion day or C-Day.
Soldiers are men...most apt for all manner of services and best able to support and endure the infinite toils and continual hazards of war.
--Henry Knyvett--
A soldier is he whose blood makes the glory of the general.
--Adapted from Henry G. Bohn--
Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.
--Josephus Daniels--
Two armies are two bodies which meet and try to frighten each other.
--Napoleon I--
Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.
--Ronald Reagan--
A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.
--John F. Kennedy--
A ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
--Admiral David D. Porter, USN--
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
--George Patton--
Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.
--Will Rogers--
Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision.
--Blake Clark--
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WALMART SENIOR GREETER
Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn't seem to get to work on time.
Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their "Older Person Friendly" policies.
One day the boss called him into the office for a talk. "Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang up job, but your being late so often is quite bothersome."
"Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it."
''Well good, you are a team player. That's what I like to hear. It's odd though you're coming in late. I know you're retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say if you came in late there?"
''They said, "Good morning, General, can I get you coffee, sir?'
Subject:
A Marine returns home Back
from Afghanistan
This is from a Marine friend...there's a lot of deep thought here. Ya
gotta love the Marines!
I recently came back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan .
Having not seen my wife for several months, I was looking forward to a night of hot passionate lovemaking with her.
Unfortunately, she came out of the shower with a towel wrapped round her head..... so I shot her
Semper fi
Miscellaneous . . .
VALOR, n. A soldierly compound of vanity, duty and the gambler's hope.
"Why have you halted?" roared the commander of a division and Chickamauga, who had ordered a charge. "Move forward, sir, at once."
"General," said the commander of the delinquent brigade, "I am persuaded that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into collision with the enemy."/p>
-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave...
--Patrick Henry--
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
--Napoleon Bonaparte--
From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.
--Thomas Jefferson--
We have met the enemy and they are ours!
--Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 1813--
Veni, Vedi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)
--Julius Caesar--
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stewart Mill--
War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--
Freedom isn't free.
--Anonymous--
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
--Winston Churchill--
The 'eathen in 'is blindness must end where 'e began. But the backbone of the Army is the non-commissioned man! Soldiers are men...most apt for all manner of services and best able to support and endure the infinite toils and continual hazards of war. --Henry Knyvett
Nobody's shooting at us anymore.
And there's no leeches hanging off our butts.
Life is good!
--Vietnam Saying
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