The Rifleman's creed must be memorized by every Marine. Excerpts:
"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless....
I must shoot straighter than the enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit.
My rifle is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel...
Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy... (Attributed to MGen. William Rupertus, following Pearl Harbor.)
And yes, I did sleep with my rifle, in training, in the field, and on the front.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2019 02:05AM by caffiend.
Sidenote: my son (boy #2, child #3) is just completing his first month at Marine OCS! His career plan is 1) USMC/Reserves, 2) complete his M.Div & ecclesiastical requirements (about 2 years), then 3) transfer to the Navy Chaplaincy Corps.
Lot's Wife Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ...with 16-inch rifles... > Diameter, not barrel length. > > > More seriously, congratulations regarding your > son. You must be very proud!
Yes, and thanks. This coming week is his hell week, full of exams and performance tests. If he passes muster,* then he's probably good to go. Some OCS platoons have a 50% attrition rate.
*It's "passing the muster," not "passing the mustard," meaning passing inspection or, by extension, enduring military rigors, and earning the privilege of standing in the ranks. Nothing to do with food.
> *It's "passing the muster," not "passing the > mustard," meaning passing inspection or, by > extension, enduring military rigors, and earning > the privilege of standing in the ranks. Nothing to > do with food.
You mean I've been wrong all these years when I suggested that someone should "mustard the troops" for battle?
My heavens, I hope I can still mustard up the courage to go on with life!
IHS or IHC can be seen on old Christian art, and represent the Greek letters for JĒS, which is an abbreviation for his name. (H is a long e, known as Eta I think.)
I've always wondered where the H came from. I graduated in the life sciences so I've always appreciated geneticists' take on the matter:
Humans have two sets of chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the father. Organisms with two sets of chromosomes are said to be diploid.
Jesus only had one human parent and thus only one set of chromosomes, making him haploid. (This does not take into account the Mormon version where a physical god had sex with his daughter Mary.)
Therefore the H stands for haploid, reflecting his genetic composition.
I worked with an older gentleman who was our very experienced CFO from a large corporation when I joined a start up management team. He was used to having a private office, but we were in cubicles. He was always getting phone calls about how low our cash was getting and he would hang up and scream "Jesus F....ing Christ" at our CEO. Then he would remember he was in the middle of a bunch of young employees, and would calmly say ...oh excuse me, I get a little excited sometimes, then he would walk out in the hallway and scream "Fing Jesus, Mary and Joseph" then he would come back in and ask if we wanted to go to lunch.