My best guy friend just came back from Afganistan at the end of October. Prior to that deployment, he was in Iraq. He was only here in California for a week, and now he's back in Camp Lejuene in North Carolina. My other friend in the USMC is reserved duty. He's only been on one deployment to Djibuti. My friend in the Army is currently in Iraq, but was deployed to Kosovo about two years ago. I write to them often, and I'm always ecstatic when I get a letter back. One, because I love getting letters, and two, because it means that they're alive.
Currently, there are only 198,000 active duty and 40,000 reserved duty Marines. That makes them the smallest branch of armed forces that we have. So their motto "The few, the proud, the Marines" really applies. They say that the Marines are also the toughest branch to join, and of course, they're always the first ones sent to fight :( Anyway, I'm very proud of my three boys :)
But what I've been trying to get to for the last three paragraphs is the USMC emblem. The one that we see today has been around since 1868!! It consists of a globe of the Western Hemisphere, an intersecting foul anchor, and a surmounted eagle. Above is a ribbon with their motto "Semper Fidelis," meaning "Always Faithful." The globe signifies service in any part of the world, the eagle also indirectly signifies service worldwide, and the foul represents the amphibious nature of the Marines' duties. Their colors, scarlet and gold, surround the emblem as the official Marine Corps colors and all of it is enclosed in navy blue and gold to signify USMC as an integral part of the naval team.
I personally think that their emblem is very strong. To me, it represents strength and unity. But I wonder if it's because I know people in the military, and that's why it represents those things to me. What does it represent to someone who doesn't know anyone in the military? I think that the emblem will represent different things to different people, depending on their experience with it. For example, if I didn't know anyone in the military, I wouldn't think much of the emblem at all. But since I do, I feel a little pang in my heart every time I see it.
The official emblem.
Emblem as a patch.
And how awesome it looks on the hat of their Dress Blues uniform!
P.S. November 10th is the 233rd birthday of the USMC~
6 comments:
I personally do not like the official seal. However, the 3D thing of this seal looks great from its materials.
Yeah... the picture of the official seal looks kinda... bland. But they look better in person haahahaha
Oh I didn't you had friends in Iraq, in the Marine Corps no less! I would feel honored and worried if I had any friends overseas like that...
Yep yep!
I'm always worrying about one or two of them at a time, because ever since we got out of highschool, SOMEONE just HAAASSSS to be deployed =_=;;;
How the heck did my three best guy friends all wind up joining the armed forces anyway?? GAH.
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