Earlier this year, our Commandant gave us a recent example of how that legacy is observed, followed and embellished today. Let me take you for a moment to Anbar Province in Iraq where two Marine Corps units were in the midst of “turn over” activities in which members of the outgoing and incoming units spend about a week together so that the “local knowledge” gained by the outgoing unit can be imparted to the incoming Marines.
“Dying would be easy. But the only way to hold was to blow the bridge spanning the Dong Ha River”. And, as Ripley said, he was “the Marine there to do it.”
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the reference to a higher power–a moral authority beyond mankind’s laws–that provides us a spiritual reference which both undergirds our religious beliefs and guides us in our temporal existence, guides us in determining right from wrong, and provides a frame of reference for our relationships with others. Our character stems from our relationship with our Higher Power, our God as we understand Him;
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the concept of honor, a portion of our character, which demands we do the proper thing when no one is looking, and that we give 110% when the going gets tough; and
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the notion of self-sacrifice for the common good.
I believe it is love. . .of our God as we know Him, of our Country, of our Family, of our Corps and of each other. When it gets down to brass tacks in a combat situation, we don’t fight for the flag or these higher principles that guide us, we fight for one another. . .the guys on our right and on our left. . .the guys with whom we face the imminent danger.