Companions,
This is my first foray into CG’s Messages on the NOUS Website. CAPT Bob Whitkop and I conducted our change of command on the last evening of the San Diego Annual Congress on 21 October (Trafalgar Night, BTW). In thinking about this opportunity to communicate with you, I went back and reread all the CG Messages that Bob had posted over his two years as Commander General. I was struck by their eloquence and pertinence, which I am not sure that I can match.
This week we enjoy a double header in calendar dates to be mindful of and to celebrate for their sea service historical significance. First is the 248th anniversary of the birth of the United States Marine Corps on 10 November 1775! Created by an act of the Continental Congress and formed at Tun Tavern in the Philadelphia area, the Corps has had a celebrated history ever since. Here’s a quiz for you: can you identify all these faces and places from Marine Corps history and place them in context? Faces: Butler, LeJeune, Daly, Vandergrift, Smith (I’m thinking of H. M.), Edson, Hardy, Mattis, Marquez, Pace. Places: Montezuma, Tripoli, Belleau Wood, Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Beirut, Fallujah. Maybe you’ve got them all right off the top or perhaps it’s time to head to Google. No prizes to be awarded but have fun. And wish a Marine “Happy Birthday, devil dog!”
The second date is 11 November when we remember the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day in 1918 when the guns went silent after the War to End all Wars. If only. Armistice Day has evolved into Veterans Day. So what’s a veteran? Perhaps we all have our own mind’s eye view as to who has earned the status of “veteran.” Is it the freshly graduated Marine Private that San Diego Congress attendees saw at MCRD on 19 October? Or the Sailor who honorably completed his 4-year hitch and got out to pursue other goals? Or the 30-year retiree Coast Guardsman who never left the shores of CONUS? Or the Marine Sgt who saw two tours in Viet Nam and came home with less body parts than he went with and now lives in a wheelchair in a VA residential facility? You are entitled to your view; mine is that every person who raised his or her right hand and swore to “protect and defend” and served honorably has earned it. (Those currently serving will earn eventually earn it.) None of us chose the time and circumstances under which we served but we stood the watch and earned the title “Veteran.”
Never forget! Warm regards,
Peter L. Andrus MD MBA
RADM SHCE/MC USN (Ret)
Commander General, Naval Order of the United States