My Oath didn’t end when I retired and it won’t end when I Die.

And Your Outstanding Post is the Antithesis of everyone in the trump administration and everyone who supports it.

...for both enlistments, pre-commisioning and four promotions after that...never heard anything about an expiration date so, I submit, that oath remains binding upon me...at least that's how I plan to my live my last years...thank you both, MCE and BossHog...cheers, OSD

like you said,
Once a Marine, always a Marine.
Semper Fi.

I was AF and I joyfully engaged in inter-service rivalries. (When one of my Marine brothers asked why I was chair force? Because I scored high enough on the ASVAB to have a choice.) But I never gave my brothers and sisters from another mother less than my best when it was time to get the mission DONE.

The Marines made Semper Fi their motto, but they aren't the only ones that understand that ethos.

once a US Service Member, always a US service member.

you're entitled to your opinion, but I disagree with that .

I disagree with you, but remember, my service lasted until '99 when I retired, so things might have changed since then, but I still strongly believe that the majority of US service members will honor their OATH to the Constitution.

The Marines did not call this an illegal order and I find this a violation of all I enlisted for.

We are only following orders my ass!

Live the oath or fight us veterans who do!

You put your lives on the line for your country and all of us in it. I’m not sure those of us civilians can ever fully understand the selflessness and the sacrifice. I don’t presume even to guess what that level of commitment is like, to carry and fulfill.

But you folks who served us all, please believe me when I tell you how awestruck I am, every time I try to think of the time and muscle you put in, with all that training and discipline you gave it, and the inevitable fears and doubts that come with it.

Saying “Thank You” doesn’t even begin to cover the length and depth of gratitude I feel toward you. And while I don’t dare claim to speak for anybody else here, I AM speaking for myself. Dad was a Lt. Colonel doing photo-recon in the Air Force, and father-in-law was an Army doctor serving in a MASH unit in the Pacific theater. There’s a reverence I feel that’s kinda hard to explain. And that extends from our family patriarchs to everybody here and elsewhere who served.

Just needed to say that, and I wanted you to know.

Last edited Mon Aug 11, 2025, 01:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Navy here, never swore an oath of loyalty to LBJ or Nixon.

Grandson is just finishing his first three years as a U S Marine, and has decided to re up.

We have been close since he was born; i thought about forwarding your post to him, but it's time to talk about this in person.

He's at Camp Lejeune, and I'm on the west coast - we'll figure it out.

Fired by men not fit to be in her presence.

"I’ve served our nation in peacetime and combat under Republican and Democratic administrations. I’ve led missions at home and abroad to protect all Americans from vicious terrorists …. I’ve worked my entire career not as a partisan, but as a patriot — not in pursuit of power, but in service to the country I love and in loyalty to the Constitution I swore to protect and defend, against all enemies.”
“Every member of the Long Gray Line knows the Cadet Prayer. It asks that we ‘choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.’ That line — so simple, yet so powerful — has been my North Star for more than three decades. In boardrooms and war rooms. In quiet moments of doubt and in public acts of leadership. The harder right is never easy. That’s the whole point.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/opinion/columnists/friedman-trump-labor-firing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dE8.MgcH._PztdidcTjJA&smid=url-share