On this point there is a sensitivity that I never quite understood.

See the problem with being a college student and serving in the USMCR is too many 'Jeez guys, lighten up' moments for the 20 year old college kid and the firemen an policemen in the unit too, for that matter.

The 40 something gunnery sergeant running the company didn't share our 'light heartedness'

Quote:

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Don't call a Marine a soldier or sailor

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 1:00 am, Sunday, September 25, 2005

In response to your front-page headline of Sept. 19, "Soldiers safe at home":
They are not soldiers. They are Marines. Marines are distinguished by their mission, their training, their history, their uniform and their esprit de corps.

You would not call a sailor a soldier, an airman a soldier, and certainly you should not call a Marine a soldier.

This in no way diminishes the members of the U.S. Army , who are called soldiers, and their accomplishments.

This may be perceived as a small point to someone who has never served in the U.S. military. But to a Marine, it is at the core of their existence. Semper Fi!

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