Stop a moment and think back to the fight for Faluja.  Our brothers were in one hell of a fight, house to house and street to street.  Bad guys were playing dead and then shooting or fragging us from behind.  Then the video tape from a member of the press showing a young Marine Lance Corporal shooting a member of Al Quada as he rolled around on the ground injured, or pretending to be came out.  All that was reported was that this brave Marine shot an injured “insurgent”.  There was not an explanation.  No back stories to let Americans, back home, know that this was a possible booby trap, or a bad guy feigning injury to kill Marines after they had passed.  Just the video, with little or no story to explain the Marine in questions actions.  A few months after the stir came the explanation, and it set some minds at ease.  Marines are not cold blooded killers, not yet anyway.

            Next came Haditha in November of 2005.  And the Mainstream Media jumped all over it.  A squad of Marines was reported to have indiscriminately killed 20 or more Iraqi men, women, and children.  The first reports that came out told a more complete story of the incident than the analysis one or two months later.  The official report of an Improvised Explosive Device attack on a convoy near Haditha was said by some of members of Congress, including one of our own supposed brothers, to be a misinformation campaign by the “Brass” to cover up a massacre. The press reported, almost constantly, that there was no IED and there was no ambush or gunfire from the village of Haditha.  Six Marines were charged with murder and a few Marine officers were charged with the alleged cover up as the result.  With the Courts Martial proceedings all but finished the final result is one young Lance Corporal possibly facing Negligent Homicide charges.

            It has later come out that not only was there an IED attack on the convoy in question, there is also Unmanned Aerial Vehicle video of Al Quada running out the back of the houses that the Iraqi civilian bodies were found in.  And the bad guys were not just running, they were shooting at the advancing Marines.

            We should all be proud of that squad.  They took the training they had received throughout Bootcamp and their MOS schools and preformed a text book urban assault, from everything that I have read, in a situation that had to be chaotic and scary.  But, that is why we train the way that we do; so when the bullets are flying and people are dying we can still perform our duties flawlessly or very close to it.  But isn’t this what we have come to expect and demand from our newer brethren.

            In the past few months and years our Marine Corps has been instrumental in the quelling of the terrorists in Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, and many other locations in Iraq.  They have done so in the selfless traditions of those that came before them, and fought the good and noble fight reminiscent of Barbary Pirate Wars, Iwo Jima, the Frozen Chosen and Khe Sahn.  The fighting has been long and hard, and will continue for many more years on many different fronts, and we still prevail.  The fighting spirit of the United States Marine Corps has yet to be broken.  Noone ever wants to go out of the wire and get shot at, but still young Americans volunteer to keep this nation strong.

            Recruiting goals are being met.  Reenlistments have had to be capped, too many hard charging Marines wanted to continue bringing the fight to Al Quada.  All while some groups here at home have done everything in their power to put an end to their heroism.  Groups like Moveon.org, Code Pink et al. Individuals have also worked against us some as powerful as a former brother, John Murtha being the number 1 ex-Marine to come to mind.  As he called the Marines in question concerning the incident in Haditha, and I quote, “….cold blooded killers…….”.

            We have also gained support from unexpected places.  Hollywood.  If you are not familiar with Pat Dollard, he was a liberal Hollywood type that thought maybe we were getting a bum rap in the news.  Pat took the initiative, bought the equipment, and went to Iraq to be embedded with Marines in Rhamadi.  Pat served with 3/1, 3/8, and either 1^st or 3^rd LAR.  In the time he spent with the Marines he did not just act like a typical reporter, he lived the danger with our brothers.  He went on patrols, rode along on IED sweeps with LAR and was blown up by two IED’s while doing it.  He did not stay safely in the Green Zone; he lived the life with our guys in Rhamadi when Rhamadi was not a good place to be.  He has championed our plight.  He has recorded our heroic deeds.  And if you tune into Showtime in the near future you will find his documentary “Young Americans”.  The beauty of his project is that he is not the star, the Marines that he was embedded with are.   

We have gone through both good and bad, and yet, as we turn 232 years old, we continue to march on stronger than ever.  Our bonds of brotherhood have not been diminished.  We still grow in numbers and pride.  We will still make the same phone calls, send the same emails, and gather with our fellow Marines on the birthday and celebrate our history and honor those that have made the ultimate sacrifice.  As you all raise a glass on November 10^th please keep in mind and remember the 970 Marines that have given their lives in Iraq and the 39 Marines who did the same in the forgotten fight in Afghanistan.

So, Semper Fidelis Devildogs, enjoy the day, sing the Hymn and toast our friends and brothers both here and gone.