Question For You Vets , Especially Marines

When you serve for any length of time in any armed service regardless of branch or nation, there are certain things and habits that become part of you whether you realize it or not. Others notice it even if you do not.

You might bury/forget/try to distance yourself from it, but when situations call for it, you can snap right back into "military mode" without realizing it.

I stopped spitshining, 45 degree hospital folds, and folding clothing a certain way within about five years after getting out. Since I still wear a uniform, the gig line and military bearing are still there and used daily.

You might try, but the way you did things in the service is always there and will be for the rest of your life.
 
I would see him anywhere in about any situation, whether the horsetrack, a bar, a casino, a church or Wal-Mart and know he was a military man. I would guess a Marine or Airborne or from one of the special operator units.

Lewis Burwell (Chesty) Puller, the finest Marine to ever pull on a boot. Private to Lt General, with FIVE Navy Crosses AND a DSC.
 
For me it's the time. Back planning my departure so to hit my designated arrival time. Of course, turning inbound to a LZ when there is one minute left in the artillery barrage, you don't want to be early. It's in the DNA after watching the "last rounds on the ground" 50 meters in front of you.
 
Back
Top