Once a Marine, always a Marine.
I remember when I enlisted, people thought I was crazy. One of my brothers, a Vietnam era Navy veteran actually told me he’d rather have a sister in a brothel then a brother in the Marine Corps. Nice! Others thought that the boot camp drill instructors would beat my ass on a daily basis because of my temperament.
I will admit, the day I left for Paris Island, I was scared. What the hell was I thinking? The farthest I’d ever been from home was a three day school fieldtrip to Fort Ticonderoga.
I was only 19 and had been working as a Pension Trust Analyst at a large insurance company when I decided to join. I was bored to tears so I figured, why not. It’s not as if I gave it a whole lot of thought. Hell, the reason I chose the USMC was because their dress uniforms were sharper than those of the other military branches.
I never said I made an informed decision.
I think joining the Marines was hardest on my mother. One of my brothers recalled a time when a Marine recruiter called the house sometime during my Junior or Senior year of high school.
Recruiter: May I speak with Derek, please.
Mom: May I ask who’s calling?
Recruiter: Staff Sergeant Somebody. I’m a Marine Corps recruiter.
Mom: Did he enlist?
Recruiter: No, Ma’am.
Mom: I’ll kill him if he did.
Click.
Needless to say, I never got another call. To be fair, Mom had already endured the military service of three sons; each of whom served in or around Vietnam. (She actually had someone tell her that if one of her boys was lost during the war, at least she had four others.) Her lack of objectivity was understandable.
She had this little American flag lapel pin that she wore every day I was on active duty. It is the same pin she donned when each of my older brothers was on active duty.
I make light of my motivation for enlisting in the Marines, but ultimately, it was an experience that shaped my character. I learned the value of teamwork, I visited places I would never have and I met people who were very different from me. It was a time in my life that I would gladly repeat.
Why this trip down memory lane? I started to ponder the presence of Marines in fiction, particularly Science Fiction. I’m most familiar with the Marines in the television series Enterprise and the most recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, as well as the Space Marines in the movies Aliens and Starship Troopers.
My own science fiction novel, Refuge, currently in revision, has a contingent of Marines.
Why are Marines such interesting combatants for Science Fiction writers? I think it has to do with the mystique surrounding the Corps. I believe there is an aura of, dare I say it, invincibility that makes the Marines an ideal and integral part of many science fiction campaigns. And, there seems to be one constant … they are dangerous sumofabitches.
There’s a perception, by civilians at least, that a Marine is a rough, tough warrior who can be called to action at a moment’s notice. When I was in boot camp, we were always told we were the President’s Own and did not require a declaration of war for deployment.
Maybe the mystique is greater because there are fewer Marines then sailors or airmen/women or soldiers. The number of active duty Marines is less than any of the other branches of the military.
Writers are able to build upon an established, recognized brand. Most people who aren’t living under a rock have a notion of what a Marine is and does. A writer has readymade base from which to build; they need only add the weapons and armor.
For me, it was a matter of using what I knew – the readymade brand. What do you think?
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