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View Full Version : Marine Character Traits



greybeard
01-21-04, 11:17 PM
While replying in the American Foriegn Legion thread, I got to thinking. (dangerous at my age).
The Corps endows us with certain traits. Loyalty of course, but others as well. I think most of us carry those traits and beliefs thru out our lives, and they make us what we are. For me chief among those are Truth, Honesty, and Integrity. Ethics. Everyday, I base my decisions, actions and answers on integrity. I know no other way to live. It has served me well, even when I screw up. 'Take responsibility for your actions-good or bad'. I have never been fired from a job-mostly because I followed this rule. I see more people fall because they hide the truth rather stand on it. Why do adults lie? I can see it from kids, but why adults? Do they think no one knows???? Sooner or later, it comes out anyway, why not just tell the truth to begin with? The truth is a funny thing. Change one little bit of it, or omit any of it, & it becomes something ugly-a dam* ugly lie. The worst lies are the ones people tell themselves, but, in the dark recesses of one's private thoughts, they know the truth. For whatever juvenile and unjustified reason, they choose not to deal with it. It never works for long. Transparent as glass.
In the Marine community however, this seems not to be the case. Marines have integrity-ethics-honesty. A few may lose it somewhere along the line maybe, but they still have these traits and eventually draw upon them. It's ingrained in our being. It's what makes us.....
Semper Fi

Don