Once a Marine, Always a Marine
On November 10, 2026, the United States Marine Corps turns 251 years old.
For those of us who earned the title Marine, November 10 has always been a little different from most other days on the calendar.
Before there was a United States of America, there were Marines.
On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the creation of two battalions of Continental Marines. The colonies were already at war with Great Britain, and they needed troops who could operate with the fleet, fight aboard ships, and go ashore when needed.
Captain Samuel Nicholas was given the job of recruiting those first Marines in Philadelphia, with tradition placing much of that recruiting at Tun Tavern.
From those two battalions came what would eventually become the United States Marine Corps.
The mission has changed a little over the last 251 years, but maybe not as much as you would think.
Go where needed.
Operate from the sea or the land.
Be ready when somebody needs Marines.
More Than Something You Used to Do
I am a former Marine, so this birthday is particularly special to me.
There are plenty of things we do when we are young that eventually become stories about something we used to do.
Being a Marine does not seem to work that way.
The title sticks.
It seems to transcend age, generation, rank, and even decades apart in service.
I can be walking through a grocery store and see a guy in his 80s wearing an old Marine veteran hat.
“Morning, Devil.”
Instantly you get a grin.
“Oorah.”
And for about two seconds, it does not matter that we may have served 40 or 50 years apart.
We know.
Different Marine Corps. Different wars. Different uniforms. Different equipment.
Same title.
251 Years Later
That connection is one of the things I have always found unique about the Marine Corps.
A Marine who served decades before you did somehow still feels like one of yours. The Marines serving today belong to the same family as the Marines who came before them.
That is a pretty remarkable thing when you consider that the organization started with a congressional resolution for two battalions of Marines in 1775.
Two hundred and fifty-one years later, the title still means something.
So today we raise a glass to the Marines currently standing the watch, the Marines who came before us, and the Marines who are no longer here to celebrate with us.
Happy 251st Birthday, Marines.
Semper Fidelis.
And, of course…
Oorah.
