For those who served, its the one day that someone may say thanks. From me you get a knowing nod and a virtual salute.

Thank you for serving.

One of my fondest memories from the military is from bootcamp.

In the marine corps you stand in line on either side of the squad bay and do inspection every night after you clean your nasty ass. Your in a towel and the drill instructors want to see your fingernails and shit to make sure your cleaning their bodies all nice and good. Yea its pretty homoerotic now that I think of it.

Anyway I’m standing there waiting for my turn and directly across from me is this Italian dude from Georgia or something like that. His last name was Monteverdi and he would have been called private joker if he was a private, we were still recruits, in the marines you don’t get called private until you are one.

So the drill instructors get to me and there all looking at me, so what you do is stand at attention with your hands at your side, when they step in front of you you raise them and say SNAP! all the while staring straight forward once they inspect your fingernails and then they motion for you to turn your hands over and you yell POP! Now I had done this what seemed like a thousand times and I had the 1000 yard stare like no other. As soon as they step in front of me I say SNAP! As soon as I say snap Monteverdi drops his towel and in one motion grabs it from behind, its threaded between his legs he is riding it like a 18 year old Tijuana stripper, and I crack a smile.

Needless to say a Marine Drill Instructor does not like smiles. Its safe to say that they would rather you fuck there sister and call them sally. They unleash on me telling me to get on the quarterdeck which is the front of the squad bay, and to bring some friends. Well i grab my standard workout buddies at this point so its me Monteverdi, Shipley, and a couple other guys who were just collateral damage. The saying in the Marines is that you can be 1 of two things in bootcamp Smart or strong pick one.

That day while we were being worked into a pile of our own sweat, I realized that we were strong, and that nothing later in life was going to be the same. I kept smiling and they kept pouring it on. They would never break these men around me and I knew then that this was what they wanted.

Its hard to look back on these memories sometimes and not want to figure out why it works, why we still feel as we are brothers, why in my life these men will stand amongst my true brother. But today I don’t have to, its the day I can share, and hopefully someone will just listen.