Once a Marine...

...I’ll always be a Marine.

I don’t know how many of our City by the Sea denizens are veterans, but the percentage of Americans who serve in our military is less than one percent. Far fewer joined the Marines.

The Marines were always the few, the proud.

I’m an oldtimer now, midway through my eighties, but I feel young. Well, most of the time.

I take advantage of our Long Beach assets: a 2.2-mile boardwalk; I bike it regularly; I swim in our rec and in my condo pool when it opens. I walk the halls of my condo building and climb the stairs to my sixth-floor unit.

Much of what I do I attribute to my days in the Corps, the perseverance I learned and reinforced.

I met and interviewed so many of you through the years, and I’ve seen that perseverance, that relentless drive in many of you, and said to myself, "They should have been Marines.”

I wrote it openly in the essays about some of you.

As we move on through the journey of life, we all have personal storms that can cause us to seek calm waters in dangerous "harbors" like alcohol, drugs, and many other poor choices.

I’ve found that developing good habits, little by little, and keeping to them, is a far better way to stay the course.

But much of my drive comes from a positive spirit. That’s the key. And you don’t have to be a Marine to have it. It’s in all of us; I strongly believe all we have to do is find it and nurture it.

Sometimes it’s far underneath all the bustle of life; it’s deep, right next to empathy and love.

It’s kind of like our keel. It keeps us steady on the often rough seas of life. It helps us through this frequently tumultuous journey.

I wrote an essay about why I became a Marine and my time in the Corps.

It’s not about physical fitness; it's about discovering my drive to be a Marine early, becoming one, and carrying it in my heart that being a Marine—is for life.

Please see. Once a Marine...

Be well,

Leebythesea