Quote Originally Posted by jcustis View Post
So true, and yet every time a rifle is tossed in the air, it catches the imagination of a boy or girl, and they grow up to give something of themselves, and do great things as Marines.

So marct, how does all this tie into totemism?
This all ties into both totemism (as Marc answered earlier) and the regimental ideals (as you mentioned/asked earlier, jcustis).

There was a time not so long ago when Army Regulations called for an evening parade every day except Saturday and Sunday, and there was a full-dress inspection Sunday. Part of the reason for this was roll call and the reading (called "publishing" in those days) of orders for the coming day, but it was also intended to give soldiers a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. This was never specifically said, but if you read the recollections of both officers and enlisted men from the period this sense comes through strongly.

As the Army drifted away from the regimental system, I believe the meaning of D&C was lost as well. It's hard to form pride when you're only going to be with this bunch of bozos for a year or so...two if you're lucky. And how do you feel pride for your unit when it was mechanized infantry yesterday but now through the grace of some nitwit in higher-land it's now armor?

I would also say that the career justification phase is a direct legacy of World War II and raised to an art form in Vietnam. One of the legacies of Marshall and Eisenhower, raised to a fine pitch by business school grads in the 1950s and '60s, this mindset has done great damage.