Happy birthday to the US Marine Corps
Chest-deep in a swamp in South Carolina, 23 years and a few months ago, I was pulling a fellow recruit out of the mud and onto dry land, making sure we both kept our rifles clean.
Our drill instructor was watching us contemplatively, leaning against a tree, and as I gasped and struggled and ignominiously flopped onto land he said, "Your problem, Recursion, is that you take the world far too personally. That swamp was not there to piss you off. It was just there. Nobody joins the Marine Corps to fulfill some great destiny; we're all here because it's the only place we can be." And then he walked off.
Happy birthday to my brothers and sisters who couldn't be anywhere else.
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The weirdest love/hate relationship of my life.
(23 years..? Sheeeeeit. Make that 58 years since I put my feet on those yellow footprints.)
