What makes the title Marine so valuable?

You can’t buy the title Marine. You can’t sell title Marine. It can’t be traded, it can’t inherited, it can’t be donated. It must be earned. And you earn it with sweat and discipline. You keep it with sweat and discipline and blood.

Our Corps is one of the most exclusive organizations in the world. Of every thousand Americans, less than one will ever earn the title Marine.

To earn that title you must leave everything behind. Your friends, your family, your way of life, your possessions and the way you think of yourself.

You will be tested harder than you have ever been tested. You will question yourself on why you are there. You will feel pain, fatigue and stress.

But if you are resolute in mind and body you will become part of a legend. You will have earned the same title held by the world’s greatest warriors.

You will earn the respect of all those that value freedom. You will even earn respect from your enemies.

As individuals we are mortal. One day a stone will be above our final resting place. It will not say, we were carpenters, or stock brokers, salesman or lawyers. It won’t list our hobbies or interests.

It will say: our name, the day we were born, the day we died and United States Marine Corps.

That is what makes the title Marine so valuable.

Congratulations to those of you that have earned something that has no price, but for so many before us, it came at great cost.

Happy birthday Marines. Semper Fi.