It Was The Dress Blues

In response to Mike Benfield's statement that Dress Blues are too ostentatious, I guess to some that may be true. Personally, I've always thought Blues are snazzier than any uniform in existence, even when you see Army and Navy personnel in their dress uni's with a chest full of medals they got for things like cleaning the head, completing a course in Underwater Basket-weaving, etc. Dress Greens look good, as does any uniform a Marine wears because they are always squared away. But, if you show anyone in the world a picture of a U.S. Marine in Greens or Cammies, chances are they'll think it's a Dogface. If you show them an individual wearing Dress Blues, they know it's a United States Marine. It is the one uniform that sets us apart from armies all over the world.

My wife requested I wear Blues for our wedding. She looked beautiful in her wedding gown and I sure looked a lot sharper than I would have if I'd just worn a tux. My son's fiancee has requested I wear my Blues for her wedding, which I will of course do. Besides looking good, the best thing about Dress Blues is you had to earn the right to wear them and everyone knows it.

Regarding my earlier comment about other Service's members wearing medals for all kinds of unimportant things they didn't really have to do anything difficult to be awarded, I was recently watching a game show and a Navy Petty Officer was on wearing his dress uniform. He must have had on 15 medals and 5 ribbons. The senior (highest award) medal he had on was a Navy Achievement Medal, of which I am a recipient. Since I was active duty from 23 Jun 77 plus 12 years, I missed 'Nam by 3 years and the first Gulf War by less than a year. I have two medals (N.A. & Good Conduct) and two ribbons (Presidential Unit Citation & Sea Service Deployment). I don't really get how someone can have so many medals without seeing combat, especially with the highest award being the N.A. Medal. In my mind the award of superfluous medals cheapens awards since the general public can't differentiate between a Silver Star and a Marine Security Guard Ribbon. And I thought my D.I. was kidding when he said the Army gave it's recruits a ribbon for successfully throwing a grenade in boot camp. I guess they figure it's better to give the kid a ribbon rather than a casket. Speaking of which, I'll make a sharp looking corpse in my Dress Blues at my funeral. I've attached a couple of pics of the big day. If you're wondering how an ugly Jarhead got such a beautiful bride, it was the Dress Blues.

Respectfully Submitted,
J. A. Howerton II
SSgt USMC (Ret)