The nostalgia and glamour.

"No finer military organization than the Marine Corps exists in the world." --George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy.

So yesterday I did the unthinkable and went on a scavenger hunt for Marine Corps media and materials. The reason this is a bad plan for a girl like me is that I truly do get so excited and curious when I'm looking around that days or perhaps weeks can go by before I re-surface into the real world. My kids are starving, the garbage overflows and seasons may have changed before I realize how lost I've been. Nonetheless, as always when I go looking for old or obscure or unchartered (by me) USMC memorabilia, I found some dandies.

It's amazing to me how so much has changed over the decades and yet so much has stayed the same. This of course is from the perspective of someone who has only been around the Corps for 15 years, not someone with decades of experience. But anyone with interest in the subject can see certain trends. The focal points of advertising, recruiting and morale-boosting (even those created by family members such as myself) materials are Marines' strength, bravery, distinguished appearance and unique level of dedication. Of course there is much more to the USMC than the aforementioned, but let's face it: those things attract us as Americans, potential recruits, spouses, parents, et al. There are some harsher realities that none of us who support our troops want to focus on (such as low pay for the lower ranks, bad working hours for many, the realities and dangers of combat, etc). But it is my belief that as family members we are selective about what we focus on not based on denial of reality-- as I think living with and through those things makes us even stronger and more proud-- but because some of the shinier, prettier aspects of the Corps are real, are legitimate and are what helps us accept the other components. It's a package deal and it truly is what you make of it. We're not in denial about the hard and the negative, we just try not to let it overshadow the positive. And I truly believe we are right to have this perspective.

Having said all of that, back to how excited-- and, dare I say it-- tickled I was to find some of the prints and photos I came across yesterday. Just good stuff. Of course I had to weed through the contemporary, user generated materials in the process. And I have to say that I am truly impressed with the creativity of Marine wives, girlfriends, family members and Marines themselves in designing Ooh Rah sentiment logos and prints. We can out-moto anyone, baby! But I did find some things of an older and more obscure nature that I really liked. Some of these were just general "support the troops" which are great, too. But, can I get a witness for the nostalgia factor on the below?! OOOOOOH RAHHHHH.

*All of these are from the Library of Congress. And there are so many more. Perhaps tomorrow or another day soon I will think about the more contemporary stuff.